Join architect, author, graphic designer and urbanist Martin Treu for an exploration of modern advertising trends and novel architectural advancements flourishing in Europe during the 1920s, and how they would eventually have their effect on the conservative traditional storefronts of small-town America. This was not only a big geographic leap, but a conceptual one as well. But the winds of change were persistent and partially (as well as powerfully) pushed forward by the interests of corporate materials manufacturers and the United States government. In other words, big money. The transformation required several steps: first from the Champs-Elysees and Piccadilly to State Street and Wilshire Boulevard, and then a big stride onward to Main Street. This session will follow a rich narrative, lavishly illustrated with endlessly creative storefront experiments overseas, the best of the work of great American designers in big cities, and end with fascinating examples of how Paris, London, and Amsterdam landed in the American heartland.

Martin Treu is an architect, author, graphic designer and urbanist. For the past two decades he has been tracking the historic evolution of the American commercial corridor. Martin is the author of Signs, Streets, and Storefronts. The book addresses more than 200 years of signs and place-marking along America’s commercial corridors. From small-town squares to Broadway, State Street, and Wilshire Boulevard, Martin Treu follows design developments into the present and explores issues of historic preservation.