Charles Rennie Mackintosh designed the Glasgow School of Art which was built in 1897. There was a lot of movement and energy in this period. People were finding new organizations of ideas, new ways to build, and were collaborating. Designers in this time found that through collaboration their voices were louder and stronger. Through collaboration designers are able to learn from each other and make their work better. I find it very inspiring that designers in this time were coming together and learning from each other. I have been learning that our peers hold so much knowledge and experience that I could never have. Through working together and learning from each others designs and ideas we are able to expand, adapt, and interpret our designs and ideas. The Glasgow School of Art was designed as an educational hub for art students in 1897. It is inspiring that Mackintosh’s educational building designs also inspired residential design. The square columns, two-storey open space, and thick second storey floor and wall are present in both designs. The fact that similar design concepts were used in both educational and residential spaces is inspiring and opens my mind to different possibilities. It shows me that although there may be classic ways of designing different spaces you can merge ideas. As an experiment I wrote down two lists; design elements typically found in residential design and design elements typically found in educational design. Many of the elements overlapped like doors, windows, roofs, rooms. Both are buildings and have structural elements that can be manipulated and used elsewhere. The use of columns and two-storey spaces in the two photos shown reminded me that I can think of these elements more simply at first when designing or understanding a space.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh, Glasgow School of Art, 1897.
Hoffmann, Josef Franz Maria, 1905-1911.
Questions from this week’s readings:
Le Corbusier, City of Tomorrow
- Do you think garden cities should be more common around the world?
- Have you ever been to a garden city? Did you notice a difference from other non-garden cities? Did you notice the increased means for transportation and increased open spaces?
Frank Lloyd Wright, Selections from The Natural House
- How do you think that Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City concept with organic architecture would impact would impact New York City?
- What elements of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Broadacre City concept can you realistically see applied today?
Lewis Mumford and Ebenezer Howard, Garden Cities of Tomorrow
- Do you think Howard was successful with his idea of garden cities considering there are about 70 worldwide?
- What aspect (if any) of garden cities do you think should be enforced in every city worldwide?
Ahmed Zaib Khan Mahsud, Rethinking Doxiadis Ekistical Urbanism
- What are your opinions on Ekistics?
- Do you think that Ekistics is an appropriate way to understand human settlements?
