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CROWN HALL (1956) " Less is more " S.R. Crown Hall Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe was born in Aachen, Germany in 1886. Growing up, he was brought into his father's stone carving business and eventually started to work at local design firms. Exploring other firms and practices, he eventually crossed paths with greats like Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. After World War I, he fled to the United States and began practicing his architecture in a different tone. Mies originally was interested in Traditionalism and ornament. His early projects conveyed historical styles and classic facades, but his shift in interest then steered him towards a more modernist approach. Eventually, Mies started to get recognition for his work and was involved in projects like the Barcelona Pavilion which was a part of the Weissenhofsiedlung, Bauhaus, IIT Masterplan and more. The project that really started to showcase Mies' understanding of structure and grid was S.R. Crown Hall, a facil...

   Bass Residence       The Bass Residence was located in Fort Worth Texas, and commissioned to be designed by Paul Rudolph in 1970. Construction was completed in 1976, and this structure was said to be one of Rudolph’s most ambitious residential projects based on size and scope. The Bass Residence is an example of his experimental ideas, attempting to bridge the styles of new and old architectural styles “whose richness came not from applied ornament but from spatial complexities developed from structure and the three dimensional elaboration of the program”. This is similar to the manifesto of Adolf Loos, “Ornament and Crime”, although this particular project was said to be heavily influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Waters, as well as Mies van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth House. The spatial diversity and complexity of the Bass Residence surpasses that of the aforementioned projects, however. The layout of t...

The start of New-Brutalism The Smithson high school , previously known as the hunstanton high school was built in 1954 by architects Alison and Peter Smithson. The commission for the high school was the first for the young architects. “Alison met Peter, the team of architects won their first commission when they were still in their twenties. Hunstanton Secondary Modern School(Norfolk, 1949-1954) offered a rare opportunity for them to realise their bold idealised vision”. The building is a two story rectangle with a central void, a flat roof and two indoor courtyards. “The noisy elements such as the workshops, gymnasium and kitchen are without the main block”. The building’s program is divided into noisy vs not noisy. The project is made up of two structures and two courtyards. The noisy program and not noisy program is separated through the courtyards. The couple got inspiration from Mies van der Rohe and wanted to incorporate his ide...

A School Ahead of its Time Design by Walter Gropius the Bauhaus in Germany Dessau is an outstanding example of the modern movement. Been one of the first schools of design it brought together the most magnificent contemporary architects and artists and an innovative center for training. The name of the school translate to "Construction House" in German which couldn’t have been such a perfect choice. The Bauhaus in Dessau, been the most famous of all the three (others been in Weimar and Berlin) is the product of previous movements such as the arts and crafts movement, with much more emphasis on modern materials such as steel, concrete, and glass [2]. Its intent, according to Gropius was to integrate all of the arts, an integral part of the things of life, necessary for everyone in a civilized society [7]. The Bauhaus is rectangular shaped with a flat-roof structure built on concrete . The exterior walls are mostly taken up by windows, giving the stru...