DOCSLIB.ORG

Reputations Minoru Yamasaki

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Reputations Minoru Yamasaki inoru Yamasaki embodied the American An engineer at heart, Yamasaki was at his best dream while feeling the sting of endemic when stimulated by a structural or material challenge. racism. He achieved professional success He idolised Mies and similarly believed in technology’s and international fame as a minority fundamental role in architecture. At the same time, Marchitect, whose ‘otherness’ marked him as a permanent however, he was wary of standardisation’s deadening outsider to the East Coast-oriented architectural culture impact and the prospect of a world dominated by of postwar America. Born and raised in Seattle, prefabricated building parts, which would remove Washington, as a poor child of Japanese immigrants, he most aesthetic (and some structural) decisions from the suffered routine racial discrimination from an early age. architect. Hence Yamasaki viewed the emergence of Growing up he was taught to accept these episodes precast concrete in the 1950s as an exciting alternative passively, with magnanimity. ‘A word that I heard over to prefabricated metal components. Concrete was and over again whenever there would be an incident or inexpensive and malleable, and if precast in the factory a slight was shikataganai, which means “it can’t be or workshop, its finish could be controlled. It returned helped”’, he told a Time magazine interviewer. In his architectural expressiveness to the designers, putting autobiography, A Life in Architecture, he elaborated OF CONGRESS ARCHIVE / THE LIBRARY KORAB BALTHAZAR them ‘back in charge again’. ‘I know from personal experience how prejudice and Yamasaki’s initial extraordinary foray into concrete bigotry can affect one’s total thought process … the Key works was St Louis Lambert Airport, the first airport of the MARIANNA GEFEN prejudice I experienced in Seattle hurt me deeply …’ Pruitt-Igoe housing, modern age, intended to accommodate the rapid A gifted child who excelled in school, particularly in St Louis, 1954 expansion of airline travel. Inspired by New York’s St Louis Lambert Grand Central Station, a rectangular, three-storeyed mathematics, Yamasaki turned to architecture after a International Airport, chance visit by a Japanese relative who had just received St Louis, 1956 terminal is topped by three huge cylindrical groined an architecture degree. He enrolled in his hometown McGregor Memorial vaults spanning ticketing and waiting areas. The University of Washington and financed his education by Conference Center, audacity of Yamasaki’s proposal required an entire team labouring in the gruelling Alaskan fish canning industry Detroit, 1958 of engineers to execute it, including Anton Tedesko, during the summers, where he averaged nearly 70 hours Dhahran Airport, Saudi the Austrian engineer and thin-shell concrete pioneer. Arabia, 1959 The vaults – 32 feet high but only four-and-a-half inches per week, rising to over 120 at the height of the season. Reynolds Metals HQ, Conditions were harsh, but Yamasaki was determined to Detroit, 1959 thick at their crown – were unprecedented in ambition. overcome the ethnic prejudices that trapped his Asian US Science Pavilion, Yamasaki directed his technical explorations along and Filipino co-workers in near-poverty. From that Seattle World’s Fair, 1962 two paths: continued precast-concrete experiments, point, his ‘philosophy and goal’ was to develop his Michigan Consolidated mostly using arches, in buildings of various types – such natural talents and use them ‘in a way that would make Gas Company, Detroit, as Dhahran Airport in Saudi Arabia and North Shore 1962 Congregation Synagogue near Chicago – in tandem with my life meaningful to both me and those around me.’ IBM Building, Seattle, Yamasaki graduated with an architecture degree in 1963 the pursuit of a new way to design tall office buildings. 1934 and moved to New York City. After serving a North Shore Congregation Yet despite his reputation as a skyscraper architect, decade-long apprenticeship working on large-scale Synagogue, Illiniois, 1964 when Yamasaki was awarded the World Trade Center projects for prominent firms, he was lured to Detroit Northwestern National commission from the Port Authority of New York in in 1945 by Smith, Hinchman & Grylls to be its new lead Life Building, Minneapolis, 1962, beating Walter Gropius and Philip Johnson, he’d 1965 designed only two tall buildings. designer with explicit orders to move the firm’s output World Trade Center, in a more modern direction. By 1963 he’d formed his New York, 1971 The Michigan Consolidated Gas Company in Detroit, own practice, been hired to design the world’s tallest Rainier Tower, Seattle, was an odd tower: a square 28-storey box overlaid with buildings and featured in a Time magazine cover story. 