The Josephine M. Hagerty House was a residential project designed by Walter Gropius. It was designed in collaboration with architect Marcel Breuer. The house was built in 1938, and is located in Cohasset, Massachusetts.  It was built as a family home for Josephine Hagerty, but like the Gropius house, it is now on the National Register of Historic Places that outsiders can tour. The house incorporates most of the design elements that Gropius was known for such as geometric shapes, flat roofs, lots of glass, and linear or horizontal features. For this particular house he emphasized the use of local materials, wood, and stone.

I thought this project was unique compared to this other project because of the large amount of stone that was used. Most of his projects incorporated hard and smooth textured exterior materials with large glass windows, but this house had large amounts of tan colored natural stone that added a lot more texture. There are plenty of large glass windows as well as two balconies on the side of the house that face the water, in order for guests to enjoy the pretty views.

Source: Hagerty House architecture (archweb.com)

The Gropius House was built in Lincoln, Massachusetts in 1938. It was designed by Gropius as his family home that he would reside in while teaching at Harvard’s Graduate School of Design. It is now considered a National Historic Landmark that no one lives in, but you can visit and set up tours. His house incorporates the modernism design features he was known such as geometric shapes and the wide use of glass, while also including traditional elements of New England architecture. For example, he used materials such as wood, brick and fieldstone which are commonly used in New England architecture. Most of the furniture in his house was made in the Bauhaus school workshop which he had founded.

One of the unique features of design of the house is that, like most of his work, the building looks different from every angle that you look at it. There is no central symmetry which makes it very intriguing to the eye whichever way you walk or look around it. I like how the main material of the exterior is white, but it contrasts with the outlining of the edges and trim of windows which are black. The spiral staircase is also a unique element since I bet those were rare in 1938. I also like how Gropius was able to include elements from his commercial work into a residential space and you can see the similarities and how he pioneered modernism.

Source: Gropius House | Historic New England

The next project that Walter Gropius worked on after the Fagus Factory was the Bauhaus Building. The Bauhaus was originally an art, craft, and technology school in the years following World War I in Weimar, Germany. Walter Gropius designed the new Bauhaus school that was moved to Dessau, Germany in 1925. A department of architecture was added within the new Bauhaus school, and the workshop within the school was used to make some of the interior features. Walter Gropius used most of the modernism design features from his Fagus Factory project for his design of the Bauhaus.

               One of the same similarities with Gropius first two projects was the glass façade and load-bearing framework. The building is also very modular and geometric, as well as incorporates the flat roof and horizontal features that Gropius was known for in his first project. There is no central view of the building, making your view change as you walk around all the different sides of the architecture. I also love how the main entrance is emphasized in both of his buildings because the solid material contrasts with the clear glass. It helps to make it known where to enter the building at both places.

Source: Bauhaus Building by Walter Gropius (1925–26) : Bauhaus Building : Stiftung Bauhaus Dessau / Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (bauhaus-dessau.de)

The Fagus Factory is the first building and work by architect Walter Gropius in collaboration with Adolf Meyer. Before Walter Gropius got commissioned to work on the Fagus Factory he was working under Peter Behrens, another well-known architect. The Fagus Factory was located in Alfeld, Germany and was a factory for manufacturing boots. Carl Bensheidt was the owner of the factory and was already in the process of an expansion project for the building with architect Eduard Werner, but Gropius convinced him to go with his approach of a new artistic building and got commissioned for the project in 1911.

The Fagus Factory is a complex brick structure that contains many different buildings that have different functions for operating the factory. Even though the exterior is brick, the main material is glass. Gropius designed the building to have free façade where the load-bearing concrete columns were placed inside versus on the exterior. The use of modular glass and flat roofs gave the building a very geometric and sophisticated appearance. Most the exterior and even interior features that Gropius focused on such as geometric forms, weightless appearance, and glass materials were the earliest works of modern architecture. “Gropius is considered to be one the most important pioneers of Modernism”.

Source: AD Classics: Fagus Factory / Walter Gropius + Adolf Meyer | ArchDaily

The 9/11 Memorial opened September 11, 20111, 10 years after the 9/11 attacks. The main mission of the memorial was to pay tribute to those who lost their lives in the attacks. There was an international competition beginning in 2003 to choose the design for the memorial site. There were 5,201 submissions from 63 different countries, the one chosen was submitted by architect Michael Arad and Peter Walker called Reflecting Absence. “Their design features twin waterfall pools surrounded by bronze parapets that list the names of the victims of the 8/11 attacks and 1993 World Trade Center bombing.”

