Located in the Clinton Hill neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, Pratt Institute was founded in response to New York City’s changing economy in the late 19th century. Originally designed to be an affordable college accessible to the working class, the school was tailored to the growing need for industrial workers and immigrants to be trained with trade skills in fields, like mechanics and architectural engineering. While Pratt Institute is now renowned for its programs in interior design, industrial design, and architecture, the university’s strong foundations in design was due to the notion of drawing as a universal skill during the late 19th century. , In response to the growing need for architects in New York City and legislative changes in professional
James F. O'Gorman, Dennis E. McGrath. ABC of Architecture. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1998. Document. October 2013.
The Great Depression from 1929 to 1933 was perhaps one of the darkest times in the United States. The desperation had spread to every single corner of the nation. Millions of people had lost their jobs and savings, parents were not able to provide food for their children. In the meantime, this greatest despair was to become the best opportunity for many outstanding artists and their works to sparkle.
Dell Upton is a historian and renowned professor of architecture and Urbanism at the University of California. He has published several books on architecture; one of them is “Architecture in the United States”, published in 1998. In this book, Upton analyzes the architecture of the United States in different aspects, such as nature, money and art, thus depicting the great variety in architectural forms, and how throughout the decades, different interests have lead communities to different ways of building, different purposes and materials, thus reflecting their way of thinking and their relationship with the environment. By exploring so many different architectural styles, Upton reveals the great diversity and richness that has always, and continues to characterize American architecture.
Hunt, William Dudley Jr. “Beaux Arts, Ecole Des.” Hunt Encyclopedia of American Architecture, 1980 ed.
In the early 1990’s the crime rate in New York City was astronomical. Every category including the eight nature index crimes were all on the rise if not extremely high already. Mayor Giuliani a former federal United States prosecutor was elected into office and brought with him a reputation of viciousness against crime. His campaigns lead to the appointment of Commissioner William Joseph Bratton to hold the position of police commissioner of New York City. Giuliani learnt of Bratton’s amazing crime reduction plan that helped reduce crime in two other cities. He requested him for the position as police commissioner for New York City and was appointed in 1990. Bratton had previously helped establish an innovative policing program in Boston Back Bay neighborhood and Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority. Using the same approach he would attempt to reorganize and help the New
The Park Slope School, Ps.282 is located in Park Slope Brooklyn. Ps.282 is a Kindergarten to eighth grade school full of diversity. The school’s staff was pleased to assist me with any of my needs. Although finding the right time to schedule an interview with the parent coordinator and guidance counselor was difficult, both parent coordinator and guidance counselor were more than willing to dedicate their time to focus on the interview.
Every culture left a mark of its quality on New York’s buildings that change over time: some are old, some are new, some are tall, and some are small. They might have a lot in common, but not one building is like the other. Diversity is what makes New York.
Unfortunately, I.M. Pei was discouraged by the University of Philadelphia’s curriculum and transferred to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Encyclopedia of World Biography 185). He graduated with a bachelor’s degree in architecture in 1940 and proceeded to pursue a graduate degree from Harvard (bio). This move was initiated by I.M.’s w...
The Pennsylvania Station, or the Penn Station, as it is commonly known as, is a primary intercity rail hub in the region. It is situated in the underground levels of Pennsylvania Plaza; and is one of the busiest passenger transportation services of the country. Since it is such a major transportation service of the area, therefore a number of people tend to opt for hotels, which are located near the area, in order to avail the facility of easy transport.
Marina City, as a modernist urban solution, was possible by Bertrand Goldberg because of his formal architectural training as well as his early practice and interaction with key architects. Exposure to architectural, socioeconomic, and cultural context that shaped modernist architecture developed him as an architect. Influence began early on from his physics teacher, George Vaubel, which inspired him with a lifelong love for logic and “reasoning backwards” and finding evidence for what was taught to him. Goldberg studied at the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape then at the Bauhaus in Berlin, Germany and lastly, at the Armour Institute of Technology in Chicago. He discovered architecture while studying at Harvard in 1930. The dean, Henry Frost, allowed Goldberg to study with his graduate studio as an undergraduate. During the Great Depression, Goldberg was studying at Harvard where debates with professors and fellow students centered on the political and social problem, dealing with poverty. It unleashed and influenced his lifelong consciousness of social and political factors because he took social and political problems into consideration when designing. Harvard exposed Goldberg to the Beaux-Arts architecture and he desired to go to Paris to study but instead went to the Bauhaus after being advised.
Chance, Shannon. "Hampton University Brings Color to Architecture." 20 on 20/20 Vision: Perspectives on Diversity and Design (2003): 98-101. Web. 4 Jun 2011. .
In 2013, Architect Magazine, ranked MIT’s Architectural program #2 among graduate schools in the USA. As it builds up its prestigious reputation in Architecture, MIT has tried to inspire its students to be creative and fanciful in their projects through the unique buildings that they have on campus. The Stata Center, an academic complex designed by Frank Gehry , originally got a lot of attention, because of its novel appearance. Critics said it was a good act of self-expression, and its complex design was a good representation of the intellectual capacity of the scientists that were going to be working there. Likewise, Simmons Hall -a residence hall designed by Steven Holl- finally got the entire freshman class to live on campus, which was something MIT desperately needed. These buildings, among many others at the MIT campus, are built precisely as inspirations for their architectural students. As Thomas P. Hughes - a professor at MIT- once noted, MIT has celebrated their buildings as “expressing the inventiveness, energy, and excellence of the people within them.” However, it certainly seems as though the buildings were built solely focused on their appearance, as they have turned out to be neither efficient nor cheap. These two buildings have caused so many problems that they have not proven to be a good representation of the innovative minds at MIT. Even though the appearance of the buildings represents forward-thinking architecture, they nevertheless result in extra construction time, cost inefficiencies, and experiential and structural malfunctions.
S.R. Crown Hall, which is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology is one of the most beautiful, modern pieces of architecture that the City of Chicago has to offer its residents. This simple, steel and glass structure is the perfect representation of the modernist era of architecture and really creates an atmosphere that is extremely captivating to its viewers. As you look at it during the day, the panes of glass reflect the sky surrounding it and creates an almost seamless transition between its sleek, rectangular steel frame and the vast area around it, making a gem to the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology and also to the City of Chicago.
Richardson, Laura. "The Creativity Crisis: Why American Schools Need Design." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 25 Mar. 2011. Web. 6 May 2014. .
In a survey sent to 274 design schools in the U.S. and Canada conducted by PRINT magazine (1995) faculty respondents reported on issues in design education. The design departments consisted of varying disciplines that included Communication Design, Visual Communication, Advertising Design, and Design Arts. Issues that concerned some faculty members included the need for more time to better prepare students for professional work. Of the institutions that responded to the survey three were considering an additional year to their four-year programs (Lewis).