ARCHITECTURE
AND ITS
CRITICS
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY #1
Goldhagen, Sarah Williams. “Architecture is More Than Just Buildings: In Remembrance of AdaLouise Huxtable.” New Republic. 12 January 2013. Web. http://www.newrepublic.com/article/art/111828/architecture-more-just-buildings-in-remembrance-public-minded-critic.
“Architecture is More Than Just Buildings” is about a woman named Ada Louise Huxtable. She was the first architecture critic for the New York Times and she worked there for 19 years. She died six days before this article was published at the age of 91. Huxtable always said that architecture is different from other forms of art because you can’t choose whether or not you are going to see it. It is a part of your life either way. Huxtable always critiqued for the voiceless public and called out disastrous architecture. She accused the American world of architecture of falling from “Roman Imperial to ‘Investment Modern.’” Huxtable promoted historic conservation. She also believed that buildings should have regard and respect for their surrounding culture and environment. Goldhagen praises her and believes her to have caused an innovation in the world of critiquing architecture. Goldhagen praises Huxtable further for her ability to follow the talent behind architecture and not the money; Huxtable judged buildings for what she saw, not what the architect intended. Some potential quotes that I found are: “Huxtable insisted both that architecture is an art and that it is an art that everybody deserves to enjoy precisely because it constitutes the life of our inhabited places.”“She followed talent, not money. She was gracious and she was also hard-hitting. She recognized that architecture is more than art, but she also recognized that it is art, and helped convinced generations of readers, including me, that it’s a kind of art that everyone deserves. She had forceful opinions, but she was also flexible. And she always looked at what was in front of her, judging buildings by what she saw, not by what the architect had intended to do, or by what aesthetic or intellectual position she believed a building might represent.”“Referring elsewhere to Madison Square Garden and Penn Station, she spat that the aesthetic of American society was declining from Roman Imperial to “Investment Modern”.”“Huxtable helped to catalyze the historic preservation movement and became its nominal patron saint.” The URL of my source indicates that the source is not the most accurate choice. I could not find any articles on Galileo that I wanted to read and learn from. I did, however, check some of the facts behind the statements that Goldhagen made by looking up Ada Louise Huxtable. Goldhagen seems to be credible because all of the facts that I found matched up with hers. The article was published by New Republic which is a pretty renowned magazine but that doesn’t mean that everything in every article is true. A lot of her writing was based on opinion but I agree with her. I probably shouldn’t use this particular article to justify how I look at architecture; but I can do some more research on Ada Louise Huxtable. I may use this article to back up how I feel about architecture because it has similar views. It is a testament to what architecture should be and to what I want to share with the world through art that I may create in the future. This article may spark a different path of research that will lead me down a road to architecture criticism. This will help me to see how architecture is seen by experts so that I will know what I may be up against one day.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHIES
INTERVIEWS
Public Person #1:
QUESTION: Do you often notice the design of buildings?
ANSWER: I only notice the design when the building is really unique or cool.
QUESTION: What is your favorite building? Why?
ANSWER: The chapel at Wake Forest University because the tower is cool?
QUESTION: Are there any buildings that you hate? Why?
ANSWER: I don't like the design of the high school I go to because all of the different sections that have been changed over time do not match.
QUESTION: Do you think that public opinions should be taken into account in the designing of a building?
ANSWER: No, the architect should be free to design without the influence of public opinions.
QUESTION: Would you say that seeing an interesting or unappealing building has an effect on the attitude of your day?
ANSWER: Nope, I would not.
Public Person #2:
QUESTION: Do you often notice the design of buildings?
ANSWER: Ususally I only notice buildings when I'm in a new place and the buildings are interesting.
QUESTION: What is your favorite building? Why?
ANSWER: Gainesville United Methodist Church because the stained glass windows are beautiful and the building is unique.
QUESTION: Are there any buildings that you hate? Why?
