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architectureArchitectureWhat we build.2NA=1154&NC=1217&DI=4098&PS=62617&PI=7315archfalsefalsespacernotembeddedarchitectureHe Broke the MoldWitold RybczynskifalseYou don't see great public sculptors like Augustus Saint-Gaudens anymore.noHe Broke the MoldAugustus Saint-Gaudens, America's greatest public sculptor.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide-show essay about sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.falsefalse1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722149184852009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722149184852009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172214918485false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000spaceryeshyperlinkAugustus Saint-Gaudens9407351/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722150747412009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722150747412009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215074741false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM6339285114800000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722150747412009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722150747412009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215074741false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe Augustus Saint-Gaudens show at the Metropolitan Museum in New York City is modest in scale, and a good way to enlarge the experience is to walk down Fifth Avenue to Grand Army Plaza and the Sherman Monument. The stirring figures atop a handsome granite pedestal designed by architect Charles Follen McKim are one of Saint-Gaudens' great works. The mounted Civil War general is depicted bareheaded with the wind lifting his cloak, preceded by the goddess Victory holding the palm branch of peace. Saint-Gaudens, notoriously slow, had taken 18 sittings to make a bust of Sherman; the model for Victory was Hettie Anderson, a popular African-American model. He sculpted Victory unclothed, then spent two weeks arranging her drapery. The monument is a reminder of how different Saint-Gaudens was from contemporary artists such as Claes Oldenburg, Richard Serra, and Jeff Koons, who make public sculptures but whose art is essentially private in nature. The Saint, as he was sometimes called, was an artist who derived his inspiration from the subjects of his public commissions.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/1_Sherman_Monument.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/1_Sherman_Monument.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722152309972009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722152309972009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215230997false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Sherman Monument in Grand Army Plaza, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1892-1903. Photograph by Jim Henderson. This image is in the public domain.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000 spaceryeshyperlinkSaint-Gaudens was born in Dublin in 1848 to a French father and an Irish mother. The family immigrated to America when he was an infant and settled in New York City. At 13, he was apprenticed as a cameo cutter. Cameos are tiny images—often portraits—cut into shell or stone, and after six years, he developed an extraordinary skill in shallow-relief carving. He studied art in Paris and Rome, developed a love of the Italian Renaissance, and later divided his time among New York, Paris, and a rural retreat in Cornish, N.H. His friend Kenyon Cox painted him in 1887 in his 36th Street studio, intently modeling a bas-relief portrait of the painter William Merritt Chase. The portrait was to be a birthday present from Saint-Gaudens, who had a wide circle of friends, including many architects: H.H. Richardson, Daniel Burnham, Stanford White, and his partner McKim. These friendships, which were the source of commissions and regular collaborations, represent a creative camaraderie among artists and architects that is rare today.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/2_Cox_Portrait.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/2_Cox_Portrait.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722152309972009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722152309972009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215230997false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Augustus Saint-Gaudens, Kenyon Cox, 1887. Oil on canvas. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of friends of the artist, through August F. Jaccaci.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkSaint-Gaudens, a master of alto- and bas-relief, made portraits of his friends—John Singer Sargent, Francis D. Millet, art critic Mariana Van Rensselaer—as well of the rich and famous: Cornelius Vanderbilt, Mrs. Grover Cleveland, Robert Louis Stevenson. Many of these reliefs have an endearing, sketchy quality. This large (about 4-by-5-foot) plaque depicting Mortimer and Frieda Schiff was a gift to their father, a New York banker, from a British friend. Unlike paintings or photographs, bas-reliefs appear three-dimensional yet are often less than an inch deep, an illusion that gives them a sort of magical authority. Note how the rounded toe of Mortimer's right foot protrudes over the frame, as if he were about to step out. The sculptor did many clay studies of the children, finally adding his own Scottish deerhound, Dunrobin, to complete the composition. The original plaque is bronze; Schiff had this marble copy made and gave it to the Metropolitan Museum.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/3_Schiff_Children.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/3_Schiff_Children.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722153872532009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722153872532009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215387253false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000The Children of Jacob H. Schiff, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1884-85. