ARCH162

The Seagram Building was constructed in 1956-58 by Ludwig Mies Van De Rohe. The Seagram Company was a liquor company which was based in Canada. During the 1950’s they decided that they want to build a headquarters in New York. When they visited New York City they loved the Lever House that was built and wanted something of that nature. As they searched for architects the ended up with commissioning Mies Van De Rohe. He was known for his modernist buildings such as the Barcelona Pavilion and his service as a director in the Bauhaus. This was his first project at this scale as well as an unlimited budget for construction. The Seagram Tower was the first to have a public space in front of the building for the community to hang-out and mingle. This was due to the building being pushed back on the lot in order to give tribute to the racquet and tennis club building. As it featured Romanesque architectural style. As Rohe was a big fan of classical architecture he wanted to preserve and m...

The commissioner’s plan of 1811 was an attempt to plan ahead and organize the existing Manhattan map grid. The original Manhattan reached from the lower tip of the island to what is now 23 street. From time to time the city sold portions of the land in order to raise fund for the city to pay for municipal buildings and services. This also allowed the city to keep the taxes low. In 1789 nine buyers bought almost 200 acres of land in Manhattan, this was the prime time to buy land in the city. Although these land owners were signed in to 21-year leases. Once the land was purchased it was up to the land owner to establish the layout of the streets and blocks up until 1807. In 1807 the city had legislators from Albany pass a bill for the city to be able to propose the layout of the city grid for the streets and the blocks. The reasoning to have the city decide where and how to have the grid for the city is so the island of Manhattan would have some sort of order and to help the health of ...

TWA Terminal The TWA Terminal, designed by Eero Saarinen was more than just a terminal, it was a testament to aviation at the time. The building itself was designed and built of concrete after the Second World War. In his attempt of the terminal, “Eero Saarinen sought to capture the sensation of flight in all aspects of the building, from a fluid open interior, to the wing-like concrete shell of the roof” (Archdaily). It was after the Second World War that commercial air travel had become available to more than just the higher class people. The design of the terminal came from the Port of New York Authority’s request for a terminal city. This terminal city would require each major airline to operate an individual terminal. Through Port Authority’s request, TWA approached Eero Saarinen as the architect for this project. TWA wanted a terminal that would “provide TWA with advertising, publicity, and attention”, and Saarinen took the public attention very seriously considering the site w...

PENTHOUSE AT 23 BEEKMAN PLACE The penthouse at 23 Beekman Place in upper Manhattan, NY, was rented by Paul Rudolph in 1965. He purchased the entire building in 1976 and began renovated the entire structure from top to bottom. He remodeled the façade using materials such as glass, concrete and steel. The area that the building was located in was mainly   residential, with mostly low-height buildings. With minimal interference on the views, Rudolph decided to create a structure that would frame the spectacular views across the city to the west and to the river to the east. Using concrete and a steel system, he was able to design an extension that cantilevered the penthouse on the front and back of the building, with openings on top and views from all sides. Paul Rudolph was a dedicated modernist. He explored abstract space and experimented with industrial processes and materials. The structure was renovated in a concrete and steel framed system...

 Solomon R. Guggenheim Memorial Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright, (New York, New York); 1943 - 1959; Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan and The Chicago School Swelling out towards the city of Manhattan, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was the last major project designed and built by Frank Lloyd Wright between 1943 until it opened to the public in 1959, six months after his death, making it one of his longest works in creation along with one of his most popular projects. Completely contrasting the strict Manhattan city grid, the organic curves of the museum are a familiar landmark for tourists and neighbors. The Building Walking inside, a visitor's first intake is a huge atrium, rising 92' in height to an expansive glass dome. Along the sides of this atrium is a continuous ramp uncoiling upwards six stories for more than one-quarter of a mile, allowing for one floor to flow into another. The ramp also creates a procession in which ...

Central Park was the first landscaped public park in the United States. Many wealthy landowners and merchants pushed that New York needed the beauty that the public grounds in Paris and London displayed. Eminent domain was used to authorize the City of New York to claim over 700 acres of land in the center of Manhattan. The lands comprised of swamps and rocky bluffs which were unattractive to land developers. However, to create the park over 1,600 poor people had to be displaced. These people included Irish pig farmers, and German gardeners who lived in shacks on the site. Seneca village, New York’s most stable African American community which consisted of three churches and a school needed to be relocated as well. In 1857, the central park commission held the country’s first landscape design competition and selected the “Greensward Plan” submitted by Frederick Law Olmsted. The design aimed to recreate a picturesque landscape of the English romantic tradition. Open natu...

Kisairis Espinal The Guggenheim Museum (The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum) is an art museum located in New York on Fifth Avenue. this museum is the permanent home for post-impressionist, early modern, impressionist and contemporary art, all these feature exhibitions throughout time. this was a Frank Lloyd Wright project the idea “temple of the spirit” this cylindrical building is wider at the top than the bottom. Its interior unique ramp extends from the ground level in a long continuous spiral throughout the outer edge of the building. In 1992 the building went through a renovation when the adjoining tower was built. Throughout the eight decades, the museum has grown tremendously from the original collection. 1.2 million people have visited the museum and have been stated to be the most popular exhibition in New York.              Solomon R. Guggenheim comes from a wealthy mining family. That collects very old masterpieces since 1890’s. During 19...

EXTENSION OF THE SIDEWALK The Seagrams building is located on lexington avenue and east fifty-second street in Manhattan, NY .  The project was completed in 1958 by the world famous architect Mies Van Der Rohe and architect Phillip Johnson. Mies Van Der Rohe was a famous architect in Europe that practice and taught modernism. He fled because of the Nazies and went to America in the late 1930’s. The building is an icon of the modernist movement and led to a change in the government's view on how buildings interact with the street.  The skyscraper was made out of painted bronze and dark tinted glass. The bronze is oiled and must be re oiled every two years to maintain its black color. The bronze exterior is not structural but rather a decoration to give the idea of exposed material. HE wanted to expose the structure, however the building code did not allow it so he put black I beams vertically along the facade to give the impression of exposed structure. The structure ...

KISAIRIS ESPINAL The Belvedere was designed in 1865, the purpose was made to be a Victorian Folly. A folly serves no purpose than to be an ornamental for observation. Its architectural style is Romanesque and  Gothic which adds the most outlandish and dreamlike quality to the park. Its purpose was meant to be an open-air structure which was influenced by its design. The Belvedere Castle was designed as an open shell with multiple doorway and large window. In 1919 they moved this structure element to New York which became the Meteorological Observatory which took over the United States Weather Bureau. The castle is made of pure stone which goes perfectly with the rocks from the lake. “The Gothic-style Castle was designed as a landmark for the pedestrian park visitor. The castle’s United States flag could be seen from the Mall, drawing the walkers down to Bethesda Terrace, over Bow  Bridge, and through the Ramble to the castle itself” (CentralPark.com). The Castle was ...