Week 8 assignment: essay – interrelationships reflection apa format | Applied Sciences homework help
- Which geometric forms dominate Meier’s Courthouse (Figure 6-23)? In what way are those forms revelatory of the function of the building? In what way are they revelatory of social values?
It seems to us that the Courthouse might best be described as a combination of the earth-resting and the earth-rooted. The earth-resting features, such as the sky as a backdrop and the platform character of the earth, are fairly obvious. The earth-root- edness is also there, however, because of the powerful effect of the huge rotunda that rises at the entrance like a giant tree anchoring the building into the earth. The Courthouse does not just use the earth but seems to belong to it. Some critics have described the rotunda as a huge ugly nose that defaces a handsome face. What do you think? Meier, incidentally, is the architect of the famous Getty Museum in Los Angeles. jac16871_ch06_121-162.indd 146 12/11/17 11:47 AM 147
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FIGURE 6-22 National Gallery of Art interior. The interior space of the walkway connecting the two wings of the museum is lighted by the triangular skylights visible from the exterior. ©B. O’Kane/Alamy FIGURE 6-23 Richard Meier, Long Island Federal Courthouse, Central Islip, New York. 2000. A stark white building, it is one of the largest courthouses in the nation. It is designed to accommodate public gatherings as well as numerous individual courts. ©Robert Polidori Guggenheim Museum Bilbao and The Taj Mahal Frank Gehry’s Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, 1991–1997 (Figures 6-24 to 6-26), was the culminating architectural sensation of the twentieth century, surpass- ing in interest even Wright’s Guggenheim of 1959. Gehry, like many contemporary architects, often uses the computer to scan models and flesh out the possibilities jac16871_ch06_121-162.indd 147 12/11/17 11:48 AM 148
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of his designs. The titanium-swathed structure changes drastically and yet har- moniously from every view: For example, from across the Nervion River that cuts through Bilbao the Guggenheim looks something like a whale. The locals say that from the bridge it looks like a colossal artichoke, from the south a bulging, bloom- ing flower. The billowing volumes, mainly cylindrical, spiral upward, as if blown by gently sweeping winds. Inside, smooth curves dominate perpendiculars and right angles, propelling vis- itors leisurely from each gallery or room to another with constantly changing per- spectives, orderly without conventional order. FIGURE 6-24 Frank O. Gehry, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, Bilbao, Spain. 1991–1997. View from across the river. Gehry’s titanium-clad free-flowing forms have been made possible by the computer and have become his signature style. ©Marco Brivio/Getty Images FIGURE 6-25 Aerial view of Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. The view from the air reveals powerful interrelationships of geometric forms with the almost floral organic forms that flow from rectilinear “stems.” ©agefotostock/Superstock jac16871_ch06_121-162.indd 148 12/11/17 11:48 AM 149
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FIGURE 6-26 Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, interior. The sculpture is by Richard Serra. ©View Pictures/UIG/Getty Images PERCEPTION KEY Guggenheim Museum Bilbao 1. Is the Guggenheim earth-rooted, earth-resting, earth-dominating, or sky-oriented? Could it be a combination? It would be helpful if you could examine more photo- graphs (see, for instance, Frank O. Gehry: The Complete Works, by Francesco Dal Co and Kurt W. Forster [New York: Monacelli Press, 1998]).