The American Restaurant in Kansas City, designed by Warren Platner, is subject of a long essay on that architect and interior designer’s career."/>

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Comments Posted 01.07.10 | PERMALINK | PRINT

Alexandra Lange

On DO: Skating on the Edge of Taste



This is The American Restaurant in Kansas City, 1974, designed by Warren Platner and the subject of a long essay on that architect and interior designer’s career, posted yesterday on Design Observer. It is at the top of the Crown Center, designed by Edward Larrabee Barnes in a rather more sedate manner. As I wrote:

In this glass box, Platner installed what I can only describe as the meeting of a Thonet café chair and a Gothic cathedral. He described it somewhat differently: ...it occurred to me that since our client was in the greeting card business we should treat the space in a very decorative way — like a huge lace Valentine — and everything we did was to enhance that impression.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alexandra Lange is an architecture and design critic, and author of Writing about Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities. (Princeton Architectural Press, 2012). Her work has appeared in The Architect's Newspaper, Architectural Record, Dwell, Metropolis, Print, New York Magazine and The New York Times.
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DESIGN OBSERVER JOBS









MORE BY Alexandra Lange

06.10.13: That Personal Touch
06.04.13: Praise the Partner(s)
06.03.13: Home Improvement
05.28.13: The Fork and the World: Design 101
05.18.13: Dream Weaver
05.14.13: Anxiety, Culture and Commerce
04.24.13: Beyond Gorgeous
04.18.13: Architecture Without Signs
04.09.13: What It Costs (to Buy a Bench, to Extend a Curb)
04.03.13: Portlandia + Timelessness
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BOOKS BY Alexandra Lange

Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities
Princeton Architectural Press, 2012

Design Research
Chronicle Books, 2010

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