Theory // Materialism, Paul Rudolph, & Politics

MATERIALISM

I've had the privilege at USC to be exposed for the first time to architecture in terms of philosophy. Not philosophy in terms of architecture, which tends to explain design through top-down, esoteric means while glossing over pragmatic intention, but rather a way of thinking that exposes the root  self-organizing generators of cities and buildings as functions of the behavior of people and their various hierarchical structures (government, regulatory agencies, neighborhood councils, etc.). In other words, in many real cases the question has to be asked, where does architecture come from? As opposed to, what is it, or what is it trying to be, or why does it appear a certain way. This approach to understanding architecture holds great appeal for me, as I am strongly interested in the connection between life, particularly American life, and the built environment.

[Manuel de Landa, trying to communicate his theories to architects...]

Discussion // Potpurrtecture

Wide range of topics on tap for today, starting with some links...

How Skyscrapers Can Save the City (The Atlantic)

A sociocultural look at the benefits of high-density living, the article makes some interesting points about the perceived economic influence of scale and provides a counterpoint to the timeless cries of Jane Jacobs for preserving the scale of the street. The author is correct in his assertion that "historic districts," though they acknowledge the sanctity of heritage, actually become completely unaffordable in comparison to more dense models. The authors suggestions are not so helpful - if neighborhoods are allowed to determine the extent to which their individual characters are maintained, the status quo will unquestionably be maintained - but they at least make for stimulating debate. The article also ignores the technical aspects of tall buildings - production, fabrication, transportation of materials, assembly, carbon footprint vs. sprawl, etc. I'm not an expert on the science so it's not my place to critique tall buildings on it.

I have mixed feelings on the subject. First, it's obvious and irrefutable that our current use of land is wasteful and destructive. LA, naturally, is the poster child for a decaying ecology as a result of sprawl. Second, it's impossible to ignore that there are problems with housing of any typology without adequate transportation infrastructure. Skyscrapers demand a high-speed, 3d mass transit system of multiple levels. Unfortunately, these types of systems are fading away in the United States, leading to more and more surface sprawl - it's difficult to blame someone for destructiveness when there are so few alternatives, but our thinking definitely needs to change fast.

[Wouldn't be so bad to live here, don't you say? PSFS, Philadelphia, Howe + Lecaze, 1932. Can we update this model to fit our needs? Interesting that this pathfinding building is also in one of the most historical and traditional cities in the U.S.]

There are, of course, examples of good residential density at the skyscraper scale - Hong Kong, Singapore, New York (somewhat) - but also a lot of bad examples. And, tragically, there's no good way to hide a poor skyscraper as opposed to say, a cheaply-built Type-5 courtyard box. So who gets to design these things? How can we be sure that the design will (1) address urban and human scale on the ground level, (2) be as sustainable as possible, to whatever extent technology will allow, (3) be sensitive to surrounding urban fabric, (4) be affordable to a large sample of the population and (5) respond to the future to the degree that the building will initiate positive changes in infrastructure and land use? A tough task, indeed.

Place // San Diego, CA

Though there are few truly vital reasons to leave LA's urban soup for San Diego's relative towniness, there are a few compelling ones. Most of them involve fantastic CaliMex food, the insane Tijuana border--for which I had neither the stones nor the time to visit, instead choosing to guide my lovely female companions to relative safety/sanity--and NFL football, SoCal-style. But if you're a student of architecture, conquistadors, or just like the beach, it's worth a look. But first a little history...

The area was first explored by Spanish explorer Sebastian Vizcaino in 1602 and named for a Spanish saint, San Diego de Alcalá. In 1769, a group of Spanish missionaries established a permanent colony on a site now known as "Old Town" San Diego. Later, the colony transformed into a military outpost, displacing the missionaries a few miles to the east, and was the location of a few small skirmishes between Spanish soliders and the indigenous Native American tribe, the Kumeyaay. Mexico gained indepedence from Spain in 1821 and San Diego progressed under Mexican jurisdiction until the resolution of the Mexican-American War in 1850 (known as the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo) ceded the city to the U.S.

Update // Happy New Year!

