Architecture and the Modernization of the City of Chicago - Case Study Example

Name: Institution: Topic: City Issues: The Case Study Date: Abstract In most contemporary literature, scholars have shifted their focus on the “city”, in which case they attempt to draw an understanding of how designs have come about. This has led to the rise of many theories that try to explain the modernization of urban centers. The city is considered as one unified element of a general synthesis of diverse sections. These sections may include the cultural, social, economic and political structures that define the entire city. This paper will carry out a case study of Chicago City as one of the contemporary cities utilizing current technology to design structure. Of most significance will be the factors that contribute to such designs like the universities in the city as well as contemporary transportation network. Outline I. Chicago Campus urbanism and the university II. Transport infrastructure III. Interior urbanism IV. Multi story residential V. Conclusion Architecture and the Modernization of the City of Chicago Introduction Chicago City architecture has had an impact and showcased the foundations of American architecture and its origin. Much is a true depiction of ideas borrowed from the ancient Greek and Roman architectural designs of columns and pillars. The city of Chicago has a wide range of structures that reflect the powerful knowledge of architecture from prominent architects. Most of such scholars in design perceive a city as a unifying entity to a wide range of human functions. As a result, their work of design into the city of Chicago reflects diversity in the functions of such structures like the John Hancock Center and the Old Water Tower (Kamin, 2003, p. 63). This paper will extensively look at the Chicago campus urbanism and the university, transport infrastructure and how it showcases architectural designs, the ideologies of interior urbanism in Chicago and the multi-storey residential in the city. Chicago Campus urbanism and the university Landscape urbanism is a critical literal shift from built forms and infrastructures to considering open space and natural forms. It is an approach of forming urban schemes through a transformation of processes that are related to landscape. The term emerged as a theory in the last decade and has surpassed the initial speculations to become a discipline that is being taught in schools. It was developed as an academic program first at the University of Pennyslavia and later adopted by other North American institutions including the University of Illinois at Chicago. Landscape urbanism can be termed as response to the many changes in our planet. It is not quite clear from which disciplinary background landscape urbanization came from in order to be recognized as a hybrid field (McNamara, 2005, p. 104). Depending on the texts one reads, it can be said to have originated from both architecture and urban design or from the reaction of the architectures throughout the twentieth century. Clearly, there is an overlap of texts and practitioners who make analysis of landscape urbanization field, and its disciplinary background be avoided. Any analysis by practitioners in the meaning of the words is oversimplification as the words have the same meaning as they suggest. The term Landscape urbanization was first used by James corner as while describing landscape constructing and recovering. This was in a conference which later carried the ideas and the papers generated in this conference forward and even did a publication of the themes. In 1997 Charles Waldheim organized a conference in which he used the term landscape urbanism. These conferences later bore a graduate program which started taking students in 1999.alot of many other institutions have introduced the program which is now being taken as a professional course by many. The history of American architecture is well reflected and has influenced the architecture of Chicago. The Chicago city has very prominent buildings that have different styles and they have also been done by prominent architects. The originality in the Chicago’s buildings is notable. Prominent architects influenced the furnishing and building designs. By the starts of twentieth century, there were a lot of popular residential houses that were developed and many of them still exist. The Chicago sevens which are one of the most famous houses was developed by famous architects like, Larry booth and James Nagle among others (McNamara, 2005, p. 112). Chicago is known for public art which is mostly displayed outdoors. A good example is city stone which is found in Hyde Park that is painted. There are also other many sculptures honoring heroes that reflect the Chicago’s rich culture. Riverside village is an excellent example of Chicago architecture. Riverside is a planned neighborhood which was is a historic landmark. It once a homeland but once the rail road gave it more access a lot of housing came up and construction boomed. It is located near Des Plaines River. The town has curvilinear streets which follow the lands contours and wind at Des Plaines River. There is a central square which and a park system that uses other large parks as a foundation. It has other triangular parks which intersect throughout the town for additional spaces. Many of the houses were designed by architects. Riverside has become an architectural museum which is widely recognized. The village has bungalows that are still in very good condition and mansions that are architecturally appealing that attract tourists. This village has become a very good business site for some people. Chicago has fascinating architecture which comprise of modern buildings and skyscrapers. Chicago is a meeting point for rails and it also has an underground tunnel which serves so many people who mostly use it for transporting goods. Transit in Chicago is the main means of transport that many people rely on and any breakdown of the transit results to loss of millions of dollars in a single day. Due to the high populations transportation cost is high, there is also congestion and people get stuck in traffic. The high population has also strained the services in the transit means and there has been a witnessed frequent breakdown on the transit which necessitates repair. This has strained the budget resulting to a shortfall and back log of repairs that cannot be avoided. There is also a high population of the aged who are exerting a lot of pressure in the transit. As a result of recession there have been low funds from the declining gases taxes and this has really strained the transit. Due to the high demand of the transport services in the transit the services have deteriorated and thus there has been the idea of privatizing the means. This however has been faced with a lot of objection and thus it has not been decided upon .As a result of this, delays have been experienced in privatization and at the same time no better services are being afforded as there is shortage of funds (McNamara, 2005, p. 117). Transport infrastructure In terms of improving their transport, bus stop locations have been designed in a better way that will ensure the safety of both the customer and the vehicle. The disabled however have had a challenge in terms of transport but they are moving to court to seek for considerations during construction. There has been good use of design in improving the transport sector. A lot of designing is well utilized in Illinois. For instance there is an extensive use of geometric features. In roadway designs, geometric features