Farnsworth House, (Plano, IL); 1951; Modernist

The Farnsworth House is a steel and glass house that was designed by architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. It was built in 1951 and it was commissioned by Dr. Edith Farnsworth, a nephrologist, because she decided that it would be a good place for her to fulfill her hobbies, which were playing the violin, enjoying nature, and translating poetry. The Farnsworth House is considered one of most iconic masterpieces of the International Style of architecture. It became a part of the National Register of Historic Places in 2014 and was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2016. The house is currently being owned by a historic preservation group called National Trust for Historic Preservation, and is being operated as a historic house museum. It was used as a private house for Dr. Edith Farnsworth until 2003 when it became a public museum.

The Farnsworth House is located in a once rural setting on the edge of the Fox River, just south of Plano, Illinois. Plano is a small city that is located southwest of Chicago, about an hour and half away. The Farnsworth House is a house that is not very easy to live in. Its structure is made of precast concrete floor and roof slabs while being supported by a steel frame made of beams, girders, and columns. The facade has single panes of glass that goes from the floor to ceiling. The concrete floor has radiant coils placed inside so that the house can be heated. There is also shade that is provided by nearby trees, though it does not really provide much in terms of cooling. (“The Farnsworth House”) It is the first piece of domestic architecture that has glass walls on all four sides and does not have interior walls to support it.

The Farnsworth House was recognized before it was even built. A model of the Farnsworth House was displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1947. It was placed next to the unbuilt Resor House, also one of Mies’ projects. The house was described with these statements: “The Farnsworth House with its continuous glass walls is an even simpler interpretation of an idea. Here the purity of the cage is undisturbed. Neither the steel columns from which it is suspended nor the independent floating terrace break the taut skin.” The idea of this building was to choose the colors, materials, and details wisely. Though the practibility of the house was often questioned by other architects, this house is known as one of Mies van der Rohe’s best works of art. (“History of the Farnsworth House”)

 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was a German-American architect who lived from 1886 to 1969. He was born as Maria Ludwig Michael Mies, but he was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. He is considered one of the pioneers of modernist architecture, along with Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and Frank Lloyd Wright. Mies’ style started to develop around 1920, where he combined modern contemporaries with a minimalistic aesthetic. He relied heavily on the usage of glass to show that there is no boundary between the interior and exterior of a building. He also ignored the traditional style of buildings with enclosed rooms. The start of his architectural fame was created when he proposed an all glass tower in 1921 called the Friedrichstrasse Skyscraper and when he designed the Barcelona Pavilion in 1929. (“Spotlight: Mies van der Rohe”)

Works Cited

“The Farnsworth House.” Farnsworth House by Mies Van Der Rohe, www.columbia.edu/cu/gsapp/BT/GATEWAY/FARNSWTH/farnswth.html.

“Spotlight: Mies Van Der Rohe.” ArchDaily, 27 Mar. 2018, www.archdaily.com/350573/happy-127th-birthday-mies-van-der-rohe.


“History of the Farnsworth House.” Farnsworth House, https://farnsworthhouse.org/history-farnsworth-house/

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Villa Muller, (Prague,Czech Republic); 1930; Modern architecture

Image
The Villa Muller is located in Prague,Czech Republic. The building is designed by  Adolf Loos  in 1930. The project has appointed by the civil engineer and building contractor Frantisek Müller to design a new house for his family in 1928. The project has shown Loos’s ideas of economy and functionality, and it has name as an innovative landmark of early modernist architecture. The spacing has designed in multi-level parts of individual rooms, to show the functions and symbol. The exterior design of Villa Muller, Adolf Loos has made it white cubic façade to make it shin when the sun irradiates to the house. The fence has set higher because the architect wants to show the exterior to public, but keep the interior space to private. That’s why he designed a grant, and comfortable furniture that made by marble, wood, and silk surface. This method is representing his theory discussion” Ornament and Crime” in 1908. Adolf Loos separates the private inside and public ...
Read more

Villa Wagner I, Vienna, Austria.1886-1888; Early 20th Century Pioneers

Image
Villa Wagner I, Vienna, Austria.1886-1 888; Early 20th Century Pioneers The Villas were designed and constructed by modernist architect, Otto Wagner in Hüttelbergstraße 26, district fourteen of Vienna, lower eastern Austria. This heavily wooded part of the Alps, also known as Penzing, is the home of both Villas, which happen to occupy adjacent lots. The first Villa, larger than the second, was constructed between 1886 and 1888, founding of the Secession the year after. The Villas were constructed by Otto to be residences, but now the original Villa is owned by the heirs of painter Ernst Fuchs. Villa Wagner I is known today as the Ernst Fuchs Private Museum (Unknown, "Wagner Villa I and II").   When Wagner began construction of the first Villa, he intended to make this place a center of relaxation and somewhere where his family could rest. It has some relationship to the nearby Hütteldorf forest, with the first villa at the end of it (Unknown, "Wagner V...
Read more

Secession Building

Image
This building was a masterpiece done by Gustav Klimt, one of the most widely recognized artworks of Secession style. It is even on the national side of the Austrian coin (.50). The Vienna Secession was founded in 1897 by Gustav Klimt, Joseph Maria Olbrich, and Josef Hoffman. Because Vienna was becoming a growing metropolis and it was supposed to be represented that way. They were inspired by arts and craft and organic geometries, essentially an abstract architecture. The building has a covered courtyard structure, it provided for gallery space on all sides of a large top-lit rectangular exhibition hall in the center. The materials used in this building was mainly masonry and metal. the crowning element sketched by Klimt included a perforated metal dome, suspended between four pylons and set above profiled planar masses. The slogan of the Secessionist movement is written above the entrance of the pavilion: "To every age its art, to every art its freedom”. Below the motto, the...
Read more