Trends In Chicago Architecture

While the building itself stands as an icon of modernism, the empty space in front of the building was also innovative. An open, urban plaza set the building back from Park Avenue and created a gracious pedestrian space. Often emulated, such plazas have become a cliché, but, at the time, Mies was as at the forefront of radical

INTRODUCTION The idea of the American Modernist houses came from European architects (Spark 2008:186; Jordi 1963:177-187) that developed European theories of Modernism in the United States. Therefore architects like Philip Johnson, played a major role in introducing the works of Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius or Le Corbusier into the American society and architecture (Goldberger 2005). This Modernist built structures were characterized by the “open-planning and transparency and commitment to the spatial continuity between the outsides and the insides of the building” (Spark 2008:141). In addition, Modernist architects embraced the idea of the standardization of objects by means of mass production, that would produce exact replicas of items.

Chicago World’s Fair: Two Sides of the Same Coin Chicago won the right to host the World’s Columbian Exposition of 1893, a monumental moment that would leave an impact on America. The mastermind architect behind it, Daniel Burnham, created an event so magnificent that it captured the essence of America itself and heightened its sense of purpose in the world at the time. The competitive atmosphere surrounding it was one of the major factors that influenced the exposition, leaving it as a legacy to be remembered by all who witnessed it. Advanced architectural achievements, increased patriotism, and prevalent racist attitudes were some effects of competition that molded the fair to be both a representation of American values and core beliefs

The Great Chicago Fore changed construction of buildings forever. It was the fastest growing city in the United States and it had been built with wood. The fire burned two-thirds of the city and wiped out the north side. Approximately 300 people died and millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed. Chicago was reconstructed, but with much more thought of fire resistant homes and

With the fair came many new ideas for the type of buildings that are built today. The fair gave way and inspired much of the urban city we see in the city of Chicago today. The buildings built during the fair “was not merely a matter of style, by something that reflected and directed the character of those who lived within it” (Sigur). When the building were planned out , before the fair , the architects wanted it to reflect a new utopian city. Therefore, it reflected those who lived in the city because modernization was happening during the time , thus people wanted more affluent way of life

Randy Gragg wrote “A High-Security, Low-Risk Investment: Private Prisons Make Crime Pay” Gragg is the architecture and urban design critic for the Oregonian, Portland’s daily newspaper. Gragg has written on wars, visual art, film and performance. Randy has shifted his journalistic focus to writing on the built environment. Beyond reviewing completed projects, he has worked to build a larger constituency for better design by frequently writing about buildings and planning efforts in their generative phases when citizens and officials can still affect them through the public review process. Since moving to the Northwest from Nevada, Randy has pursued numerous writing and curatorial projects in art and design.

The Museum Although the city of Chicago is usually associated with well-known historical events, such as the Chicago Fire for example, this wonderful city can also be attributed with hosting two unique and significant historical events—the World’s Fair of 1893 and the establishment of the original Field Museum in 1921. In addition to being held as an event to celebrate Christopher Columbus and the discovery of the “new world” in 1492, the Chicago World’s Fair—also commonly referred to as the World’s Columbian Exposition—was also an opportunity to celebrate art as a whole and to allow for inventors all around the globe to showcase their new devices and art. However, because the World’s Fair of 1983 was a one-time event and was, essentially,

With Chicago being such a diverse city, it’s naturally filled with neighborhoods brimming with culture and life. There are many factors that attribute to modern chicago’s distinctively unique neighborhoods, one obviously being the people that originally founded it. For example, Chicago’s Chinatown was established in the early 1900s by the floods of Chinese immigrants moving into chicago and creating businesses. Another huge influence on a neighborhood’s identity is its historical background. For Lincoln Park, the notorious St. Valentine’s Day Massacre made Chicago Pizza and Oven Grinder’s building famous.

The windows are composed of colored leaded glass arranged into shapes and patterns, which added a bonus level of security; this further obstructed the view from the outside while letting in enough natural light to illuminate the rooms (“Frederick C. Robie

The tall repeating vertical line elements re enforce this subliminally. The pattern of them seem almost constructed to be neither fully prospect nor fully refuge. The way these small wooden columns are seen in the chair backs, small separating walls, the lead panes in windows and the large windows themselves. These patterns let light in but almost with this restrictive membrane that says not too much light or too much shadow. The photos I have attached will hopefully explain this feeling

Chicago appealed to newcomers during the time of the fair, until they were greeted with “smoke… darkness… and the ever-present scent of rotting garbage” (264) that encased the entire town. The disgust of the city was masked by the fair, it fascinated all who knew of it. Even the structures in the city “awed [them]” (264) and made a huge contrast with Chicago itself. The stark differences between Chicago and it’s contents exemplify good and evil walking hand in hand throughout the time period of the World’s

Chicago is one of the most diverse cities in the Unites States. You can meet people from various cultures- but you have to know where to find them. Although Chicago is ethnically diverse, it is also very segregated. Communities tend to be ethnically divided and there are boundaries that isolate them from other groups.

Frank Lloyd Wright is commemorated as the America’s most honored architect. He was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin on June 8th, 1867 and he died on April 9th, 1959. Shortly after finishing his college studies, he turned to be the chief assistant of Louis Sullivan, also known as the “father of skyscrapers”. Later on, he decided to establish his own business and developed an “organic architecture” approach called Prairie school. This lead to generate architectural designs mainly for commercial constructions and homes.

In his career, Koolhaas produced several influential publications, one of which is the 1376 page volume S, M, L, XL in collaboration with graphic artist Bruce Mau and Jennifer Sigler. The book is comprised of a series of essays and manifestos; though their content is captivating enough, the graphic representation; with its use of fully bled images, mix of typefaces and font size is a feat in itself. True to an architect’s nature, all layout is meticulously planned – the book becomes a cinematic showcase through which Koolhaas takes his viewers on a journey that is comprised of his reflections on the city following Delirious New York. The plot of the narrative is provided by cataloguing his projects into four categories – categories which the

The prevailing model for urban housing had been the eighteenth century perimeter block. The perimeter block featured a communal courtyard enclosed by perimeter housing. However, with the new ideologies advocated by many of the ideals of Modernism, the new housing projects began to slowly break and reform the existing model. The gradual disappearance of the enclosed courtyard, the development of linear bars of housing featuring free façade’s marked a shift in housing typologies that now featured a distinctly Modern