The Straight Torquer

Les Grandes Marches

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:33:07 +0000

In our second of a three part exploration of brutalism, we examine one of the most elegantly understated buildings in the district. The offices of The Department of Housing and Urban Development was designed by Marcel Breuer and was completed in 1968. This pre-cast concrete facade houses one of the most important institutions of our forthcoming era. With the rapid increase in global urbanization, sophisticated and robust planning initiatives must be deployed if we are to meet the needs of the growing urban population.

Even though HUD here in DC doesn’t necessarily operate on an international level with these kinds of urban problems, it will become more and more important to be aware of these challenges in coming decades. The figures are staggering, especially in developing countries. Within just 30 years, cities in developing countries will triple their entire urban built-up area, generating the same amount of urban area as the entire world had cumulatively generated by the year 2000–much of it will be in the form of over crowded slums. In Sub-Saharan Africa alone, slum dwellers make up 72 percent of the urban population, totaling more than 166 million people in 2001. Their numbers are expected to increase to more than 325 million by 2020, more than the current population of the United States of America.

In other news, Virginia Tech Architecture professor and National Building Museum curator Susan Piedmont Palladino gave a lecture on brutalism a few weeks ago and used a few Straight Torquer photographs. She blogs about architecture and sustainability at: http://ganggreennbm.blogspot.com/

Leave Everything

admin — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 01:48:13 +0000

The McMillan Reservoir Filtration Plant was built in 1905. At the time it was constructed it utilized an innovative sand filtration technology that replaced toxic chemicals for treating water. It operated continuously for 80 years. This abandoned facility in North West DC is an eerie and mysterious landscape. The wide fields are dotted with crop-circle-esque patterning of manhole covers extending the mechanical construct out into the at first seemingly empty grass plains. It is truly a vast machine.

One is reminded of the French modern architect Le Corbusier’s study of the early industrial grain silos of North America in his seminal book: Towards a New Architecture. It them he saw utility, simplicity, material efficiency, and exciting structural form.

We Share Our Mother’s Health

admin — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 21:05:17 +0000

Located next to the Capitol Building on the National Mall, The Hubert H. Humphry Building was designed by Marcel Breuer in 1975 and houses the headquarters of the US Department of Health and Human Services. This excellent example of brutalism employs both pre-cast and cast-in place concrete to create a richly textured exterior with many sloping planes that pleasingly interact with the angled light. Le Corbusier, the father of brutalism, is famous for saying: “Architecture is the learned game, correct and magnificent, of forms assembled in the light.” One can see this philosophy at play in this building, where high contrast shadows add depth and interest to the building facade.

Crystal Castle

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 03:32:55 +0000

At $830 per square foot, this LEED-Gold office tower designed by Helmut Jahn is the second most expensive piece of commercial real estate ever to be sold in Washington DC. Located at 1999 K Street, the building may seem underwhelming at a distance. However the uniquely expressed curtain wall is a cleanly detailed system that delivers a completely original experience. Each curtain panel is buttressed by a vertical fin of glass projecting from the flat surface of the building. The functional directive of the fins is to provide wind-load support, but their sculptural quality is what makes them so exciting. From a vantage point on the adjacent sidewalk, the fins create a mosaic effect of angular geometric transparency. The result is very subtle, and likely missed by the majority of passers by. But it is exactly this understated simplicity that leads to a profoundly graceful power. The close-up photos of the wall are worth clicking on. The lobby at night is also a vivid space.

Tectonic Botany

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 02:59:55 +0000

The National Bonsai & Penjing Museum at the US National Arboretum on New York Avenue in North East DC houses an impressive collection of specimens, some over 350 years old. Almost any tree can be made into a bonsai and there are wide variety of species on display. These miniaturized plants represent a profound control of the human hand over nature and they are surprisingly robust for their delicate size. Many of the trees do require meticulous care from time to time, but generally they live outdoors fully among the elements. Beyond the Bonsai exhibit, the huge arboretum offers a great deal of natural and landscaped beauty and makes for a terrific bike ride.

Kit of Parts

admin — Fri, 18 Jun 2010 16:39:24 +0000

The DC office of law firm Jones Day has been open since 1946, but they recently hired Pritzker Pirize winning architect Sir Richard Rogers to design an environmentally friendly state of the art addition to their historic Acacia Building. The two buildings are linked by an atrium space with a dramatic exposed steel structure rising through the center. The skeletal yellow frame engages and supports multiple systems of circulation between several floors connecting the old building to the addition. An elevator, stairs, and several bridges hang off the construction delicately, with all fastenings and constructed technologies revealed to the public. The stark technological minimalism and “kit of parts” approach to architecture is Rogers’ signature style and can be seen typified in the famous Centre du Pompidou in Paris.

Soft Stone

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:10:05 +0000

The Katzen Art Center at American University is a serene and fluid arrangement of plastic forms rendered in stone. The orbital sweeping lines carry your eye around the building’s side, inviting exploration. The sunken sculpture garden is partially hidden from view but contains several treasures. The building houses academic, performing art, and fine art spaces and was designed by Boston based firm Einhorn Yaffee Prescott.

Threads

admin — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 04:02:35 +0000

“Fashion is architecture. It is a matter of proportion.” -Coco Channel

The Mary Basket collection of contemporary Japanese fashion was recently on display at the Textile Museum on S street. Pieces by Issey Miyake, Rei Kawakubo and Yohji Yamamoto were presented as groundbreaking examples of avant garde design from the 1970s and early 1980s. By innovating new formal abilities of cloth through structural pleating as well as focusing on abstract silhouettes that are at times incongruous with the human shape, monochromatic color pallets, asymmetry, and graphics, these designers effectively set the stage for the postmodern movement in fashion.

FDA Campus

admin — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 15:28:36 +0000

The nearly completed headquarters of the US Food and Drug Administration is located in White Oak, Maryland, near the the edge of Washington, DC. This 9000 employee office and laboratory campus has been under construction for almost a decade and is one of the largest government construction projects in history. The FDA regulates companies that make up fully a quarter of the US economy, making the size of the institution more understandable. Under the guidance of Rod Henderer and Douglas Palladino at RTKL Associates (in a joint venture with Kling Stubbins), this facility exhibits some of the most sophisticated and timeless modern architecture currently being built in the greater District area.

Full disclosure: The author of The Straight Torquer worked on this project.

Kalevala

admin — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:04:32 +0000

The mythic history of the Finnish people is on display right now a the Finish Embassy on Massachusetts Avenue. Viewing this exhibition is a wonderful excuse to visit one of the finest examples of modern architecture in Washington DC. The soaring central space is punctuated by massive copper colored forms that appear to be floating in space. For views of the exterior, please see this post:

http://thestraighttorquer.com/?p=813

From speaking with the cultural ambassador I learned among other things that the Finnish hero figure is known not for his might on the battlefield, but rather for his graceful diction and storytelling prowess. His symbolic power object is a musical instrument made from the jaw bone of a fish.