Megan Sveiven
Flashback: Sendai Mediatheque / Toyo Ito
With the intentions of designing a transparent cultural media center that is supported by a unique system to allow complete visibility and transparency to the surrounding community, the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito is revolutionary in it’s engineering and aesthetic.
Six steel-ribbed slabs slabs, each 15-3/4″ thick, appear to float from the street, supported by only thirteen vertical steel lattice columns that stretch from ground plane to the roof. This striking visual quality that is one of the most identifiable characteristics of the project is comprable to large trees in a forest, and function as light shafts as well as storage for all of the utilities, networks and systems.
More on the Sendai Mediatheque by Toyo Ito after the break.
Camera Obscura / AA Visiting School Eugene 2012
A small group of diverse students participating in the inaugural AA Visiting School Eugene were given the responsibility to design and build something that would enhance and reflect the forest, within a ten-day timeframe.
More on the Camera Obscura after the break.
AD Classics: Muuratsalo Experimental House / Alvar Aalto
Soon after the passing of his wife in 1949, Alto began the design for a summer getaway for himself on the western shore of island Muuratsalo, Finland. Through the process of designing the house, it became an experimental study of materiality, architecture construction and philosophies.
More on Alvar Aalto‘s Experimental House after the break.
Flashback: Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth / Tadao Ando
Architect: Tadao Ando
Location: Fort Worth, Texas, United States
Site Architect: Kendall-Heaton Associates
Landscape Architect: SWA Group
Structural Engineer: Thornton-Tomasetti/Ellisor-Tanner Engineers
Contractor: Linbeck Construction Corp.
Project Area: 10.96 acres
Project Year: 2002
Photographs: Liao Yusheng
AD Classics: Vitra Design Museum and Factory / Frank Gehry
An independent private foundation, the Vitra Museum was founded in 1989 by the CEO Rolf Fehlbaum. Focusing mainly on furniture and interior design, the museum features work from Charles and Ray Eames, George Nelson, Alvar Aalto, Verner Panton, Dieter Rams, Richard Hutten and Michael Thonet. The modern architecture which houses these collections was the first building of Frank Gehry in Europe, and included the museum for Rolf Fehlbaum’s private collection, production hall, and gatehouse for the factory of Vitra.
More on the museum after the break.
AD Classics: The Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption / Pietro Belluschi and Pier-Luigi Nervi
With the fascinating fusion of traditional Catholic faith and modern technology, the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption has become a distinct landmark in the cityscape of San Francisco. Designed by architects Pietro Belluschi and Pier Luigi Nervi using what was considered the most top of the line engineering, the form of the chapel attracts visitors from all parts of the world and religious spectrum.
More history on the Cathedral of St. Mary of the Assumption after the break.
Flashback: Caltrans District 7 Headquarters / Morphosis
Architects: Morphosis – Thom Mayne
Location: 100 South Main St., Los Angeles, California, United States
Project Team: Morphosis Team
Client: State of California, Department of General Services
Construction Years: 2002-2004
Building Area: 1,200,000 gross sq ft
Photographs: Liao Yusheng, Roland Halbe
AD Classics: Wall House 2 / John Hejduk
With a history unlike any other, Wall House 2 redefines the limits of architectural design as a function of context in both time and culture. 28 years after the completion of the initial designs and one year after the death of architect John Hejduk, construction began in a completely different environment than where it was initially imagined.
The house is a study of the relationship between inside and outside and is reminiscent of Corbusian architecture, although a bit more eccentric.
More on the history of Wall House 2 after the break.
Flashback: Hearst Tower / Foster and Partners
Architect: Foster and Partners
Location: Midtown Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
Project Design: Norman Foster
Structural Engineer: WSP Cantour Seinuk
Construction: Turner Construction
Project Area: 46 stories; 860,000 sq ft
Project Year: 2003-2006
Photographs: Chuck Choi
AD Classics: Jyvaskyla University / Alvar Aalto
After entering a general planning competition at the end of May 1951 for the Jyvaskyla Institute of Pedagogics, Alvar Aalto was immediately commissioned to begin working on the plans of each of the individual buildings that were to be added amidst existing complex. He was awarded first prize with his entry ‘Urbs’, which is reminiscent of some of his previous projects. The U pattern formed by the buildings frames the open center space, where a sports field is accessible by foot.
More on Jyvaskyla University by Alvar Aalto after the break.
AD Classics: Esherick House / Louis Kahn
An architect celebrated for his breathtaking studies of light and materiality in the creation of memorable architecture, Louis Kahn did not fail to maintain his rigor in the Esherick House of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Admired for it’s spatial and luminous qualities, this is the first residence of its kind to convey the grand ideas of Kahn-style architecture. The two story dwelling, which is one of only nine private houses designed by Kahn to come into realization, rests on a lively six acre garden.
