MODERN LANDMARKS

Beginning in the late 19th Century, high-rise buildings were constructed with an internal system of

interlocking steel columns and beams known as the “skeleton frame.”

Like the human body, the outer shell/facade mostly served to protect the interior organs/systems from

the elements.

While very rigid, the amount of steel and mechanical equipment needed in skyscrapers past a certain

height rendered this system uneconomical to the developers of new office towers and apartments.

Lever House

Gordon Bunshaft/SOM

1952

860, 880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments

Mies van der Rohe 1952

The initial response to the issues of economy and aesthetics was a

turn towards an “International Style” of architecture that removed

the ornamental masonry and replaced it with walls of glass and

steel.

Led by Mies van der Rohe, this movement allowed the

developer to save money on material costs and the

architect to adopt this style as an honest progression of

a truly modern building type, the high-rise.

Lake Shore Drive Apartments

Mies van der Rohe

1951

However, the limitations of the skeleton-framed skyscraper to

produce an artistic and varied expression of its structural form led

many architects of the day to ponder the future of building design.

Many practitioners of 20th century architecture sat down with

author John Peter to discuss the "state of the art" in the 1950’s and

beyond……….

"Form follows function, certainly…

But who the hell cares?

It's the form and the function, not reducing

that to some scientific analysis, that will

separate it and take it all apart…

We want it together.

We want the poetry of the thing."

–Frank Lloyd Wright (1955)

SC Johnson Research Tower

(1946)

"... the problem is the same that Mies solved in

the technique of our day what Sullivan solved in

the technique of his…

And that is a basic pattern from which it is

extremely difficult to diverge. Many of us had

tried...

…but the more you try to make a building cheap,

which you have to do in today's economy and

socio-setup, the more you try to make it

expressive, the closer to 860 (Lake Shore Drive )

you’re going to end up.”

- Philip Johnson (1955)

Pennzoil Place

(1976)

"Today buildings are primarily being built as they were forty years ago. The skins are

different, but the basic construction is the same. Tons of water, tons of sand, tons of

brick, moved up and down structures, the same old way they did when they built the

Woolworth Building."

- Gordon Bunshaft of SOM (1956)

Union Carbide Headquarters

(1961)

"I feel quite strongly that the all-glass facade is in the long run really no solution.

It lifts borrowed glory.

It does not give the effect of light and shadow which we are used to connecting with an architectural appearance."

- Victor Gruen (1957)

(1962)

“Mies van der Rohe has made

most eloquent the steel frame

in this country, and it's really

difficult to see how that can

be carried further…

One of the things that we all

long for is much more

plasticity or depth in the

treatment of the exterior of

our buildings…

This, I feel, will come to a

large degree through

manipulation of reinforced

concrete.”

- Paul Rudolph (1960)Boston Governmental Services Center

(1962-1971: rendering of never-built tower)

"The materials are beautiful today.

Concrete is a marvelous material.

It's stone that can span with guts.

It's just stone and steel.

Stone that can understand…

I like certain things.

I like brick.

I like stone.

I like all these materials

...I got to like concrete.

I sort of moderately like steel,

you see."

- Louis Kahn (1961)

Richards Medical Research Building

(1965)

To artistically showcase the structure, new

ways of engineering and design needed to be

developed.

Structural Column

Decorative “I-Beam” Mullion

Although he was trying to achieve a

“pure” form of architectural expression

Mies often relied on the traditional

skeleton structure which was, by its

nature, meant to be covered by a façade.

In the Seagram Building and many

subsequent designs, Mies employed

ornament to “express” the building's

structure of interlocking I-Beams.

Skidmore Owings & Merrill’s Fazlur R. Khan (left) and Bruce Graham developed innovative solutions to the economic

and philosophical challenges of high-rise design in the post-war era through the creation of new, tube-based

structural systems.

Efficient in function and honest in form, these systems do not need to be “expressed” through ornament. Instead, they

are an integral part of the buildings’ architectural design.

A masterwork of this era stands among us in Rochester…

ONE

H

S

B

C

PLAZA

Intent on reducing the “premium for height” of tall buildings (the taller the building, the

higher the cost per floor) of the rigid frame system, Khan developed tube systems that often

involved load-bearing exterior walls to provide more open floor space, while requiring less

materials per floor than conventional construction. They also offered structural variety to

the architect who no longer was confined to the economy of the “glass box.”

John Hancock Center (1969)

Khan and Graham collaborated on many projects but are best known for a pair of

iconic towers of steel and glass in Chicago, the “birthplace of the skyscraper.”

Sears Tower(1974)

Still, concrete was Khan’s preferred material to build with.

It was also his specialty, dating back to his first projects in Bangladesh in 1950.

Fittingly, the first buildings in which Khan utilized the tube system

were reinforced concrete high-rises in his adopted hometown of

Chicago.

And

Both were Completed in

1965

The Brunswick Building

The Chesnutt-Dewitt

Apartments

To properly redistribute the weight of

the structure and create more open

space at street level very deep beams

had to be placed between the thin,

closely spaced columns of the upper

floors…

…and the larger and more widely spaced

base columns. Khan was determined to

find a better way to accomplish this load

transfer.

Innovative they were, yet Khan was frustrated by the necessity of using large transfer beams above the first floor of both buildings.

Khan solved this problem by first mapping out the natural load flow (the path that gravity takes on its way to the ground) of

a skyscraper (center). He then varied the size of the columns and spandrel beams to “follow” the load flow, creating tree-

like formations on HSBC’s lower floors (right).

This “arching effect” is expressed

on both the vertical and horizontal

planes. The columns’ width and

depth vary with their stress loads.

The corners are free of columns to add visual excitement and texture to the

façade, which is best appreciated as one walks around the building.

The concrete columns become thinner as the tower rises.

The delicate column design of the tall mechanical penthouse both compliments and

contrasts with the vertical and sturdy second floor façade.

The additional stiffness required to

resist the lateral forces of the wind is

provided by the hollow core of solid

reinforced concrete. Connected by an

innovative flooring system that includes

a hybrid joist-waffle layout, the shear

walls of the core and the external load-

bearing structure allowed a flexible,

column-free interior.

The local

newspapers

chronicled the

construction of the

complex, often

referring to the

unique design of

its structure.

“Topped out” on July 11, 1969

Officially opened on April 14, 1970

The following slides feature material from a flyer that introduced the building to

the community when it opened in early 1970.

Within months it was necessary to widen the curve leading into the 300-space

garage below the plaza as it was too sharp a turn for cars. Otherwise, it has proven

to be an attractive, strong and versatile building.

When asked what they noticed most about the building’s effect on their workplace experience, some

daily occupants replied that although it had strange cold and warm spots and no direct elevator access

from the garage to their floors, they didn’t notice the building most of the time.

To them, it is a pleasant building that doesn’t get in the way of their work.

From a functional point of view, that is the highest of compliments.

This presentation is the intellectual and artistic property of Daniel J. Palmer, 2008.

Sources available upon request.