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Gift of Jacob H. Schiff.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkSaint Gaudens sculpted several cemetery memorials. In 1886, he was approached by the eminent historian Henry Adams with a seemingly impossible commission: a grave monument for his wife, Marian, who had taken her own life the year before. At Adams' suggestion, Saint-Gaudens studied Buddhist monuments as well as Michelangelo's sibyls in the Sistine Chapel and produced this haunting work. The bronze figure is in Washington, D.C.'s Rock Creek Cemetery; the setting was designed by Stanford White.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/4_Adams_Memorial.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/4_Adams_Memorial.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722155435092009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722155435092009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215543509false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Adams Memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1891. This image is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe figure of Victory in the Sherman Monument is a version of the idealized classical female that appears in many Saint-Gaudens works: a pair of caryatids supporting a massive mantel in a fireplace that he designed for the entrance hall of Cornelius Vanderbilt's house (now displayed in the Met) and several tombs and cemetery monuments. Here she takes the form of an angel, wearing a flowing chiton and a garland on her head, and holding a tablet. Amor Caritas (Love Charity) was not a commissioned work, although 40-inch-high bronze reductions enjoyed considerable commercial success, and the Musée du Luxembourg in Paris purchased a full-size casting—a rare honor for an American artist.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/5_Amor_Caritas.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/5_Amor_Caritas.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722155435092009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722155435092009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215543509false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Amor Caritas, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1880-98. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkPerhaps Saint-Gaudens most popular work is the figure of Diana, the Roman goddess of the hunt. Saint-Gaudens made it to serve as a finial for the top of the tower of Madison Square Garden, recently designed by his close friend Stanford White. The racy idea of placing a nude on top of a 32-story tower (the second tallest structure in the city) probably came from White, a noted womanizer. It must have appealed to Saint-Gaudens, too, for he charged only for his expenses and based the statue on Davida Clark, his model and mistress. Saint-Gaudens and White deemed the first 18-foot riveted-copper figure too large and replaced it with a 13-foot version (now in the Philadelphia Museum of Art). The small bronze casting shown here is one of several that Saint-Gaudens made later for sale to collectors.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/6_Diana.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/6_Diana.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722156997652009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722156997652009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215699765false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Diana, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1892-93. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkSaint-Gaudens first public monument was the Farragut Memorial in Madison Square Park in New York City. It is an extraordinary combination of tradition and innovation. The bronze figure is placed on a granite (originally bluestone) exedra, or bench. Farragut is in naval uniform, holding field glasses, and posed as if on the deck of a ship; the skirt of his coat blown back by a breeze. The allegorical figures on the pedestal, representing Courage and Loyalty, crouch among stylized waves; dolphins, another marine motif, form the ends of the bench. An inscription, in Saint-Gaudens' characteristic Roman-style lettering, celebrates the admiral's accomplishments. What is remarkable about the monument is its small size and great compression, a lesson for today's sprawling memorials, which seem intent on educating the visitor, often at great length. Saint-Gaudens and Stanford White, who designed the base, tell a story, too, but it is more like a haiku.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/7_Farragut_Sculpture.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/7_Farragut_Sculpture.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722158560212009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722158560212009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215856021false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Farragut Memorial in Madison Square Park, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1881. This image is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe memorial to Col. Robert Gould Shaw and the volunteer soldiers of the African-American 54th Massachusetts Regiment stands at the edge of Boston Common. The marching soldiers (16 are visible), preceded by a drummer boy, are rendered in high relief and form a background to the freestanding equestrian portrait of Shaw. The setting, designed by McKim, contains lines from a poem by James Russell Lowell. As he did so often, Saint-Gaudens wove together intense realism with spiritual allegory, the latter in the form of a floating female figure holding laurel leaves, symbolizing glory, and poppies, symbolizing death—half the regiment as well as Gould died in a fateful attack on Fort Wagner in Charleston, N.C. This is generally considered Saint-Gaudens' great achievement, and it represents a pinnacle of modern American public sculpture, rarely—if ever—surpassed.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/8_Shaw_Memorial.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/8_Shaw_Memorial.