have been utilized to improve access and the safety of the pedestrians. In Chicago there are so many curb extensions and also residential and collector streets. There are also plans to develop more of the arterial corridors so as the pedestrian population is served better. In the roadways, they are well designed so as to have a smaller radii and this makes it safe for pedestrians when they are crossing (McNamara, 2005, p. 147). In every roadway improvement a lot of consideration is given to the pedestrian refuge island so as to enhance the safety of the pedestrians. In the transit routes, there is good access to transit which is also made safer for the users. Multi story residential Chicago City is considered one of the most magnificent sites in terms of architectural designs used to raise some of its multi-storey buildings. The designs are in fact among the world’s most famous pieces of architecture. The city has a true indication of what a 20th century type of architectural design looks like. This is inclined to the high skyscrapers like the Sear Tower, Old Water Tower and the John Hancock Center. It would therefore be imperative to look at these three main designs as part of the multi-storey residential in the city (Stone, 2006, p. 53). The designing of John Hancock Center is attributed to the works of design by Fazlur Kahn and architect Bruce Graham from Skidmore, Owings and Merrill. It is noted that just like most multinational storey buildings, the John Hancock Center architecture was supported by the rise in contemporary technologies. This includes more advanced software as well as novel developments in the steel industry. The structure has a strong foundation and pillars that can resist powerful wind forces more effectively from all the three dimensions of the building. The building was designed with background knowledge in the ancient Greek architecture. This is seen in the diagonals of the structure which are linked by use of outside columns. This kind of reinforcement from the exterior resulted into a decrease in the steel material needed had the structure been reinforced through interior columns (Chappell, 2007, p. 155). Functionally, it is noted that multi-storey structures in Chicago were not done for the sake of it. They had specific functions that dictated the manner in which they could be designed. Considerations given to the John Hancock Center, the structure is multifunctional. A breakdown of the apartments reveals that the building has 48 stories of approximately 711 apartments. Among these apartments are 29 offices, shops, a hotel, a swimming pool, and a restaurant. Just like most huge city around the world, the multi-storey constructions in Chicago City had their own controversies (Kamin, 2003, p. 71). For instance, the John Hancock Center caused a lot of criticism at the beginning of the project. This was essentially in the location of the structure, which is a massive building near smaller and more remote buildings on the Michigan Avenue. Just like what shall be noted with the Sears Tower, the plaza and the entrance of John Hancock Center has negative implications to the users. This is because it is affected by have winds and traffic noise from the avenue. On the other hand, the Sear Tower is the tallest building in Chicago City. It has nine framed tubes put together to form a single structure (Stone, 2006, p. 77). Comparable to the John Hancock Center, Sear Towers’ nine tubes each rise to 49 stories before the tower ending into a crucifix from the sixty-sixth to the ninetieth floor. Contrary to this, the multi-storey Old Water Tower takes a medieval European design. The structure was constructed in 1869 using huge limestone blocks. This structure serves as a landmark since its survival of the Great Fire. It symbolically stands for the city’s resilience. One common thing in the construction of the multi-storey buildings or residential in Chicago is the reliance on ancient Greek architectural designs of using columns and pillars to strengthen the inner and outer sides of the structures. Interior urbanism Interior urbanism otherwise referred to as interior design talks about a group of various but linked projects that had to do with changing an interior space into an efficient environment for a variety of human activities. This interior design movement has not only been embraced among most cities but also at individual level from a strong historical background. The basis for interior design is inclined on the decorations that are made on the inner space to serve specific functions within a structure (Chappell, 2007, p. 171). Chicago city is not left behind in the use of such architectural ideologies. Of much importance in the city is incorporation of the modern interiors through subtraction. Historically, with the rise of modernity in the United States of America, the issue of interior design had been over-looked. This is evident in most of the early 20th century buildings, whose interior spaces had the characteristic appearance of historicism and ornament of the former Victorian age. Due to the transforming technology and human needs, such structures failed to stand the test of time and hence, termed as old fashioned. The current interior urbanism in Chicago is characterized by personal desires for updated aesthetic value. As a result, people in the city have embraced a form of interior urbanism in which case there is sparing addition or transformation of the fireplace and the interior millwork (Stone, 2006, p. 82). Although there has been a lot of research and proposals on how people could benefit from modernized interior spaces, a large majority consider the use of the “before and after” images, which is associated with the probability of extreme change of space through elimination of unwanted elements (Stone, 2006, p. 84). Through elimination of elements such as heavy millwork, dull colors and exaggeratedly ornamented furniture, most people attain the effect of modernization without a radical architectural intervention. This notion however has not lacked its critics. The midpoint is that most of these critics tend to reach an agreement that interior urbanism is an innovative resource as a section of techniques for transforming modern movement architecture. These techniques are geared towards redefining architectural meaning in the contemporary society of city residents. The introduction of interior design is a key turning point in the policies that safeguard residences. Conclusion Chicago City is note left behind in the contemporary architectural designs. Most current movements like the interior urbanism and the campus urbanism define structures in the city. As noted in the paper, much of the achievements in modernizing Chicago City are attributed to the improved technology and population needs. As such, most buildings that define the city have a functional basis upon which it was designed. The paper has looked the architectural designs and issues behind transformation of Chicago City into a campus urban city, its infrastructure in relation to design, the rise of multi-storey structures and the interior urbanism ideology. Bibliography: Chappell, S.A., 2007, Chicago's urban nature: a guide to the city's architecture + landscape, Chicago, University of Chicago Press Kamin, B., 2003, Why Architecture Matters: Lessons from Chicago, Chicago, University of Chicago Press McNamara, D.R., 2005, Heavenly city: the architectural tradition of Catholic Chicago, New York, Liturgy Training Publications Stone, D., 2006, Chicago's Classical Architecture: The Legacy of the White City, California, Arcadia Publishing Read More