Point Explorations

What is the ideal city? Man has been reinventing this idea even before the first temples went up in Egypt and ever since. In the Painting 'Ideal City', the artist has included in his view of the ideal city, an open courtyard, ships for commerce, three story buildings, columns and arches, all of which are still fundamental to building practices today. However this version of the ideal city is missing people, leaving it empty and cold. Ideas and labor come from man, everything must be done with people in mind.

During the machine age, art and industry collided to create the Bauhaus. The main goal behind the Bauhaus was to combine crafts and the fine arts. Several disciplines were combined to be taught under one roof. Not only was the Bauhaus a place for learning, it was also a way of building. This way of building took into account all aspects of a buildings use and comfort for those occupying it. It was a school of building to include a total work of art. It too had an ideal for perfect building. The Bauhaus style was void of ornament and instead preferred to allow the materials to speak for themselves. The function comes first and the form follows.The style of Bauhaus has been influential throughout the century. The idea of building is putting elements together to make a whole and setting standards. Shortly after, the modern movement began. In our quest for the perfect artistic expression, some fundamental considerations were missed.

Although Mies van der Rohe had many successes, some of his failures were due to the fact that he didn't consider people in his some of his designs. Just like the 'Ideal City' painting is free of people, Mies van der Rohe forgot to consider them in some of his projects. Two of these designs include the Farnsworth house and the Lake Shore Apartments in Chicago. Both of these residential places were ideal, however one very important aspect not taken into account was the indoor climate. The Farnsworth house is a minimalist construction made with glass walls that don't offer much insulation from the heat of the sun. The same on all four sides, the Lake Shore apartments does not consider that one side is exposed to the sun more throughout the day and may need different treatment.

In the explorations unit, we looked at some new styles, some with the same basic ideas from years ago. In modern society, commerce and transportation are two of the main factors dictating the way and what we build, from skyscrapers to massive winding freeways. Another reason we build is self-expression in the form of art. Even though society has changed, some of the same principles still apply today. As a consumer society, commerce and the flow of goods is an important consideration in any city today.

Today we still build with some of the same main ideas from the painting. Every major city has ports for shipping, three story buildings have turned into skyscrapers, and city parks for gathering. But the ideal city is always changing because our ideas and way of life is always changing. This is also the reason way no single style period lasts forever. There is no perfect ideal and there is always room for growth.