1977 a precast-concrete screen with narrow lozenge-shaped Yet he still was barred from joining exclusive country windows. Searching for an alternative to standard tall clubs or purchasing a house in the wealthier suburbs Quote building design had led Yamasaki to try concrete as ‘We build buildings that an alternative skin, but his interest soon switched to outside Detroit because of his ethnicity. are terribly restless. Yamasaki rose to prominence with a distinctive And buildings don’t go structural matters. He discovered kindred spirits in approach that married core Modernist beliefs such as anywhere. They shouldn't Seattle engineers John Skilling, Jack Christiansen and structural determinism and functional aptness with a be restless’ Les Robertson, who were resurrecting the old-fashioned ‘humanist’ orientation that fused ideas and elements notion of load-bearing walls. Their innovation included from architecture’s global history. This latter interest narrow supports closely spaced around the building’s arose after a recuperative tour of world architecture, perimeter to carry the weight, creating partition-free from Europe to Asia, undertaken after surgery for interiors. The Skilling engineering firm would become life-threatening stomach ulcers in late 1953. He distilled pioneers in the development of the framed-tube his mature vision into three self-explanatory principles, structure. Subsequently, with Seattle’s IBM Building, Reputations which he called ‘serenity’, ‘surprise’, and ‘delight’. Yamasaki and his engineers had the first opportunity to These qualities are synthesised in his masterpiece, test their theory. The design was only months ahead of the McGregor Memorial Conference Center (1955-58) the World Trade Center. at Wayne State University in Detroit. The building is Lured by the promise of a marquee skyscraper in the infused with memories of Yamasaki’s travels, in striking world’s architectural capital, Yamasaki had to reconcile Minoru Yamasaki contrast to his previous work, which tended toward his small-scale sensitivities with his egotistic dreams. Miesian boxiness and a simple language of visible metal The Port Authority had hired him because they were 1912-1986 frames with glass-and-brick infill walls. To the McGregor impressed by his unique synthesis of human-oriented Center’s conventional square plan with internal atrium, design with engineering acumen. In the end, the project he added touches of Classical, Gothic, Mughal, Islamic nullified the former qualities. Serenity, surprise and and Japanese architecture, finished with luxurious delight were difficult to find in such enormous brute travertine end walls, marble-sheathed columns, teak objects or the vast windswept plaza. Despite the wall panels and exquisite stainless-steel details, all project’s aesthetic failures, there were successes: the surrounded and contained by a tranquil reflecting pool. buildings functioned wonderfully and quickly achieved 45 ST LOUIS POST-DISPATCH LOUIS ST ‘ Ada Louise Huxtable memorably described the World Trade Center as the world’s daintiest architecture for the BALTHAZAR KORAB ARCHIVE / THE LIBRARY OF CONGRESS ARCHIVE / THE LIBRARY KORAB BALTHAZAR world’s biggest buildings’ MATTHEW GARIN MATTHEW OF CONGRESS ARCHIVE / THE LIBRARY KORAB BALTHAZAR OF CONGRESS ARCHIVE / THE LIBRARY KORAB BALTHAZAR almost full occupancy. Essentially, the Twin Towers ‘Dainty’ wouldn’t be the only dubious epithet of a eliminate the row houses and green river, and shrink the evolved to counter ‘The Pruitt-Igoe Myth’, shifting were technological marvels, illustrating the efficacy gendered nature to be directed toward Yamasaki’s work: individual units. The resulting buildings – all slab blocks TIME culpability from the architects to the government’s of framed-tube construction. a comprehensive list would include terms like ‘frilly’, – were institutional and imposing, a far cry from the misguided and underfunded public housing initiatives. Yet the Trade Center’s critical reception affected the ‘precious’, ‘prissy’, ‘saccharine’, ‘lacy’ and ‘epicene’. more human-scaled community Yamasaki had intended. The consensus today is that such public housing projects course of Yamasaki’s remaining career. Architectural Such descriptions were firmly connected in the public Cheap construction, forced segregation, restrictive were doomed from the outset, but Yamasaki died well journalists unanimously praised the proposal at its mind with women and their ‘frivolous’ obsession with income policies and managerial indifference to tenants’ before this revisionist movement gained momentum. 1964 unveiling, but raged against a slightly modified decoration. To his detractors, much of Yamasaki’s work needs and requests turned Pruitt-Igoe into a disaster. The Pruitt-Igoe
