Rudolph Michael Schindler was born in Vienna in 1887. He studied with Otto Wangner from 1910- 1913 where he learned that modern materials and methods should be the source for architecture, not historical styles. The biggest influence on him was the work of Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1918, Wright haired Schindler to work on the Imperial Hotel, and left him in charge when Wright traveled to Japan. In 1920, Wright sent him to Los Angeles to to supervise the construction on the Hollyhock house.
While Schnidler always meant to return to Vienna, WWI, the economic conditions were unfavorable and discouraged him in leaving the United States. After visiting Yosemite in 1921 with his wife, he decided to stay in LA and built a house of is own and lived and practiced there for the rest of his career.
Famous Work:
"Dorothy Draper was to decorating what Chanel was to fashion. The woman was a genius; there'd be no professional decorating business without her." -Carleton Varney, Interior Designer
Born in 1889 to a wealthy and privileged family in Tuxedo Park, New York, Dorothy Draper was the first to 'professionalize' the interior design industry. She was an only child for the first nine years of her life and was nicknamed 'Star' by her family. Before establishing her Interior Design empire, Draper was a debutant. In 1902, She married George Draper, a doctor who equaled her social statues, however he had no interest in high society. Instead, he devoted himself to research and became a specialist in the treatment of Polio. About 10 years after their marriage, Dr. Drapers childhood friend, Franklin Roosevelt, showed symptoms of this disease and he became FDR's personal physician. Together, Dorothy and George had three children who grew up as neighbors to the Roosevelts in the Upper East Side. Both Dorothy and her friend Eleanor Roosevelt chafed against it's conventions and restrictions and yearned to make the world a better place.
"Your home is the backdrop of your life, whether it is a palace or a one-room apartment, it should honestly be your own-an expression of your personality." -Dorothy Draper
For Dorothy, making the world a better place was not about laws and rights, but a matter of walls and furniture. In 1923, Draper established the first interior design company, Dorothy Draper & Company, in the United States which was, at this point in time, unheard of, also taking into consideration that Draper was a women and it was considered daring for a woman to go into business herself at this time. About a week after the Wall Street Crash, her husband ran off with another women, however, she persevered through the Great Depression by honing her signature style at hotels, resorts, restaurants, and nightclubs across the country.
"If it looks right, it is right" - Dorothy Draper
In 1939, Draper published 'Decorating is Fun!', a design manual that was also a self-help book. In addition to stating the rules of scale and symmetry, Draper also wrote to the nervous housewife, "If it looks right, it is right. Don't be a slave to tradition or to your mother-in-law's taste. Paint the ceiling, hang your own curtains, and fill the space with what you love. The first rule of decorating, is courage, followed by color, balance, smart accessories, and comfort." While she was not considered a modernist, she prized light, brightness, practicality, and fun, over 'stifling' formality. Also recognizing that her readers might potentially be single like herself, and wouldn't have anyone to hang curtains for her, she encouraged all women to set up the ladder themselves. A few years later, as the country was entering the second world war, Draper published her follow-up 'Entertaining is Fun!'
"A true artist of the design world...Dorothy Draper became a celebrity in the modern sense of the word, virtually creating the image of the decorator in the popular mind." - Architectural Digest
In 2006, Draper was honored in a retrospective exhibition of her work entitled "The High Style of Dorothy Draper" by the Museum of the City of New York which was the first time that such an honor was given to an interior designer.
Important Designs:
The Dorotheum, a restaurant at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Quitandinha Palace & Casino Resort, Petropolis, Brazil
Quitandinha Palace & Casino Resort, Petropolis, Brazil
Quitandinha Palace & Casino Resort, Petropolis, Brazil
"I believe that a less severe principle can be found - the mixing of styles. The Noble frames that came to us from the past can receive today's creations. The house that we build now can welcome ancient things of beauty."
Born in Paris on February 28, 1895, Jean Michel Frank was the third son of banker Leon Frank and of Nanette Loewi. He was the first cousin to Otto Frank, and, therefore, a first cousin once removed of Anne Frank. He was a dedicated pupil at Lycee Janson De Sailly, an elementary school in Paris up until 1904 and in 1911 he began to study law. In 1915 tragedy struck is family when both of his older brothers died fighting in World War I and his father committed suicide shortly after. Within in the next four years, his mother also passed away and Frank, inheriting a small fortune, begins to travel the world evolving in the artistic and social circles of that time. By 1930, Frank has become an established professional decorator and has also become the head of the Chanaux Company as artistic manager. From then on, he brings together talented artists from whom he had already commissioned a few creations. He also became a design legend through his many furniture designs. In 1940, Frank flees France, escaping the Nazi's and ended up teaching in New York for a short time before he committed suicide on March 8, 1941 after jumping off a building.
