Well, I admit it, the Modernists won. In large part due to the guy who designed this house, not because of what he or TAC built, but because of all the people who were educated, and continue to be educated, at the Harvard GSD. I think the American/GSD hegemony is waning, but the victory of an American oriented, modernist design style can be seen on the skylines of every major city. Granted, the ideas came from German architects, but they realized their artistic ambitions in the U.S. Nobody is building Chrysler Buildings, but everyone is building Seagram buildings.
The most important design feature modernism is the smooth plane. It can manifest itself as a curved glass curtain wall, as a flat roof, or as the metal panels on a car-dealership. This desire for "flatness" stands in contrast to articulated and decorated surfaces that we associate with Greek temples and their millions of offspring.
No comments:
Post a Comment