Modern Architecture: Design

American Decades | Date: 2001

Modern Architecture: Design

Modernism, Postmodernism, Deconstructivism

No one architectural style defined the 1990s, as several themes played a role in building designs at the end of the century. Modernism, which came to prominence in the 1960s, featured rectilinear geometry, minimalism, and an ordering of space; its philosophy called for form to follow function. It gave way to postmodernism in the late 1970s and 1980s. Postmodernism linked present and past designs, as well as brought ornamentation and context back to architecture. Deconstructivism followed, although it waned quickly. Deconstructivist architecture was identified by its fragmented forms. A "Deconstructivist Architecture" exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in June 1988 provided a glimpse of what was ahead. The exhibition featured the works, most yet to be built, of Frank O. Gehry, Daniel Libeskind, Rem Koolhaas, Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Bernard Tschumi, and Coop Himmelblau. Mark Wigley, associate curator of the MOMA show, wrote: "What is being disturbed is a set of deeply entrenched cultural assumptions which underlie a certain view of architecture, assumptions about order, harmony, stability and unity." Each movement, though, had its share of criticism. Some critics accused modernism in its pure form of ignoring people's emotional needs; others saw postmodernism, particularly with its early reliance on facades, as superficial in its references to the past. Mean-while, some reviewers charged that deconstructivism was shocking and inappropriate. Despite the fact that each movement had perceived drawbacks, architects continued to build in all three styles. The combination of these prevailing aesthetic directions, however, prompted architects to scrutinize their designs. Stephen A. Kliment wrote, in the November 1990 issue of Architectural Record, "In this day and age, when any style goes (Modernism included) and any style is buildable, the architect is forced, every time he/she sits down at the drawing board or CAD terminal, to ask: what is good?"

Livable Spaces

One trend that emerged in 1990s architecture was the recognition of a need to create livable spaces. Whether designing private homes, corporate buildings, or public spaces, architects often focused on how the building would fit their clients. "Many people are calling for designs that respond to the individual needs of users and not the generic building formulas of developers or the stylistic prejudices of architects," Architectural Record declared in its July 1991 edition. Architects answered the call. Although styles ranged from innovative to traditional, private homes commissioned by architects reflected the occupants and their needs, whether it was for spacious living or smaller quarters. For example, they created great rooms, rather than separate living, dining, and family rooms, to provide the free-flowing space that clients wanted. Architects also considered how their buildings would impact the environment; they spoke about the need to design buildings that would consume less energy, create less pollution, and use fewer natural resources. Gregory Hodkinson told Architectural Record in 1991: "The environment is the key issue. The realization that resources are finite and that we are, in fact, permanently affecting the environment will be the overriding concern in the way we produce buildings, the way we organize our industries, and the way we structure our transportation system." William McDonough completed an office complex for Gap Inc. in 1997 in San Bruno, California, that paid careful attention to the environment. Native grasses and wildflowers were planted in six inches of soil on the roofs; the greenery, besides its environmental appeal, served as a thermal and acoustic insulator. Designs also called tor wood floors and veneer harvested from managed, sustainable forests. The ventilation system was designed to draw in cool air at night, almost eliminating the need for air conditioning. Mean-while, light filled the building from windows that allowed views of the outdoors from almost any spot in the building, helping to bring nature inside. Structures were also designed to fit their surroundings. "A building should feel like it belongs where it is—not like an import or something portable that could be taken to another place," Donald J. Canty wrote in the January 1990 issue of Architectural Record. Architects often drew their inspiration from the setting. A Connecticut home designed by New York architect Steve Harris, for example, was a twentieth century version of a traditional New England farmstead. Harris used white-cedar shingles and related the twenty-three-foot-high barrel-vaulted living room, pent-roofed kitchen wing, and thirty-two-foot-high tower to a traditional barn, shed, and silo, respectively.

A Drive to Preserve

Although new buildings made headlines most often, there were also several high-profile renovations. The drive to preserve what had already been built traced it roots to the 1960s, when Congress passed the National Historic Preservation Act (1966, revised in 1980). The preservation movement gave architects new opportunities to restore, renovate, and redesign landmark buildings, including everything from theaters to libraries to city halls. The S156 million renovation of Ellis Island, through which millions of immigrants passed as they entered the United States, was a case in point. The firms of Beyer Blinder Belle and Notter Finegold & Alexander provided the designs for renovating the buildings, which reopened to the public in September 1990 after an eight-year restoration. The centerpiece of the project was the Main Building, originally designed in a French Renaissance style by Boring 6c Tilton at the turn of the nineteenth century. Before starting renovations, the modern architects stabilized the building by drying it out using large heaters outside and pressurized dry air inside. Exterior repairs, such as cleaning the facades and repairing bricks, followed. Rooms inside the building were then converted for use as a library, theaters, and exhibitions areas.

