One of the main reasons midcentury modern homes fell out of fashion in the 1970s was that their thermal performance was so poor. Midcentury modern design was ahead of its time in aesthetics, but it also turned out to be beyond the technical performance of the materials available to designers and home builders. The spike in energy prices in the mid-1970s was a knockout punch, making these homes so expensive to heat and cool that homeowners had the difficult trade-off of paying exorbitant utility bills or stocking up on sweaters in the winter.
Aside from the heating and cooling costs, the homes tend to be uncomfortable because of drafty walls and windows and cold pockets due to inadequate mechanical systems. Here are some tips to improve the comfort of your midcentury modern home without losing any of the design vibe.
Extensive glass areas are a key feature of midcentury modern homes, providing sunlit interiors and a powerful connection between inside and out. All of this glass comes at a cost, however, adding dramatically to the heating and cooling loads. This is magnified when the glass areas are oriented to the north, away from the sun, offering only thermal loss in the winter, or oriented west, leading to excessive heating by the setting sun in the summer. Add to this the fact that many homes from the era still retain the original single-pane windows.