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Sert: The Latest Architecture and News

AD Classics: Peabody Terrace / Sert, Jackson & Gourley

Built in 1964 during his tenure as Dean at the Graduate School of Design, Josep Lluís Sert’s Peabody Terrace provides housing for almost 1500 Harvard graduate students and their families. One of several projects Sert designed for Harvard’s campus, it is a manifestation of his vision for the ideal neighborhood. Many elements such as the negotiation of scale, mixed use program, shared open space and design aesthetic were influenced by but represent a departure from earlier modern housing projects.

Peabody Terrace is a prototypical example of a twentieth-century project heralded by the architectural community as an exemplar of progressive modern ideals, but lambasted by neighbors and members of the general public for being unattractive, cold and imposing. This project and others like it highlight the disconnect that can occur between the architectural intelligentsia and the communities in which they build.  

AD Classics: Peabody Terrace / Sert, Jackson & Gourley - Dorms, FacadeAD Classics: Peabody Terrace / Sert, Jackson & Gourley - Dorms, Table, ChairAD Classics: Peabody Terrace / Sert, Jackson & Gourley - Dorms, FacadeAD Classics: Peabody Terrace / Sert, Jackson & Gourley - Dorms, Facade, CityscapeAD Classics: Peabody Terrace / Sert, Jackson & Gourley - More Images+ 21

AD Classics: PPG Place / John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson

AD Classics: PPG Place / John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson - Skyscrapers, Facade, Cityscape
via Wikipedia Commons

The design of PPG Place, by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, melds the notion of the modern corporate tower with a neo-gothic monument. Clad in almost a million square feet of glass manufactured by the anchor tenant PPG industries, the architects ingeniously rethought accepted practices in curtain wall design to create "the crown jewel in Pittsburgh's skyline." (1) The 1.57 million square foot complex was one in a series of high profile corporate projects completed during Johnson's controversial foray into postmodernism.

AD Classics: PPG Place / John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson - Skyscrapers, Facade, Lighting, CityscapeAD Classics: PPG Place / John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson - Skyscrapers, FacadeAD Classics: PPG Place / John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson - Skyscrapers, Facade, CityscapeAD Classics: PPG Place / John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson - SkyscrapersAD Classics: PPG Place / John Burgee Architects with Philip Johnson - More Images+ 28