Today we continue our exploration of Daniel Burnham’s work. We started in Chicago in Part 1, then moved to Cincinnati, Detroit, New York, and Philadelphia in Part 2. Today we look at his work in Baltimore, Boston, Buffalo, Cleveland, Ohio, Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, Wisconsin, London, and Kentucky. He really was quite prolific!
[Read more…]

Today we continue to explore the work of Daniel Burnham. Last week we looked at his work in Chicago. This week we explore his work in Cincinnati, Detroit, and New York. You will all be familiar with his most famous New York landmark, the Flatiron Building. Louis Sullivan was not a fan of Burnham. He felt that Burnham’s attachment to the Beaux-Arts and the Neo-classical architecture styles hindered the progress into a more modern style.
[Read more…]

Every once in a while I encounter a prolific architect, one who left mark on the skyline of various cities, and wonder why I have not heard his name before. Today is one of those days. In fact, Daniel Burnham (1846-1912) looks like he may generate more than one post. Today we focus on Chicago. A city with iconic architecture. Burnham was born in Henderson, New York. Wikipedia states: A proponent of the Beaux-Arts movement, he may have been, “the most successful power broker the American architectural profession has ever produced.” Burnham was also responsible for the master plans for Chicago, Manila, Baguio, and Washington. He apprenticed under William LeBaron Jenney of Lorin & Jenney. Later he formed a partnership with John Wellborn Root. With regards his education, the irony is that Burnham obtained honorary degrees from Harvard and Yale, universities that had earlier rejected him.
[Read more…]

Ken Yeang is a Malaysian architect, born in 1948 in Penang, Malaysia. Since 1971 he has been very much an ecology-based architect. In 2008 The Guardian newspaper named him one of the 50 people who could save the planet. His firm Hamzah & Yeang is based in Kuala Lumpur. They also have offices in London, UK and in Beijing, China. He studied architecture at the Architecture Association School of Architecture in London. And subsequently obtained a PhD from Cambridge. His dissertation was entitled: A Theoretical Framework for Incorporating Ecological Considerations in the Design and Planning of the Built Environment. Since then he has been honoured with several honourary degrees and has gone on to amass over 70 awards.
[Read more…]

Marcel Lajos Breuer (1902-1981), was a Hungarian architect. Breuer was a modernist architect and furniture designer. His work includes museums, libraries, churches, office buildings, and homes. Many in the Brutalist style. You all know how much I love the Brutalist style and so yes I’m quite fond of Breuer’s work. He studied at the Bauhaus with Walter Gropius. There he would become head of the carpentry shop. Breuer was known by Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe. Confusion has at one point existed in the design world where it was thought that the Wassily Chair was designed by his friend Wassily Kandinsky. It was not. It was designed by Breuer while he was at Bauhaus. Breuer made a copy of Kandinsky knowing his friend liked it so much. When the chair was re-released in the 60s it was renamed Wassily.
[Read more…]

Yesterday my blog post was Doors Open Ottawa. Only Monday night did I realize we were in the middle of the virtual version of Doors Open. Click here for the full list of buildings included this year, some have virtual tours, some have videos, some have pics. My selection is of those that have clickable virtual tours. I did include one video, that is the visit of the US Embassy, hosted by my friend Katherine Brucker.

Click on the images to be taken to the virtual tours. From an architecture point of view my favorites are the Embassy of Hungary (if you only look at one, make it the one) and the John R. Booth Residence. From an artistic point of view, Enriched Bread Artists and the Ottawa Art Gallery are to be seen. In normal times, not to be missed is the Canada Council Art Bank which actually lets you wander and pull out the presentation racks revealing the treasures contained… Sigh!
[Read more…]

Adolf Franz Karl Viktor Maria Loos (1870-1933) was an Austrian architect. He was very influential in the modern architecture style. Loos did not believe in exterior ornamentation; his interiors could be another story. Loos was born in Brno in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was a stonemason, a business his mother carried on after her husband’s death. After spending some time in the United States he returned and briefly associated himself with the Vienna Secession (the topic of a future blog post).
[Read more…]

Richard Buckminster Fuller (1895 – 1983) was an American architect, systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, and futurist. Fuller studied at Milton Academy and Harvard College. He was expelled from Harvard, twice. Once for spending all of his money on partying and another time for his lack of interest in non-conformity. That did not stop from obtaining 47 honorary degrees. Fuller is most famously known for the geodesic dome. He held 28 patents and authored 28 books, many of which are still in print. By many, he is known as the father of sustainability. He was also a poet and a philosopher. He was the second president of Mensa.
[Read more…]