When I was 15 my family took a trip to New York City. We got the chance to visit the Memorial, but while we were there the museum was closed. It was such an impactful experience because even though there were lots of people around, it was like everyone was in a moment of silence. All you could hear was the running water from the waterfall pools. I thought the idea of having two twin pools in place of the Twin Towers was such a great idea. Also, engraving the names of the victims from the attacks around the outside of the pools was a unique way to pay tribute to them while incorporating their names in the design. I will never forget my experience at the 9/11 Memorial and would recommend anyone to visit there if they take a trip to New York City.

Source: About the Memorial | National September 11 Memorial & Museum (911memorial.org)

The Chapel of the Holy Cross is a church in Sedona, Arizona that sits high above the red rocks and was built in 1956. The idea was brought up by Marguerite Brunswig Staude, a local sculptor and was initially attempted to be bult in Hungary with the help of Llyod Wright, the son of Frank Lloyd Wright. Due to the outbreak of World War II, Staude decided to build the church on her homeland of Arizona. It was designed by Richard Hein and August K. Strotz from Anshen & Allen firm.

I lived in Arizona for 9 years before moving to Oklahoma for school. We lived about 4 hours from Sedona but would frequently take short weekend trips up there because the mountain and rocks were beautiful. We toured the Chapel of the Holy Cross when we went to Sedona, and it had amazing views. The way that the church was built into the rock was unique and made It seem like the building was meant to be there. I loved the simplicity of the design and how you could see through the entire building because of the glass walls. The glass walls allow you to see the view of the mountains from inside and outside the building. I would highly recommend visiting the Chapel of the Holy Cross if you ever get the chance to go to Arizona.

Source: History – Chapel of the Holy Cross

Over the summer the $260 million soccer stadium finished construction and hosted its first game which was the US Women’s National Team against Nigeria. My sister and I got tickets to the game and experienced the stadium on opening day. The stadium seats 20,500 that are open-air and have no netting between the field and the stands. This creates what one sources calls “intimate viewing experience and an unequaled event atmosphere”.  My sister and I sat front row behind the goal, and we had such a fun time that we bought tickets to the first Austin FC game. There are so many unique features like fog machines and a 100% field lighting system that can change colors which make the experience so much more thrilling.

The stadium not only has unique design that incorporates a lot of green because of the team color, but it is also going green by designing sustainable features. It is on track to become LEEDv4 certified. They used an energy-efficient HVAC system, enhanced recycling and wase management, and even free bike valet on site to encourage active transportation. The stadium is meant to create a lively and thrilling experience for the Austin FC team as well as the fans to get more and more people out to the games. I would say that it succeeded in its mission, and I can’t wait to go to another game.

Source: Austin FC & Q2 Stadium: What You Need to Know | Visit Austin, TX (austintexas.org)

My soccer team traveled to Salt Lake City, Utah about two years ago to play BYU and the University of Utah. While we were there, we had some extra days to tour around the city. We set up a tour of the State Capitol and it was the first building that came to mind when we were told to write about a structure that was impactful to us.

 The building sits 300 feet above the rest of Salt Lake, so it can be seen from miles away and has the prettiest views of mountains around. It is designed in the Neo-Classical style like most capitals, but the interior is what impacted me the most. The main material in the interior is marble, both a Georgian and Utah marble. The walls and staircase on the main floor have a marble finish that shines when natural light from the windows in the main dome enter the space. I felt powerful when entering the building, which I assume would be the goal a government building.

Everything designed and placed inside has meaning to the state of Utah. For example, there are four niche statues under the main dome and each of them are dedicated to the four main beliefs of the people of Utah. Immigration and settlement, land and community, science and technology, and arts and education are the four main beliefs that the statues are dedicated to. I really enjoyed getting to visit this building, it was beautiful and had amazing views of the city. This building not only influenced me because of the aesthetically pleasing interior, but also because it reminds me of the fun times I had traveling with my soccer team.

Source: Utah’s Capitols | History to Go