Architecture Assignment

Pick a building from the list below. You are required to visit the building at least once. Walk around the building, go inside, if you can. What is it like to look at it from the street; to see it from a distance? What is it like to enter the building (if you can)? Pay attention to the neighborhood around the building and how it relates to its surroundings (or doesn’t). Do materials like brick or glass or stainless steel or something else make a difference to the overall effect of the building? Does color play a role?
 Find out what you can about the building, its history, why it was built, especially why it was designed the way it was.
 Write a 3 page typed double spaced paper, 12 point type. Tell something about its history, about the architect, about who ordered it built and why. Above all, why does the building look the way it does? Why do you think this building was designed this way? Describe your experience visiting the building. What do you think of it?

You must turn in a snapshot of yourself with the building as proof of your visit.

The List

-41 Cooper Square, Cooper Union, Thom Mayne (3rd Avenue and 7th Street)

-The Empire State Building, Shreve & Lamb (34th Street and 5th Avenue; you are not required to visit the observation deck)

-The Chrysler Building, William Van Allen (42nd Street and Lexington Ave)

-Rockefeller Center, Raymond Hood, Wallace Harrison, etc. (5th Avenue from 52nd to 48th Streets; you are not required to visit the observation deck)

-The Guggenheim Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright (5th Avenue at 81st Street; it would be nice to take a look inside, but they will charge you $25 admission, no exceptions; so visiting the inside is encouraged, but not required.)

-The Seagram Building, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (Park Avenue and 52nd Street)

-The Woolworth Building, Cass Gilbert (Broadway at Barclay Street, across from City Hall; while the Woolworth Building has been converted to luxury condominiums and is no longer open to the public, you can take a guided tour of the lobby)

-The United Nations Buildings, Oscar Niemeyer, Le Corbusier, Wallace Harrison, etc. (1st Avenue and 43rd Street; NOTE, I want a report on the BUILDINGS, NOT the organization; a lot of the UN is closed for security purposes, but you can take a guided tour).

-The old Whitney Museum of American Art, Marcel Breuer (945 Madison Avenue)

-The new Whitney Museum of American Art, Renzo Piano (99 Gansevoort Street)

-The Daily News Building, Raymond Hood (220 East 42nd Street)

-MacGraw Hill Building, Raymond Hood, (330 42nd Street)

-Lever House, Gordon Bunshaft & Natalie de Blois (390 Park Avenue)

-The General Electric Building, John Cross (570 Lexington Avenue)

-The Flatiron Building, Daniel Burnham (175 5th Avenue, at 23rd street)

-AT&T Building (now the Sony Building), Phillip Johnson (550 Madison Avenue)

-#1 World Trade Center, John Childs (You are not required to visit the observation deck)

-World Trade Center Transportation Center, Santiago Calatrava, (This building is almost finished and scheduled to be open later in 2016)

- The National September 11th 2001 Memorial, Michael Arad (World Trade Center; You are not required to visit the museum; the Memorial is free; I want a paper on the the Memorial and its design, not on 9/11)

 -Hearst Magazine Building, Norman Foster (959-969 Eighth Avenue at West 47th Street)

-Time Warner Center, David Childs, (10 Columbus Circle)

-Perry West Condominiums, Richard Meier, (173 and 176 Perry Street at the corner of West Street)

-8 Spruce Street, Frank Gehry, (8 Spruce Street in Lower Manhattan just south of City Hall Park)

-New York Times Building, Renzo Piano (8th Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets)

-Bayard-Condict Building, Louis Sullivan (65 Bleecker Street in Lower Manhattan)



NOTE: If you have a building in mind that is not on this list, but you would really like to write about it, please see me.

Extra Credit

If you wish, you may do some projects for extra credit on your final grade at the end of the semester.

An extra credit paper is good for 1 to 5 extra points on your final grade for the course.  You may do as many of these papers as you wish up to 20 points.

You can turn in an extra credit paper any time up to the final exam.  Please write "Extra Credit" in the heading of your paper before you turn it in.

Papers should be 3 pages, typed, double-spaced, with 12 point type.
Hand written papers will not be accepted.

--A paper on a work of art (painting, sculpture, photo, installation, etc.) from the Museum of Modern Art, or from the 19th and 20th century collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  You may also do works of art from the Guggenheim Museum, The New Museum, or the Whitney Museum of American Art.  These can be works from the permanent collections, or from special exhibitions.

Write a 3 page paper, typed, double-spaced, 12 point type.  Your paper must include a description of the work of art (it's always good to begin a paper on a work of art with a description), and an analysis.  Tell something about the artist. If you wish, you may give an opinion or make an argument about the work of art provided you make the case for your opinion with evidence.  Include a reproduction or photo of the work of art you are discussing plus proof of your visit with museum ticket and receipt with your paper.

