Category: Uncategorized (Page 5 of 8)

Compare the evolution of the exterior skin of these modern office/institutional buildings. Compare their massing strategies.

The exterior skins of office and institutional buildings has evolved throughout the years. A few examples can be the Lever house, Citicorp, Ford Foundation, Seagram, Lipstick, and the United nations building. Both the Lever house and Seagram building are iconic and across from each other on Park avenue, these high rise buildings both were also built around the 1950’s. The Lever house is a few years older but there facades are similar. The massing overall aren’t the same but similar, the curtain walls aren’t so different, they just have a different color or tone of transparency. The Lever house has transparent green glass, and a darker green panel which most likely is covering slabs and mechanical systems. Meanwhile the Seagram building has yellow toned glass with black panels covering the slabs, and mechanical systems. Another thing 4I observed was that the Seagram buildings is perfectly symmetrical, all around, meanwhile the Lever house isn’t.

I believe Mies Van de Rohe really wanted to expose or show a sense of structure within the Seagram building facade, therefore he designed non-structural I-beams to go vertically along the curtain wall system. Since the Seagram building was built after the Lever house, its most likely that Mies Van de Rohe observed, analyzed, and took design ideas from the Lever House and implied into the Seagram building. By just comparing these two buildings that are right across from each other, you can see that just a few years make a difference in design, and efficiency, and overall a better product.

https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/_/wAFP3ZlpUL4qDg

The Chrysler Building and the Empire State are very competitive buildings of New York City.   Both are beautiful landmarks built in the 20^th century. Among the different background stories behind these two buildings, there are similarities that connect one with the other as skyscrapers of the city.

The Chrysler building was built by Walter Chrysler between the 1928 and 1930.  The architectural style used on this building was art deco. Even though the empire building was built by different architects, the architecture style is also art deco as the Chrysler. Plus, the Empire State building was built few years after the Chrysler building. The massing of the Empire State building is defined as a building which overall height including the tip is 1,250 feet tall with 102 stories.  The width of the building changes at the highest levels where the setbacks happens. On the other hand, The Chrysler Building massing is different, this is a 1,046 feet tall building with 77 stories. In comparison to the Empire State building this is shorter in massing.

In the Empire State buildings was built with tons of stainless steel and aluminum and millions of bricks, granites, and limestones were used for this skyscraper construction. Also, the Chrysler Building was made with stainless steel. Other materials used in the Chrysler were masonry, stone, marble and concrete. Structurally, the Empire State and the Chrysler Building were built under a rigid steel frame structure system. The top of the Chrysler building is more sculptural and artistically detailed to represent the Chrysler automobile and the machine age. In contrast to the Empire State building which is stiffer not as aesthetic as the Chrysler Building which represent more the art deco era.

In conclusion, both skyscrapers are very important because they represent New York City all over the world and provides people knowledge about how successful the skyscrapers and the art deco were in the 20^th century.

The way the civic infrastructure is developed in the city is by trying to accommodate the people needs in term of transportation  media. Through the process of developing the best transportation places for the people many incidents happen that let to a best improvement of what it used to be before in comparison to now. The Grand Central Terminal and the Penn Station are two historically examples.

The instrumentality of Grand Central and all the open spaces that it has can serve a huge amount of people. Plus, I believed it gave a sense of scale which shows and the relationship between people and this terminal.  The Grand Central has varies trains that goes to different routes some goes to north in south and some just goes to one way. This place has a massive sculpture that catch visitors’ attentions. The programmatic system welcome people to enjoy every place of Grand Central.

The Penn station design programs is like the Grand Central since this subway station also was a landmark and was designed to provide people access to more than one train line.  Even though both train stations are overcrowded, the MTA transit staff are planning to do some changes improve the trains services to people.

In my opinion both trains station provides efficiency and sustainability to the NYC transportation. I think both are authentically beautiful. The story behind the Grand Central and the Penn Station is very interesting demonstrate the perseverance of a community to try to convert the chaotic transportation that New Yorkers been struggling with over many years into a perfect satisfactory movable place with less crowded.

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The landmark Buildings in lower Manhattan has their own unique identity and some share common architectural features that makes each to relate one with the other. Some buildings are used as an inspiration for many others building for years because of its historical content and the aesthetic style.  In general landmark building highlight important events that contributed to conceptual development of it.

Throughout our class trip in the lower Manhattan I began to understand that one of tallest buildings developer strategies that characterize the landmark buildings during the 19^th century  was to have hierarchy that subdivide what was the top, medium and bottom on the buildings of 6 stories taller;each  one of the levels has different functions and programs. Furthermore, the exterior design distinguish the top, medium and bottom  levels

The bowling green is well known as the only place where the landmark in the New York city are due to the footprint of the old Dutch city of the first settlement. The us custom house was very influential for government buildings because of the architecture. Cass Gilbert built this building starting from 1905 to 1909 with the beaux arts style.it has a very impressive and enormous exterior facade that has tall Corinthians columns, pointed decorative windows and a huge arch that is used as this building (Piano Nobile) main entrance which is facing the city. This building captures people attention because of it incredible exterior design. The stock exchange and the federal hall are landmark buildings with extraordinary architecture. Both were Greek revival buildings inspired in the us custom building.

