Not that you care, but before my current bout with literature, and before science and economics, architecture was what I wanted to pursue (and still am in mad love with).

So, I have this werid emotional attachment to it as a profession, and there are some individuals that profundly affected me with their skill and vision. My 3 favourite architects of the 20th century:


ANTONIO GAUDI

"The straight line belongs to men, the curved one to God"- Gaudi

Raw, organic, wildly original beauty in a cold, cruel age. If any architect can lay a claim to sainthood (speaking in secular terms), Gaudi is it.









LUDWIG MIES VAN DE ROHE

"Less is More"- van de Rohe

Arguably the most influential architect of the 20th century, perhaps the most influential since Palladio (if the skycraper continues to dominate the urban landscape), van de Rohe's influence can be felt in every major city. It is one of the unfortunate effects of his genius that he should have been imitated so often and so broadly.









LE CORBUSIER

"A house is a machine for living in"- Le Corbusier

In the words of Witold Rybczynski, "Le Corbusier was the most important architect of the 20th century...Irascible, caustic, Calvinistic, Corbu was modern architecture's conscience". It's somewhat hard to argue against that (I won't, and don't really want to), and the image of the 20th century architect is invariably a mixture of van de Rohe's suavity and Corbu's profundity. As the embodiment of 'newness' in architecture, he's the standard.

You a big Bauhaus fan there Boxie?

In a way, yes. Not entirely though. I like connections with the past as well. Hell, Gothic is my favourite form of architecture :razz: .

It's more those individuals. Bauhaus as a movement I find so-so. It did have a profound effect, obviously, and I appreciate it's idealism, but I'm not satisfied with it alone. Gaudi, for example, is way out of line with them, or anyone. Le Corbu is really an individual on his own, and van de Rohe, I feel, really made it his own.

Those are ghoulish.

None. I hate architects.

For a long time I thought Le corbuseir's Radial City model was the ideal way the world should be structured. Then I found out that alot of housing projects were built on those principles and failed due to the centralized access. If this would translate into the larger problem of radial city urban planning is anyone's guess, but I still think there might be some validity to the model.

Yay, Gothic, why'd you rstrict this thread to 20th century architecture, that puts me out of my league you know. If it hasn't been dead for over 300 years, I'm not interested. :razz:

Are you forgetting Frank Lloyd Wright?

I am going to bed, but i shall post my picks tomorrow

I actually like Wright's older stuff, before he went all prairie/suburban style.

Anywho, screw the 1900s heheheh. My faves:

Autun Catherdal






Basilica of St. Francis







Siena City Hall and Center





and way way back to
Hadrian's Villa







More to come later I assure you. I haven't even really hit France, Paris, England, Scottland (mmmmm Edinburg castle)

Shall we go back even further? I'm considering, heh.

Antonio Gaudi gets my vote.

Frank Gehry

I love him... I can't wait to visit Bilbao. To bad his design for the Ontario Art Gallery sucks shit.. but oh well.





I. M. Pei.

I love the new Louvre Addition.

And one of my faves Frank Lloyd Wright





And i love Falling Water!! I want this house!

I don't want to be overly harsh, but every single freaking building Ghery has done in years looks exactly the same. He has no consideration of the surrounding envirnment, not even in discourses of direct confrontation to it. It literally, doesn't exist for him. Everything is just those bollowy folds. Though he's done theatres that I hear have the best accoustics in the world. That and I do think it looks good, but only once, after that, they all look the same. Neo, have you seen the stuff he just finsihed up at MIT?

Wright fan? Everyone is always talking about his Prairi style and forgets everything he did before. I don't think you've been to Chicago (I forget) but if you do, go out to see his home in Oak Park. He also helped design (under a firm when he was starting) about 70 other houses in the area. There are walking architecture tours, etc. Anyways, his personal house tour is a real gem. He experimented using his own house before implementing ideas in others, so there are all these nifty nooks and crannies and moving boards and the such. He also didn't want to remove a tree that happened to be right where one of the hallways is today. So he built the tree into the hallway. Its kind of fun, but not surprisingly, he had water leak troubles with that. His study and design room is their too and its beautiful. Plus earlier in his career he was really into that think Chicago glass that is notorious (In the works of Louis Comfort Tiffany). So you get to see alot of it used. Anyhow, that's just an FYI.

Well with Gehry. I agree with you Dolce. But I love the gugenheim! It's so nice.. I also put down that i didnt like what he was doing
with the Ontario ARt Gallery because he was using the same design and material and it looked so nasty. It was too expensive for
Ontario so i think that instead of using Titanium, they are using wood now. I have heard talks that they are going to just get a new
design altogether. i hope that is the case.

Now with Gehry, i really love Falling Water. When i saw that house i was just in love. I want ot build my own house when i'm older
and have a river running through it

I've never been to Chicago I'm very lmited in Travel. I've only been to Toronto, Montreal, Quebec, Buffalo, Portugal and Northern
Spain.


Do you haappen to have any pics of wright's work prior to him becoming famous
??

Toronto can do without someone like Gehry.


I wish they would be brave enough to try something good for a change. I won't hide my dislike for him. He had one idea, has done it over and over again, and frankly, it wasn't that great to begin with. They buildings are shiny, but so what? A metal ass would be too. :down:

Hey Box.. what do you think of hte new Rom design? I love it

It's out of place. I don't know why they feel the need to contrast the old with the modern. Why not just do something that compliments rather than ruins the present building?


But it's a minor issue. I mean, I don't find the museum to be that impressive. :razz:


Wow, lots of pessimism

OMG BOX! That's the hwhole point of it! New with old! It's so beautiful..

I shall look for pictures, but i got to go eat now.. brb in 30 mins hoepfully with pics

For Wright in Oak Park, check out this site for the houses he did in the area: http://www.oprf.com/flw/index.html




- that's his house

BTW, Ken Burns, the documenteror, did one of his films on Wright. Maybe if you are interested, check it out.

I will shower it with rotten tomatoes in 2006.










As if this idea of old and new is so original. Wow...they did that in Paris. So I guess Toronto needs to imitate them. At least, why have such a lame imitation? Because it's Toronto... ](*,)


And how the hell is this the 5th biggest museum in North America??? That is positively depressing!

What is that ROM thing? Looks like a supersized pice of crumpled newsprint fell from the sky? Who is the architect?

Daniel Libeskind.


He's also the guy who created that hideous Jewish Museum in Berlin, whose purpose, unwittingly, was to reflect the ugliness of the past in the ugliness of the building. I guess with ROM, the message he's trying to send is that it's a blatant piece of unoriginality.


Btw, can you believe there's a Frank O. Gehry chair of Architecture at U of T??? WTH?

I'm depressed now

Maybe some better pics will help?

Here's some:

Chicago Public Library


Marina City


I can't think of more right now. This is tough considering I want to post pics of the Ziggurat.

my favorite 20th Century architect?

Go right ahead dolcevita! I changed the title! It's free for all \:D/


p.s., expect a slew of pics soon. The gates have been opened!

Open they did. =D>

The Ziggurat





Paestum



Canyon de Chelly




More to come