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722158560212009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722158560212009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172215856021false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Robert Gould Shaw Memorial, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1897. This image is in the public domain.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt, dissatisfied with the coins being issued by the U.S. Mint, prevailed on an ailing Saint-Gaudens (he had cancer and would die two years later, only 59), to design 1-cent, $10, and $20 coins. The 1-cent was never minted, but the $20 gold piece—a double eagle—is widely considered the most beautiful American coin ever made. (It was struck but never circulated, being melted down when the United States went off the gold standard.) The obverse shows a dynamic Liberty (Hettie Anderson, again) holding a torch and palm leaf, the sun rays behind her symbolizing enlightenment. The reverse shows a soaring bald eagle with similar rays. Unlike the U.S. Mint today, which has issued such uninspired coins as the distinctly pedestrian state quarters—they appear to have been designed by committees—Saint-Gaudens understood that a coin could be a miniature sculpture. A work of public art in your pocket.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/9_Eagle_Coin.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2234378/2234379/9_Eagle_Coin.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse2009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722160122772009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM6339301722160122772009115112701AMThursdayNovNovember1111/5/2009 4:27:01 PM633930172216012277false200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000200911311908PMTuesdayNovNovember1311/3/2009 6:19:08 PM633928511480000000Double Eagle coin, Augustus Saint-Gaudens, 1933. This image is in the public domain.200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000Click here to read a slide-show essay about sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens.truenotochyperlinkno200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000200911470416AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:16 PM633929150560000000architectureCareful With That MatisseWitold RybczynskifalseThe Barnes Collection is moving. Does its new Philadelphia home measure up?noCareful With That MatisseThe Barnes Collection is moving. Does its new Philadelphia home measure up?noWere Albert C. Barnes alive, the plan to move his art collection from its home in suburban Merion, Pa., to downtown Philadelphia would have made him erupt in one of his famous rages. The argument that an urban location would enable more people to see his paintings would have cut no ice with him, since he considered his foundation not a public museum but a private teaching academy. To add insult to injury, the new site is within spitting distance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with which Barnes feuded mightily, and often nastily, all his life.truenotochyperlinkno2009101470416AMWednesdayOctOctober710/14/2009 11:04:16 AM6339110065600000002009101470416AMWednesdayOctOctober710/14/2009 11:04:16 AM633911006560000000architectureToo Much of a Good ThingWitold RybczynskifalseFrank Gehry isn't going to design Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards development, and that's OK.noToo Much of a Good ThingWhy it's a good thing Frank Gehry isn't going to design Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards development.noEarlier this summer, Bruce Ratner, the developer of the Atlantic Yards in Brooklyn, N.Y., announced that he was letting go his architect, Frank Gehry. The main reason, according to the New York Times, was that in the new shrinking economy, Gehry's work was simply too expensive. It's a shame that Gehry will not be designing a new Brooklyn home for the Nets, for it would have been instructive to see an imaginative architect tackle the thorny problem of a basketball arena. Arenas, unlike baseball stadiums, are basically big boxes, and they have a track record of being ham-fistedly designed. Wachovia Center, where the Philadelphia 76ers play, for example, is a block-sized collection of contemporary architectural clichés, combined without any logic or wit. Its only saving grace is that it is not in an urban neighborhood but surrounded by parking lots—a suburban setting for a suburban design.truenotochyperlinkno200992393352AMWednesdaySepSeptember99/23/2009 1:33:52 PM633892952320000000200992393352AMWednesdaySepSeptember99/23/2009 1:33:52 PM633892952320000000architectureForest Hills GardensWitold RybczynskifalseA walkable, transit-oriented, architecturally rich planned community, built 100 years ago.noForest Hills GardensForest Hills Gardens: A walkable, transit-oriented, architecturally rich planned community, built 100 years ago.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide-show essay on Forest Hills Gardens.falsefalse1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622173939200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622173939200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622173939false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000spaceryeshyperlinkForest Hills Gardens9407351/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622330192false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkDespite the medieval, Germanic appearance of the buildings, this town square isn't in Bavaria—it's in New York City. Forest Hills Gardens in Queens, N.Y., was begun in 1909, a project of the Russell Sage Foundation, which had been founded by the widow of a successful Wall Street financier. The planned community of 142 acres, which introduced the British Garden City movement to the United States, was intended to demonstrate the latest ideas in town planning, housing, open space, and building construction. It's pretty obvious that in the intervening years, Levittown, N.Y.