TRANSPORTATION BY DESIGN

Architectural innovations were evident in new transportation facilities, particularly airports, in the 1990s. The new International Terminal at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, which opened in 1994, is one example. Designed by Perkins & Will Architects, the monumental rooms are framed in lightweight exposed steel and receive plenty of daylight. The ticketing pavilion has a soaring roof that is low at the ends and high in the middle. The ramp-control tower anchors the pavilion at its highest point.

Denver's International Airport, under construction in the early part of the 1990s, also drew considerable attention. Although much scrutiny focused on its $1.9 billion cost, other critics assailed its visual drama. White caps top the 1.3-million-square-foot structure. The tented peak-and-valley profiles come from double layers of less than .28-inch-thick Teflon-coated fiber-glass. The roof is supported by two rows of steel masts and reinforced by steel cables to protect against wind and snow loads.

Cesar Pelli's new terminal at the Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C., also drew attention. The 1997 addition has a simple footprint in the shape of a capital E. The terminal forms the vertical line, while three piers form the horizontal strokes. At the bottom of the vertical stroke, a concourse connects the new terminal to the existing one. The terminal has structural vaults and a one-and-a-half acre glass curtain wall enclosing one side of the concourse. Pelli used these elements to help establish a sense of scale and to orient passengers.

Plans for a new Salt Lake City International Airport also proved to be innovative. The designs, by a joint Gensler/HNTB team, departed from typical airport layouts that called for fingers that extend from a central hub. The plan instead called for a linear spine that would run perpendicular to the terminal and roadways. It also called for the structure to reflect the landscape of Utah, with rust, purple, red, green, and gold used on the base, while a glass skin would allow airport visitors to see spectacular views of the surrounding mountains. The airport was scheduled to be built in two phases over fifteen years.

Sources:

Alice Y. Kimm, "Salt Lake City Airport Will Fly in a New Pattern,"Architectural Record, (December 1998): 38.

Charles Linn, "Cesar Pelli's New Passenger Terminal at National Airport in Washington, D.C., Eases the Life of the World-weary Traveler," Architectural Record, 185 (October 1997): 89-95.

Linn, "Form Follows Flight," Architectural Record, 182 (June 1994): 116-123.

Karen D. Stein, "'Snow-Capped' Symbol," Architectural Record, 181 (June 1993): 106-107.

Grand Central

John Belle of Beyer Blinder Belle also spent the decade renovating Grand Central Terminal in New York. The Beaux-Arts train station was designed by Whitney Warren and opened in 1913. Belle first renovated the Main Waiting Room, cleaning the Caen stone (a scored plasterlike material), repairing the Tennessee marble floor with the same stone, and refurbishing the nickel-and gold-plated chandeliers. Renovating the Main Concourse was another significant part of the project. Early drawings by the firm Warren and Wetmore showed twin staircases facing each other at either end, but the east staircase was never built. Beyer Blinder Belle designed a new staircase made of the same Bottocino marble to match the existing staircase. The famous Sky Ceiling mural in the Main Concourse was also restored. Other pieces of the restoration included removing the ticket offices, built in 1927, to improve flow, revitalizing the balconies that overlook the Main Concourse, and renovating the Lower Concourse for use as a food court. The project cost $200 million.

American Homes

Like most other aspects of style in the 1990s, Americans showed diverse tastes when it came to the homes they built. A survey for McCall's put this question to readers: "If you could have anything you wanted, what would it be?" For many, the answer was a dream house, the top pick being a cozy cottage. Readers also showed a great deal of diversity in their choices, However, with others dreaming of large Victorians or Tudor-style mansions or contemporary Mediterranean homes. Architects designed homes to fit the owners' owneeds, regional influences, and surrounding environments, further guaranteeing diversity in housing styles. "Houses reveal what clients value, how they live, where they live. In a successful project, the house expresses a resonance between a client and an architect's vision," Karen Stein wrote in Architectural Record (April 1997).

Housing Trends

Despite the wide selection of housing styles at the end of the century, some trends emerged. Homes featured open floor plans to accommodate a desire for greater living space and "master suites," instead of simple master bedrooms. These spacious suites frequently featured walk-in closets, sitting areas, and attached spa-style bathrooms. Modern dwellings often showcased natural materials such as stone, wood, and stucco, as well as large windows to let in plenty of natural light. Architects took inspiration from existing regional structures and also designed homes that fit into their natural surroundings. Architect Josh Schweitzer, for example, designed "The Monument" outside of Joshua Tree National Monument in California to blend into its environment; the geometric exterior is painted orange, olive-green, and purple-blue. Schweitzer said "the colors are the colors of the desert" and "the monolithic forms of the buildings echo the forms of the rocks."

Wright

One of most recognized American architects, Frank Lloyd Wright, received considerable attention in the 1990s—even though he had died in 1959. The news focused on two of his designs: the Guggenheim Museum in New York, which opened in 1959, and the Monona Terrace in Madison, Wisconsin. The first received an addition, designed by the firm of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates. The second finally came to fruition, built by Wright's successor firm, Taliesin Architects. Fans and critics alike weighed in with their opinions on modern modifications to an American architectural hero's designs.