As the city grows industrialization starts to increase during the 1900s and transportation becomes a necessity for the city. The importance of transportation in a city is important because it enables us to connect and unite with one another. Bridges and railroads are important to the infrastructure of a city because without them we can’t move to other places neither interact with other neighborhoods or boroughs. Bridges and railroads make our lives easier to move from one place to another. Grand Central Terminal and Penn Station are a reflection of the importance of transportation in a city.

Grand Central Terminal is a railroad terminus of the Metro-North railroad with a massive structure and incredible pain arts inside the building. It also features different types of shops and a connection to the MTA Subway. While Penn Station is the main railroad station and busiest station in New York city connecting New York to different cities. For a city to develop to its full potential transportation is inevitable which Grand Central Terminal and Penn station play a big role in it because it not only transport people it also brings people in. Even though both differ in design, scale, and structure both serve as a method of transportation for the city which at the time these were built they bring a new structure to the city development.

The Brooklyn Bridge marks a new era for the structure and view of New York City creating a new architecture style of tall buildings with new technology marking a whole new beginning for the city. New York City structure now was composed with a variety of different building styles. Which we can still see and differentiate the different architectural styles in the lower Manhattan. Some of the historical buildings that preserved a different culture and era are The Federal Hall Building, Trinity Church, St Paul chapel, Equitable building, and Woolworth Building.

As I walk through Wall Street, I noticed that the Federal Hall building and the St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church stand up because of their exterior structure and scale among others. The federal Hall building counts with a massive structure and columns at the facade of the building and its unique long stairs at the entrance of the building. This building is noticeable because is different among other buildings which gives a different experience of the other tall buildings filled with glass. While the St. Paul’s Chapel of Trinity Church can be seen from the entrance of the federal hall building with its incredible triangular shapes, details sculptures and color. These two buildings are not tall but they are noticeable because of their different design and atmosphere projection they project. Also, while I was contemplating the view of these buildings I noticed that the space of the streets is wide open not close to each other, which gives you space to enjoy the view. In this area, we can experience the change of era from old architecture and new architecture in which some of the buildings are combined from both architecture styles new and old.

On the other hand, we have the Woolworth Building which was characterized during the 1900s the tallest building in the world, with a massive structure, details sculpture and triangular shapes at the top of each composition and its triangular tower. This building seems to be built following the old architecture style because each level or composition from bottom to top is overlapping one each other which makes sense at that time to used that kind of technique. while the Equitable building was the largest office building in the world by floor area reinforced from the bottom with this massive structure and then it follows a continuity of flat floor levels which at the top again it is filled with details sculpture making the building to stand. Both buildings are built to create more space in the city and create more room for people because of the rapid industrialization of the city during the 1900s. Yet the new buildings were taking the same style but implementing new elements to it, in this case, nature and more space around the buildings where people can relax and enjoy the view of the city.

In conclusion, The Brooklyn Bridge had a great impact on architecture that defined the view and structure of New York City implementing and creating new architectural styles to the buildings.

The Frick Collection Museum is one of the oldest houses built in the 1900s which later pass to become a museum and a treasure of New York City. The Frick museum stands up because of its incredible massive structure and gardens around it. While the Guggenheim Museum attracts your attention from the outside because of its unique design among other buildings around it.

The Frick Museum experience was unique. Yet it has an incredible view from the outside but when it comes to the interior of the building is totally different, the atmosphere you feel inside the building is unique once you put a step inside the building it makes you feel you are in a different era or place because of the objects, details and light in the interior that the building offers. The interior is full of paints and sculptures and a fountain in the center of the building filled with water, flowers, and columns around it with a big window on top of it, which is one of my favorite view from the museum. Also, I notice that each gallery was different some of them were filled with paints and other with objects of the 1900s with big mirrors and each gallery gives you a different experience. While I was moving inside the building, I got the sensation to get lost and not found my way out because the building is so big that for a moment, I felt I was in a maze. The feeling you experience inside these walls is power, safeness, and enjoyment.

On the other hand, we have the Guggenheim Museum with a spiral design and its unique ramp gallery. The first thing you notice in the interior of the building are the spiral structures and a big window at the top of the building which is a circular figure representing the end of the building. The ground level is an open space where you can see the whole interior in the building and enjoy the view of the spiral design that this building offers. its unique ramp gallery gives you a unique experience to contemplate different views of the building as you go up and at the same time see people around the gallery because it’s circular shape.

Both buildings are used to be museums but the differences of each building are noticeable. The Frick Collection museum was built to be a house from the beginning while the Guggenheim Museum was built to be a museum. The Frick museum spaces and design works to be a house while the Guggenheim Museum design doesn’t. While I was in the Frick Museum, I had the feeling to be in a house a big house.