—not Forest Hills—became the prototype for American planned communities. But in an age of diminishing resources and an interest in walkable neighborhoods, it is worth revisiting Forest Hills. One of the strengths of the Garden City movement was that it dealt with town planning in a comprehensive way, and this 100-year-old piece of New York City remains a model for how the attractions of town and suburbs can be combined.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/1_Square.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/1_Square.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622486445200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622486445200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622486445false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe town square faces a station on the Long Island Railroad, which connects Forest Hills to Manhattan, 20 minutes away—an early example of transit-oriented development. The buildings on the square have stores and restaurants at street level and apartments above, just the sort of mixed-use that many developers are promoting today. The tallest building, nine stories, originally housed the Forest Hills Inn, since converted into condominiums. Apartment buildings line the streets immediately behind the square (right), creating a more urban density in this part of the community. As you walk away from Station Square, the scale of the buildings becomes smaller, there are more trees, and the surroundings are greener and more parklike.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/2_Apartment_Tower.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/2_Apartment_Tower.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkWalkability, which is the goal of most town planners today, requires smaller lots and more compact houses in order to keep distances short. In the housing terrace at right, 17-foot-wide town homes use land efficiently, but even detached house lots at Forest Hills can be as small as 2,800 square feet (compared with a typical suburban lot size today of 20,000 square feet). Forest Hills has a variety of single-family houses: attached, semidetached, and freestanding. The aim of having many housing types was partly to give more choices to buyers and partly to create the kind of visual variety found in old towns. This is very different from the sort of homogeneity that characterizes most modern suburbs. Notice also the generous planting strip next to the sidewalk, which gives the street trees plenty of room.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/3_Houses.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/3_Houses.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622642698false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph from The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury. Photograph by Jonathan Wallen © 2009 Jonathan Wallen.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe planner of Forest Hills was Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870-1957), son of the famous landscape architect. Olmsted was in his 40s, highly experienced, and he produced one of the great garden suburb plans of this period—or of any period. He showed how, in a relatively small area, it was possible to combine a variety of housing: apartment buildings, housing groups, and individual houses surrounded by gardens. The plan is not a simple grid—the streets curve—but neither is it the mindless "spaghetti" of so many modern suburbs. There is a clear hierarchy of larger avenues (called greenways), streets, and narrow internal streets that resemble back lanes. There is also a variety of open spaces: a town square, a village green, small parks, and this landscaped circle at the heart of a quiet cluster of houses (right).spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/4_Sidewalk.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/4_Sidewalk.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622798951200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622798951200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622798951false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkOne housing group, intended for lower-income buyers, consists of attached houses only 13 feet wide. (The end houses, with octagonal bays, are wider.) The houses are constructed entirely of precast hollow-concrete slabs and panels. A single house consisted of 140 panels and could be assembled in nine days. The successful use of prefabricated concrete in housing at such an early date (1913) was decades ahead of what anyone else was doing in the United States or Europe. The lively exterior doesn't look cheap or mass-produced, despite the limitation of the standardized panels, which are given an attractive rough pebble finish. Equally impressive is the fact that this experiment has survived more than 90 years and is in excellent shape. This probably has something to do with the rather conservative design, which sticks to the tried-and-true: pitched roofs, protective overhangs, dormers, and traditional windows. And these little (1,960-square-foot) three-bedroom prefabs have more than held their value; one of these houses is currently on the market for $929,000.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/5_Prefab.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/5_Prefab.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkThe architect of the prefabricated houses, Station Square, and of many of the buildings at Forest Hills was Grosvenor Atterbury (1869-1956), the subject of a recent monograph. Atterbury is not well-known, but he deserves to be. He belonged to an in-between generation of architects, younger than turn-of-the-century giants like Charles McKim and Daniel Burnham and older than the first Modernists, such as Eliel Saarinen and George Howe. Atterbury worked in a variety of architectural styles—and for a variety of clients. At the same time as he was designing his ingenious precast concrete system for low-cost housing, he was building a group of cow barns in Newport, R.I. (right), to house the prize Guernsey herd of Arthur Curtiss James, one of the richest men in the country. So, a society architect or a revolutionary? Perhaps both.