MICHAEL GRAVESNatural Classicist

INTRODUCTION• Michael Graves arrived in Princeton in 1962, when university offered him

first ‘real’ job.

• He had worked briefly for architect George Nelson in New York before spending two years at American Academy in Rome, a sojourn which was to have the most profound influence on his mature architecture.

• Michael Graves and his two firms have received over 200 awards for design excellence in architecture, planning, interior design, product design and graphic design. Graves is the recipient of the 2001 Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects.

• Michael Graves is considered as one of the five architects, known as ‘New York Five’, which includes (Eisenman, Graves, Meier, Hejduk and Charles Gwathmey.)

GRAVES WAREHOUSE RESIDENCE

• Michael Graves house in the university town of Princeton, New Jersey, is a highly personal work by an architect best known for large-scale projects.

• The residence is being renovated from a ruined warehouse. So Graves often address his house as ‘warehouse’.

• Modest in scale and virtually invisible from the public street, the ‘Warehouse’ is nonetheless a symbol of Graves’ passionate belief in an architecture which is both natural and humane. Its quiet grandeur reflects his final rejection of the machine aesthetic of the Modern Movement.

• The house is a personal statement and a private retreat, where Graves keep the furniture, pictures, books, sculptures and other objects accumulated during a lifetime of collecting.

• Graves like John Soane, sees his house as a place to display his collections, which will one day be available to the interested public. John Soane’s museum house has always been an inspiration for Graves.

• The warehouse is an L-shaped building, consisting of a northern wing and an eastern wing.

• The original north wing, hidden from the street, had large doors where trucks regularly disgorged loads of household accessories.

• The later wing, at right angle, was much narrower. It was here that Graves first made his home. He installed a kitchen and bathroom and lived like a student at first.

• In mid eighties with his practice booming, he tackled the northern wing, bringing in other members of his office to assist and began work on the garden. This second phase of work took four years and was followed by a year of work in the kitchen wing.

• The formal inauguration of house take place in 1992, when a conference of US Governors took place in Princeton and Graves held a garden party for the Governors’ spouses.

DRAWINGS

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

FIRST FLOOR PLAN

EXTERIOR

• The exterior has a quiet monumentality, which derives from the vernacular barns and farmhouses of the Italian countryside.

• Graves have rejected ‘canonic’ classicism in favour of a freer and more ‘natural’ approach to design and stresses that the house is intended as a practical place to live rather than a monument, despite his long term plans to preserve it and possibly house an archive of his work there.

• The elevation of the house cannot be read in terms of conventional classical design. Informal and vernacular in inspiration, they equally have an almost Cubist abstraction which suggests connection with Graves’ earlier houses.

• The chimney stack in particular, is a boldly expressed sculptural design.

• The unity of house and garden is key theme. Graves seeks an idealized landscape, recalling those he loves to paint in Italy, and planting is subordinated to an overall architectural intent. The warm and slightly irregular texture of the stucco, contributes greatly to the overall effect of the exterior.

• Highly sculptural in treatment and rigorous in its exclusion of ornament, the Warehouse looks beyond replication and more genuine ‘traditionalism’.

• The entrance court at the house is a dynamic and yet comfortable space, open to the sky and preparing guests for the relatively low and intense entrance hall.

• The dining room looks into this space, which has an agreeable ‘inside/out’ quality.

INTERIORS

LIBRARY

• The Library is placed such that it behaves as connecting area between Living room and East garden.

• The library has a sense of verticality and highly architectural in treatment, like a street of colonnaded buildings.

• Skylight enlightens the volume of the library from the top.

WORKSPACE | STUDY

• The house is close to Graves’ office, but he occasionally works in here and keeps a small functional study room on the first floor.

• He often expresses himself in the delicate, enigmatic water colours he paints, on his tours.

• Study room is lit by the square window on the front wall.

LIVING ROOM• Graves’ living room is equally

made for comfort rather than mere show. The relatively low floor to ceiling heights in the building – dictated by the original structure – have been cleverly utilized to produce interiors of some intensity.

