The traditional architecture renaissance in the USA - Various examples highlighted

[OakRidge]

Hoover Firestation No. 2 - Hoover, Alabama

Eric Marcus @ www.emmarcusphotography.com

Eric Marcus @ www.emmarcusphotography.com

Eric Marcus @ www.emmarcusphotography.com

Independence Bank - Bowling Green, Kentucky

LEE Brick and Block @ www.leebrickandblock.com

LEE Brick and Block @ www.leebrickandblock.com

[OakRidge]

Snohomish Depot - Snohomish, Washington

http://www.rdmasonry.com/projects/templates/project1.php?picId=20&infoId=20

http://www.rdmasonry.com/projects/templates/project1.php?picId=20&infoId=20

The architecture is not spectacular but I do love glazed brick.......

[cameronpaul]

Originally Posted by L e o n i d a s

I'm so angry with the fact that this would all be considered "Kitsch" in Europe. Why is this not possible here?
Instead they build boring concrete boxes killing all life and vibrant atmosphere. As said above, this is not just traditionalism, these building actually have renewed expression and character. I am in awe.
I'm so glad this kind of architecture can still be achieved successfully and with great quality. I just love those Art-Déco inspired structures.

Amazing!

Actually you are wrong there. This building would not be considered "kitsch" in Europe by anyone who knows the slightest thing about architecture. "Kitsch" is a term rightly reserved for buildings that are a hash up of styles, not correctly intergrated and decorated in the worst of taste.
A traditional style building, as we have here, using the correct principles of architecture and the right materials is anything but " kitsch"!!

[OakRidge]

North Instructional Building and Library, Bronx, New York - 2012


http://counterlightsrantsandblather1.blogspot.com/2012/08/bronx-community-college-campus-my.html


http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/02/bronx-community-college-gets-a-proper-college-library/?ref=nyregion

The architect is Robert A.M. Stern.

North Instructional Building and Library
Bronx Community College, City University of New York
Bronx, New York, Under Construction, Completion 2012

Bronx Community College is blessed with an 1892 master plan by Stanford White for what was originally New York University's University Heights campus atop a bluff above the Harlem River in the Bronx. The ambitious plan included the grand domed Gould Memorial Library (1900) and the arcing open colonnade of the Hall of Fame (1912) at the head of a quadrangle framed by more restrained classroom buildings, many of which remained unrealized. Marcel Breuer created a second master plan for the campus in 1956 and completed a number of buildings on the campus in the 1960s. In 2006 we completed a new space plan for the campus, proposing a combination of historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and new construction.

The first building within the 2006 master plan, our 98,600-square-foot North Instructional Building and Library provides state-of-the-art classrooms and a new double-height library in a three-story structure that completes the north side of the College's main quadrangle. The south facade facing the quad is an elegant repetitive foil both to the exuberance of Gould Memorial Library and to the severity of Breuer's Meister Hall across the lawn. A recessed porch marks the entry while allowing the rhythm of pilasters to continue uninterrupted across the facade. A wing conceived as an annex responds to the lower scale of Havemeyer Hall across the quadrangle. Buff Roman brick and light gray cast-stone trim carry forward the palette of White's buildings. A granite rubble base at the lower level of the north facade expresses the change in grade as the site falls away toward the river.

On the ground floor, classrooms are organized along an east-west corridor that extends the axis of the Hall of Fame. A monumental stair climbs to the library above and captures spectacular views to Upper Manhattan across the river. The library features a double row of barrel vaults supported by slender columns inspired by Henri Labrouste's St. Genevieve Library in Paris. Faculty offices and a special law collection library are accommodated in the upper levels of the annex.

The North Instructional Building and Library will be a sustainable building: the project is on track for LEED™ Silver certification.

http://www.ramsa.com/projects-search...mic/north.html

[newen]

^

This building is wonderful. I'm a big fan of Robert Stern. I hope European architects and politicians reconsider what they have done to our cities.

[CNB30]

Awesome Maryland/dc beltway homes. Literally look like they are from 1880

[JohnnyMass]

The North Instructional Building and Library looks like it was clearly inspired on Boston's Public Library. What a beauty.

[CF221]

Beautiful houses!!! You can really see how much effort, study, and attention to detail went into designing and building these well-proportioned beauties. They will age well!

[CNB30]

Originally Posted by CF221

Beautiful houses!!! You can really see how much effort, study, and attention to detail went into designing and building these well-proportioned beauties. They will age well!

The even better thing is that more and more buildings like this are being built in the new urban movement. That was a development called Park Potomac in Maryland. Here is another really cool one (still under construction in Richmond) called Monument square



If you want to know more about more major places, go here (the new urban website) http://www.cnu.org/resources/projects

[cameronpaul]

This new building in the Bronx is Robert A.M.Stern at his best and there is no better architectural practice in the world today in my opinion.
This building is magnificent and will stand the test of time unlike a lot of the gimmicks we are recently seeing which will date in no time at all and end up being as reviled as the junk from the late 60's and 70's

[OakRidge]

St. John The Apostle Church, Leesburg, Virginia - 2012


Karen Graham @ http://leesburg.patch.com/articles/s...mass-on-friday

http://aiadc.com/directory/listing/franck-lohsen-architects-inc

http://www.leesburgtoday.com/news/article_522b310c-df1e-11e1-bda9-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.saintjohnleesburg.org

[CF221]

beautiful :')

[OakRidge]

Our Savior Parish & USC Catholic Center - Los Angeles, CA











http://www.flickr.com/photos/36439907@N08/

[ENG AHMED]

wow

[CF221]

BEAUTIFUL! Those are some artfully designed churches and buildings! Keep them coming!

[CNB30]

Houses on Prairie Avenue in Chicago

[CF221]

Nice. I think they will age well

[OakRidge]

More photos of Our Lady of Walsingham which was largely completed in 2003 but has been added to since.









All photos by _jjph @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/pallrokk/

[OakRidge]

New outdoor shine that was completed in 2011 at Our Lady of Walsingham.

[L e o n i d a s]

Honestly.. To me this architecture is just as boring as any modern box, even more lifeless maybe, because it seems to deny life as it exists today.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not a "modernist". I think classic ornaments and references to any style of architecture should not be taboo. I actually love most eclecticism. But "traditionalism" is like a dead end, It doesn't allow creativity and the effort to create something unique. I think a good building has an individual character and expression, beautiful in the way it bends the space around it and creates visual tension and movement. Even ornament could contribute to a unique, great building, when used in an appropriate manner.

Well I guess for some people it could feel "comfortable" in a way. Nothing new, all familiar, not asking for any visual attention, since visually there's really nothing interesting about it. It's nothing more than "decent" and "clean".