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/6_James.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/6_James.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150622955204false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph from The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury. Photograph by Jonathan Wallen © 2009 Jonathan Wallen.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkOne of Atterbury's first projects in concrete was a summer colony of 10 cottages, built in 1897 for sugar magnate Henry Osborne Havemeyer, at Bayberry Point on the south shore of Long Island. The houses were built out of cast-in-place concrete, but what is even more striking is that they have flat roofs and starkly unadorned surfaces, giving them the appearance of the Modernist villas that architects such as Viennese firebrand Adolf Loos ("ornament is a crime") would build some years later. Did Grosvenor Atterbury invent the International Style? Not exactly. The Bayberry Point houses, which were advertised as "creations of the fancy," were intended to recall the Moorish architecture of North Africa, which Atterbury and his collaborator, Louis Comfort Tiffany, had both recently visited. Still, it is a curious fact that these two American eclectics arrived at bare concrete construction a decade before the European avant-garde.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/7_Havemeyer_House.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/7_Havemeyer_House.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623111457200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623111457200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623111457false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph from The Architecture of Grosvenor Atterbury.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkThere is nothing bare about Forest Hills—quite the opposite. The picturesque architecture of medieval towns was greatly admired by garden city architects, and Atterbury gave the buildings around Station Square a medieval air, using precast concrete to suggest half-timbering. Decorative fretwork and patterned brick complete the effect. One is tempted to see this as an early example of architectural theming, except that it is done with such conviction and inventiveness that it is more like a performance than a simulation.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/8_Close_Up.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/8_Close_Up.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000spaceryeshyperlinkWhat makes Forest Hills different from—and much better than—most modern suburbs is not just the density, walkability, and architectural variety. It is also the attention to detail, whether in Olmsted's planting strips or Atterbury's distinctive street lamps. The designers understood that one of the great challenges of building a planned community from scratch is creating an instant sense of belonging. They achieved this by harmoniously integrating planning, landscaping, and architecture. That may be Forest Hills' most important lesson: Community building is an art. Not a pictorial art, but an experiential one, appreciated when you walk through the dark arcades of Station Square, beside the shaded town green (where a person sat in a deck chair the day I was there) and along the looping curve of Olmsted's greenway. This is not merely planning or building; it is place-making.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/9_Street_Lamp.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2225740/2225749/9_Street_Lamp.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710200911470422AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:22 PM633929150623267710false2009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM6338671298400000002009824121624PMMondayAugAugust128/24/2009 4:16:24 PM633867129840000000Photograph by Witold Rybczynski.200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000Click here to read a slide-show essay on Forest Hills Gardens.truenotochyperlinkno200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000200982670430AMWednesdayAugAugust78/26/2009 11:04:30 AM633868670700000000architectureGate ChangeWitold RybczynskifalseThe history and future of airport design.noGate ChangeThe history and future of airport design.nospacer205180Click here to read a slide-show essay on the history of airport architecture.falsefalse1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/SlideShowLaunchModule.jpg205180http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698491187200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698491187200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698491187false200972121432PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:32 PM633837824720000000200972121432PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:32 PM633837824720000000spaceryeshyperlinkGate Change9407351/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/slideshow_header_Interim.gif94054http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443false200972121432PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:32 PM633837824720000000200972121432PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:32 PM6338378247200000001/123125/122986/2111960/2116067/2116783/2116938/SlideshowFooter.gif94024http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698647443200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698803699false200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000200541844310PMMondayAprApril164/18/2005 8:43:10 PM632494393900000000FFFFFF000000spaceryeshyperlinkAirports used to be called "fields"—as in La Guardia Field and O'Hare Field. All you needed was a grassy landing strip and a windsock, and perhaps a shack for the passengers, who simply walked over to the planes. By the late 1920s, as air travel became more widespread, larger buildings were required, with ticketing counters, waiting rooms, baggage handling, customs and immigration, and so on. The design of new building types has often borrowed from the past—early skyscrapers looked liked steeples, for example—but the 19th-century railroad terminal, a monumental concourse in the front and a steel-and-glass shed over the platforms in the back, was not easily adapted to air travel. Architects have struggled with the problem of how to design airports ever since—and have produced a variety of different solutions.