Summaries

Deep Space, Thin Walls: Environmental and Material Precursors to the Postwar Skyscraper

The article Deep Space, Thin Walls: Environmental and Material Precursors to the Postwar Skyscraper covers issues of skyscrapers and styles in post war times.   This was particularly true with the attitudes towards glass and aluminum clad structures vs the more favored traditional Rockefeller designs.  Part of this philosophy came from designers assuming glass would be phased out due to environmental control systems like air conditioning.  These materials were already being experimented with in factories, shopping centers, offices, and houses.   However, many of these spaces were averse to changing to entirely windowless as it was seen as a sign of status to see exterior views in many windowless spaces.   That being said, air conditioning soon became an expected luxury and then necessity in places like Chicago, San Antonio, and other inhospitable warm locations.  Also, with the increase in efficient lighting, like incandescent, controlled lighting was much more effective and windows less reliant.   However, these innovations were still up against the traditional exterior design of stone.  In comparison, glass innovation was halted because of World War 2 and while cost and energy in production had dropped post war, it still had the same negative environmental effects in buildings.  The key to improving glass was layering and air spacing in between sheets.  This was further enhanced with rubber stripping separating it from surfaces, non-frosting, and heat absorbing glass.  Glass combined with increased use and improvements of metals like aluminum made more rudimentary materials as efficient as traditional materials. This proves Leslie Thomas’s points about attacks on modern design were merely social and not factual.

Tall Office Building Artistically Considered

The article Tall Office Building Artistically Considered covers the methods and reasoning behind the creation off skyscrapers. Skyscraper design starts with 1 story below ground level where power, heating, lighting, and the unseen mechanisms are placed.  The ground floor usually contains shops, banks, and other enterprises that need space and feed off the mechanisms in the previous story. The 3^rd story will usually be accessible via stairs or elevators with several subdivisions giving large amounts of space.   The 4th story could have an unlimited number of offices stacked on top of each other.  The final 5^th story is the top of the structure and contains an attic with artifacts from previous and current users of the office tower.  This also includes each of these stories containing pipes, valves, electric lights, and other necessities in the office space.  It’s worth noting that the characteristics of stories 3 through 5 are not decided by aesthetics but rather by functionality.   While the ground floor characteristics primarily factor in the aesthetic opinions of the public.  These would include the main entry as it is important to appeal to the individual.  The aesthetic trend fades further up the building, as the users have a more defined goal or purpose they are seeking within the building.

Space

The article Space discusses the use and concept of space. The word ‘space’ is complex and can represent a multitude of definitions such as physical, mental, and temporal.  The challenge of defining space is understanding what is in a person’s thought process and becoming present in a physical space.   The term ‘space’ was not entirely original to Architecture, but rather a large concept that may have originated from German Philosophers, who had a variety of concerns with the word ‘space.’  These concepts that were first theorized included the enclosure of space. This expanded the possibilities of the word space to describe the aesthetics of structures and enclosures.  Also, over time it became more evident that space can mean both interior and exterior.  However, bringing enclosures and aesthetics into a single category gave individuals the opportunity to be more subjective.  To expand, it focused individuals on potential issues of enclosures rather than their significance or potential.

Critical Response

While I had some minor issues with each article, my primary challenge was with the article Space.  The word space suggests a variety of thoughts, words, and emotions and could never be summed up in 20 pages. That said, I also felt it was way too long mainly because if I was discussing the concept of space with an individual, it would likely be very short.  For example, I might say that I like the fenestration of a space that an individual designed, and the conversation wouldn’t likely go much further than that.  I know that I seem to be contradicting myself by saying that it couldn’t be summed up in 20 pages and the article seemed too short, but I think it’s important to bring to light the impossibility of covering the word ‘space’ in an essay and that it really should be avoided. I am mainly critiquing the application of the word ‘space’ due to its complexity or simplicities in specific circumstances.  I want to apply a word correctly, but this article only made it harder to explain a concept I have in my head towards an individual.

Application and Interpretation

One of the most notable architectural modern buildings in my research country of Brazil is the Brasilia capital complex which is Brazil’s capital.  In essence it is a modern version of our U.S. Capital building which is placed in the midwestern part of Brazil so as the be an equal distance from major population centers. Its primary goal was to present Brazil as a modern technological country capable of being separated from its past colonial powers. However, if we take the perspective that the readings gave us, I can point out certain details that are less noticed by historians.  Primarily, it was built in the 1950’s during the same era as the Prudential Building mentioned in Deep space, Thin Walls.  Brasilia, like the Prudential building, has numerous similar characteristics such as the intensive use of glass and metal.  While the Basilia doesn’t have all of the traditional elements of an office building, it does have the general layout mentioned in Tall Office Building Artistically Considered. This would include the office tower in the back containing more functional practical space with the first and second story containing elements that are intended more for public use such as the halls of congress.

Takeaways

• The unseen essential functionality of an office building such as power, heating, lighting, and water
• The continuous challenge of the justification on the use of modern exteriors on office buildings such as metal and glass being visual vs stone façade
• Don’t over analyze a vast word like space

Ministry of Justice

Supreme Federal court building facade