Here are links to the websites of all of these museums:

The Museum of Modern Art (you can get into MoMA for FREE with your student ID)

The Metropolitan Museum of Art (pay what you want, even a dime, but you must pay something)

The Guggenheim Museum

The New Museum

The Whitney Museum of American Art (you may have to buy a ticket online in advance; the museum is newly relocated and rebuilt and very popular now)

For those of you who are enterprising, you may also write about a show at a commercial gallery.  There are a lot of them in the Chelsea, Lower East Side, and Soho neighborhoods of Manhattan.  There are also some notable ones on 57th street and on the Upper East Side.  For the really adventurous, there are a lot of galleries in Brooklyn, especially in the Williamsburg and Bushwick areas.  I strongly suggest you do some research before you start exploring commercial galleries.  A good resource is Time Out's Gallery Guide; another is The Gallery Guide.

You can also do a paper on a living artist that you know personally.  They don't have to be famous or have work in a museum, but please see me first.


--A building in New York City.
Pick a building from the list below. You are required to visit the building at least once. Walk around the building, go inside, if you can. What is it like to look at it from the street; to see it from a distance? What is it like to enter the building (if you can)? Pay attention to the neighborhood around the building and how it relates to its surroundings (or doesn’t). Do materials like brick or glass or stainless steel or something else make a difference to the overall effect of the building? Does color play a role?
 Find out what you can about the building, its history, why it was built, especially why it was designed the way it was.
 Write a 3 page typed double spaced paper, 12 point type. Tell something about its history, about the architect, about who ordered it built and why. Above all, why does the building look the way it does? Why do you think this building was designed this way? Describe your experience visiting the building. What do you think of it?

You must turn in a snapshot of yourself with the building as proof of your visit.

The List

You can find pictures of all of these buildings here.

-41 Cooper Square, Cooper Union, Thom Mayne (3rd Avenue and 7th Street)

-The Empire State Building, Shreve & Lamb (34th Street and 5th Avenue; you are not required to visit the observation deck)

-The Chrysler Building, William Van Allen (42nd Street and Lexington Ave)

-Rockefeller Center, Raymond Hood, Wallace Harrison, etc. (5th Avenue from 52nd to 48th Streets; you are not required to visit the observation deck)

-The Guggenheim Museum, Frank Lloyd Wright (5th Avenue at 81st Street; it would be nice to take a look inside, but they will charge you $25 admission, no exceptions; so visiting the inside is encouraged, but not required.)

-The Seagram Building, Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe (Park Avenue and 52nd Street)

-The Woolworth Building, Cass Gilbert (Broadway at Barclay Street, across from City Hall; the lobby of this building is no longer accessible; the upper 30 floors of what was once a public building are now being turned into luxury housing.)

-The United Nations Buildings, Oscar Niemeyer, Le Corbusier, Wallace Harrison, etc. (1st Avenue and 43rd Street; NOTE, I want a report on the BUILDINGS, NOT the organization).

-The old Whitney Museum of American Art, Marcel Breuer (945 Madison Avenue)

-The new Whitney Museum of American Art, Renzo Piano (99 Gansevoort Street)

-The Daily News Building, Raymond Hood (220 East 42nd Street)

-MacGraw Hill Building, Raymond Hood, (330 42nd Street)

-Lever House, Gordon Bunshaft & Natalie de Blois (390 Park Avenue)

-The General Electric Building, John Cross (570 Lexington Avenue)

-The Flatiron Building, Daniel Burnham (175 5th Avenue, at 23rd street)

-AT&T Building (now the Sony Building), Phillip Johnson (550 Madison Avenue)

-#1 World Trade Center, John Childs (The lobby of this building is finished and the observation deck is supposed to open later in 2015; I'm still not sure how accessible the building is yet)

-World Trade Center Transportation Center, Santiago Calatrava, (This building is almost finished and scheduled to be open later in 2015)

- The National September 11th 2001 Memorial, Michael Arad (World Trade Center; You are not required to visit the museum; the Memorial is free; I want a paper on the the Memorial and its design, not on 9/11)

 -Hearst Magazine Building, Norman Foster (959-969 Eighth Avenue at West 47th Street)

-Time Warner Center, David Childs, (10 Columbus Circle)

-Perry West Condominiums, Richard Meier, (173 and 176 Perry Street at the corner of West Street)

-8 Spruce Street, Frank Gehry, (8 Spruce Street in Lower Manhattan just south of City Hall Park)

 -New York Times Building, Renzo Piano (8th Avenue between 40th and 41st Streets)

-Bayard-Condict Building, Louis Sullivan (65 Bleecker Street in Lower Manhattan)

NOTE: If you have a building in mind that is not on this list, but you would really like to write about it, please see me.