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/1_TWA_1930_flight.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/1_TWA_1930_flight.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698803699200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698803699200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698803699false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph courtesy Brian Lea.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkAlthough William Adams Delano and Chester Holmes Aldrich are best known for their exceptional country houses in revival styles, the two architects were also pioneers of aviation architecture. In 1928, they were commissioned to build a terminal in Miami for Pan American Airways and a few years later a seaplane base in Coconut Grove, Fla., where passengers could board Clipper flying boats. They followed these up with the New York Municipal Airport (later called LaGuardia Field), which served both land planes and seaplanes. (The marine air terminal is at right.) The free-standing terminals resembled simple geometrical volumes (an airy vaulted hangarlike shed in Miami, a drum enclosing a circular concourse in New York). The buildings included observation decks and vertically separated arrival and departure areas and were decorated with stylized globes, signs of the zodiac, and, in the case of the marine terminal, dolphins. Delano and Aldrich adopted a clean, streamlined Art Deco style that suggested efficiency and modernity, and crowned the New York land terminal with a large steel eagle, symbolizing flight.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/2_LaGuardia.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/2_LaGuardia.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Survey of LaGuardia Airport's Marine Air Terminal, 1974, via Wikipedia. This image is in the public domain.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn 1941, Delano and Aldrich were commissioned to plan a brand-new airport for New York City at Idlewild, and they proposed a massive circular terminal building with 700-foot spokes housing the gates. This was never built, but two decades later Idlewild (today John F. Kennedy International Airport) was the site of another ambitious experiment. Hired by TWA to design a new terminal, Eero Saarinen, with characteristic flair, determined that the entire building should say "flight." His solution: not a sculpted eagle but a building shaped like a bird. Saarinen's interiors were self-consciously futurist and resembled a set for a science-fiction movie. The building, executed with conviction and enormous skill (this was before computer-aided design), made a powerful impact when it opened in 1962, although its long-term influence on airport design proved to be negligible. Nothing ages faster than today's idea of tomorrow.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/3_TWA_Terminal.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/3_TWA_Terminal.jpg60045011http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150698959955P false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000Photograph by Todd Lappin/Telstar Logistics.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkFor Washington, D.C.'s Dulles International Airport, Saarinen went in a different direction, rethinking not only how an airport should look but also how it functioned. In order to get rid of the long and featureless corridors and walkways that led from the terminal to the gates, Saarinen invented a "mobile lounge" that could transport passengers directly from the terminal to the planes, which were parked some distance away on the tarmac. The terminal was now a single hall, cars arriving on one side, mobile lounges departing on the other. Nothing could be simpler. The problem was that neither the passengers nor the airlines warmed to the concept; the lounges were more like wide buses than rooms, and with the advent of jumbo jets, they proved inefficient. Although a few airports adopted mobile lounges, most stuck with the terminal-and-gates solution.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/4_Dulles_Airport.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/4_Dulles_Airport.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699116211200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699116211200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699116211false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Main Terminal of Washington Dulles International Airport, via Wikipedia. This image is in the public domain.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkIn 1988, the United Airlines terminal at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport opened. The idea here was to make the walk to the gate as architecturally interesting as the terminal itself. Instead of trying to discover a new architectural style for the airport, as Saarinen had done, architect Helmut Jahn simply updated the imagery of the Victorian train shed. The exposed steel structural elements are fussy and stylized, however, producing a cartoonish version of the original. The effect is tantamount to outfitting modern pilots with leather helmets and flying goggles. Not that it matters; here, as in many airports, the architecture ends up obliterated by a welter of graphics, signs, and advertisements.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/5_OHare_United.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/5_OHare_United.