• Alcoves to the living room are distinctly Soanean in form, but reflects the dimension of original store rooms used by Princeton students to store everything from books to grand pianos.

• A terra-cotta-colored wall sets off furnishings that range from antiques to chairs designed by Michael Graves.

DINING ROOM

• The dining room is lit by tall metal framed windows which look onto the courtyard which seems to form a natural extension to the space.

• The chimney-piece has an austerity which is more Modernist than Classical.

• Many of the accessories in this room were sold as Grand Tour souvenirs a century ago. Michael designed the glass-and-metal centerpiece vessel for Steuben (Manufacturer of handmade art glass and crystal).

• The Warehouse is a highly personal building, which expresses not just Michael Graves, master builder, but equally Graves the sceptic and questioner of orthodoxies, whether modern or ‘traditional’. The house is clearly both modern and traditional.

• If its plan is essentially Classical and its use of light and shade specifically Soanean, the easy flow of the spaces and the essential informality of the building provide a reminder of its architect’s roots in the Modern movement

• The Warehouse is indeed, a clear statement of a lively traditionalism which remains a powerful strand in contemporary American design.

• Its quiet beauty is the work of a man who has played a key role in reshaping the face of architecture in the late twentieth century.

DENVER CENTRAL LIBRARY

INTRODUCTION• Michael Graves was commissioned in 1990 to renovate and design an

extension to the Denver Central Library.

• Sitting adjacent to Denver Art Museum, the Denver Central Library stands as the 8th largest library in the United States.

• The 405,000 s.f. addition to the existing library allows for the original building designed by Burnham Hoyt in 1956 to maintain its own identity.

• So much so that Graves’ addition and the original library are two parts in a larger composition that are connected by a three story atrium.

• The expansive atrium serves as a new main entrance that becomes the main focal point for visitor orientation and circulation to either wing of the library.

GROUND FLOOR PLAN

SECTION

• For a post-modern building, the interior of the library is fairly conservative when it comes to the decorative aesthetics.

• Most of the spaces appear as traditional library spaces composed of natural wood evoking a sense of grandeur and extravagance.

• Only in the reading rooms is there any trace of the post-modern aesthetic.

• One begins to understand the abstracted colonnades, vaulting, and colorful painting creating more of a fun learning environment rather than a stark, serious library space.

• The Denver Central Library may be one of the first library’s to function more than just a library.

• In addition to the extensive literary collections, the library functions as a community gathering space consisting of multipurpose rooms, meeting facilities, shops, a café, and a special “museum-like” collection on the American West.

• he Denver Central Library sits affixed in Downtown Denver as not only an academic institution, but as part of a larger cultural epicenter.

MARITIME EXPERIENTIAL MUSEUM

INTRODUCTION

• The Maritime Xperiential Museum is an iconic structure that draws its inspiration from sea-going vessels and thus embodies the stories contained in the exhibits and programs presented inside.

• Throughout the day, the shadows and dappled light cast by the ribbed frame will enliven the interior exhibits.

• The interactive exhibits and the circular 300-seat Typhoon Theater, provide a wide variety of experiences for visitors.

• The exhibit focuses on the maritime Silk Route, which historically stretched from Southeast Asia to Oman. Geographically, Singapore is an important part of this history.

• The Museum is set back from the water’s edge by an esplanade with a covered pedestrian loggia that allows visitors to enjoy the view of the mainland across the bay.

• At night, when viewed from the water, the glass facade of the Museum will reveal the brightly-lit interior, becoming a beacon on the water and a landmark on the horizon.

• West of the Museum, a small marina will display examples of sailing vessels, a tourist attraction in its own right, which lends an air of authenticity to the museum complex.

FLOOR PLAN

• The Museum and Marina are thematically linked to the adjacent outdoor Marine Life Park and form a rich tourist experience focused on the sea, marine life and maritime experiences.

• Along the waterfront at the base of Universal Plaza is the Showplace Theater, with large stone steps creating a seating area for 2,000 people.

• With views across the bay to the main island, this is the location of the Crane Dance, a nightly sound and light show in the water that epitomizes the fun and drama of Resorts World.