The Godfather of American architecture
 

If you think the only thing worse than the modernist junk from the 1960's is the horrible McMansions of today - take a look at this link to see how far we have fallen:

How Andrea Palladio influenced the design of the White House, the New York Stock Exchange, and other American landmarks. - By Witold Rybczynski - Slate Magazine

I can't say I disagree.

At risk at writing another "P-O-P's Dissertation on the Sad State of Contemporary Architecture" I'll just say this:

What a society builds is a reflection of its values, priorities and beliefs. And I don't necessarily mean just the monumental buildings - I mean the vernacular stuff. If/when anthropologists from the future find anything left of today's junk (I mean "buildings") they will gain some valuable insights into our own societal values, priorities and beliefs - largely we're about cheap, temporary, transient, throwaway, about "bigness" rather than intelligent and economical, well-tailored design choices. Our choices in building construction tend to reflect this pretty well.

Sadly most stuff is a reflection of the not-so-flattering values I mentioned however there are some really neat designs out there too. They're few and far between, but if you look you can find them - the ones that take your breath away and really do speak to you.

HOWEVER (I'll throw this out for thought), can you think of one that is both HONEST (i.e. reflects our values as a society) and BEAUTIFUL? Those are rarer still, but they're also out there - if you care to look for them.

Oh well, enough intellectualizing - back to processing change order requests and dealing with power-tripping idiot building officials.

Oh nevermind, I thought you were gonna talk about William Levitt..... :p

Bill, not so fast. . . paraphrasing Roark, or was it FLW? Modern materials should never be used to replicate ancient structures. . . look at some of the postmodern designs in the "green building" movement that feature R-50 walls and R-60 roofs, huge passive solar gain, balance between interior living space and enclosed outdoor space. . . energy conservation, an "absolute" goal, is the driver of every decision, with the form ruled by it. It takes a while to get used to but it's . . . beautiful. . .

No mention of Art Vandelay?

Semi-related note: interesting documentary by Louis Kahn's son (Kahn had three families at once)

My Architect (2003)

I would say the Seagram's Building in NY. It provides high density office space, an open public plaza, retail (restaurants) establishments - all valued in commercial society - and is quite beautiful. Alas, built in the late '50s and with too many ugly copies to mention..

And yes, I bet it took some getting used to when it first went up.:eek:

Still under the care of Dr. van Nostrand apparently.. :D