Walter Gropius, German architect & founder of the Bauhaus, birthday 18 May 1833
Chrysler Building, New York, Art Deco sky scraper, spire installed 20 May 1930
Although Marco Zanuso was trained as an architect he is most
notable and influential in the Industrial Design profession. His experiments with bent metal and sleek
plastic help bring design to the masses with low cost items. Work with Arflex (a division of Pirelli, yes
that Pirelli, manufacturer of tires and the coveted Pirelli calendar) lead to
the award winning design “Lady” armchair in 1951. As a founding member of the Italian
industrial design organization Associazione
per il Desegno Industriale in
1956, Zanuso was instrumental in establishing the modern profession. The ADI actively works to protect the
copyright of design. This is a gentle
reminder not to purchase knock-offs and go directly to the source or officially
licensed retailers. As an educator Zanuso
helped form young designers at the Polytechnic of Milan for over forty
years. 
For another influential educator Walter Gropius, architecture
was a family business. However, his mark
on the discipline had a far reaching impact.
When he was appointed to master of the German Grand-Ducal Saxon School
of the Arts and Crafts in 1919 he transformed it into the Bauhaus, a collective
of educators and students that defined the foundation of modern design. New technologies in building materials begged
for new translations into modern life and subsequently the buildings in which it
is housed. This approach crossed
platforms so much so that in 1963 when hair stylist Vidal Sassoon, who passed
away last week, introduced his groundbreaking "bob" cut it was described as
“Bauhaus” inspired. In homage to this
great movement, an English band named themselves “Bauhaus 1919” (later dropping
the date to simply be called “Bauhaus”) and lead what came to be known as the
gothic rock movement of the late 1970s early ‘80s. 
With the excitement of new building technologies man was
able to build bigger and higher. After
the invention of the elevator, the race to build the tallest building was on. The first building to reach 1000 feet was the
Chrysler Building in New York when the spire was installed, a title it held for
all of eleven months before the Empire State building claimed it. As the epitome of the Art Deco building it is
my personal favorite. Architect William
Van Alen superbly translated the iconography of the automobile company in image
and material by cladding the nesting tire motif in stainless steel. This building boom soon fizzled as the Great
Depression continued but the torch was picked up in the late 1990s with the advent of new computer technologies allowing for more complex and safer designs. Man inched
higher and higher until the Burj Khalifa in Dubai put the proverbial nail in
the coffin to the race yet again when it opened at an astonishing 2717 feet, 1050 feet higher
than the previous winner. That means at
1046 feet high, the entire Chrysler Building can fit within the space between
the top and the next highest. Links:
Associazione per il Desegno Industriale website
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