Final+Proyect


 * Final Proyect: Giovannitti House / Richard Meier.**
 * Richard Meier: **

Richard Meier is an American architect of Jewish origin. Born in Newark, New Jersey. He studied architecture at Cornell University and then worked at several architectural firms, including Skidmore, Owings and Merrill and Marcel Breuer, until in 1963 he opened his own studio. From the beginning, Meier has followed a definite and permanent line in their projects. Has largely ignored the fads and fashions, and has remained faithful to his ideas. Although his more recent buildings show a respect to the initial refinement, remain the same distinctive style, which Meier always granted the same importance to the clarity of lines, harmony, space and light. The organization of the buildings is based on geometric patterns that obey conditions of their environment, and help in the ordering of the interior and exterior spaces. The vast majority, the Meier's buildings are white, the color that he considered the most purest because that gathering all the others and it changes hue during the day.

Among the most important works of this architect to note are: Westbeth Artists Community, New York City, 1970; Condominium of the Olivetti Training Center in Tarrytown, New York, 1971; Meier House, Essex Fells, New Jersey, 1965; Smith House, Darien, Connecticut, 1965–1967; Douglas House, Harbor Springs, Michigan, 1973 y Giovannitti House, 1979-1983.

This last work is of great architectural importance. Richard Meier built the Giovannitti House for a customer named Frank Giovannitti. The specifications for the construction of the house were simple: Frank Giovannitti wanted that Meier he express in this house his creative and original potential. So he did, and for 1983 the house was finished. In the Giovannitti House is evidently possible to appreciate the architectural style that characterizes to Meier : clarity of lines, harmony, clarity of space and light penetration inside the house. Also, white is the predominant color in this structure. If we look inside and outside the House Giovannitti, we note that there are few areas that are not painted with white. Both the east side, west, south and north, are painted this color. The reason is that the client wanted to diminish somewhat and the intense heat which occurs in the zone where is located the structure.

The property is located on land in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in a green area with large pine trees and surrounded by other houses.

The materials used for the construction of the Giovannitti House are basically : concrete, glass, glass bricks, wood and stainless steel. The concrete is found in the whole structure of the house: on the walls of the four facades, columns and beams, walls and roof of parking structures in the overhangs and ledges. On the other hand, glass is a material widely used in the house. We found it very prevalent in the south façade, because the four glass panels (4 windows each), occupy the largest area. On the north façade the presence of glass is not so much as in the south, but if possible notice lots of parking at the gate with the addition of 32 very small windows. In the east and west facade which is largely dominated the cement wall. However, the presence of glass in the Giovannitti House not governed strictly by windows, but also glass blocks play an important role in housing. They can be found adorning a portion of the roof of the first floor, adjacent to the garage ceiling, and wall top left of the south facade. In relation to the wood, it does not have a role so important as the other materials, it is clear that it can see it present in most of the furniture and chairs for the home both on the ground floor as floor 1 and also in the floor covering of all plants and also boasts an impeccable shine.

Stainless steel, such as wood, plays a secondary role in the structure. The rails of the whole Giovannitti House are made of this material because it requires of the properties of the above mentioned steel to withstand the ravages of the environment.

Making reference to structure itself, we should indicate that the Giovannitti House consists of 10 concrete columns, which support the whole center weight of the home ; each measuring about 10.5 meters high, minus the column of the entry only measures 7 meters high. Each column works with a beam of 4 meters long. The other part of weight (lateral weight), is supported by other type of support: load-bearing walls; are 4 in total, distributed almost in the direction of the 4 cardinal points.

Finally, referring to the total size of the house, Giovannitti House has a 12 meters high per 13 meters wide (not counting the dimensions of the parking); counting the dimensions of the parking lot, the house has a width of 23.5 meters.

After the above, it is clear then that the Giovannitti House, designed by the great architect Richard Meier is a work of great architectural value because each material that was constructed exposes the utilitarian, artistic and functional character of the structure itself. Concrete, distribution and whitish present in all facades, demonstrates the linearity and harmony of the different spaces, and glass with its transparency accentuates this fact by allowing the passage of light in a rich mode and subtle within the entire campus, allowing also appreciate the beauty of the context in which the property is located and thereby creating an intrinsic relationship between the structure and environment where that is.

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