Greg LeMaire
AD Classics: Prince Home and Studio / Bart Prince
Nestled in the suburbs of Albuquerque, New Mexico are the otherworldly forms of Bart Prince’s Personal Residence and Studio. As home and work place for the architect the structure truly reflects Prince’s main design principle that form so closely follows function. This ideal leads to the relatively uncommon architecture produced by Bart Prince. More after the break.
Aptos Retreat Residence / CCS Architecture
Architects: CCS Architecture
Location: Aptos, California, USA
Project Year: 2009
Project Area: Residence, 2800 square feet; Barn, 1600 square feet
Interior Designer: Lynn Ross Designs
Landscape Designer: Natalain Schwartz Designs
Structural Engineer: Ron Belknap
Civil Engineer: David Dauphin
Tent Cabins: Sweetwater Bungalows
Photographs: Paul Dyer
AD Classics: Bavinger House / Bruce Goff
The mid-century modern movement found an odd yet welcoming home in the small town of Norman, Oklahoma. One of its most notable contributors was organic aficionado Bruce Goff. Goff came to popularity in the 1940’s as both instructor and practitioner of his eclectic brand of architecture. Goff’s 1950′s Bavinger House is seen by many as the crowning achievement of his extensive body of work.
AD Classics: Cosmic Rays Pavilion / Felix Candela
The Cosmic Rays Pavilion represents one of the first experiments with parabolic structures. The double curved structure is made of a very thin layer of concrete, exemplifying its structural and design capabilities. These mathematically complex structures define the popular architecture of the pavilion’s designer Felix Candela.
AD Classics: Xanadu House / Roy Mason
Heralded as “House of the Future”, the Xanadu House by Roy Mason is a domed structure constructed completely form insulating polyurethane foam. The house was appropriately built less than 30 miles away from Disney World’s “Land of Tomorrow” Epcot Center and the two were opened only a few months apart.
Pratt Institute 2011 Fall Lecture Series
Pratt Institute School of Architecture fall lecture series will feature several large names in architecture along with their continuing exhibition of Latin American architecture and with strong emphasis on disaster architecture. All lectures to take place on the Brooklyn Campus will begin at 6 pm in the Higgins Hall Auditorium at 61 St. James Place, unless otherwise noted.
All Manhattan Campus lectures will begin at 6:30 pm and will take place at 144 West 14th Street, Room 213. All lectures are free and open to the public.
The dates of the lectures after the break:
AD Classics: David S. Ingalls Skating Rink / Eero Saarinen
Built in 1958, the David S Ingalls Skating Rink is characterized by a sweeping domed roof, was designed by Yale graduate Eero Saarinen and is lovingly known as the Yale whale. This hockey rink contains a span 200 feet long by 85 feet wide and does so with a natural sense of flow and polish.
AD Classics: Yale Center for British Art / Louis Kahn
Across the street from Louis Kahn’s first significant piece of architecture stands his last. The Yale Center for British Art was completed in 1974, the year of Kahn’s death and 23 years after its neighbor, The Yale University Art Gallery was finished. A style and theoretical change throughout a career is visible in one scene.
Investigating Architecture Through Sculpture
Architecture often attempts to play with several spatial and formal concepts but the extent of this experimentation is often limited by budgetary and engineering constraints. Sculpture is a medium with which formal and spatial tests can be performed to an aesthetic extent without architectural limitation. There are several modern sculptors whose products can be seen as architecture. Here we will look at the works of Robert Smithson, Richard Serra and Anish Kapoor.
The Economic Advantages of the Greenway
The greenway is a modern twist on an outdated concept. Ancient cities sprung up around trade routes. Many modern US cities were originally formed according to access to a local train station or navigable river. Today’s metropolises were brought to success by an advanced highway system. All of these circumstances were brought about by two prevailing factors, location and traffic. In a post-modern world however, when the infrastructure has been laid and a consumer society comes to live for a variety of new reasons how can these concepts be applied. The answer lies, partially at least, within the recent push for a developed greenway system.
AD Classics: Alden B. Dow Home and Studio / Alden Dow
The Alden B. Dow Home and Studio, design by architect Alden Dow himself, masterfully incorporates work and domestic life in an interwoven fabric with the natural world. Using patented “Unit Blocks” the structure is given a sense of organicism and scale. A winding circulation serves to both separate programs within the home and add organic interest to the plan.
Googie Architecture: Futurism Through Modernism
At the peak of the modern era, a meshing of car culture and the Space Age brought about the gaudy and garnished Googie architecture. The signatures Googie style lie in sweeping arches and hard angles, cantilevered roofs and bold colors, and, its most relative homage to the Space Age, the starburst. The first of the Googie style, and its namesake, was a coffee shop designed by architect John Lautner by the name of “Googies”. With its place on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles the new style caught the eye of many passersby who began to associate the style with the glamour of Hollywood. The spread of this movement from Southern California went most notably north and south along the shore to become a symbol of west coast futurism.
AD Classics: Prairie Chicken House / Herb Greene
The Greene Residence, dubbed the “Prairie Chicken House” by Life Magazine, was built on the prairies of Norman, Oklahoma in 1961 and quickly became a symbol of organic modernism. Architect Herb Greene took the organic movement of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff to a new freestyle level in the design of his personal home. Built for himself and his family, the house conveys a sense of place and purpose.
Pedro Point Shopping Center / Lowney Architecture
Architect: Lowney Architecture
Location: Pacifica, California, USA
Project Team: Ken Lowney, Tim Sloat, Tony Valadez
General Contractor: Pankow Special Projects, L.P.
Structural Engineer: Ingraham DeJesse Associates
Project Year: 2007
Project Area: 17,000 sp ft Anchor Space, 3,000 sq ft Retail Space
Photographs: Courtesy of Lowney Architecture
Summerhill Residence / Edmonds + Lee Architects
Architect: Edmonds + Lee Architects
Location: Kenwood, California, USA
Project Team: Robert Edmonds, Vivian Lee
Project Area: 4,095 sqf
Project Year: 2008
Structural Engineer: Double-D Engineering
Civil Engineer: Dimensions 4 Engineering
Photographs: Bruce Damonte Photography
AD Classics: JFK Presidential Library / I.M. Pei
After a nine year process and fourteen possible architects the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library was finally finished and dedicated on October 20, 1979. Architect I.M. Pei’s signature geometric shapes of concrete steel and glass created an appropriate stately monumentality. A juxtaposition of spaces and light quality along with a defined and lucid circulation creates a logical story line of its namesake.
Nueva School / Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
Architects: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects
Location: Hillsborough, California, USA
Project Year: 2007
Sources: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, AIA, CaseStudy
Photographs: Leddy Maytum Stacy Architects, Tim Griffith
Marysville Getchell High School / DLR Group
Architect: DLR Group
Location: Marysville, Washington, USA
Project Year: 2010
Photographs: DLR Group
Ruby Springs PREFAB / Medicine Hat Inc.
Architect: Medicine Hat Inc.
Location: Ruby Springs, Montana, USA
Project Year: 2010
Interior: Shack Up Studio
Photographs: Will Brewster / Medicine Hat Inc.
