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Living with nature the Farnsworth House and the environmental successes and failures of Modernist architecture

Williams, James J, M.B.A.

Abstract Details

2015, MSARCH, University of Cincinnati, Design, Architecture, Art and Planning: Architecture.
This Thesis focuses on the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois. The weekend home was designed and realized by Modernist architect Mies Van der Rohe. The house is now a museum and has been described by its curators as exemplary of the International Style and the Modern Movement. The original owner, Dr. Edith Farnsworth, commissioned Mies to build a retreat house for her beginning in 1945. There was never any written contract, only a verbal agreement between Mies and Dr. Farnsworth. Most written accounts by architectural critics and historians in the 20th century regarding the Modern Movement have been based on the assumption that the essence of Modernist buildings resides in their forms, structure, materials and functional accommodations. Despite frequent mention of function, however, there has been little scholarship on the environmental and mechanical aspects of Modernist architecture. With the exception of Reyner Banham’s pioneering book, The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment, few have written with authority regarding a critically important aspect of Modernist structures: do they create comfortable environments? More to the point, because Modernism argued for functional efficiency, how many Modernists buildings are efficient? Couched in more contemporary terms, a better question might be: are Modernism’s environmental comforts sustainable? For a Master’s Thesis on this subject, it is not practicable to cover a large selection of International Style and Modernist buildings, nor is it feasible to cover the scores of architectural histories about the aesthetics, materials, form and function of these buildings. For the sake of simplicity, this thesis focuses primarily on the environmental and mechanical aspects of The Farnsworth House. This essay is the first to look carefully at the Farnsworth House’s thermal environment and the active and passive heating and cooling systems that create it.
Patrick Snadon, Ph.D. (Committee Chair)
Nnamdi Elleh, Ph.D. (Committee Member)

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Williams, M., J. J. (2015). Living with nature the Farnsworth House and the environmental successes and failures of Modernist architecture [Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1445342413

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Williams, M., James. Living with nature the Farnsworth House and the environmental successes and failures of Modernist architecture. 2015. University of Cincinnati, Master's thesis. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1445342413.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Williams, M., James. "Living with nature the Farnsworth House and the environmental successes and failures of Modernist architecture." Master's thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2015. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=ucin1445342413

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)