Hannah Reed

2/23/17

Period 7

Villa Savoye and Seagram Building

The Seagram Building was designed by a famous European architect who immigrated to

the United States at the beginning of World War II, this building embodies the meaning of

modernist ideals from Europe to the United States. In its monumental simplicity, expressed

structural frame and rational use of repeated building elements, the building embodies Ludwig

Mies van der Rohe's often repeated saying that "structure is spiritual" and "less is more." He

believed that the more a building was pared to its essential structural and functional elements,

and the less superfluous imagery is used, the more a building expresses its structure and form.

the Seagram Building is meant to confirm Mies' assertion that when modern industrialized

building technology is truthfully expressed, architecture becomes transcendent. Ironically, the

luxurious materials used and the carefully controlled customized details that pervade the building

remind the viewer that this building is far from being the simple result of rationalized industrial

production and construction techniques. Additionally, Mies' selective exposure of the function or

non-function of various architectural elements is based on illusionism. The building is, in a

sense, a structural fiction rather than an honest expression.

One of the most famous houses of the modern movement in architecture, the Villa Savoye

is a masterpiece of LeCorbusier's purist design. It is perhaps the best example of LeCorbusier's

goal to create a house which would be a "machine a habiter," a machine for living (in). Located

in a suburb near Paris, the house is as beautiful and functional as a machine.

The Villa Savoye was the culmination of many years of design, and the basis for much of

LeCorbusier's later architecture. It is a complex and visually stimulating structure and looks

different from every angle. After falling into disrepair after the war, the house has been restored

and is open to the public.