洛杉磯．夜未央: 建築 Architecture Archives

October 02, 2003

East Coast Tour (2) － Unity Temple

FOR THE WORSHIP OF GOD
AND THE SERVICE OF MAN

We went to Unity Temple on 5 Sep 2003 , a Unitarian Universalist church and one of the most famous Frank Lloyd Wright's works, located in Oak Park, Illinois.
(Left: the entrance of Unity Temple)

The Unity Temple was constructed between 1906 and 1908. (Correct me if I am wrong.) It's made of pour-in-place concrete which was rarely seen at the time it's being built and was probably adopted for the consideration of economy. In light of the bold, "cubist" design and the unified ornamental motifs consisting in the exterior columns and the interior, Wright made this concrete building to be "as dignified as more tradtional masonry." If you are interested in the brief history of Unity Temple, click on the small (yellow) picture to the right.
We were pretty excited about seeing the work of a master at first. But we were a little bit disapointed somehow at the maintainance of the interior although it's been under a certain of restoration and renovation. You could see some painting peeling off from the wall and the ceiling. The interior didn't strike me as "a place of awe" probably because of the evenly-distributed light coming down from the ceiling shafts and the bright interior color. Instead, it looks an intimate space due to the friendly scale.
I am glad that a masterpiece is still holding various activities almost one century after it's been built in spite of its slightly bad maintainance of the interior.

Posted by CL at 01:50 PM | Comments (2)

September 29, 2003

East Coast Tour (1) － Milwaukee Art Museum

As you already knew, Can, Auntie Juny, "TaipeiJay", and I made a tour to some cities on east coast from 3 Sep 2003 to 20 Sep 2003. I would like to share the pictures and stories of the tour with you. Hopefully it won't take me too long to finsih this series of stories.
(Left: Quadracci Pavillion of Milwaukee Art Museum)

We went to Milwaukee Art Museum on 4 Sep 2003, mainly for the Quadracci Pavillion, an addtion to the existing museum building(s), designed by Santiago Calatrava and is his first US project.

The Quadracci Pavallion is right beside Lake Michigan which serves as a good natural setting when the building's gesture reminds you of "the tail of a whale" or a boat (look from the lake side.)

One of the most amazing features of Quadracci Pavillion is the sunscreen (the "whale-tail" part) which provides shade to the interior of the museum and would be lowered and "expand/rise" again at noon.

There's an exhibition INDUSTRIAL STRENGTH DESIGN- How Brooks Stevens Shaped Your World going on when we visited. I couldn't take photos of exhibition, but you could see the picture of one of the most famous Brooks Stevens' creations- Oscar Mayer Wienermobile below.








The sunscreen being lowered at noon.		Oscar Mayer Wienermobile

Posted by CL at 12:59 PM | Comments (13)

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