Mid-Late 20th Century

Question 1

Answer 1

Säynätsalo Town Hall

• example of Aalto’s interest in brick, copper and wood
• provides entire civic center for community
• influenced by Aalto’s travels in Italy (Italian hill towns)
• brick or turf stairs

Question 2

Alvar Aalto

Answer 2

• Finnish architect, designer, sculptor, painter
• architecture, furniture, textiles, glassware
• overtones of Classicism and Romanticism
• many clients were industrialists

Question 3

Eero Saarinen

Answer 3

• Finnish American architect and industrial designer
• famous for shaping neo-futuristic style according to demands of project
• simple, sweeping, arching structural curves or machine-like rationalism
• designed Gateway Arch in St. Louis

Question 4

Answer 4

TWA Terminal, JFK

• fluid, sculptural design reminiscent of flight
• satellite cluster of gates away from main terminal
• most fittings custom designed
• one of first w/enclosed passenger jetways, CCTV, central public address system, baggage carousels, electronic schedule board, and baggage scales
• NYC landmark 1994
• National Register of Historic Places 2004
• built 1956-62

Question 5

Louis I. Kahn

Answer 5

• Fusion of seemingly contradictory sources
• Beaux-Arts influence education from U Penn, acquired concept of served and servant spaces
• symmetrical, hierarchically arranged compositions and monumentality in everyday circumstances
• rendered common uncommon, and uncommon transcendent

Question 6

Answer 6

Kimbell Art Museum

• Ft. Worth, TX
• apparently barrel vaulted bay, structurally cantilevered pairs meeting at continuous skylight
• constructed of poured-in-place concrete, finishes include travertine, oak, and stainless steel
• spaces are ancient Roman in their monumentality, gravity, and finishes
• scale and sense of humanity make spaces neutral enough to function as proper galleries and flexible enough to provide a rich spatial experience
• built 1966-72

Question 7

Robert Venturi

Answer 7

• Student of Louis Kahn
• non-straightforward architecture
• less is a bore
• rooted in cultural diversity of political and social movements, interest in vernacular architecture, New Brutalism, and work of Kahn

Question 8

Answer 8

Venturi House

• Chestnut Hill, PA
• 1962
• Combines simplicity of external form w/complexity of interior layout
• Conventional symbols and elements w/contraditory arrangement
• Cramped entry w/concealed double doors
• Stairs and chimney compete for space
• Oversized fireplace and mantle
• Shingle-style form w/landlord green color
• Original furniture of mixed ancestry

Question 9

Philip Johnson

Answer 9

• Glass house (inspired by Mies)
• eventually abandoned International Style in favor of crystalline buildings in all glass
• less than consistent critical acclaim for designs
• more important as power broker, garnering media attention, and selection of exhibition participants

Question 10

Answer 10

Sony Tower (AT&T Building)

• NYC
• 1984
• breaks completely from Miesian tradition w/references to past architectural styles
• base comprised of giant Serliana
• crown features broken pediment, resembling grandfather clock
• spectacular arched entrancewaY

Question 11

Charles Moore

Answer 11

• Known for gentle but studied playfulness
• making buildings immediately accessible to the public and professionals
• played w/historical allusions mixed w/whimsy
• work criticized as superficial and ephemeral
• supporters considered work refreshing and ironic

Question 12

Answer 12

Piazza d’Italia

• New Orleans
• 1975-79
• for Italian American community
• debuted to widespread acclaim by artists and architects
• rapid decline shortly after as surrounding development never realized
• sometimes referred to as first “postmodern ruin”
• restored 2004
• characterized as flamboyant, wildly Neo-Classical
• contour map of Italy set in a pool of water w/concentric rings of marble paving
• unintentional satire of Italian government because fountain and lights rarely work

Question 13

Michael Graves

Answer 13

• Post-modern architect most agreeable to semioticians
• describes own work as “figurative” w/elements traceable to classical and anthropomorphic sources
• earliest projects neo-Corbusian
• credited w/reintroducing color into 20th century architecture
• style fit well w/clients like Disney
• designed carpets, wallpaper, light fixtures, even placemats and plates for hotel projects

Question 14

Answer 14

Portland Building

• Portland, OR
• 1980
• first major postmodern building
• replete w/quotations from classical architecture: temples on roof (never built), giant keystone, fluted pilasters of indeterminate order, tiered stylobate at street level, color

Question 15

Robert Stern

Answer 15

• Architect, architectural historian, professor
• early influences include Vincent Scully and Philip Johnson
• identified attributes of post-modern architecture: contextualism (connection b/w building and setting); allusionism (referencing previous styles of architecture); ornamentalism (decorative application of symbols, patterns, elements)
• notable for neo-shingle style houses

