Sydney Opera House

An example of this kind of what might be described as “generous” architecture can be found in Norwegian firm Snøhetta’s Oslo Opera House on the waters of the Oslo Fjord, completed in 2007 (Fig. 2).

As Civil Architect for Sydney town, Greenway designed many Sydney buildings and monuments, some of which have become well known landmarks. Greenway’s projects that he completed wereincluded the lighthouse near South Head, the Female Factory, New Government House, the Supreme Court and many churches such as St James Church (as you can see in Figure 2). Greenway also introduced design elements that responded specifically to the harsh Australian conditions which were very different those in England. (Brash.N, 2008)

Question 1. Choose an architect or practice whose work is covered by or relevant to this course and discuss critically one or more of their design projects or drawings or urban proposals as precedent case-studies. Selectively situate this work in relation to their body of work, and against the practices and concerns of the period. Focus on the architectural qualities of a specific key aspect of the design of the projects. Selectively consider how they might relate to the historical situation, cultural values, theoretical concerns and design practices of the time. This may involve a selective analysis of compositional design practices, material fabrication production and the experiential reception of built outcomes of the projects.

Sydney Ancher was a Sydney based architect whose work is known for its simplicity. The development Ancher had throughout his practice, as noted by Robin Boyd, was an “unaffected, uncomplicated and undeviating search for simplicity2.” Ancher encountered the work of Mies van der Rohe at an international building exhibition in Berlin, in 1931, during his five years of travel and work abroad and has been influenced by it since then3. The work was a single storey building with extensive use of glass walls and a modular plan that linked indoor and outdoor space,

Described as everything from "albino turtles mating" to "six nuns in a rugby scrum", Australia’s most recognisable building is one of world’s greatest masterpieces, as well as a busy performing arts complex. Sneak a peek inside the stars’ dressing rooms on a backstage tour.

The 1904 World's Fair was very extravagant with beautiful structures and buildings and exhibits from all over the world made specifically for the Fair. Most were built only to be temporary structures and were torn down after the Fair. A few remain to take you back in time. The Flight Cage Aviary of the World's Fair that housed exotic birds and allows you to walk through and be a part of the world of the birds is still standing at the St. Louis Zoo and a major tourist attraction. It is still to this day one of the largest "free flight' cages ever built.

The more recent and yet forgotten Todd County, Kentucky staple, the Ole Opera House in Guthrie, Kentucky of the United States, was once a furniture store on the lower level while harboring a stage on the upper level where silent films were featured from 1920-1949. (United States Department of the Interior, 2012) More recently, the building has used as a diner (Brown, 2003), and earlier this year was sold again. Who knows what is in store for the Ole Opera House of Guthrie as a functional future?

“The good building is not one that hurts the landscape, but one which makes the landscape more beautiful than it was before the building was built” (Frank Lloyd Wright). Throughout the centuries, architecture has fascinated everyone. History is inscribed in buildings and they can express the political and economic power of a nation. Although time has gone by, buildings have not. You can still idolize ancient Egyptian and Greek architecture and see how the events that occurred at that time influenced them.

Australia is one of the continents over the world. The vast, varied land and the culture in this abundant place has a deep and lasting impact to the architectural design traditions—Tectonic. Tectonic can be regarded as one distinctive characteristic which is relating to building or architectural construction. It also gives ability for people to read a structure, or see how a structure was put together. Among those architects who had used this tradition in their designs, Donovan Hill and Glenn Murcutt, as Australian architectures, have their own style relates to tectonic. For example, Donovan Hill composes different materials and layered against with one another in D House, while Murcutt establishes a harmonious connection to the surrounding landscape and local climate with Magney House.

Chicago, Illinois is home of the Cubs, Oprah and most notably it has a skyline filled with amazing skyscrapers. It was in this city that stone masonry, due to its tendency to be very heavy and needing a strong foundation and also its low tensile strength, was enthusiastically replaced by the steel skeleton of the world’s first skyscraper, the Home Insurance Building. This American city currently boasts of another feat, the world’s tallest building designed by a woman. Jeanne Gang designed the mixed-use high-rise, Aqua Tower (fig.1) for the urban setting of Chicago. Aqua Tower is the greenest and most appealing skyscraper in a place that has inspired some of the country’s greatest architecture. By using digital tools, Gang has fused traditional methods of building with an organic and sculptural façade that a few years ago would not have been achievable.

The incredible work of these Modernist architects had a strong and distinct influence on up and coming young Australian Architects during the 1950’s – 1970’s.

Today technology allows us to construct structures that we would never have been able to make in the past. Some of the creations are impressive based on what they accomplish but others are masterpieces in themselves. Man’s capability to build such tall buildings, as the skyscrapers we are familiar with covering our cities today, is a major expression of the advancements we have made as a culture. The power necessary to build such tall structures inspired competition between architects to see who could build the tallest one. One skyscraper that has inspired many and served as a model, for high rise buildings that were created after, is the Chrysler Building. The Chrysler Building serves as an identifying mark to anyone that

Architecture is often mistaken as purely an art form, when in actually it is where art and engineering or art and practicality meet. For example, painting is an art, when preformed well it yields a beautiful picture that evokes a deep human reaction and brings pleasure to its viewer, however this painting provides no function, it cannot shield us from the rain or protect us from the wind or snow, it is purely form. An insulated aluminum shed provides shelter and protection from Mother Nature; however, it is a purely functional building, it was drawn by an engineer, not conceived by an artist to have form. The culmination of form and function is Architecture, the Greeks and Romans fathered this idea and Palladio’s study of roman architecture taught him his valuable truth.

Different architects have different styles because they are trying to get at different things. Architecture is not just about making something beautiful anymore, it is about trying to get across a set of ideas about how we inhabit space. Two of the most famous architects of the twentieth century, one from each side, the early part and the later part up until today each designed a museum with money donated by the Guggenheim foundation. One of these is in New York City, it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The other is in bilbao, Spain, and it was designed by Frank Geary. My purpose of this paper is to interrogate each of these buildings, glorious for different reasons, to show how each architect was expressing their own style.

Architecture can be viewed with two different types of properties. Properties that can be seen like shapes, their composition, the spaces they create and, the colours and textures that make up their appearance. These properties are considered to be visual while other properties are considered to be abstract. These properties can only be described using words; the meanings behind the architecture and the stories that can be told about it. The context, its cultural background and its function also affects how we view architecture. The question is, what