Hermés
Georg Baselitz, Jörg Immendorff, Markus Lupertz and A.R. Penck exhibition
Collecting Symposium: "Collecting Contemporary Art"
Clifford Chance US LLP
Gallery W52
Arario Gallery
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Gallery
W52
NINE ARCHITECHS | THIRTY YEARS | THIRTY BUILDINGS
A SELECTED PORTFOLIO: 1974-2004 Cesar Pelli & Associates
Foster and Partners
Gehry Partners
Kohn Pedersen Fox
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
Johnson/Burgee Architects
Robert A. M. Stern Architects
Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
JANUARY 27 - MARCH 19, 2004
GALLERY W 52
THE LOBBY GALLERY at 31 WEST 52nd STREET
(from top)
Norwest Center
Cesar Pelli & Associates
Metropolitan
Foster and Partners
Banking Pavilion
Gehry Partners
745 Seventh Avenue
Kohn Pedersen Fox
Columbia Square
Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
53rd at Third
Johnson/Burgee Architects
Torre Almirante
Robert A.M. Stern Architects
Ravinia
Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo
Trading Pavilion
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
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Since the beginning of the 20th Century the terms Modernism and Architecture
have been intimately associated, so that when Charles Jenks introduced the term
Post-modernism into our critical vocabulary, he was referring to the output of a
new generation of architects who seemingly had violated Modern architectureÐs reductive
logic and no-frills vision. This exhibition of buildings and office campuses, developed by
Hines Interests, shows significant examples of the type of high-modernist architecture associated
with Johnson/Burgee, Cesar Pelli and the firm of Kohn Pedersen Fox as well as the post-modernist play
of forms, materials and styles employed by architects such as Frank Gehry and Robert A.M. Stern.
In contrast to these polarities, the work of Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
represents a type of classicism central to the on-going discourse of Modernism.
The distinctions between these firms are not just those of differing taste and fashion but of a changing
appreciation of architectural form as a vocabulary assembled to produce both expressive and aesthetic ends.
Each of the buildings included in this exhibit sends a message that brands, not only the client or tenant,
but the surrounding communities. Take for example the unique presence of Pei Cobb FreedÐs dynamic Tour EDF
(Paris) or Foster and PartnersÐ Metropolitan (Warsaw) and how they contribute to their cityscapes by reshaping the skyline and creating notable landmarks.
From exterior geometry to the last detail of lobby and program, buildings embody the
expression of an architectÐs vision, a clientÐs self-image as well as economic realities.
Through the amalgam of concepts forged by combining innovative approaches to design and engineering,
the publicÐs perception of the client is effected. The results of such collaborations range from
the adventurously forward looking, to the powerful and solidly established, which we find articulated
in such contrasting projects as Penzoil Place (Houston) and 500 Boylston (Boston) by Philip Johnson and
John Burgee or Robert A. M. SternÐs Torre Almirante (Rio) and Two Twenty Two Berkeley (Boston).
This idea ‘ that there is more than a platonic aesthetic involved in the
design and construction of buildings, might seem out of synch with our vision of
modernist architecture. And in modernismÐs dictum that form follows function, we may have
forgotten that the content of a building extends beyond the physical and programmatic functions serves.
The buildings, such as those in this show, are both public places and at the same time icons,
forming logos for their occupants. The messages conveyed by these buildings are found in their
scale, shape or graphic image, as well as in the choice of site location, material, decorative
detail and historical reference, and even by the interplay between opacity and transparency.
When combining these elements, architects set a tone, establish compatibility of site, concept,
and function as well as form a narrative. This strategy is clearly stated in SOMÐs Stamford trading
pavilion, where the elegant glass and steel faÎade and delicately-bouyant cantilevered entry canopy,
create a dynamic of openness and modernity, set against the solid neutral background of its neighboring towers.
Thought of as text rather than only historically or aesthetically,
each of these projects propose a narrative of the business environment
as progressive and forward looking. Read in this manner, we are
reminded that buildings are complex works, built of parts, relationships,
and functions, and are creatively ordered to practical ends.
Saul Ostrow,
Dean, Fine Arts, Cleveland Institute of Art
December, 2003
Architectural photography. montage and renderings:
Peter Aaron/ESTO; Jeff Goldberg/ESTO; Jock Pottle/ESTO;
Joe Aker, Aker Zvonkovic Photography; AMD/Advanced Media Design; H.G. Esch;
Roland Halbe; Simon Hsu; Timothy Hursley; Nathaniel Lieberman; Thomas Mayer; Gerald Morand; Richard Payne; Cervin Robinson; Peter Vanderwarker
Portraits:
Ingbet Gruttner; Richard Schulman; Bruce Byers
Acknowledgements:
gallery W 52 wishes to thank the nine architectural firms for their contributions and assistance, especially Mig Halpine, Cesar Pelli & Associates; Katie Harris, Foster and Partners; Keith Mendenhall and Laura Stella, Gehry Partners; Liza Lentini, Philip Johnson ‘ Alan Ritchie Architects; Peter Dixon, Robert A.M. Stern Architects; Cathy Chase, Kevin Roche John Dinkeloo and Associates as well as Yeng -Tse Wu and Nancy Cheung, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.
We also thank George Lancaster, Kim Jagger, Jessica Col¾n, James Fritsch, Cliff Parker and Frank Gennarelli.
Curators: Lenore Goldberg, Hines and Dinaburg Arts, LLC
Installation design: Maxworks
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