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Michigan's Historic Preservation Plan
    Michigan’s state historic Preservation Plan 2014–2019 Michigan’s state historic Preservation Plan 2014–2019 Governor Rick Snyder Kevin Elsenheimer, Executive Director, Michigan State Housing Development Authority Brian D. Conway, State Historic Preservation Officer Written by Amy L. Arnold, Preservation Planner, Michigan State Historic Preservation Office with assistance from Alan Levy and Kristine Kidorf Goaltrac, Inc. For more information on Michigan’s historic preservation programs visit michigan.gov/SHPo. The National Park Service (NPS), U. S. Department of the Interior, requires each State Historic Preservation Office to develop and publish a statewide historic preservation plan every five years. (Historic Preservation Fund Grants Manual, Chapter 6, Section G) As required by NPS, Michigan’s Five-Year Historic Preservation Plan was developed with public input. The contents do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. The activity that is the subject of this project has been financed in part with Federal funds from the National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior, through the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. However, the contents and opinions herein do not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the Department of the Interior or the Michigan State Housing Development Authority, nor does the mention of trade names or commercial products herein constitute endorsement or recommendation by the Department of the Interior or the Michigan State Housing Development Authority. This program receives Federal financial assistance for identification and protection of historic properties. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964, Section 504 of the Rehabilita- tion Act of 1973 and the Age Discrimination Act of 1975, as amended, the U.S.
    [Show full text]
  • Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch 1949-50
    Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch 1949-50 1015 Second Avenue 093900-0520 see below C. D. BOREN AND A. A. DENNY 12 2, 3, 6, 7 LOTS 2, 3, 6 AND 7, BLOCK 12, TOWN OF SEATTLE, AS LAID OUT ON THE CLAIMS OF C. D. BOREN AND A. A. DENNY (COMMONLY KNOWN AS BOREN & DENNY’S ADDITION TO THE CITY OF SEATTLE) ACCORDING TO PLAT THEREOF RECORDED IN VOLUME 1 OF PLATS, PAGE 27, RECORDS OF KING COUNTY, EXCEPT THE EASTERLY 12 FEET THEREOF CONDEMNED IN DISTRICT COURT CASE NO. 7097 FOR SECOND AVENUE, AS PROVIDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 1107 OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE. 1015 Second Avenue LLC vacant c/o Martin Selig Real Estate, Attention Pete Parker, 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 1800, Seattle, WA 98104-1046. Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco Bank Naramore, Bain, Brady, and Johanson (William J. Bain, project principal) Engineer: W. H. Witt Company (George Runciman, project engineer) Kuney Johnson Company Pete Parker c/o Martin Selig Real Estate, Attention Pete Parker, 1000 Second Avenue, Suite 1800, Seattle, WA 98104-1046. (206) 467-7600. October 2015 Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch Bank Landmark Nomination Report 1015 Second Avenue, Seattle October 2015 Prepared by: The Johnson Partnership 1212 NE 65th Street Seattle, WA 98115-6724 206-523-1618, www.tjp.us Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch Landmark Nomination Report October 2015, page i TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Background ......................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 City of Seattle Landmark Nomination Process ...................................................................... 2 1.3 Methodology .......................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Challenges and Achievements