The Guggenheim

Wright intended his ziggurat design for the Guggenheim Museum to clash with the city, his structure to be seen as a piece of art as well as a building. The museum became one of Wright's best-known creations; however, it did not provide enough space to display art. The museum trustees decided to expand and tapped Gwathmey Siegel & Associates in 1982 for the project. Charles Gwathmey and Robert Siegel designed the expansion on a thirty-five-foot sliver of land behind the museum. The result was a new $24 million tower behind Wright's masterpiece and a $22 million renovation to the interior of the existing structure. The addition was criticized as bland. Architecture critic Carter Wiseman wrote in Architectural Record (October 1992): "'Plain Vanilla' is too charitable a description for the blandified 10-story 'background' slab." The interior renovation, however, opened up some of Wright's original design. The upper end of the stunning spiral ramp, which had been sealed off for storage, was reopened. Skylights, which had been covered to prevent sunlight from damaging paintings, were retrofitted with protective glass. As a result, curators had use of the roomiest gallery in Wright's building and light again filled the space. The interior renovation seemed to win more fans than the outside addition. Kurt Anderson wrote in Time that "Gwathmey's intelligent, intricate, loving work inside is a revelation, making it a far, far better museum than it has ever been."

Wisconsin

A Wright design was also revived in Wisconsin. In 1938 Wright, a Wisconsin native, unveiled his plans for Monona Terrace as a way to tie together the capital area, downtown business district, and Lake Monona of Madison. He had revised his plans, but he died before the project was built. In the early 1990s, however, the city decided to turn Wright's vision into reality. Though not as large and encompassing as Wright had envisioned, Monona Terrace opened in July 1997. The structure as built was a semicircular 250,000-square-foot convention center with five levels of exhibition halls and meeting rooms. It retained Wright's curvilinear form, but the interior spaces are not of his design; its use as a convention center was not his intent either. Although Taliesin Architects was involved, some questioned the accuracy of promotional pamphlets that boasted "A Public Space by Frank Lloyd Wright" and suggested the correct title should say that the design was "inspired by" or "in the style of" Wright. Architect Anthony Puttnam, a Wright apprentice in the 1950s, spoke in support of the project in the 12 June 1995 issue of Time: "I don't think we've done anything that Wright wouldn't have done. He was very open to change. He knew the importance of accommodating the client."

Sources:

Sarah Amelar and others, "Record Houses 1999," Architectural Record, 187 (April 1999): 97-144.

Kurt Anderson, "Finally Doing Right by Wright," Time, 143 (6 July 1992): 64-65.

Andrea Bauman, "How to Get Your Dream House!" McCall's 122 (October 1994): 144-147.

Donald Canty, "An Agenda for the Nineties," Architectural Record, 178 (January 1990): 72-73.

David Dillon, "Is this Monona Terrace really Wright?" Architectural Record, 186 (March 1998): 94-97.

John Elson, "The Wrong Wright?" Time, 145 (12 June 1995): 70.

Nora Richter Greer, "Preserving Preservation," Architectural Record, 179 (March 1991): 88-89, 179.

Charles Gwathmey, "On Wright's Foundations," Architectural Record, 180 (October 1992); 104-105.

Philip Jodidio, New Forms: Architecture in the 1990s (Köln & New York: Taschen, 1997), pp. 163, 166.

Stephen A. Kliment, "Split Personality," Architectural Record, 179 (June 1991): 9.

Kliment, "What Is Good Design?" Architectural Record, 178 (November 1990): 11.

Leslie Lampert, "The New American Home: 1993," Ladies' Home Journal, 110 (March 1993): 152-163.

Nancy Levmson, "Renovation Scoreboard," Architectural Record, 181 (January 1993): 70-73.

"Madison Votes for Frank Lloyd Wright—50 Years Later," ArchitecturalRecord, 181 (January 1993): 28.

Clifford A. Pearson, "Future Talk," Architectural Record, 179 (July 1991):176-181.

Pearson, "Project Diary: Beyer Blinder Belle's Makeover of Grand Central Terminal Involved Careful Restoration and Critical Changes," Architectural Record, 187 (February 1999): 85-95.

Pearson, "Reopening America's Gates," Architectural Record, 178 (July 1990): 46-57.

"Record Houses 1991," Architectural Record, 179 (April 1991): 69-133.

"Record Houses 1993," Architectural Record, 181 (April 1993): 63-107.

"Record Houses 1997'," Architectural Record, 185 (April 1997): 61-117.

Roger Rosenblatt, "The Man Who Wants Buildings to Love Kids," Time, 153 (22 February 1999): 70-73.

Tamara Schneider, "The New American Home 1992," Ladies' Home Journal, 109 (February 1992): 144-149.

Carter Wiseman, "Guggenheim Go-Around," Architectural Record, 180 (October 1992): 102-103.

Copyright 2001, Gale Group. All rights reserved. Gale Group is a Thomson Corporation Company.