Displaying items by tag: american architecture

In January 2015, the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut, will close for thirteen months in order to implement the second phase of the conservation of its iconic Louis Kahn-designed building. The structure, which opened in 1977, is located across the street from Kahn’s first major commission -- the Yale University Art Gallery. The Center, which was completed after the celebrated American architect’s death, was the first museum in the United States to incorporate retail shops in its design. It was Kahn’s final work.

Featuring an exterior of matte steel and reflective glass, the Center’s geometrical, four-floor interior is designed around two courtyards. Outfitted in natural materials such as travertine marble, white oak, and Belgian linen, the interior space is intimate, inviting, and filled with sunlight.

One of the nine Usonian homes built in Ohio by the celebrated American architect Frank Lloyd Wright has just been put on the market. Located in Willoughby Hills, the 1,800-square-foot Louis Penfield House comes with two cottages on nearly 19 acres of land and carries a price tag of $1.7 million. Completed in 1955, the house was commissioned by Louis Penfield, a high school art teacher.

Wright began designing his Usonian homes in 1936. The houses, which erred on the smaller side, were made with middle-income families in mind. The homes were typically one story, flat-roofed dwellings without a garage and little storage space. The abodes usually featured overhangs or carports (a term coined by Wright) to protect parked vehicles. Wright’s Usonian houses were constructed using native materials and featured a strong visual connection between exterior and interior spaces. In total, Wright created around sixty Usonian homes, which served as the predecessor for the ranch-style houses that dominated residential architecture during the 1950s.