    The Pennsylvania State University The Graduate School College of Arts and Architecture NISEI ARCHITECTS: CHALLENGES AND ACHIEVEMENTS A Thesis in Architecture by Katrin Freude © 2017 Katrin Freude Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Architecture May 2017 The Thesis of Katrin Freude was reviewed and approved* by the following: Alexandra Staub Associate Professor of Architecture Thesis Advisor Denise Costanzo Associate Professor of Architecture Thesis Co-Advisor Katsuhiko Muramoto Associate Professor of Architecture Craig Zabel Associate Professor of Art History Head of the Department of Art History Ute Poerschke Associate Professor of Architecture Director of Graduate Studies *Signatures are on file in the Graduate School ii Abstract Japanese-Americans and their culture have been perceived very ambivalently in the United States in the middle of the twentieth century; while they mostly faced discrimination for their ethnicity by the white majority in the United States, there has also been a consistent group of admirers of the Japanese art and architecture. Nisei (Japanese-Americans of the second generation) architects inherited the racial stigma of the Japanese minority but increasingly benefited from the new aesthetic light that was cast, in both pre- and post-war years, on Japanese art and architecture. This thesis aims to clarify how Nisei architects dealt with this ambivalence and how it was mirrored in their professional lives and their built designs. How did architects, operating in the United States, perceive Japanese architecture? How did these perceptions affect their designs? I aim to clarify these influences through case studies that will include such general issues as (1) Japanese-Americans’ general cultural evolution, (2) architects operating in the United States and their relation to Japanese architecture, and (3) biographies of three Nisei architects: George Nakashima, Minoru Yamasaki, and George Matsumoto.
    [Show full text]
  • August 26, 2005
    LPB 150/16 REPORT ON DESIGNATION Name and Address of Property: Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch 1015 Second Avenue Legal Description: LOTS 2, 3, 6 AND 7, BLOCK 12, TOWN OF SEATTLE, AS LAID OUT ON THE CLAIMS OF C.D. BOREN AND A. A. DENNY (COMMONLY KNOWN AS BOREN & DENNY’S ADDITION TO THE CITY OF SEATTLE) ACCORDING TO PLAT THEREOF RECORDED IN VOLUME 1 OF PLATS, PAGE 27, RECORDS OF KING COUNTY, EXCEPT THE EASTERLY 12 FEET THEREOF CONDEMNED IN DISTRICT COURT CASE NO. 7097 FOR SECOND AVENUE, AS PROVIDED BY ORDINANCE NO. 1107 OF THE CITY OF SEATTLE. At the public meeting held on March 2, 2016 the City of Seattle's Landmarks Preservation Board voted to approve designation of the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch at 1015 Second Avenue as a Seattle Landmark based upon satisfaction of the following standard for designation of SMC 25.12.350: C. It is associated in a significant way with a significant aspect of the cultural, political, or economic heritage of the community, City, state or nation; and D. It embodies the distinctive visible characteristics of an architectural style, or period, or a method of construction; and E. It is an outstanding work of a designer or builder; and F. Because of its prominence of spatial location, contrasts of siting, age, or scale, it is an easily identifiable visual feature of its neighborhood or the city and contributes to the distinctive quality or identity of such neighborhood or the City. DESCRIPTION The former Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, Seattle Branch, is located in Seattle’s Central Business District on the western side of the Second Avenue, between Spring and Madison Streets.
    [Show full text]
  • To Read Sample Pages
    “ Any detailed account of the architectural history of the World Trade Center must rely on the work of Anthony W. Robins.” — Angus Gillespie, author of Twin Towers: Th e Life of New York City’s World Trade Center THE WORLD TRADE CENTER CLASSICS OF AMERICAN ARCHITECTURE ANTHONY W. ROBINS Originally published in 1987 while the Twin Towers still stood — brash and controversial, a new symbol of the city and the country — this book off ered the fi rst serious con- sideration of the planning and design of the World Trade Center. It benefi ted from interviews with fi gures still on the scene, and archival documents still available for study. Many of those interviewed, and many of the documents, are gone. But even if they remained available today, it would be impossible now to write this book from the same perspective. Too much has happened here. In this, the tenth anniversary year of the disaster, a new World Trade Center is rising on the site. We can fi nally begin to imagine life returning, with thousands of people streaming into the new build- ings to work or conduct business, and thousands more, from all over the world, coming to visit the new memorial. It is only natural, then, that we will fi nd ourselves thinking about what life was like in the original Center. Th is new edition of the book — expanded to include copies of some of the documents upon which the text was based — is off ered as a memory of the World Trade Center as it once was.