Yes, the blog was left fallow through the end-of-semester madness and various holiday adventures. Apologies to all. But now it's time to pull up the weeds and get it crankin' once again! I have made it part of my resolutions to write more regularly - or at least as regularly as I used to - but it remains to be seen whether I have the fortitude to make it stick. I usually fail when it comes to resolutions, though I am a bit more optimistic about this year. The economy seems to be turning around, say the crackpot number doctors on Capitol Hill, which should make anyone in the architecture business smile a little (though it is unclear if this improvement will lead to more design jobs). And at long last, one of four semesters of M. Arch is in the books, and I have grown accustomed to the grind. 

Other resolutions: explore more of California and the Southwest. Trips hopefully in store: San Diego / Salk, Santa Barbara, Pacific Coast Highway, San Francisco, Vegas, Phoenix. At least one of these is sure to happen in the next month or so...updates on that later. Also, better health and more romance. Can't promise any (detailed) updates on that.

Visited the new LA Holocaust Museum this afternoon. Interesting building by LA firm Belzberg Architects...Mr. Belzberg was a visiting professor for the undergrads this fall. The surfaces and lines are soft and sinuous and the interior volumes are terraced, sunken into the ground and covered with grassy vegetation, creating a seamless transition to the undulating hills of Park La Brea on whose north end the museum sits. Shot-crete construction facilitated these formal gestures, and the hard nature of the material contrasts with the smooth curves. Philosophically, this is a vastly different approach than, for example, the obvious symbolism of Libeskind's jagged, violent forms in Berlin. Yet while it's a perfectly fine building in and of itself, it does leave me wanting a little bit more visible emotional content.

[Sunken entry.]

Discussion // Mode & Motives

Strikingly similar quotes:

The vision is an answer to the fundamental question: what shall we build in any given place, where a project is to be undertaken. This question does not ask how it is organized, how it is designed, what character the architecture has…but simply the most fundamental question of all: what is it? What is going to be there?

In today’s development, this question is asked, and answered, almost exclusively in economic terms. What can pay for itself there? What can make money there?

Of course the projects which are built, in answer to this question, and after the necessary consumer surveys, are machine-like, abstract, lifeless. They are uninteresting, not vivid. They are incapable of exciting us, or moving us, because they are not human in their quality. 

-Christopher Alexander, A New Theory of Urban Design (1987)

The discovery of building as a new paradigm in our work happened at the same time as a change in the situation of the western city, which involved the extensive reformulation of conditions affecting contemporary architecture as a whole : the gradual privatization of the public space of the city. Faced with a complete lack of public funds, cities and local authorities found themselves increasingly unable to play an active role in urban planning developments, and instead sold out to investors, who helped themselves to the biggest and best pieces of the city. It was a game whose end could be predicted: architecture would end up as infrastructure built to maximize the profits of a global economy.

-Wolf D. Prix, Coop Himmelblau - Philosophy

Both of these statements address the following phenomenon: the end of the era of master planning and a renewed interest in the piecemeal / naturally evolving urbanism that preceded the Modern Movement. Just through observation, one can recognize the the traces of corporate interest inhabit nearly every piece of American architecture [which encompasses all building construction] over the last fifty years, save a few exceptional examples. It will be fascinating to see how the relationship between economics and architecture - which at the moment is strained to the breaking point - changes over the next few years.

[Even existing innovative / experimental / controversial buildings like this (Buckhead Library, Scogin Elam & Bray, 1989) are under threat of demolition for economic concerns. Is there room for a shift in values for exceptional cases?]

Discussion // Complexity & Contradiction

(This will an evolving post, so don't be alarmed by the length. I will continue to update it as I notice further relationships.)

The rhetoric over theory vs. practice in architecture is tired and worn out, and if you've ever worked in an office you don't need to be told the differences. But for my generation, there are some new wrinkles in this complicated - and often criticized - relationship that are starting to affect the discipline as a whole. In the traditional model of architectural education and practice, the conflict could be modeled simply as a push and pull between design (form, art, sculpture, independence) and reality (economy, gravity, dependence).

Design < >  Reality

[Sant Elia - Futurist, but still with pen, paper, and straight edge. The forms are recognizable as buildings.]

Now I believe there is a third element to this conflict: technology. More specifically, computers and visualization software. For centuries, since the days when Brunelleschi doodled the famous structure of the dome, the methods of architectural representation remained relatively constant: drawing tool, straight edge, and paper. The use of such devices limited our ability to conceive of form beyond what was structurally possible or referential to some previous typology. Computers, on the other hand, have allowed our imaginative powers to far outrun our ability to practically create, because they not only translate what we think but also generate based on complicated sets of parameters or algorithms. As a result, a new style, or field of research (I don't really know what to call it) of "virtual architecture" has emerged, championed by the likes of Zaha Hadid / Patrik Schumacher, Roland Snooks and others, whose bearing on real architecture has yet to be fully explored or even explained clearly by those who profess it.
 

