Villa Savoye was designed by Le Corbusier and originally built to be a country retreat for the Savoye family.  The building was completed in 1929 and is located in Poissy, France, a small town situated just outside of Paris.  The Villa Savoye is arguably one of the most well known architectural projects from the 1930s because of its influence on international modernism.  The building was a perfect example of what Le Corbusier called Machine Age Architecture.  The villa followed Le Corbusier’s new design style which included five main points: elevate the building to allow for a garden to be situated underneath the structure, include a functional roof that also serves as a garden and terrace, incorporate a floor plan devoid of load-bearing walls, including long horizontal windows that illuminate and ventilate the building, and freely designed facades.  The base of the building is set back into the body of the house and painted green to give the illusion that the building is one giant box sitting on top of fragile piers.  Like many other great architects, it was Le Corbusier’s mission to incorporate nature with his architecture.  He achieved this by incorporating a garden into the terrace, making it a “room without walls.”  His design incorporated the indoors and outdoors which allowed the owners to experience both simultaneously.  Villa Savoye was a breakthrough for what we would now call “modern architecture” because of its use of concrete and simplicity.

Louise Sullivan Building #1 

Pictured above is one of Louise Sullivan’s famous buildings. The Auditorium Building in Chicago is one of the best-known designs of Louis Sullivan. The building is a National Historic Landmark, that is known internationally for its acoustics. This building located in Chicago, Illinois. The building was finished in 1889. At the time, the Auditorium Building was the tallest, largest, and heaviest building in Chicago. Sullivan and another architect designed the theatre, which opened in 1889, using the most modern technology at the time, including electric lighting and air conditioning. One fascinating thing in history about the building that I found was that former Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William McKinley gave speeches on the stage. Then on the same stage, years later, musicians such as Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, Aretha Franklin, and Elton John performed there!

Alejandro Aravena’s firm, Elemental S.A., has overseen the construction of a large amount of housing around Chile. The firm’s main concern seems to be to promote economic mobility in whatever ways they can by building this housing. This is expressed in two main ways by the firm. The first is building small, cheap housing that can be paid for with public funding (see above). The other, more interesting route, is the construction of “half of a good home,” by the firm, that the clients can afford with little cost, that also allows for space for the client to build onto the house later, once they are better able to finance a larger house (see below). Personally, I think these are great ideas, and examples of ways that architects and their firms can have a positive impact on the world in ways that aren’t strictly artistic. I hope that Oklahoma and other places around the world can learn from this strategy and model their own after it.

The Le Mans and Johnson Residential Halls are… residential halls, designed and constructed by Alejandro Aravena. The buildings in many way continue the themes seen in other works by Aravena of modern architecture, with very airy construction, albeit in a controlled manner. From the outside, the buildings actually look very oppressive, with plain, polygonal concrete facades with the only features being rectangular windows that almost look like they’re crying because of the effect of rain on the façade.

However, the interior area surrounded by the buildings, an open courtyard, is the polar opposite: displaying glass facades made up of a mixture of red, black, and white panels. The buildings also overhang much of the area surrounding the courtyard, only supported by thin columns, broadcasting a light appearance, in stark contrast to the exterior façade of the building. As far as I can tell, the dorms themselves are pretty standard for college dorms, but then again that’s what I thought about Couch Tower before I lived there.

The final building I am going to talk about is the University of Limerick President house in Limerick, Ireland. The President of Limerick actually had 2 house’s. The first was named “the White House” so McNamara and partner decided to make the second house white as well.  The president’s house is often used to entertain donors or academics that are visiting the campus. The formal rooms of the house are all stacked on the south side while the private informal rooms are on the north side. There are two staircases that make it possible for the public and private sections of the house to coexist. This follows traditional Irish housing design where formal and private areas are kept separate.

My final post for the architect Christian Porzamparc is about the Great Theatre of Casablanca in Morocco. Construction for this building started in 2018 and is directed by Porzamparc. It’s estimated cost is upwards of 150 million dollars. It is located in Mohammed V Square and is aimed at attracting tourists as well as locals. It will become the biggest theatre in Africa once it is officially inaugurated. It includes a very modern design with sharp edges and curvature with a very new feel to the inside and outside. This is just another one of Porzamparc’s many futuristic and unique designs for a theatre, similar to the Cidade Das Artes in Brazil.

The third building I am going to talk about is the Institut Mines-Télécom in Paris-Saclay. This is my favorite building designed by Shelley McNamara because of all of the natural lighting brought in by the plethora of windows. In an interview McNamara pointed out that architecture is impacting the earth on an enormous scale and feels it is her and her partners duty to make it as beautiful as they can, which I believe they are doing. The use of natural light in this building and the flow of light throughout can help make the users feel more comfortable than they would if the building used artificial light.

The second building I am going to talk about is the Luigi Bocconi Univeristy in Milan, Italy. This building was the first to win the World Building of the Year at the 2008 World Architecture Festival. Shelley McNamara (and partner) are often praised for their ability to design buildings that fit into their surroundings while still giving it a contemporary twist. This building was able to perfectly blend the university into the city. Making it a public space at the bottom, and university space at the top with classrooms and a thousand office spaces for professors above.

The first building I am going to talk about designed (in part) by Shelley McNamara is the University of Engineering and Technology in Lima, Peru. This building was awarded the 2016 RIBA International prize. The building is an a weird/awkward space right next to the curve of a major highway (pictured) and also in the neighborhood of various sized apartment buildings. They responded to the challange of the surrounding area by designing the north side of the building as a man made cliff, inspired by Machu Picchu. This helped stop the highway noise from reaching the classrooms. The open layout of the interior of the building allows cool air to flow in from the nearby pacific ocean, reducing the need for air conditioning.

The last building is the Osaka Maritime Museum in Japan. Andreu finished this project in just two years, starting in 1998 and finishing in 2000.  The design is very similar to the Grand Theatre, also featuring a spherical shape rising out of the water. Impressively, the building received the Institution of Structural Engineers 2002 Structural Special Award for its ability to withstand wind, waves, and earthquakes. I really like the domes appearance and color, as it blends in with the color of the waves smoothly. The glass also gives the museum some mystery, possibly causing a passerby to wonder what hides inside. I really liked this design and think it is my favorite one by Andreu.