    [Show full text]
  • Modelsurvivor
    CG Spring 04Fn5.cc 2/24/04 11:59 AM Page 10 GRANT SPOTLIGHT MODEL SURVIVOR Restoring an Architect’s Miniature Masterwork Though a prominent part of New York’s skyline—and a symbol of the city itself—the THE RESTORATION Twin Towers were originally viewed with skepticism. To win over the skeptics, architect WAS LED BY A MODEL Minoru Yamasaki expressed his vision with an elaborately detailed model, today the only MAKER WITH surviving three-dimensional representation of the World Trade Center. CONSERVATION The events of September 11, 2001, have imbued the model with significance that its creators could EXPERTISE AND THE never have imagined. Now part of the American Architectural Foundation’s prints and drawings col- FORMER CHIEF OF lection, the model has undergone a complete restoration thanks to the congressionally funded Save YAMASAKI’S MODEL America’s Treasures grant program of the National Park Service. SHOP, WHOSE The model was donated to the foundation’s collection in 1992, but little is known about its travels KNOWLEDGE OF THE over the past 30 years. What was immediately evident was the urgent need to arrest its worsening con- FIRM’S TECHNIQUES dition. The model is seven feet tall and eight by ten feet at its base; its size, weight, and difficult assem- bly (three hours minimum) did not work in its favor. FOR MODEL-BUILDING “An intriguing and complex period piece in very fragile condition,” is how the foundation described AT THE TIME WAS it. Delicate by nature, architectural models are easily damaged. Often kept in less-than-ideal condi- INVALUABLE.
    [Show full text]
  • Blue Cross Likes That Mutual Feeling
    20150309-NEWS--0001-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 3/6/2015 5:50 PM Page 1 ® www.crainsdetroit.com Vol. 31, No. 10 MARCH 9 – 15, 2015 $2 a copy; $59 a year ©Entire contents copyright 2015 by Crain Communications Inc. All rights reserved One year into life LOOKING BACK Minoru Page 3 as a nonprofit Yamasaki was hired mutual, to design Brookfield Office Honigman hires Carl Levin expect more to design Brookfield Office change, Blue Cross Park, a high-end complex to advise on government CEO Loepp in Farmington Hills says. At Roush Industries, theme park biz ups, downs are OK likes that 2 Cobo events allow young innovators to see the D CRAIN’S MICHIGAN BUSINESS COURTESY OF BLUE CROSS BLUE SHIELD OF MICHIGAN mutual feeling Hotel demand raises supply – that’s good, maybe, Page 15 has garnered more than Insurer uses its 100,000 subscribers and ar- guably forced competitors to lower prices. new nonprofit “We have the opportu- nity to grow nationally as we are now a nonprofit mutual status to mutual,” Loepp said. “We are in a spot where we are COURTESY OF ETKIN LLC looking” at possible in- Brookfield Office Park (above) was one of the final chart growth works of Minoru Yamasaki but one of many local Loepp vestments in health com- buildings he designed, including Temple Beth El. BY JAY GREENE panies or joint ventures CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS with other Blues plans, he said. For example, Loepp said, the Accident Fund Dan Loepp says there have been many Insurance Co. of America, a Blue Cross for- changes at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan profit subsidiary that sells workers’ com- The new Crainsdetroit.com: during its first full year as a nonprofit mutu- pensation insurance, “now has the ability to Yamasaki’s al health insurance company.
