Among their many groundbreaking accomplishments was the Eames House, constructed by hand in only a few days in 1949, from materials that were completely prefabricated. In the world of furniture design, they embraced unexplored methods such as molded plywood, fiberglass and plastic resin, to create chairs that have had a lasting impact to this day. All one need do, is browse the Ikea catalogue to see the contemporary availability of the Eames' design philosophy. To this day, the Eames Lounge Chair (1956) is still manufactured and widely available. In fact, about two years ago, the Henry Ford Museum devoted an entire exhibition to the genesis and manufacture of the chair.
What concerns us, however, is a remarkable film produced by the Eames' in 1977. The Powers of Ten is a short documentary that they both wrote and directed, which depicts the relative scale of the universe in factors of ten. The film begins with the image of a man reclining in a park and then proceeds on the trajectory of a widening perspective accomplished by "zooming" away from the man, the park, the city, the state, the continent, the planet, out into space and as far as what is conceived as the observable universe. The camera then plunges back in reverse all the down and into the reclining man's hand to illustrate a carbon nucleus. The relationship between the micro and macro is established. In terms of structure, everything indeed seems to be related. It is all a matter of perspective.
Images: 1. Filming Powers of Ten, 1968 Version; 2. Chart Plotting Sequences of Powers of Ten, circa 1977; 3 - 6. Powers of Ten storyboard sketches, circa 1977, pencil on paper. All images taken from powersof10.com.
