PROJECT #2

Thanks again to all of the students for their fabulous stool projects. Congratulations to the official winners of this year's UNDERSTANDING ARCHITECTURE Project #2. Though these awards are completely meaningless (to your grade, that is)... they are still fun! From left to Right:

Most Aesthetically Interesting: Seungyeol Ryou
Most Structurally Efficient: Anton Volovsek
Best Craft or Assembly: Elly Ngoh
Best Joint or Detail: Conrad Diao
Most Structural Strength: Nina Barraco

VIDEO PRESHOW #8 - Ennis House, Los Angeles, CA FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

The Ennis House has been featured in many forms of popular culture since it's construction in 1924 including 3(!!!) music videos. It was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and is the largest of the four textile block houses in the Los Angeles area. For some reason, this house inspires dark videos about break-ups and unrequited love.

MORE CARDBOARD INSPIRATIONS

Not all of these examples would fit the criteria for PROJECT #2, but... they could be worked out to do so.

CARDBOARD INSPIRATIONS - FRANK GEHRY

(from Guggenheim:)

CARDBOARD FURNITURE DESIGNS of FRANK GEHRY
1969–82

Gehry's furniture designs are a "quick fix" of his architectural practice: their realization is relatively immediate and low cost, and they provide a satisfying smaller forum in which various design concerns, including ones relating to his buildings, may be explored. They also demonstrate his fundamental concern with manipulating basic materials in unconventional ways to produce objects that are functional yet also visually striking. For his first designs, Easy Edges (1969–73), Gehry favored the simplicity of corrugated cardboard, a material frequently employed in his architectural models. After discovering that single sheets of cardboard gained exponential strength when layered, he began to manipulate the simple material into graceful, curvilinear chairs and tables. With hardboard facing applied to the flat surfaces, the furniture is immensely durable.

Easy Edges

Experimental Edges (1979–82) is a bulkier series of cardboard pieces, featuring rough, shaggy edges and an improvisational appearance. Gehry used thick corrugated cardboard with a pronounced texture to create this furniture's larger volumes , manipulating their density by combining sheets of varying widths within a single form. Some sheets were intentionally misaligned within the stacks, creating an undulating line and slight ripples. 

VIDEO PRESHOW #7 - Loblolly House, Taylor's Island, MD, KIERAN TIMBERLAKE ARCHITECTS

https://vimeo.com/46306076

This project, the Loblolly House, is made of completely demountable components.

VIDEO PRESHOW #6 - Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE

This is the video I showed on Monday. It features the Farnsworth House (1951) a house designed for Dr. Farnsworth as a weekend retreat from her busy Chicago practice. The architect, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, was one of the twentieth century's most prominent architects.

Peter Eisenman Lecture Tonight

LECTURE TONIGHT

PETER EISENMAN

“Architecture and the Loss of Authority”

6PM, Art + Architecture Building, Lecture Hall (Room 2104)

Mr. Eisenman is an internationally recognized architect and educator. The principal of Eisenman Architects, he has designed large-scale housing and urban design projects, innovative facilities for educational institutions, and a series of inventive private houses. His current projects include the six-building City of Culture of Galicia in Santiago de Compostela, Spain, and a large condominium housing block in Milan, Italy. Mr. Eisenman has taught at Cambridge University, Harvard University, Princeton University, Ohio State University, and The Cooper Union. His many books include Eisenman: Inside Out, Selected Writings 1963–1988; Written into the Void, Selected Writings 1990–2004; Tracing Eisenman; and Giuseppe Terragni: Transformations, Decompositions, Critiques. From 1967 to 1982 he was the director of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York City, which he founded.