The readings gave an insight on how these historical figures interpreted architecture and what it meant to them in terms of the future but also a glimpse of their characters.
Frank Lloyd Wright not only emphasized the importance of a community with his prairie town design but also how much he valued privacy which, to me, makes his designs the most appealing. Privacy to him also didn’t just mean a family but general individual privacy since the designs made it possible for outsiders not to be able to see into your house. He also included the different possible plans in his advertisement to adapt to a different clientele whether they wanted to have more nature or space incorporated and also recommended the best and cheapest materials. I also really like the emphasis he put in the organic design as it shows how involved he personally was in the project and extremely detailed oriented.
Le Corbusier’s take on a contemporary city is very well thought out and while very captivating, I’m not attracted to the urban plan very much. On one hand, I agree with his view on improving what was already built and like his focus on health and sustainability and the resourceful way of using space by increasing the density. On the other hand, I don’t like his layout of the skyscrapers and plan to have all stores be accessible in each individual building while also incorporating nature the way he did. While he was proposing a way of combining many different factors that affect society, the result he envisioned feels very repetitive and removes a lot of character from cities, which could make them have a boring feeling. I’m also not sure I completely understood his plan to reduce traffic by reducing the number of streets while having one main train station in the middle of the cities and also if he intended to have all the skyscrapers look the same as shown in the plan. This may not be my favorite project of his but it still does show how resourceful he was and that he did truly embrace the advancement of new technology and materials.
The readings on the Bauhaus really defined what Gropius and Mies van der Rohe wanted out of the school and how unfortunate of an ending it was. Gropius really embraced diversity and democracy and didn’t want the teachings of the Bauhaus to become a sort of formula for creating art. Rather, he was hoping the curriculum would teach the new generation how to seek out the essential and find a solution to any problem that was presented. It’s really tragic that they were forced to stop with the Nazis and politics getting involved, but Mies van der Rohe’s decision to close it the second time after investing all his money and time into opening it back up is a bittersweet victory.