American postmodernist architect and designer, Michael Graves designed the Indianapolis Art Center, iconic example of Postmodern architecture, and worked on the restoration of the Washington Monument. He was one of the icons of New Urbanism and New Classical Architecture
Image source: https://www.artforum.com/passages/stan-allen-on-michael-graves-1934-2015-51897
About his life
Michael Graves was born on July 9, 1934, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He studied at Harvard University and designed modernist private houses before adopting postmodernism in the 1970s. He’s known for designing such structures as the Portland Building, the Humana Building in Louisville and the Indianapolis Art Center. His other projects include the restoration of the Washington Monument and the creation of a line of items for Target. Graves died in 2015 at the age of 80.
Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/fc39ba58-b0f7-4e46-b579-59c19e7d6a6 by Chris Harley
Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/f0224634-cafd-4808-a0e5-f95ff358922f by Me in ME
Image source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humana_Building
What are the main features of Graves’s style?
As he was a disciple of Modernism, his early architecture in the 1960s was imbued with its spirit: predominantly white geometric volumes composed with clean, sparse lines with no ornamentation. Rejection of past references—such as decoration—was a hallmark of his early style, which echoed the works of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier and the Miesian motto,
Less is more.
Image source: https://abuildingaday.tumblr.com/post/127731117445/hanselmann-house-michael-graves-fort-wayne
Examples of Graves’s Modernist sensibilities are evident in the Hanselmann House (1967–71) in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and the addition to the Benacerraf House (1969) in Princeton, New Jersey.
Image source: https://www.artforum.com/passages/stan-allen-on-michael-graves-1934-2015-51897
He also adorned kitchen kettle spouts with whistling plastic birds, built municipal office buildings with cartoonish toy-town facades, and embellished the roof of a Disney resort hotel with a pair of 28-tonne swans. The postmodern American architect Michael Graves, injected more childlike exuberance into his buildings and product designs than any of his contemporaries – and produced some of the most divisive works of the period as a result.
Image source: https://fotospot.com/attractions/district-of-columbia/st-coletta-of-greater-washington
Credited as one of the originators of postmodernism, Graves developed a style of sampling motifs from classical architecture and blowing them up to become theatrical billboard-sized props, clothing his buildings in historical fancy-dress costumes. It was an attempt to bring back wit, humour and meaning to architecture, as a reaction against the po-faced austerity of modernism.
Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/ba9a6628-6222-47bb-90fb-b58122b50468 by HarshLight
Some of his other famous works
ARCHITECTURE
- Denver Public Library
- Portland Building
- Sheraton Miramar Hotel, Red Sea, El Gouna
- Center for the Arts, Princeton, New Jersey
- Post office in Celebration, Florida
Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/bf9dd954-45e9-439d-9bb6-caa8bc7c6010 by Joe Shlabotnik
PRODUCT DESIGN
- Whistling bird, teakettle for Alessi
- Coffee pot, Tea & Coffee Piazza
- A collection of kitchen accessories designed for Target
- Toaster for J.C. Penney
- Prime TC Hospital Transport Chair, Stryker
- Table Top, Ilex Architectural Lighting.
Image source: https://search.creativecommons.org/photos/88002974-b91c-443b-9b8e-06bd4f191781 by Cooks & Kitchens
Info sources:
https://www.biography.com/people/michael-graves-9318661
http://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/products/the-industrial-design-of-michael-graves_o
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Michael-Graves
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/mar/17/michael-graves