Question 16

Richard Meier

Answer 16

• Continues early traditions of Modernism
• owes obvious debt to Le Corbusier’s houses of the 1920s
• influenced by spatial layering and light quality of Baroque interiors, and Wright’s Guggenheim Museum
• qualities included gridded plan systems, clearly expressed skin enclosing space, planar elements that slice, penetrate through building, white exteriors
• named one of the New York Five, group of modernist architects practicing in NYC

Question 17

Answer 17

High Museum of Art

• Atlanta, GA
• 1981-84
• leading art museum in southeastern US
• disengaged continuous ramp at atrium
• more conventional orthogonal galleries w/artificial illumination
• criticized as having more beauty than brains
• lobby has almost no exhibition space
• columns throughout the interior restrict the way curators display large works of modern art

Question 18

James Stirling

Answer 18

• British
• one of the most important and influential architects of the 2nd half of the 20th century
• awarded Pritzker Prize in 1981
• knighted in 1982

Question 19

Answer 19

Staatsgalerie

• Stuttgart
• 1977-83
• contains many historical allusions (Greek/Roman pediments, Egyptian cavetto cornices, Mannerist style stonework)
• galleries organized around central open rotunda that functions as a sculpture garden
• reaction to “boring, meaningless, non-committed, faceless flexibility and open-endedness” of current architecture

Question 20

Answer 20

Center Pompidou

• Paris
• 1976
• designed by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers
• contains Public Information Library, National Museum of Modern Art, and IRCAM (music research center)
• structural and mechanical aspects take precedence over formal issues
• articulates and makes visible all components of the building
• interior is plain, unremarkable compared to exterior
• white steel frame w/diagonal bracing
• exterior escalator on front façade
• extreme contrast w/19th century neighborhood

Question 21

Norman Foster

Answer 21

• One of Britain’s most prolific architects of his generation
• Pritzker Prize 1999
• AIA Gold Medal 1994
• influenced by Wright, Mies, Corbu and Oscar Niemeyer
• firm started by designing industrial buildings and eventually office buildings

Question 22

Answer 22

Hong Kong Bank

• 1986
• responds to site w/views of Hong Kong harbor and Victoria Peak by orienting long sides to north and south
• service and mechanical functions on east and west
• public banking spaces 3rd-12th floors around central atrium
• Sunscoop reflects light into space w/mirrors tracking sun’s path
• ground floor almost entirely open plaza
• 8 steel truss legs support floors suspended in 5 modules of diminishing height, results in column-free plan

Question 23

Peter Eisenman

Answer 23

• Primarily known as architectural theoretician
• honed his image as provocateur and man of intellect
• critics see work as contrived and opportunistic
• supporters see work as investigative and serious
• first became known for series of houses (most unbuilt) in late 1960s and early ’70s
• formalistic experiments using colliding and interlocking geometries that are self-referential
• early adopter of CAD

Question 24

Answer 24

House VI

• Cornwall, CT
• 1972
• 2nd built work
• design of house emerges from a conceptual process instead of a functional or aesthetic approach
• limited construction experience meant building was poorly detailed
• took 3 years to build and went over budget
• reconstructed 1987
• building is meant to be a record of the design process, the methodical manipulation of the grid
• use of the building was ignored (allowed a bathroom, staircase w/no handrail, glass in bedroom prevents double bed)

Question 25

Frank Gehry

Answer 25

* strongly influenced by artists * preferred unfinished buildings, developed projects akin to Russian Constructivism * associated with the "L.A. School" (funk art) * interested in sculpture as architecture * work is simultaneously highly personal and born out of clients' programmatic requirements

Question 26

Answer 26

Guggenheim Museum * Bilbao, Spain * 1997 * sparked popular and critical interest equaled by few other 20th century buildings * four-story mass of "pleated petals" clad in titanium shingles * acts as mirror, reflecting and absorbing city * free-form ground floor, upper floors more regular * fulfillment of a Baroque spatial dream made possible by modern building and computer technology

Question 27

Glenn Murcutt

Answer 27

* Comparable to Alvar Aalto * architectural influences include Mies, Richard Neutra and Craig Ellwood, Sydney School of Designers, and Australian agricultural buildings * interested in lightweight, permeable structures, usually long and thin * oriented north and south (long side) for proper ventilation and solar orientation * skins accept louvers and screens that modulate climatic forces and provide surface articulation * water features significantly in projects * "touch the earth lightly"

Question 28

Answer 28

Marika-Alderton House * Eastern Arnhem Land, Australia * 1991-94 * commissioned by aboriginal leader * monsoonal tropical climate * conceived as prototype and viable alternative to aboriginal public housing (brick w/small windows) * prefabricated off-site * elemental - pitched roof, timber platform, and operable skin float in relation to each other * experienced as an elevated shaded platform