[Diaz Alonso - what in the world is this without context? How was it made?]

What all this leads to, at least with me since I feel like I'm not brilliant enough to decipher it all, is an incredible confusion as to what architecture - especially in this country - actually is and where I should focus myself in school. Should I look into parametric design simply because it's new and innovative, to broaden my horizons? Should I avoid it if I think it's irrelevant to my own interests? Should I even bother looking at history if the tools of the trade have evolved so much? These are questions I have to deal with even as I'm forced to struggle to catch up with learning new software (I've found out so far I'm very much behind). So now the conflicts in architecture look like this:

Design (Practical) < > Design (Virtual) < > Technology < > Reality < > Generational

Sometimes it's all a bit too much to handle, I'll admit. Now with the conflicts mapped out, I'm going to start keeping a list of contradictions in architectural practice vs. education, the purpose of which is not to completely discount what I learn, but simply to refer it to my ultimate goal of becoming an architect who builds buildings. Sure it's been done before many times, but I think it's healthy for every student of architecture to develop his or her own. I'll start off with a few, feel free to add, contribute, suggest, refute, etc.

1. The Role of the Architect in the Realization of Projects

This one is obvious. In school, you are taught ways of making cities better one building or project at a time, as if you are the spontaneous generator of the need.

Place // Palm Springs, CA

I was more excited about visiting Palm Springs than any other city on our tour because it contains the greatest concentration of mid-century modern buildings in the country. The town's development as an isolated resort community paralleled the growth of nearby metropolises Los Angeles and San Diego and provided architects with a playground to test new design and construction techniques. The rise of Hollywood in the 1930's attracted tourists and illustrious clients to the Coachella Valley, including Frank Sinatra and Elvis, and made life in Palm Springs a lucrative and fashionable venture. Revised zoning laws, meanwhile, along with the support and foresight of ambitious developers like the Alexander Construction Company, accommodated the rapid expansion in concordance with the influx of new residents. The result is a regional architectural vernacular that is uniquely American and at the same time, uniquely Californian, and which functions like a dynamic exhibit, where the city itself is a museum, and the buildings works of art. Visiting this place is like stepping into a decades-old lab experiment whose instigators have long since passed but whose tubes and cauldrons are still bubbling with purpose. It is tangible history that is not so foreign to our perception of everyday life that we're unable to understand it. Palm Springs is glamorous, beautiful, and I love it...if only it wasn't 115 degrees when I was there, I may have stayed.

Some of the architects who practiced in Palm Springs are some of the most well-known American modernists: RM Schindler, Richard Neutra, Albert Frey, E. Stewart Williams, Palmer & Krisel, John Lautner and more. I will be posting all my images on Flickr soon, but bear in mind that many of the most famous buildings are private residences and thus inaccessible. So you'll have to live with just a taste. 

Also, check out this website dedicated to the preservation of Palm Springs Modern for more information.

[House, Albert Frey]

["House of Tomorrow" for Elvis Presley, Palmer + Krisel]

[Tramway Station / Visitors Center, Albert Frey]

[Palm Springs City Hall, Albert Frey]

[Kauffman House, Richard Neutra]

[Palm Springs Art Museum, E. Stewart Williams]

[Retail/Office Building, E. Stewart Williams]

[Bank, E. Stewart Williams]

[Tramway Hub, Base, E. Stewart Williams]

Place // Albuquerque, NM

>Albuquerque, New Mexico
Founded: 1706
Population: 528,000 (inc) 857,000 (metro)
Claims to Fame: Bugs Bunny, Aliens, Nuclear Tests & Route 66

[Is there a Bugs TomTom voice?]

Albuquerque marks the westward transition from the flat grassy plains of Oklahoma and Texas to the undulating desert topography and low-lying brush vegetation by which Southwestern cities are commonly identified. The city's character is derived from its heritage as a Spanish, and later Mexican, military garrison, and is expressed most clearly in numerous examples of Pueblo Revival style architecture.

[Transit Station. The city has been a hub of SW travel since its origin.]

[Quirky bungalow in a historic district.]

