context

Though Greensboro provides the site for many of Loewenstein’s commissions, the local story links to the national scene of mid-century suburbanization in the United States where communities all dealt with the explosion of consumer demand and the housing boom in the decades after the end of World War II. Everywhere, architects and designers struggled with the many options for appropriate design philosophy and practice in the middle of the twentieth century. Loewenstein, like others, translated and reinterpreted the stark Modernism of the two previous generations of designers and brought to the American landscape a more nuanced version of the style situated intimately in the local context. And just as others found themselves embroiled in political and social issues, Loewenstein’s support for civil rights and community engagement placed him squarely within the framework of the community’s debate about race relations, again linked to a national discourse.

residential design at mid-century
greensboro's suburbs
politics + social issues
design education