Jean Michel Frank Furniture:
A set of nesting tables designed by Frank
Shagreen sheathed coffee table c. 1939 by Frank
Vanity set designed by Frank
Modern Applications of Art Deco:
EC: The difference between Art Deco and Art Nouveau
Mies van der Rohe was born in Germany in 1886 as Maria Ludwig Michael Mies. He was the youngest of five children and attended a Catholic school before receiving vocation training at the Gewerbeschule in Aachen. He started out as a draftsman before breaking off on to create his own architect/interior design empire. He received his first commission for a residential home design while he was still working as a draftmans before the outbreak of World War I in 1914 which put a hold on his career. He served the German military by helping build bridges and roads. After the war, Mies returned home to his wife, Ada Bruhn, whom he married in 1913 and eventually had 3 daughters with, and to his work. It was around the time that Mies added van der Rohe to his name which was an adaptation of his mother's maiden name.
By the 1920s, Mies became the leading architect in Germany and was a member of the radical artistic organization, Novembergruppe, and eventually the Bauhaus movement which was founded by Walter Gropius and embraced socialist ideals as well as a functional philosophy about art and design. Unfortunately, this movement was eventually shut down due to the politically pressure from the Nazis.
Mies died on August 17, 1969 of esophageal cancer in his adopted hometown of Chicago, Illinois. Many of his structures still stand today and are widely visited by admirers who appreciate his design philosophy, "I have tried to make an architecture for a technological society. I wanted to keep everything reasonable and clear--to have an architecture that anybody can do."
Important Works
One of his more influential works was the Barcelona Pavilion which was the display of architecture's modern movement to the world. It was originally named the German Pavilion as it was the face of Germany after World War II and was meant to show the nation's progressively modern culture. His concept for the design was to create a space that was simply a building and nothing more. It was meant to be a place of tranquility and escape from the exposition in which it was placed.
Another important work of Mies is the Farnsworth house. It was designed by Miesd in 1945 and is a vital part of American iconography. It represents both the International Style of architecture as well the modern movement's desire to juxtapose the sleek, streamline design of Modern structure with the organic environment of surrounding nature.
Otto Wagner was born in Penzing, Austria on July 13, 1841. He was educated by private tutors and French governesses until the age of nine when he began schooling at the Akademisches Gymnasium in Vienna for two years before beginning boarding school. His mother decided that Wagner was to be trained as a lawyer while in school, however, Wagner hated life at boarding school that at one point, he ran away to Vienna where his mother had to convince him to return. After forcedly completing the humanist education, he studied at the Polytechnic Institute of Vienna where, because of his good reports, was exempt from military service and was able to continue his education at Koenigliche Bauakademie in Berlin. In 1861, Wagner returned home to Vienna and completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1963, Wagner won his first competition (for a casino in the Wiener Stadtpark) and also married his wife, Josefine, with whom he had three children with. Shortly after his mother's death in 1880, he divorced Josefine and remarried Louise Stiffel who was 18 years younger than him. With Louise, Wagner had an additional three children. In 1915, Louise took ill and he began journal entries that would eventually turn into letters that he would sign 'Your Otto' or something similar. After Louise's death, Wagner lived quietly as by then the war made it's way into his studio saying that he was, 'greatly oppressed by the lack of an assistant' and while his son, Otto, was also a professional architect, he was not considered a good assistant as Wagner stated, ' I have never seen anybody with so little artistic flair and with so little taste. This worries me greatly, for what are all my buildings going to look like if it is left to him to complete them.' Wagner died on Aprill 11, 1918 of erysipelas (a bacterial skin infection) and is buried in his family vault which he had build in the Hietzing Cemetery.
Design Philosophy
In his manifesto that he wrote in 1896 (Modern Architecture), Wagner expressed his ideal of practical and efficiently designed architecture. I argued that, 'the purpose of beauty was to give artistic expression to function. Extraneous ornament, therefore, was not only impractical and inefficient, it was also decidedly unmodern.' His approach to design was related to that of the Secession (a progressive group of Austrian artists, architects, and designers who pursued artistic rejuvenation). Secessionist architects believed in the idea of Gesamtkunstwertk or the 'total work of art' meaning they believed that all aesthetic elements were subordinated to the whole effect. Main Works Pavilion on Karlsplatz
Pavilion on Karlsplatz was built in 1989 in the course of Stadbahn construction. Wagner's design was revolutionary in Art Nouveau architecture which is shown in the many decorative details. Metal and wood were painted green with golds and white marble added throughout the design as well.
Austrian Postal Savings Bank
The Postal Savings Banks is considered a Gesmtkunstwerk (total work of art) and is believed to perfectly epitomize Wagner's approach to building design. It is seven stories high and occupies an entire city block. The plan is trapezoidal with the rectilinear central block occupying the main banking hall. The frame of the building is steel while the central banking hall isf a glass atrium. In the design, Wagner hoped to maximize efficiency and minimize the amount of daily cleaning and future repairs. This was achieved through selecting materials for the durability as well as their functionality.
