29. Glass Box

Question 1

A switch from the ribbon window to the use of floor to ceiling glazing marked the work in the 1930s of __________________.

Answer 1

Le Corbusier

Question 2

The Centrosoyuz Headquarters in Moscow was designed by________________.

Answer 2

Le Corbsier

Question 3

Le Corbusier first used the all-glass wall in what project?

Answer 3

Centrosoyuz Headquarters

Question 4

List two details Mies used in his American buildings to divorce them from the existing urban fabric.

Answer 4

Pilotis- lifts building off street level

Plazas- pulls away from street lines

Question 5

What advantage is there in offsetting the location of the core in the plan of a highrise office building?

Answer 5

Better for planning the space around the building, more variety of floor spaces

Question 6

What detail in the Lever House allows the pedestrian to reconnect with the tower after leaving the sidewalk?

Answer 6

Courtyard created by U-shaped lifted terrace

Question 7

What was the new architectural material whose price had dropped significantly after the end of WWII, that it quickly was adopted as the exterior material of choice for the next twenty years?

Answer 7

Aluminum

Question 8

Describe the lateral (wind) load structure of the Sears Building/World Trade Center.

Answer 8

Tube Structure: rigid frame structure of vertical columns, not cross bracing

Question 9

Describe the problem that “rationalist” International Style designers tried to avoid in the design of a skyscraper and what was the typical solution?

Answer 9

Couldn’t express each column the same, cantilever floor/ends

Question 10

___________________ was the last and tallest of the International Style glass box skyscrapers.

Answer 10

Chase Manhattan Bank

Question 11

Why were the Lever House and the Seagram’s Building much more expensive than the face value of their construction?

Answer 11

Didn’t utilize the land

Question 12

What kept the International Style glass box skyscraper from going no taller than the Chase Manhattan Bank?

Answer 12

Wind bracing structure was too expensive

Question 13

“Architecture is the will of an epoch translated into space” is a quote by ________________.

Answer 13

Mies

Question 14

The first post WWII glass box skyscraper in the US was the __________________.

Answer 14

Equitable Savings and Loan

Question 15

Sketch the typical floor plan of the Inland Steel Building:

Answer 15

.

Question 16

Sketch the corner detail of a typical Mies skyscraper:

Answer 16

.

Question 17

What two major projects were responsible for the large size of SOM by the end of WWII?

Answer 17

VA Hospitals

Manhattan Projects

Question 18

What skyscraper marked the ultimate retreat from the street and the start of “Plaza-mania?”

Answer 18

Seagram Building

Question 19

The conceptual design of the UN office tower was the product of ________________.

Answer 19

Le Corbusier

Question 20

__________ was responsible for the conceptual design of the UN office tower.

Answer 20

Le Corbusier

Question 21

“I don’t want to be interesting, I want to be good” is a quote ascribed to _________________.

Answer 21

Mies

Question 22

Describe the difference in how Mies designed spaces in his pre-WW II European buildings and those in his post-WWII American buildings.

Answer 22

Pre- Asymmetrical and free flow of space

Post- Rational and symmetrical

Question 23

List the three locations for a glass skin in a skyscraper and list a building from class that is an example of each type.

Answer 23

Inside structural frame - Equitable Savings and Loan Bank
In front of structure - UN Headquarters
Behind structure - Inland Steel Building

Question 24

The difference between SOM’s typical corner detail as represented in the Inland Steel Building and Mies’ typical corner detail as represented in the Seagram’s Building is:

Answer 24

Mies- cantilever the floor half a bay past the last column

SOM- column placed in the corner to create a full bay

Question 25

Two reasons that explain why Mies cantilevered his roofs/floors beyond the corner columns are:

Answer 25

Continuity of space

Emphasis of the plane

Question 26

List three differences between Mies design of the Farnsworth House, and Johnson’s design of his Glass House.

Answer 26

Johnson doesn’t cantilever; Mies cantilevers
Johnson has black corners; Mies has white corner
Johnson is on ground; Mies is off ground

Question 27

List two reasons why the Farnsworth House was an environmental disaster.

Answer 27

Non operable windows (too hot in the summer)

Single paned glass windows (too cold in the winter)