©Wikipedia

The inspiring imagination of Antoni Gaudí undoubtedly reveals itself in one of his most poetic and artistic designs for a building, Casa Batlló. His synthesis of animal shapes, vine-like curves, hints of bone and skeleton, and his use of lustrous colored bits of glazed ceramic and glass create a masterpiece that will forever astonish its observers.

More on Casa Batlló after the break.

read more »

© Jeff Dean

Located in Racine, Wisconsin, the SC Johnson and Son Administration Building is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most important statements about the nature of office buildings. H.F. Johnson Jr. commissioned Wright to design a worldwide headquarters administration building for the family company and in 1936 Wright’s drawings were approved and the building officially opened in April of 1939.

Often referred to as the Johnson Wax Building, its most identifiable element are the dendriform columns, the name used by Wright because of their tree like shape. Wright’s ability to effortlessly incorporate the organic metaphor into his architecture is revealed in the building via a tall slender mushroom column that tapers to a base of a mere 9-inch diameter. They rise 30 feet and terminate at the roof level as broad circular lily pads of concrete 18 1/2 feet wide. Wright’s imagination led to creating these hollow cored columns that serve as storm water drains and which feature hinged bases with pin jointed bronze shoes. The circular lily pads of concrete are woven together by a membrane of Pyrex glass tubing that illuminate spaces with natural light. The use of Pyrex glass tubing allowed for a lot of diffused light to enter the interior of the Johnson Wax Building. The large workspace is well lit with indirect light and very little glare, resulting in a work environment conducive for creativity.

More on the S.C. Johnson and Son Administration Building following the break.

read more »

© Andrew Kroll

After the completion of Centre Pompidou in 1977 with Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers was commissioned to design a new building to replace the original Lloyd’s insurance building in London.  It would be the second expansion in the history of the company’s headquarters due to the overcrowded conditions of hundreds of people working with international insurance cases.  Completed in1986, the Lloyd’s building brought a high-tech architectural aesthetic to the medieval financial district of London that was previous implemented in the design of the Centre Pompidou in Paris.

Since 1928, the site has been home to the Lloyd’s of London; one of the largest insurance firms in the world dating back to the 17^th Century.   After it originated in the 17^th Century, the Lloyd’s of London has grown from an insurance company dealing from within the United Kingdom to working on a global scale, taking on staff and clientele at an unprecedented rate, which has required several expansions; the largest and most prominent being Roger’s. read more »

© Cooney-Hughes

Initially intending to design a housing structure as a set of prefabricated units hoisted onto a structural frame, the ideas and visual intricacies of Paul Rudolph‘s Colonnade Condominiums were developments of the previously designed but unbuilt Graphic Arts Center of Manhattan.

More on The Colonnade Condominiums after the break.

read more »

© Reji K. A

In 1981, the newly elected French president, Francois Mitterrand, launched a campaign to renovate cultural institutions throughout France.  One of the most advantageous of those projects was the renovation and reorganization of the Louvre.  In 1983 after touring Europe and the United States, President Mitterrand commissioned the Chinese American architect, I.M. Pei.  It was the first time that a foreign architect was enlisted to work on the Louvre museum.

Completed in 1989, I.M. Pei’s renovation redesigned Cour Napoleon, the main court of the Louvre, in order to alleviate the congestion from the thousands of daily visitors.  A new grand entrance provided a convenient, central lobby space separate from the galleries, which provided focal point for the cyclical process of one’s experience through the museum.   In addition to providing a new entrance to the Louvre, Pei’s design featured a new underground system of galleries, storage, and preservation laboratories, as well as a connection between the wings of the museum.  The addition and relocation of the supporting spaces of the museum allowed for the Louvre to expand its collection and place more work on exhibit. read more »

© Patricia Parinejad

One of the more inspirational and influential architects of the twentieth century, John Lautner was revered in the world of architecture and design throughout his sixty-year-long career. Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright and Frank Gehry give a substantial amount of credit to Lautner, who influenced their designs and minds as architects. As is obvious in his architecture and especially in the Schwimmer House, Lautner valued attention to space, materiality and relationship with the natural environment.

More on John Lautner and the Schwimmer House after the break.

read more »

© Thomas Lewandovski

After World War II, post-war Europe was suffering from a lack of housing with many displaced people from the extensive bombing raids.  In response to the housing crisis in Europe, Le Corbusier began delving into designing large scale, communal residences for the victims of World War II. One of the most notable projects in this series was the Unite d’ Habitation in Marseilles, France. This project had inspired a continued implementation of the design type across Europe. The fourth building in the series is the Corbusierhaus in Berlin, Germany. Completed in 1959, it was designed as a symbol for the modernization of Germany after the war and the Cold War. read more »

© Michael Graves

A bright and fun building that stands out against it’s surroundings, Michael Graves is well respected for his design that brought hope to the families of children with disabilities in Washington D.C. and surrounding areas.

St. Coletta was founded in 1959 by a couple with a child diagnosed with Down Syndrome. As they had history dealing with the struggle of finding an educational system that worked for their child, they decided to establish the school as a special education charter which serviced and educated children with severe or multiple disabilities. The bright colors and simple forms make it very fitting for the people that the building serves, as it is fun, playful and inviting.

More on St. Coletta School after the break.

read more »

© Thomas Lewandovski

Interested in creating a new form of design found at the intersection of architecture, art, industrial design, typography, graphic design, and interior design, Walter Gropius was inspired to create an institution known as the Bauhaus at Dessau, with an emerging style that would forever influence architecture.

Initially a school in Weimar, growing political resentment forced the move to Dessau. Gropius took this as an opportunity to build a school that reflected his hopes for the education that would be had within it’s walls. The style of the Dessau facilities hints at the more futuristic style of Gropius in 1914, also showing similarities to the International style more than the Neo-classic style.

