The Robie House has been noted as one of the ten most influential pieces of architecture in America. This piece of architecture pushed boundaries at the time of its construction and has continued to shape how our society views architecture to this very day. This house was completed in Chicago in 1910 and has come to be recognized as a symbol of the prairie style. The prairie style was influenced by the expansive landscape of the midwest and became known as the first truly American architectural style. Wright continued to work on a style that was more suited for the environment and eventually developed what is considered to be America’s first unique architecture style. This style is characterised by horizontal rooflines, overhanging eaves, continuous windows and natural materials, which are inspired by the landscape.

One can see these influences throughout the Robie House, which features low-set walls and broad terraces and balconies. The walls are made up of rows of long and narrow red bricks, with linear limestone elements integrated to further emphasize their horizontality. Also, lots of windows offer natural light to get into the residence. Today, the house has been turned into a museum for all to go see and visit. 

Wright was approached by Hib Johnson, who wanted to revamp his office building. Wright initially found the proposal itself to be underwhelming. He thought that the offer to build an office building in an ugly suburb was not exactly up his alley.  While he would normally sink his projects among nature, this project was found in the middle of a “worthless” little town. But, after talking to his wife, who reminded him that he had only built two houses within the past seven years and was nearly broke, Wright accepted the offer.

With this in mind, Wright designed the building to resemble a fortress that protected his masterpiece from the outside world. This fortress came with no windows along the sides and the only main entrance was found hidden in the parking garage. One of the other interesting aspects that comes from this building is the fact that a skylight serves as the primary source of light for the main workspace. The workspace also has an open floor plan, which was new for the time. Another aspect is how Wright used biomimicry when creating the pillars that can be found throughout the complex. Wright mimics the form of a Californian cactus by using open steel mesh, making the columns fairly hollow. These pillars are now able to conceal wires. Overall, this building was innovative for numerous ways and gave Wright another chance at his career.

The city of Canton, Ohio boasts a lot of fascinating local attractions, including the local Gervasi Vineyard, the Pro Football Hall of fame, and everything else football-related. However, more to the point, the Canton Chamber of Commerce is another project contributed to by John Picard as a 13,000 sq ft. office facility with added emphasis on interior design surface and a programming study.  This is probably the least impressive of his work, seeing that it just appears as a simple office space in a mediocre building.

Polymer Packaging is a firm that distributes what its name suggests – it produces material for packaging, most notably plastics for consumer products. As per its website, it claims to reduce costs in its production processes and to contribute to a sustainable environment. John Picard’s design philosophy incorporates a ‘greener’, eco-friendly plan into his designs, and can be seen from various perspectives of the building. It’s a design philosophy I welcome, knowing that there is enough plastic in our oceans to kill us many times over if it ever ends up in our food. We certainly don’t need any more of it, and any entities, individual to corporate, are more than welcome to introduce philosophies that deviate away from its use or at least try to minimize the impact of plastic.

Shearer’s is a manufacturer of multiple snacks: potato chips, pork rinds, popcorn, sweet biscuits, and other items. The company has factories in Ohio, Texas, Arkansas, Oregon, Virginia, Iowa, Minnesota and Ontario, with worldwide distribution chains. Consequently, it needs buildings for distribution and manufacturing its products. Apparently , John Picard’s projects all involve an eco-friendly approach in design philosophy, and Shearer’s adopted these ideas into their company as well. Thus, their manufacturing and buildings have multiple ‘green’ attributes: recycling of all used vegetable oil, transition to high efficiency T8 & T5 lighting in Brewster and Lubbock manufacturing sites, recycling wet waste for animal feed, and wastewater management buildings that comply with the EPA’s standards for water waste. The list goes on, thankfully. It is comforting to see at least some companies taking an earth-friendly approach – this planet is the only home we have and we all to a strong degree, must adopt a greener approach to living our lives.

Nice building for a manufacturing plant.

If you like Swiss Cheese, then the likelihood that it was distributed from Brewster Cheese Inc. in South Brewster, Ohio to your local retailer is auite high. Architect John Patrick Picard was the lead architect in constructing a new 16,000 sq ft. corporate office building for this cheesemaker. It’s a typical office space building with a generic aesthetic-friendly design approach. If I worked here, being near or around the subject of cheese would be a welcome perk for my place of business.

Exterior of new corporate office building.

Another exterior shot of the building.

Interior office space of the Brewster Cheese corporate setting.

Another interior shot.

And the final parting shot of another interior aspect of the building.

The Sand Plum Event Center in Guthrie, Oklahoma may be the building which holds the most emotional significance to me. It was inside this building which I married my wife almost seven years ago.

We selected the Sand Plum due to its efficient use of space. The wide open floor plan provided for multiple uses within a single space. For example, the ceremony and reception were held in the same room which was divided by partitions to alter the environment respectively. In addition to the convenience of the Event Center, the Sand Plum also had an art deco-esque aesthetic which provided for a classy event.

Even though this building has played such a significant role in my life, it has since been closed down. Due to financial struggles within the city of Guthrie, Oklahoma, the Sand Plum Event Center was forced to close its doors for good.

The Aria Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada is one of the more memorable structures I have visited. This is mainly due to the ways design was implemented to elevate an overall experience.

The word Aria translates in multiple languages to Air. The structure itself exhibits this translation as the design incorporates elements which make the structure feel light and open. Overall, the structure has a very organic feel which leads to a more welcoming experience.

The design of the structure elevates the experience through implementation of technologies to increase convenience. Nearly every electronic device in the room can be controlled via a remote tablet in the room. The television, lights, and shades are all components which can be controlled remotely. This minor detail increased my awareness on the potential ways in which technology can affect an overall design.

The Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew located in Frankfurt, Germany was one of the more memorable structures I encountered during my time in Germany. The cathedral is memorable due its grandiose scale and appearance in addition to it symbolic significance. Personally, this building this building has an emotional significance to my family and myself as we had visited this Cathedral after the death of my mother-in-law’s mother. While touring the structure with its conjoining museum, my mother-in-law and her sister were able to identify ways in which details within the building related to the history or Frankfurt and Catholicism.

When viewing the interior of Cathedrals, I had always understood the significance of the structure; however, after visiting the Cathedral of Saint Bartholomew in Frankfurt, I had a newfound understanding of what the Cathedrals symbolize.

The art space which contains a sphere 2.2 meters in diameter and 27 gilded wooden geometric forms. These were created by Walter De Maria as an artwork. Viewers can experience this space under the natural light that comes in from the ceiling. This light produces dramatic changes in the rooms illumination depending on the hour.

The materials that were used to create this museum create a minimalist look. The main material that was used was concrete, but there is also steel, glass, and wood. Since it was built almost entirely underground, the museum balances the contradictory qualities of being both non-monumental, but highly architectural.