What you immediately notice about desert cities is the bolder use of color on urban edifice. Three factors contribute to this phenomenon of intervention: the lack of canopy vegetation (i.e. dense leaf deciduous trees), the use adobe stucco as the primary building material, and abundant, unobstructed sunlight. The sparsity of localized visual cues creates the impression of the building against the distant landscape rather than neighboring objects. Flanking the urban core of Albuquerque are mountainous ridges that offer little in the way of chromatic variation; as a result, bright pastels are popular color choices, as are deeper reds and purples. [The works of Ricardo Legorreta and Luis Barragan - both Mexican - are better examples of how color can bring visual energy to desert architecture.] Adobe stucco is a great surface on which to apply color because it's naturally neutral and the surface texture accepts paint and disperses natural light.

[Townhomes]

[Don't worry, the town ain't radioactive...]

As far as tourist sites go, the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History, the only congressionally-chartered museum of its type, is worth checking out. New Mexico, of course, is well-known as the location of nuclear weapons development and testing during to WW2 (See: The Los Alamos Laboratory and The Trinity Test). The museum's exhibits describe the history of the implementation of nuclear science towards facets of our everyday life, from military to medicine to energy.

The University of New Mexico is also an important component of the urban fabric to the northeast of downtown; Antoine Predock, a former student of the University whose practice is based in Albuquerque, designed the recently-completed School of Architecture building, shown below.  

[UNM School of Architecture. Almost applied here.]

[Pueblo Brutal?]

[The desert]

Place // Oklahoma City, OK

>Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Year Founded: 1889
Population: 560,000 (inc) 1,200,000 (metro)
Claim to Fame: Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995

OKC's development is marked by 4 important events - the "Land Run" at the city's inception around 1890, discovery of oil within the city limits in 1928, the Pei Plan of 1964-1966, and the terrorist attack of 1995.

[Pei Plan, 1964. Rendering.]

The latter two events are contrasts in the how large-scale urban design is conceived, executed, and received by the public. The Pei Plan, which could be seen as an early prelude to post-modernism mixed with references to Corbusierian urbanism, intended to combat urban sprawl of the post-WWII era through the establishment of a superblock system with parking decks, indoor shopping arcades, pedestrian bridges, enclosed courtyards, etc. The scope of this project was immense and required the demolition of a large percentage of the existing core of the city. 

Eventually, financial support for the project ran dry and construction stopped around 1980, leading many private developers to seek more inexpensive opportunities in malls outside the downtown district and leaving important historical buildings destroyed without much renewal to replace them. What remained are disparate remnants of an unfulfilled vision; streets blocked by office arcades which fail to offer any pedestrian incentive, and a lack of architectural character. I can understand why the project has been viewed in an increasingly negative light as time has passed. [Side note: IM Pei has had a pretty amazing influence on modernism/post-modernism in America, hasn't he? His work in OKC remains relatively unknown, but projects elsewhere are recognizable even in international circles. Fortunately, he's done enough good work to cover for his mistakes.]

The Oklahoma City bombing, however, universally mourned as a tragic day for the people of our nation, inspired some positive architectural and urban interventions, the most notable of which being a memorial on the former site of the destroyed Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. Designed by local firm Butzer Design Partnership, it not only offers a reminder of those who died in the attack, but also provides an open and contemplative green space in an otherwise uncompromising urban core. Its prominent location at the top of a ridge at the north end of the city also lends to an excellent view of the OKC skyline. The memorial is now one of the most popular downtown tourist destinations.

Check out the pics below, there are more in the Flickr gallery.

[Lots of Federal Bldgs in Downtown OKC. It is a seat for the region.]

[Wide medians, wacky overhead bridges and empty streets. Part of the plan?]

[OKC Memorial Reflecting Pool]

[OKC Memorial "Field of Chairs"]

[Postmod attacks the street...AIIIIEEEE!]

[Fascinating blocky building. Stage Center, 1970, by John M. Johansen]

[OKC suburbs at sunset. Silos and Elvis hamburgers, nothing better.]

Place // Tupelo, MS

At long last, my ship has struck shore at the Golden Coast. It was an arduous journey, not only because of the time and mental stamina required to drive 2300 miles over four days, but also because it was hot as blue blazes pretty much everywhere we went. Note to self: do NOT drive through Arkansas in the middle of August ever again.

But now that I'm here, it's time to reflect. Most of the following posts will be brief portraits of places and towns that inspired me, or at least gave me some reason to stop and think, or wander about, so enjoy!