ANSWER: There is a buisness office building off of Thompson Bridge Road that I do not like because it does not fit in with the surrounding buildings. It has always seemed out of place to me.
QUESTION: Do you think that public opinions should be taken into account in the designing of a building?
ANSWER: Yes, if the building is going to be for public use, it would be good to get the opinions of the people who will be working in or seeing the building everyday.
QUESTION: No.
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY #2
Kirschenman, Merlin D., and Brian Brenner. “Civil Engineering Design as the Central Theme in Civil Engineering Education Curriculum. Volume 11 Issue 1. Leadership and Management in Engineering, January 1, 2011. Pages 69-71. Typed. October 16, 2013.
This article is about changing the curriculum for civil engineering in college to make it more hands on and relevant to what civil engineering is all about. It talks about how most of the classes taken freshman and sophomore years are general and not helpful for this degree. To fix this problem they throw out the idea of design courses that students can take without any previous courses and project-based classes that will be intriguing to students and relevant to their degree. They mention knowledge topics to help with further understanding and to integrate into the design classes at the same time so that students learn all aspects of a topic. They suggest students be put into teams for projects to build other, non-technical skills needed for civil engineering. They include a list of all of the benefits from their proposed style of teaching civil engineering.This source is reliable because Galileo has it listed and is full of valid sources. It may be a bit biased but with the best intentions because the website has .com at the end. The authors are credible because Merlin D. Kirschenman was a professor and chair of the Construction Management and Construction Engineering Department at North Dakota State University and Brian Brennar is vice president at Fay Spofford & Thorndike. They might be biased but at least both of them have been through school as a civil engineering student and now have careers from those majors. The article is property of the American Society of Civil Engineers, which reinforces the credibility. It is only almost three years old, so it is still relevant to today. I believe that I found a very credible source by using Galileo.The article fits into my research because it has to do with the education aspect of my mentorship study. It has influenced my ideas on what the best way to learn civil engineering includes. The source is not as helpful as I had hoped. I read this paper when I was still wanting to do my project on civil engineering so it is not as relevant anymore. However, this is part of what helped me not to decide to go into civil engineering because they apparently don't teach it right.
Donnie: Liscensed Architect
QUESTION: How much of a building's design is influenced by outside opinions?
ANSWER: Probably more than most people think. Building codes, city and county ordinances and officials, location and especially the budget really influence the design of a project.
QUESTION: When you are designing a building, do you base any of your design off of surrounding buildings?
ANSWER: Sometimes. I think for the most part, buildings can be of the same style in the area, but there are times that the client would like for their building to stand out.
QUESTION: Does any influence come from the people who pay for your work? How much of the building's design is influenced by them?
ANSWER: Most of our projects with a larger budget, the Owner hires us for our expertise as far as the design for both Interiors and Exteriors of the building.
QUESTION: Do you take into account the opinions of the people who will be working in or passing by the building each day?
ANSWER: We as Architects listen to the facility users. They are very important in how the building will function for usage including circulation and activities within the space.
QUESTION: When someone asks you to design a building for them, do they know your style of designs already and go with your style? Or do they give you a general idea of what they want?
ANSWER: Clients for the most part have ideas of what they think they want and like. We are a tool to help them achieve those visions. We do have our own style and that does come in to play in most of our projects.
QUESTION: Have you ever had and architecture critic critique your work? Did it influence how you felt about the building? Did it influence any buildings you designed after the fact?
ANSWER: Everyone is a critic that happens to visit one of our projects. Not to sound arrogant, but we are not really influenced by comments, good or bad.
QUESTION: Have you ever designed a building that you did not like?
ANSWER: Of course. It would be nice to be able to just design buildings where Owner’s have no influence and that have no budgets, but those projects are far and in between.
QUESTION: If you were to design 7 buildings in 7 drastically different environments (one in the mountains, one near the beach, one in the city, etc.) that would all be used for the same basic purpose (such as a church or office building), would all of the buildings look similar? Or would the designs change based on the environment?