More on the Bauhaus after the break.

read more »

© Ed Brodzinsky

Louis Kahn was known for his infusion of culture and creating a sense of place within modern architecture.  Although it may not be as well known as some of his other projects around the world, the First Unitarian Church in Rochester, New York is one of Kahn’s most impressive works.  Completed slightly after the Salk Institute in 1967, it replaced their previous church that was designed by Richard Upjohn, founder of the AIA, which was demolished during urban redevelopment in Rochester.  The First Unitarian Church combines modern design aesthetic with traditional Unitarian values that promotes community and unites everyone at the heart of the building, the sanctuary. read more »

©New York Times- Tony Cenicola

Famous on all ends of the architectural spectrum, the Orange County Government Center takes Paul Rudolph‘s fundamental ideas of the houses he designed decades before to a much larger scale. This fascinating architectural structure was built to be the office and government of Orange County in New York, containing everything from records to a Department of Motor Vehicles for the state.

The obviously brutalist style was infused with Rudolph’s interest in “working with Mies Van Der Rohe’s concept of implied space.”

More on the Orange County Government Center after the break.

read more »

© Wojtek Gurak

After World War II, the need for housing was at an unprecedented high.  The Unite d’ Habitation in Marseille, France was the first large scale project for the famed architect, Le Corbusier.  In 1947, Europe was still feeling the effects of the Second World War, when Le Corbusier was commissioned to design a multi-family residential housing project for the people of Marseille that were dislocated after the bombings on France.  Completed in 1952, the Unite d’ Habitation was the first of a new housing project series for Le Corbusier that focused on communal living for all the inhabitants to shop, play, live, and come together in a “vertical garden city.” read more »

© Cara Hyde-Basso

In the commune of Ronchamp, slightly south of east of Paris, sits one of Le Corbusier’s most unusual projects of his career, Notre Dame du Ronchamp, or more commonly referred to as Ronchamp.  In 1950, Le Corbusier was commissioned to design a new Catholic church to replace the previous church that had been destroyed during World War II.

The site of Ronchamp has long been a religious site of pilgrimage that was deeply rooted in Catholic tradition, but after World War II the church wanted a pure space void of extravagant detail and ornate religious figures unlike its predecessors.  Ronchamp is deceptively modern such that it does not appear as a part of Corbusier’s aesthetic or even that of the International Style; rather it sits in the site as a sculptural object.  The inability to categorize Ronchamp has made it one of the most important religious buildings of the 20^th Century, as well as Corbusier’s career. read more »

© Casacara

One of the fundamental rules of architecture as taught in beginning design courses is the importance of pushing the system. An idea should be so wholly thought out and executed that the design rules and logic are obvious to anyone, even if it is at the most elementary level. Paul Rudolph, 1918-1997, understood without a doubt how to successfully design a building that could be read for what it was conceived to be, as is the case with the Milam Residence of Jacksonville, Florida.

Using concrete to yield a front facade that is readable even from a distance, Rudolph explores the separation of interior and exterior spaces as the framework exhibited is independent of the structure behind it. Although detached from the program of the house, the rectangles and squares of the orthogonal facade occasionally relate interior rooms at various levels by the formation of sun screens, making the design both visually stimulating and functional.

More on the Milam Residence after the break.

read more »

© Tony Monk

A remarkable architect not only designs on one scale, but can shift between residential and large-scale buildings while maintaining a distinct style or set of techniques to link them all together.

The houses of Paul Rudolph have withstood the tests of time, both in the physical sense and in their ability to be greatly appreciated and admired even as architectural styles evolve. His residences are marked by his explorative uses of structure and inventive building techniques.

Fort Worth, Texas holds one of the few houses built by Rudolph outside of Florida. The Bass Residence of the early 1970s is evidence of his attempts to fuse a new and old architecture style “whose richness came not from applied ornament but from spatial complexities developed from structure and the three dimensional elaboration of the program.”

The Bass Residence marks the most ambitious housing project of Rudolph, and the intensity of overlapping horizontal volumes and pronounced cantilevers show his rigor in designing a cohesive unit whose ideas can be read and comprehended by any architect or unstudied person alike.

More on the Bass Residence after the break.

read more »

©Flickr - username: rafael rybczynski

A collage of materials amongst the trunks of countless birch trees in the Finnish landscape, the Villa Mairea built by Alvar Aalto in 1939 is a significant dwelling that marks a transition from traditional to modern architecture. Built as a guest house and rural retreat for Harry and Maire Gullichsen, Aalto was given permission to experiment with his thoughts and styles, which becomes clear when studying the strangely cohesive residence.

More on Villa Mairea after the break.

read more »

© Flavio Bragaia

Situated in Poissy, a small commune outside of Paris, is one of the most significant contributions to modern architecture in the 20^th century, Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier.  Completed in 1929, Villa Savoye is a modern take on a French country house that celebrates and reacts to the new machine age.  The house single handedly transformed Le Corbusier’s career as well as the principles of the International Style; becoming one of the most important architectural precedents in the history.  Villa Savoye’s detachment from its physical context lends its design to be contextually integrated into the mechanistic/industrial context of the early 20^th century, conceptually defining the house as a mechanized entity.

read more »

© Dave Morris

While Louis Kahn was designing the National Assembly Building in Bangladesh in 1962, he was approached by an admiring Indian architect, Balkrishna Doshi, to design the 60 acre campus for the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad, India.  Much like his project in Bangladesh, he was faced with a culture enamored in tradition, as well as an arid desert climate.  For Kahn, the design of the institute was more than just efficient spatial planning of the classrooms; he began to question the design of the educational infrastructure where the classroom was just the first phase of learning for the students. read more »