[Downtown Tupelo. Check the extreme width of the main street.]

>Tupelo, Mississippi

Founded: 1870

Population: 34,000 (inc) 134,000 (metro)

Claim to Fame: Birthplace of Elvis Presley. Long Live the King, baby...

The story of Tupelo is an interesting case of one of the first truly modern municipalities established in the Deep South. Founded in 1870, Tupelo, like most Southern towns, was extremely slow to industrialize after the Civil War and consequently sparsely populated until 1934 when it became the first city electrified by the Tennessee Valley Authority, prompting President Roosevelt to dub it "The First TVA City." It evokes the same hospitality and gentility as Southern towns of similar stature, but Tupelo's modern roots reveal themselves in its urban features.

The initial plan obviously caters to the newly-popular automobile culture; the primary thoroughfare is 6 lanes across - 4 for traffic, 2 for parking - and approx. 12' wide sidewalks provide an almost excessive buffer for the storefronts against the cars. Though some homes from the initial settlement survive, most of the primary commercial/civic buildings - Fire Station No. 1, the city high school, theater, etc. - date from 1925 and later, which coincides with the TVA intervention. Many are designed in the Art Deco style - also popular in the 1920s and 30s. Plantation homes and other iconic examples of Antebellum architecture that appear in older, more traditional Southern cities like Savannah, Madison, Augusta, or Charleston, do not exist in Tupelo.

And yet, the town still retains the down-home, laid-back Southern vibe that makes the region so unique and wonderful. Excepting the brief flurry of activity brought about by Federal involvement, the town has been slow to develop and slow to grow, typical of the pace of Southern life. It is a snapshot of the earliest period of American Modernism.

Sweet tea, anyone?

[Lyric Theater.]

[Vintage home, early modern.]

[Tupelo Police Dept.]

[Fire Station No. 1. Art Deco Pilaster Caps.]

[Milam High School, ca. 1928. Architect - Ben Price.]

Film // Visual Acoustics: The Modernism of Julius Shulman

Visual Acoustics tells the story of California Modernism through the eyes and camera of Julius Shulman (1910-2009), a man whose humility, kind temperament and infectious humor belie his standing as the preeminent American architectural photographer of the past century. His lens was the conduit through which many of this country’s most famous and brilliant designers became publicly known; Richard Neutra, Rudolf Schindler, Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Frey and John Lautner all owe some measure of their professional success to the elegant way Shulman represented their work. His role as the anonymous herald of American Modernism, helping to foster an appreciation for the movement both domestically and abroad, is a fascinating subject for this whimsical but streamlined documentary from director Eric Bricker.

Historically, Julius Shulman’s opera completa successfully captures the essence of the pioneer spirit that drove disciples of Wright and Louis Sullivan from the Chicago area (Lautner, E. Stewart Williams) and students of the Bauhaus (Neutra, Schindler) from central Europe to Los Angeles in the early 1930s. At that time, Los Angeles was experiencing an unprecedented building boom, having grown from the 36th largest city in the US in 1900 to the 5th by 1930. Sprawling urban conditions and an unrefined surrounding natural landscape provided designers with an irresistibly clean slate on which they could test new designs and construction techniques. Los Angeles became a locus of creative expression. Much of the work that followed in the region featured a trademark exuberance that came to represent a new California-based architectural vernacular. Shulman translated this language into images; his most iconic, a night scene of Pierre Koenig’s Case Study House #22, combines the grace of modern architecture, the vitality of west coast living and the hopeful glow of progress exuded by the evolving American city into one frame. The house itself, now regarded as a masterpiece of domestic construction, became, as a result of Shulman’s photography, a symbolic representation of the goals of an entire age of architects and designers.

From a visual standpoint, the film seems to direct itself; Shulman has already provided the story in his photographs. What differentiates this film from other architectural documentaries, however, is its focus on the means by which public perception and interest in architecture is generated rather than the individual architect or building. The ideal experience of architecture, of course, occurs in situ, where in the presence of context we are able to understand the nuances of space and detail; unfortunately, by circumstances of economy, logistics, or geography, the opportunity for such an experience is as rare as the buildings we deem worthy of our attention. We rely accordingly on the literate, sensible eye of the traveling professional photographer to translate these characteristics and convey them in single images. Through his own interpretations, the photographer controls our response to the subject matter. Shulman—a staunch environmentalist and outspoken critic of Postmodern reactionaries—did so with his work.

