"Still the problem is a serious one that won't go away. If we all go on speaking each other's architectural language and imitating each other's culture, the result will be worldwide architectural entropy. The built world will decline from difference into sameness. Just as we see indigenous verbal language will become universal."
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The above quote aptly describes the difficult tasks that architects face--designing
buildings with individuality. The architectural dichotomy of form and function must be reconciled. If an architect
can overcome the aforementioned obstacles, then an icon is created. Unlike Cathedrals that represented an attempt to reach God, American culture attempts to play God. The skyscrapers of today exhibit this desire. The American concept of "bigger is better," is manifested through Modern architecture. At left, Sears Tower, Chicago, Illinois. |
| The style of renowned International Period architects such as Mies van der Rohe and
his followers gave way to the Modern Period. In America, the expression of Modern architecture was perpetuated
through the design of skyscrapers. Americans memorized the names and shapes of these unique buildings that sprouted
up along comparatively naive skylines. In New York, the Empire State Building was soon accompanied by Rockefeller Center and eventually the
World Trade Center's twin towers. In Chicago, the concept of making buildings bigger and taller started immediately after the city was ravaged by a fire in 1871. The use of structural steel began in Chicago, and the city has since been the home to buildings from each architectural period beginning in the Early Century period. |