    [Show full text]
  • Symbolism and the City: from Towers of Power to 'Ground Zero'
    Prairie Perspectives: Geographical Essays (Vol: 15) Symbolism and the city: From towers of power to ‘Ground Zero’ Robert Patrick University of Saskatchewan, Saskatoon, SK Canada Amy MacDonald University of Alberta, Edmonton, AB Canada Abstract This paper explores the symbolism of New York City’s World Trade Center (WTC) before and after the devastating attack of September 11, 2001. The many metaphors captured in the built space of the WTC site are interrogated from ‘Ground Zero’ to the symbolic significance of the new ‘Freedom Tower’ now nearing completion (2014). In fulfilling the intended symbolism of American economic power, the WTC towers became pop-culture symbols of New York City, and the Unit- ed States. The WTC towers stood as twin icons of western economic dominance along with ‘Wall Street’ and ‘Dow Jones’ reflecting the American ethos of freedom and opportunity. However, the WTC also imbued negative, albeit unintended, symbolism such as the coldness of modernist architecture, social class disparities across urban America, and global domina- tion. Plans for redeveloping the WTC site predominantly highlight the intended positive symbolic connotations of the for- mer Twin Towers, including freedom and opportunity. This article points to the symbolic significance of urban built form and the potential negative consequences that are associated with iconic structures, including the new Freedom Tower. Keywords: symbolism, iconic architecture, New York City, World Trade Center Introduction tions leading to positive and negative actions of individuals and On September 11, 2001 a terrorist attack of horrific propor- groups. Indeed, there is a long fascination among geographers tions destroyed the New York World Trade Center and surround- and planners to the symbolic functions of ‘architectural gigan- ing structures.
    [Show full text]
  • Papers Delivered in the Thematic Sessions of the 71St Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians
    Papers Delivered in the Thematic Sessions of the 71st Annual International Conference of the Society of Architectural Historians Saint Paul, Minnesota, 18–22 April 2018 All Ado About Bomarzo Architecture of Diplomacy and Defense Anatole Tchikine, Dumbarton Oaks, USA, Session Chair Cynthia G. Falk, State University of New York at Oneonta, USA, and Lisa P. Davidson, HABS—National Park Service, USA, “Landscape Architecture without Architects: Bomarzo and the Vernac- Session Co-Chairs ular,” Katherine Coty, University of Washington, USA “Cannibals, Grottoes and Vicino Orsini’s Sacro Bosco,” Luke Mor- “Building and Abandoning U.S. Naval Station Tutuila,” Kelema gan, Monash University, Australia Moses, Occidental College, USA “Botanicals and Symbolism in the Landscape of Bomarzo,” John “Border Stakes: Architecture as Diplomatic Tool in Contested Inter- Garton, Clark University, USA war Italo-Yugoslav Territories,” Matthew Worsnick, Institute of “‘Impressions so alien’: The Postwar Afterlife of the Sacro Fine Arts (NYU), USA Bosco,” Thalia Allington-Wood, University College “Architectural Mechanism of the Frontier Villages at the Korean London, UK Border,” Alex Young Il Seo, University of Cambridge, UK “Niki de Saint Phalle’s Tarot Garden and the Legacies of Bomarzo,” “The Architecture of Peace in the Middle East,” Neta Feniger, John Beardsley, Dumbarton Oaks, USA Te c h n i o n —Israel Institute of Technology The Architecture of Commercial Networks, 1500–1900 Life to Architecture: Uncovering Women’s Narratives Katie Jakobiec, University of Oxford,
    [Show full text]
  • APC WTC Thesis V8 090724
    A Real Options Case Study: The Valuation of Flexibility in the World Trade Center Redevelopment by Alberto P. Cailao B.S. Civil Engineering, 2001 Wentworth Institute of Technology Submitted to the Center for Real Estate in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Real Estate Development at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology September 2009 ©2009 Alberto P. Cailao All rights reserved. The author hereby grants MIT permission to reproduce and distribute publicly paper and electronic copies of this thesis document in whole or in part in any medium now known or hereafter created. Signature of Author________________________________________________________________________ Center for Real Estate July 24, 2009 Certified by_______________________________________________________________________________ David Geltner Professor of Real Estate Finance, Department of Urban Studies and Planning Thesis Supervisor Accepted