Shulman was in the unique position by virtue of his craft of having some involvement with nearly every great work of American Modernism. While architects are isolated practitioners who devote themselves for years to one project in one place, Shulman with his many clients functioned as the sociocultural link between architects, developers, and tenants scattered across the country. He knew everyone and seemed to share a common language even when architects disagreed amongst themselves. He developed long-lasting personal friendships—particularly with Neutra, his early mentor, Schindler and Lautner—that transcended professional practice or esotericism. His life binds the entire history of American Modernism and the lives of the people involved into one neat package, providing the perfect human perspective for a film on the subject.

Lately I’ve had the good fortune of seeing two very disparate yet inspiring films rooted in architecture; first, Inception, which appeals to my as-yet-undeveloped creative futurist side, and this film, which reinforces my modernist romanticism. Each has strengthened the thrust of the pioneer spirit that is fueling my west coast odyssey. In short, I can’t wait to go! Sandy beaches, palm trees and Cali style here I come…

Notes

-During the few minutes of the film devoted to Shulman’s criticism of Postmodernism, two buildings in Atlanta (photographed by Shulman, naturally) were shown as examples of architecture he disliked…Can anyone guess what they are? Bonus points or other miscellaneous favors for the winner. You can find both of the buildings in my Flickr album….;)

-If you want to see originals prints of Shulman’s photographs, they are currently on display on at the Getty Center in Santa Monica, CA.

-Arts & Architecture Magazine was the venue where many of Shulman’s photos were first published, especially those featuring the Case Study Houses. This magazine was instrumental in spreading the work of Shulman and the architects he photographed, but its importance constitutes a whole set of posts on its own…so I’ll get to it later haha

Icons of Modernism // Lustron

I didn't know anything about the Lustron Corporation until I came across a featurette in the AJC about an Atlanta woman who owns and has installed some period decor in one of their 1940's pre-fab houses. From my own limited knowledge about the history of the type, this must have been one of the first mass-produced pre-fabricated homes in American history, manufactured from spare metal leftover from the war effort. The houses are very modern but modest, well-designed and easily disassembled and moved. The Wiki article above lists some of the various model configurations from which consumers had to choose, and goes into a bit of detail about the downfall of the company in the early 1950s, which occurred even during a period of great demand for affordable and efficient housing. Below is an image of the refurbished model in Atlanta; bottom is an audio clip from MOMA about the inventor of the Lustron, Carl Strandlund.

Intro // A Particular Brand of Building

Here I intend to showcase the best and most interesting American commercial architecture with particular emphasis on corporate retail. In many ways this series of posts will be an ode to Venturian postmodern ideologies, but many companies are eschewing the “decorated shed” for a more integrated, design-oriented approach to edificial marketing that constitutes a more thoughtful response to urban conditions than the traditional American strip-mall, fast-food restaurant, etc. The posts about urban spas and garage reuse can be thought of as precursors to this topic.

^^^Target, Atlantic Station, Atlanta, GA. The actual Target logo is tiny, but the architecture is successful in conveying the brand image. Below, some Green features - plantings, trees, outdoor furniture, permeable surfaces.

The iconography of American commerce in a historical sense is tied to our automotive culture. Rather than acting as agents of restraint, bureaucrats, city planners and architects yielded to, and in several instances created, the changes in lifestyle brought about by the car’s popularity. The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956 established the interstate highway system, replacing the train as the primary means of long-distance ground transportation and connecting major cities to satellite towns called suburbs, which became the new standard of American urbanism. With the expansion of infrastructure, the Modern movement, which had taken hold in Europe decades earlier, began to flourish in American art and architecture.

Circumstance, meanwhile, forced businesses to adapt to these changes. Centers of American commerce shifted from town squares to mega-malls. Brand imagery became increasingly important as companies sought new ways of attracting transient suburban customers. Billboards, marquees, and other forms of signage, whose exaggerated scale and aggressive graphics were necessary persuasive devices, came to represent the physical division between businesses and the fast-moving traveling consumer. Cities that embraced the shift, like Las Vegas, a mere rail stopover before the construction of nearby Hoover Dam in 1935, seemed to emerge overnight and attract immediate attention.

