The architectural modernist movement in Phoenix has a nostalgia for the 60s and the modernist architects and designers from the mid-century era. The Modern Phoenix home tour we went on had each house on the tour marked with a 1960s car out the front. They were all in perfect condition as well. Very shiny in the bright desert sunlight.

Phoenix modernism is a curious mix of hipsterist nostalgia for a cramped and poor quality plastic past jumbled in with the technological advances in architectural and industrial materials. Phoenix architecture has been innovating in the use of raw materials and metals such as Corten Steel where the outside elements are allowed to wear the steel into a deep purple rust or a bright orange one.

Given the harshness of the desert environment on wood all manner of metal is used to augment architecture. Pergolahs are made of steel and use industrial rod, bar or ribbon as the slats. Car ports are constructed with all manner of pressed metals as well. I really enjoy the permutation on modernism that Phoenix is experimenting with. It is a visually strong and interesting form that goes against architectural indifference.