Blog 6: Downtown part 2

 

This first skyscraper we looked at was a work by Mies van der Rohe. It is located at One Charles Center. This building is obviously very vertical, as most skyscrapers are, and it has a simplicity to it with the repetition of the dark and intimate individual windows. It is 7 piers deep and 6 piers wide, with a T shaped plan.

Notice the Barcelona chairs in the inside of the lobby.

This is the second building that we looked at. In comparison to the Mies building, the stone work on this building makes it a lot heavier, it looks as though it is being weighed down, and it is also not transparent as the first. This building is Roman, Neoclassical with Ionic columns. This skyscraper is busier and fussier than Mies' and smaller in stories.

This is where the fire started.

During this tour we were looking at the Urban Redevelopment that took place after the fire. 

During this, they wanted to make it easier for pedestrians to walk from building to building.

 

This next building that we looked, the Continental Trust Building, at is 14 stories tall. It is made of block and steel structure clad in masonry. The skyscraper used different orders. The metal, granite, and surface decorations were organic and eye-cndy. They didn't relate to the structure of building or beliefs of Mies van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright.

This building is the Morris Mechanic Theatre and is the closest to Corbusier. It reflects the beliefs of brutalism. It is made of cast concrete and the board forms are not polished out. The building is very playful and the inside is shown to us from the outside. This building is similar to Corbusier's Ronchamp Church shown below.

The opening between these two parts of this building is used for air and light to come in.

Another fun fact: most skyscrapers have a formal and informal facade.

An example in our book I found of a building doing this was the Empire State building. As you can see in the center, there is an opening created to allow air and light to come in.

This is the Bank of America Banking Center. It has a streamline of art deco decoration. In this you can see different types of commerce. For example: medicine and carpentry. The building also has bronzework and a roman facade.

This building is a Baltimore Night Club. It was constructed in 1885 according to what it says on the building. It is Richardsonian Romanesque. It has brown stone detail along with Gothic details. The building has exaggerated windows, 3 bays, 2 roof pinnacles, very thick walls, and a rusticated first floor.

This last building that we looked at is City Hall. It is Bozarth style, borrowing from Greek and Roman orders. It has a mansard roof, cupola, cacophony of details, Corinthian columns and is 4 stories tall.

I found online a picture of City Hall in New York. I find it very similar to the one here in Baltimore, but there are some things that are different.