These are just a few of his many works. Here is a link to an article that discusses more of his contributions to architecture:
Antoni Gaudi was born on June 25, 1852 in provincial Catalonia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Gaudi showed interest in architecture at an early age and he began schooling in Barcelona in 1870, however, is studies were interrupted by military service and he did not graduate until 1878 from the Provincial School of Architecture. After graduating, Guadi's work was heavily influenced by Victorian design, however, he quickly developed his own style consisting of geometric masses and animated surfaces with patterned brick, stone, and ceramic and floral or reptilian metal work. An example of this style is The salamander in Park Guell:
During his early period, at the Paris World's Fair of 1878, Gaudi displayed a showcase which impressed patron enough to lead to Gaudi's being commissioned on the Guell Palace and Estate in Barcelona. Built between 1886 and 1890, this Palace was completed by the time Gaudi was 38 years old. It was home to the Guell family for twenty years and used as both a home to this family as well as a place for social gatherings and when the Spanish Civil war began it was converted into a Police Station and then later became home to the Theatre Institute.
One of his most famous works was his refurbishment of Casa Batllo in 1904. In his refurbishment, Gaudi added two new story's and designed a new exterior consisting of mosaic fragments of glass and ceramic disks to form a dragons back. The main floor of the building was home to the Batllo family a d it contained the large lounge with views overlooking Passeig De Gracia and is characterized by a long gallery with leaded windows and the woodwork in its interior. As inspiration Gaudi used colors a d shapes found in marine life and spent time on his designs to consider things such as varying window sizes depending on how height the window is from the top of the building to ensure uniform lighting conditions in each room in the building.
After 1910, Gaudi abandoned all of his work to focus on the Sagrada Familia, also known as 'cathedral for the poor,' which he had begun in 1883. For the final 12 years of his life, Guadi's main concentrated mainly on dedicating himself to prayer, long periods of fasting and to the construction of this Cathedral. While this building is now a popular tourist spot in Barcelona, it wasn't always popular with the citizens of the city. In July of 1936, a group of revolutionaries broke into the crypt and destroyed Guadi's original plans, drawings and plaster models. It took 16 years before they were able to piece just the model back together again.
Gaudi worked on this Cathedra until his death on June 10, 1926. He died after getting hit by a trolley car in Barcelona a few weeks before his 74th birthday. He was buried in the chapel of our Lady of Mount Carmel in the crypt of Sagrada Familia. To this day, Sagrada Familia remains unfished and has a projected completion date of 2026, to mark the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death.
This video shows what the additions that needed to be added to the building before it is considered complete:
"Dorothy Draper was to decorating what Chanel was to fashion. The woman was a genius; there'd be no professional decorating business without her." -Carleton Varney, Interior Designer
Otto Wagner was born in Penzing, Austria on July 13, 1841. He was educated by private tutors and French governesses until the age of nine when he began schooling at the Akademisches Gymnasium in Vienna for two years before beginning boarding school. His mother decided that Wagner was to be trained as a lawyer while in school, however, Wagner hated life at boarding school that at one point, he ran away to Vienna where his mother had to convince him to return. After forcedly completing the humanist education, he studied at the Polytechnic Institute of Vienna where, because of his good reports, was exempt from military service and was able to continue his education at Koenigliche Bauakademie in Berlin. In 1861, Wagner returned home to Vienna and completed his studies at the Academy of Fine Arts. In 1963, Wagner won his first competition (for a casino in the Wiener Stadtpark) and also married his wife, Josefine, with whom he had three children with. Shortly after his mother's death in 1880, he divorced Josefine and remarried Louise Stiffel who was 18 years younger than him. With Louise, Wagner had an additional three children. In 1915, Louise took ill and he began journal entries that would eventually turn into letters that he would sign 'Your Otto' or something similar. After Louise's death, Wagner lived quietly as by then the war made it's way into his studio saying that he was, 'greatly oppressed by the lack of an assistant' and while his son, Otto, was also a professional architect, he was not considered a good assistant as Wagner stated, ' I have never seen anybody with so little artistic flair and with so little taste. This worries me greatly, for what are all my buildings going to look like if it is left to him to complete them.' Wagner died on Aprill 11, 1918 of erysipelas (a bacterial skin infection) and is buried in his family vault which he had build in the Hietzing Cemetery.
The Postal Savings Banks is considered a Gesmtkunstwerk (total work of art) and is believed to perfectly epitomize Wagner's approach to building design. It is seven stories high and occupies an entire city block. The plan is trapezoidal with the rectilinear central block occupying the main banking hall. The frame of the building is steel while the central banking hall isf a glass atrium. In the design, Wagner hoped to maximize efficiency and minimize the amount of daily cleaning and future repairs. This was achieved through selecting materials for the durability as well as their functionality.
Antoni Gaudi was born on June 25, 1852 in provincial Catalonia on the Mediterranean coast of Spain. Gaudi showed interest in architecture at an early age and he began schooling in Barcelona in 1870, however, is studies were interrupted by military service and he did not graduate until 1878 from the Provincial School of Architecture. After graduating, Guadi's work was heavily influenced by Victorian design, however, he quickly developed his own style consisting of geometric masses and animated surfaces with patterned brick, stone, and ceramic and floral or reptilian metal work. An example of this style is The salamander in Park Guell:
