March 6, 2021
The small Tuscan town of Pienza is often considered the first ideally planned city of the Renaissance. It had been a small agricultural town, known as Corsignano, until its most famous son, Pope Pius II, decided it needed a reboot to properly reflect its status as birthplace of a pope. In this talk, Zaloga will look at the town’s idyllic location, crowning a gentle hill in the rolling Val d’Orcia, a landscape that was much beloved of the pope, and the exquisitely designed buildings, exploring what makes them beautiful and how their relationships with each other and with the people of […]
October 22, 2020
When they launched the design competition for their new headquarters in 1922, the publishers of the Chicago Tribune were seeking to build “the world’s most beautiful office building.” Prizes totaling $100,000 were offered to entrants, and 263 designers from 23 countries submitted entries. The competition was a watershed moment in the evolution of skyscraper architecture, and the diversity of the entries underscored the broad palette available to architects as they struggled with appropriate forms for tall buildings. In this lecture, David Brashear will examine the importance of the competition and some of the noteworthy submissions.
March 3, 2020
The large dams built across the United States in the period from 1931 to 1944 were monumental undertakings, and in some ways rival the great pyramids of Egypt in size, construction and impact. These dams, constructed by the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Bureau of Reclamation, and the Army Corps of Engineers, changed American life. In this presentation, Richard Guy Wilson, Commonwealth Professor Architectural History, University of Virginia, will focus on the design and building of Hoover (originally Boulder) Dam, located on the Colorado River between Arizona and Nevada, and also examine its impact upon the other great dams.
May 24, 2019
David Brashear, Interim Director, Muscarelle Museum of Art Art Museums loom large on the cultural landscape, and when new ones are built, they are important opportunities to present the current state of architectural and design thinking. In this lecture, we will explore recently constructed museums in America, including smaller museums on college campuses and larger institutions that serve as flagship centers of civic engagement in urban settings. We will also check in on the current status of our own quest for a new museum at William & Mary. Free to Members, W&M Students, Faculty, and Staff. Non-Members: $5 Space is […]
March 9, 2016
The move of Brazil’s capital from Rio de Janeiro to the new city of Brasília in the 1960s was envisioned as a physical representation of the passage to the economic and political future of a rising nation. The new city was intended to be overtly modern, and Oscar Niemeyer’s iconic buildings defined it from the outset. But his work did not stand alone – the construction of embassies in Brasília allowed for a nearly unprecedented gathering of international talent, and all were tasked to create facilities that both represented their own countries and paid respect to their Brazilian hosts. In […]