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699272467200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699272467200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699272467false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph by Robert Werner, 2005, via Wikipedia. This image is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkThere are now 85 airports in the United States that handle more than 1 million passenger boardings. The largest, in area, is Denver International, whose opening in 1995 was marked by an infamous engineering failure—the $230 million baggage-handling system ran amok, losing and mangling bags. The building was designed by Fentress Bradburn Architects and consisted of a tensile fabric structure. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill had done much the same thing 20 years earlier in the Hajj Terminal in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A tent roof probably makes more sense in sweltering Saudi Arabia than in snowy Colorado, but the airport owners liked the distinctive silhouette, which is often compared to the nearby Rockies.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/6_Denver.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/6_Denver.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph by Doc Searls, via Wikipedia. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 1.0.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkDespite its tensile structure, there is something almost whimsical about the design of the Denver airport. Whimsy is entirely absent from Stansted Terminal, outside London, which opened a few years earlier.* The terminal merged engineering, function, and aesthetics in what was essentially a large shed. Shed sounds utilitarian, but this space has the impact of a Gothic cathedral nave. Light enters from above, and the entire roof is supported by repetitive treelike structural modules. Stansted is a breakthrough, for Norman Foster had discovered a compelling solution to the problem of designing an airport: no metaphors of flight, no symbolic technology, no reviving the past (although Stansted does recall a very large aircraft hanger), and, instead, a building that demonstrates a structural and functional logic that is no less rigorous than the aeronautical design of a plane. The resulting paradigm shift has led to a whole generation of "elegant shed" airports: Hong Kong and Beijing (Foster), Madrid Barajas and Heathrow Terminal 5 (Richard Rogers), and Kansai (Renzo Piano).*This article originally misspelled the airport's name.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/7_London_Stansted_Rudelle.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/7_London_Stansted_Rudelle.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699428723false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph by Nicolas Rudelle.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkKansai Airport sits on a man-made island in Japan's Osaka Bay. The basic plan is simple: A terminal building handles ticketing and baggage, and a milelong gallery accommodates the gates. Renzo Piano turns the tunnellike space into an evocative combination of light-filled greenhouse and dirigible shed. To get to the gates, passengers board a people mover, an automated tram that runs along the exterior of the building. There is some of the fluidity of Saarinen's TWA here—Piano's roof is invariably compared to an airfoil—but the lightweight structure is highly rationalized in the manner of Stansted. (Ove Arup & Partners were the structural engineers on both projects.) The airfoil roof is not only resistant to typhoon winds; it allows conditioned air to be blown across its inside surface, reducing the need for ducts.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/8_Kansai.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/8_Kansai.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699584979200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699584979200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699584979false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph by Alexs Letterbox, 2005, via Wikipedia. This image is licensed under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000spaceryeshyperlinkWhat should an airport look like? The Victorian railroad terminal celebrated the excitement associated with fast long-distance travel. Trains had dining cars and sleepers, and a corresponding sense of elegance permeated the station, even if you were traveling second-class. Excitement and elegance have long since worn off air travel. People just want to get where they're going as quickly and painlessly as possible. The best you hope for is that you get through the security line quickly, your flight's on time, there's space for your bag in the overhead bin, and if you're really lucky, the adjacent seat is empty. Airports have become as ubiquitous—and about as glamorous—as bus stations. Perhaps that's really the new model. In the talented hands of a Piano or a Foster, the bus station will be light and airy, but the kind of theatricality shown by the first generation of airports now seems out of place.spacer600450nono1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/9_BWI.jpghttp://img.slate.com/mediayesStandardImage1/123125/2079215/2208527/2221393/2223231/9_BWI.jpg600450http://img.slate.com/mediafalse200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699897491200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699897491200911470429AMWednesdayNovNovember711/4/2009 12:04:29 PM633929150699897491false200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000200972121439PMTuesdayJulJuly147/21/2009 6:14:39 PM633837824790000000Photograph of Baltimore/Washington International Airport by Rudi Riet, 2007, via Wikipedia. This image is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 1.0.200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000Click here to read a slide-show essay on the history of airport architecture.truenotochyperlinkno200972190534PMTuesdayJulJuly217/22/2009 1:05:34 AM633838071340000000200972293128AMWednesdayJulJuly97/22/2009 1:31:28 PM633838518880000000200322523252PMTuesdayFebFebruary142/25/2003 7:32:52 PM631817803720000000200322523252PMTuesdayFebFebruary142/25/2003 7:32:52 PM631817803720000000falsetruetruetruetruetruetrue200322511607PMTuesdayFebFebruary132/25/2003 6:16:07 PM631817757670000000200322511607PMTuesdayFebFebruary132/25/2003 6:16:07 PM631817757670000000