ANSWER: More than likely, all 7 buildings would probably look different in that the environment / weather does play a big role in what the exterior finishes could be in order to withstand those particular environments.
QUESTION: Do you believe that public opinions should be taken into account when designing a building?
ANSWER: We do listen to our Clients and even the public when it comes to designing public projects for Government, City and County projects because tax payer money is involved and does play a part.
QUESTION: Do you believe that architecture is art?
ANSWER: I think the practice of Architecture is creative design using space, mass, texture, light, shades and shadows, materials and other elements like cost and construction in order to achieve something that is functional and aesthetically pleasing which in my opinion is artistic.
QUESTION: Do you put a lot of your own expression into your designs?
ANSWER: Every chance we get.
Chapel at Wake Forest University
COOL INFO
I have conducted research and interviews to figure out how architects’ designs are influenced by their surroundings and opinions, two out of the three interviews are focused on unnamed members of the public people who are not associated with designing or funding anything to do with architecture. I wanted to discover if the buildings they work in, walk by, shop at, etc. influence the average person each day. Another path my essential question led me down was to researching influential architects and critics that have been recently critiquing or designing. I haven’t been able to personally ask them their opinions about outside influences on architecture; but it can be inferred from their work.
I interviewed Mr. Donnie Brewster and asked him whether or not he thinks architecture is art. He responded, “I think the practice of Architecture is creative design using space, mass, texture, light, shades and shadows, materials and other elements like cost and construction in order to achieve something that is functional and aesthetically pleasing which in my opinion is artistic.” I believe that Mr. Brewster, a very successful architect, is correct in saying that architecture is art. Everyone has his or her own opinion (or no opinion) about any building’s design. An important part of being an architect is pleasing the customer who pays for the designing of the building. However, because architecture is also an expression of creativity as well as a gateway to a functioning product, there is a particular style that each individual architect has. Architects are influenced by many outside opinions but cannot meet all of them by any means.
I interviewed three people for my project to get some real world, close to home opinions about architecture. I first interviewed my mentor about how he is influenced by outside opinions when he is designing buildings. He commented that he loves to put his style into his work; but the job is about designing what the client wants. This view is important because the client funds the building of the design. However, most clients will not hire an architect without having an idea of the style they like to include in their designs. Style is a big part of where, how, and what architects design.
A major influence that helped me to decide to do my final project on both architects and outside influences on architects was an article about Ada Louise Huxtable. Huxtable died recently at the age of 91. She had been an influential critic of architecture who believed that architecture is a different form of art than others. She had the opinion that architects should take outside influences including public opinions into account when building public buildings since the public cannot choose whether they see the building or not. Huxtable was a good critic because she could focus on the talent behind the architect’s work and not just how much money went into building the design.
Shigeru Ban, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2014, is a social architect. He was awarded for designing shelters after natural disasters. His work is mostly temporary, built from recycled materials such as paper and cardboard. Ban is an architect who is highly influential on my goals as a future architect. He is definitely influenced by his surroundings but kept his own style the whole time. He has designed a satellite, houses, apartments, community buildings, churches, bridges, and more. He uses his style of temporary buildings where it is most needed and welcomed by the public in places of disaster. Ban has stated, “As long as I can make people happy to use my building, I’m happy.” I aspire to be an architect similar to Shigeru Ban; not necessarily similar in the looks of my designs but more so in how I use my talent for the greater good of any community I happen to be working in.
Architecture is art; but it is art that people do not have a choice but to look at. As an architect, I will design to make others happy and myself happy like Shigeru Ban. I know that it is not possible to please everyone; but if I can help people in anyway with my talents, I will be happy.
This is the North Hall Community Center in Gainesville, Georgia. Donnie Brewster, my mentor, helped to design this building.
Gainesville First United Methodist Church
Gainesvile, Georgia