More information on the Esherick House after the break.
AD Classics: Chapel of the Holy Cross / Richard Hein
The Chapel of the Holy Cross built in the red rocks of Sedona, Arizona is the epitome of what many architects try to achieve when designing religious architecture. It’s reliance on the symbolic rock as it’s foundation and the sprawling views of the surrounding environment create a humbling and spiritual experience within the walls of the church.
The chapel was inspired and commissioned by a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, sculptor Marguerite Brunswig Staude, who worked with project architect Richard Hein and architect August K. Strotz to complete this noteworthy and award winning chapel. More on the Chapel of the Holy Cross after the break.
AD Classics: Willey House / Frank Lloyd Wright
Completed in 1934, the Willey House by Frank Lloyd Wright is often described as the fusion of his two greater known styles, the Prairie School and the Usonian style. From it’s exterior it possess many of the same visual qualities of his older designs, but also other implications of his newer and developing style. More on Frank Lloyd Wright‘s Willey House after the break.
AD Classics: Whitney Museum / Marcel Breuer
Containing one of the most reputable collections of American art from the 20 and 21st centuries, the Whitney Museum designed by Bauhaus-trained architect Marcel Breuer is an easily recognizable landmark of Manhattan. It is known for emphasizing exhibitions of work of living artists while also maintaining an extensive permanent collection of other important pieces from the first half of the century.
More on the Whitney Musuem by Marcel Breuer after the break.
AD Classics: Wainwright Building / Louis Sullivan
Among the first skyscrapers built in the world, the Wainwright Building by Louis Sullivan and partner Dankmar Adler is regarded as an influential prototype of a modern office architecture.
The building aesthetically exemplifies the theories of Sullivan’s tall building, with the tripartite composition of base, shaft and attic, which is based on the structure of the classical column.
AD Classics: Endless House / Friedrick Kiesler
Friedrick Kiesler was a strong believer in an elastic spatial concept, one that must be capable of providing an optimum response to the varying social concerns and uses of its occupants. The initial shape of the Endless House shows a flattened spheroid, which became a basis for his Manifesto of Correalism. One of his main arguments for the derivation of the shape is that it is based on a lighting system; a shape that would allow ample light to reach every corner of the room without being broken up by corners and interior walls of a conventional building.
More on The Endless House by Friedrick Kiesler after the break.
AD Classics: Great Lakes Naval Training Center, Hostess House / SOM
As the first military project of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, the Great Lakes Naval Training Center takes the form of a rectangle and stretches along a long narrow site. The diverse program includes a reading and writing room, reception room, lounge, terrace and offices. Hostess House is the only surviving World War II-era building designed by Gordon Bunshaft.
More on the Hostess House, or Great Lakes Naval Training Center after the break.
AD Classics: Majolikahaus / Otto Wagner
An apartment building in Vienna, the Majolikahaus designed by Otto Wagner in the turn of the 20th century emanates some of the most classic details of the Art Nouveau style. In Vienna this was referred to as the Secession style, with the same connotations of Art Nouveau but in a more specific context of their country.
More on the Majolikahaus by Otto Wagner after the break.
AD Classics: Kimbell Art Museum / Louis Kahn
Located in Fort Worth, Texas, the Kimbell Art Museum by Louis Kahn has become a mecca for all who are interested in modern architecture. The element of natural light is the main focus of the design, and creates elegant spaces that are perfectly suited for the art that it houses.
More on Louis Kahn and the Kimbell Art Museum after the break.
AD Classics: Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University / I.M. Pei
With a desire to make a dramatic statement while maintaining an optimal amount of scenic views, transparent open spaces and windows beautifully contrast the heaviness and boldness of the rectangular forms of concrete.
More on the Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University by I.M. Pei after the break.
AD Classics: R.W. Lindholm Service Station / Frank Lloyd Wright
An architect with upwards of 500 built projects, Frank Lloyd Wright was also recognized for his proposed Utopian vision of a new urban landscape, known as Broadacre City, which he developed throughout most of his life and described in his book The Disappearing City in 1932.
This proposition stood as both a planning statement and a socio-political scheme, in which each U.S. family would receive an acre of land from the federal lands reserves. Wright unveiled a detailed twelve by twelve foot scaled model that represented a four square mile section of the hypothetical community. The R.W. Lindholm Service Station is the only part of his Broadacre designs that was realized.
More on Frank Lloyd Wright‘s R.W. Lindholm Service Station after the break.