Icons of Modernism // Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, Central Branch

Atlanta-Fulton Public Library, Central Branch
Location: Atlanta, GA [map]
Architect: Marcel Breuer
Year Built: 1980
Related Works: Whitney Museum, NY

 Amazingly, this work by Breuer - one of the last of his lifetime, as he died one year after the building's completion - remains largely anonymous even though its origins in the International Style distinguish it from almost any work in the Southeast outside of Florida. The building is wonderfully integrated into the complicated and often disjointed block layouts of downtown, and is yet another showcase of Breuer's lifelong affinity for cast-in-place concrete as a material that plays the dual role of dictating both structure and form. From a philosophical standpoint, the work reflects Breuer's pragmatic attitudes towards civic buildings (especially those that house books and art) in dense urban areas.

We in Atlanta are privileged to have a building of this quality in our architectural heritage, yet our government's unforunate and rather pathetic disengagement from the art & design community - Georgia, for example, almost became the first state to disband its Arts Council - has once again placed a modern masterpiece in jeopardy of demolition. Thankfully, with the help of generous donors and grassroots support, the building stands and remains as it should - a testament to the talents of one of America's truly great architects.

Icons of Modernism // Glass House

[All photos courtesy of Laura Diiorio (UMD '08, Tulane '12). Nice pics Laura, and good thing you took them, because I doubt I'll be in the New Canaan area any time soon!]

Glass House
Location: New Canaan, CT
Architect & Owner: Philip Johnson / National Trust of Historic Preservation
Year Built: 1949
Related Works: Farnsworth House by Mies van der Rohe

An allusion to the ideals of European Modernism, and a rather obvious nod to an architect Johnson greatly admired (Bauhaus master Mies van der Rohe), the Glass House is an archetypal example of glass-and-steel minimalism that, at the time, was revolutionary for American residential architecture. Unlike Mies, however, Johnson was far more eccentric in his use of form and allegory, as indicated in the numerous follys that populate the remainder of his 40+ acre estate.

For more information, check the visitor's center website and this recent feature in Time Magazine.

Discussion // Modern? Explain yourself!

^^^Symphony No. 1, Richard Pousette-Dart, and Nighthawks, Edward Hopper. Painted in the same year (1942), with vastly different themes.

Well, here it goes…in order for this blog to be successful, the parameters of the content must be established for discussion to occur; unfortunately, that requires at least a working definition of the word ‘modern.' This is not easily achieved, as hasty labeling and misplaced attribution have long muddled the precise meaning. Most interpretations tend to fall within six categories, which range from general to specific:

History & Iconography. Intertwined with such terms as “The Modern Era,” “Modernism,” and “The International Style,” the historical interpretation of ‘modern’ describes the period between 1910-1940 in Europe and 1940-1970 in the United States during which design, construction, manufacturing, and lifestyle underwent a dramatic break from tradition as a result of new philosophies and technologies. Leaders of this movement included Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe of the Bauhaus, Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Frank Lloyd Wright, Marcel Breuer, Richard Neutra, R.M. Schindler, Ray and Charles Eames, Eero Saarinen, George Nelson, Florence Knoll, Harry Bertoia, Giuseppe Terragni and Gio Ponti. “The 1929 Barcelona Pavilion is a splendid example of Modernism.”

^^^Classic Modernist interior. R. Neutra, Lovell Heath House, 1929

Chronology. Anything current or contemporary. “Have you seen that brand new modern school?”

Technology. Anything that utilizes revolutionary technology or revolutionizes an aspect of daily life through its technology. “The personal computer is a modern essential; without it, we’d still be writing with paper and pencil and doing math by hand!”

Style. Mod…Modernista…Probably the most widely-used definition, it describes the aesthetic qualities of art, music, architecture, fashion, manufactured items, or means of living that identify with contemporary trends or values and are relatively experimental or unconventional in nature. “I admire their modern, eco-friendly lifestyle,” or, “That new painting makes no visual sense; I hate modern art!”

Evolution. Advanced; ahead of the times; the most current iteration of development. “Modern accounting methods make business far more efficient.”

Philosophy. An approach to living that eschews traditionalism, encourages experimentation and accepts the evolution of the aspects of lifestyle listed above as natural and, in most cases, beneficial. “It’s amazing how modern she is compared to her husband, who is very conservative and stuck in the past.”

There is no one perfect definition, and there is no combination that is right for everyone. Choose your own and make it you. For me, ‘modern’ is a measure of quality. It must incorporate quality and taste, craft, detail, and diligence, and requires a critical assessment of possible future utilizations and interpretations. What is your ‘modern’?