by_____________________________________________________________________________ Brian A. Ciochetti Chairman, Interdepartmental Degree Program in Real Estate Development A Real Options Case Study: The Valuation of Flexibility in the World Trade Center Redevelopment by Alberto P. Cailao Submitted to the Center for Real Estate on July 24, 2009 in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science in Real Estate Development Abstract This thesis will apply the past research and methodologies of Real Options to Tower 2 and Tower 3 of the World Trade Center redevelopment project in New York, NY. The qualitative component of the thesis investigates the history behind the stalled development of Towers 2 and 3 and examines a potential contingency that could have mitigated the market risk. The quantitative component builds upon that story and creates a hypothetical Real Options case as a framework for applying and valuing building use flexibility in a large-scale, politically charged, real estate development project.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Cincinnati
    UNIVERSITY OF CINCINNATI DATE: May 15, 2003 I, James Gilbert Jenkins , hereby submit this as part of the requirements for the degree of: Master of Architecture in: The Department of Architecture of the College of DAAP It is entitled: New World Trade Approved by: Michael McInturf Arati Kanekar NEW WORLD TRADE A thesis submitted to the Division of Research and Advanced Studies of the University of Cincinnati in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of MASTER OF ARCHITECTURE In the Department of Architecture Of the College of Design, Art, Architecture, and Planing 2003 by James G. Jenkins B.S., University of Cincinnati, 2001 Committee Chair : Michael Mcinturf Abstract In these Modern Times, “facts” and “proofs” seem necessary for achieving any credibility in a field where there is a client. To arrive at a “truth,” many architects quickly turn to a dictionary for the final “truth” of a word, such as “privacy” or to a road map to find the “truth” in site conditions, or to a census count for the “truth” of people migration. It is, of coarse, part of the Modern Crisis that many feel the need to go with the way of technology, for fear that Architecture might otherwise fall by the wayside because of its perceived irrelevancy or frivolousness. Following this action, with time, could very well reduce Architecture to a form of methodology and inevitably end with the replacement or removal of the profession from its importance- as creators of a “Truth.” The following thesis is a serious reclamation. The body of work moves to take back for Architecture its power, and specifically it holds up and praises the most important thing we have, but in modern times have been giving away: Life.
    [Show full text]
  • Minoru Yamasaki Interview, [Ca
    Minoru Yamasaki interview, [ca. 1959 Aug.] Contact Information Reference Department Archives of American Art Smithsonian Institution Washington. D.C. 20560 www.aaa.si.edu/askus Transcript Preface ORAL HISTORY INTERVIEW WITH MINORU YAMASAKI AUGUST 1959 INTERVIEWER: VIRGINIA HARRIMAN On the occasion of an exhibition of models of buildings he designed, at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Original interview for Lectour. Interview VH: VIRGINIA HARRIMAN MY: MINORU YAMASAKI VH: Well, I think the first thing, it would be fine if you would just talk about your philosophy of architecture, if you would. You probably have some special ideas about it. Could you explain that in capsule form? I mean if you could start as if I weren't here and just start talking about that, that would be good. Maybe we could incorporate that in the tape. MY: How will you do this? Will you edit it later? VH: With some limitations. The less editing will probably make it more useful. If you could just start talking and talk for a minute or so about what you think. MY: We could have a trial run. VH: Oh, well, you can go ahead and I can interrupt you -- or rather you can ask me questions. That's all right. We can cut those things, yes. Just start talking. MY: All right. Fine. I suppose that my attitude toward architecture has changed very much in the past five or six years. But I think that the basic change occurred during this trip that I took around the world in 1954 when I realized that architecture as we were practicing it-- not necessarily the way that I was practicing it -- but the way that society was practicing it -- was inadequate in a sense, and that it did not bring us the kind of experience as people that we ought to make available to ourselves.
    [Show full text]