Last week marked the 50th anniversary of one of television’s most famous families. The Flintstones began airing on September 30, 1960 and since that time they have managed to help shape contemporary culture.

As legit pop culture icons, Bedrock’s proto-family have had an effect that reaches much further than just helping shape primetime television. Whether you hear of the antics of Fred and Wilma coming out of your iPod while jamming to your favorite Young Money tune, or by advertising agencies selling you the best car insurance (cough, GEICO, cough), the show’s proverbial fifteen minutes of fame has yet to end.

Probably the least-discussed effect of the Flinstone aesthetic concerns its effect on architecture. Trust me, it’s there. After some extensive research on the subject (glued to the television every Saturday morning as a child), we’ve dissected the finer qualities of the Flintstonian architecture movement. Forthwith:

With a population of 2500, Bedrock was once a bustling metropolis full of living, working, commercial and recreational areas. Using an infrastructure that possesses many similarities to American suburbia, the city is a vehicular focused community where inhabitants use self-propelled forms of transportation to get around. In due course, local businesses have built up the car culture by opening park-and-eat dinners and a drive-in theatre. On the periphery of the city, a crude highway system allows the residents of Bedrock safe travel to near by cities that include Rock Vegas and Indiarockolis.

The award winning design program at Prinstone University, whose campus was located on the edge of Bedrock, managed to teach the value of “prehistoric” design techniques. Key elements of the Flintstonian style taught within the school include a strong use of local materials, with stone mined at the city’s quarry being the predominant structure of most projects, and crude detailing techniques. The famed Stone Age architect Mies van der Rock founded the school and is known for his strong use of domesticated animals within the architectural lexicon.

Taking cues from his theoretical rhetoric, it became commonplace for other architects of the era to ornament structures with animal skins and larger living creatures were used for both signage and egress.

Many of these Flinstonian design strategies were lost during the movement of the Bronze age, but due to a revived interest in the subject they are making a comeback. These new structures use modern technologies and building practices to achieve designs impossible during the original movement. This Yabba Dabba Doo-worthy architecture stands out as a testament to Bedrock’s importance within the modern architectural community.

Below, our nominees for top Neo-Flintstonian buildings.

Standardarchitecture-Zhaoyang Studio designed the Niyang River Visitor Center.

Mapungubwe Interpretation Centre / Peter Rich Architects. Photo: Iwan Baan.

The Truffle by Ensamble Estudio. Photo: Roland Halbe.

The 2009 P.S.1 installation “Afterparty” designed by MOS Architects.

Porta Fira Towers / Toyo Ito AA + Fermín Vázquez of b720 Arquitectos. Photos by Nils Becker, courtesy of Toyo Ito A.

Temple Beth Shmuel in Miami Beach, Florida. Photo: Kelsey Keith.

Ecohotel “Friend House” by Ryntovt.

Finally, an honorable mention goes to this stone house in Portugal which supposedly takes inspirations from the houses dotted around Bedrock. Photos by Feliciano Guimarães:

by Stephen Killion

posted in General

tagged bedrock, ensamble estudio, hanna-barbera, MOS architects, peter rich architects, pop culture, ryntovt, standardarchitecture, the flinstones, tokyo ito

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