The Art Institute of Chicago is hosting a retrospective for Bertrand Goldberg, famed architect of Marina City (1959–1967), two cylindrical corncob-shaped commercial/residential towers. The exhibition contains a range of Goldberg’s work; it begins with his work at the Bauhaus and the 1933 Century of Progress Exposition and follows his career into his visionary plans of a postwar America. The exhibition will feature architectural drawings, models, photographs, along with graphic and furniture design.
Follow us after the break for images of Goldberg’s work.
Goldberg worked between small scales and large scales, between personal spaces and public spaces. He developed the details of furniture and shifted into the overall city of city blocks. His projects have range and a thoroughness that focuses on the plethora of forces that act upon urban environments.
The hospital Goldberg designed have symmetrical plans with a delicate attention to how life functions within the perimeter of his designs, but the urban plans take on a life of their own, molded into the fabric of the natural environment, between rivers and the existing city grid. He was known as Chicago’s architect and contributed much to its landscape. This exhibit is somewhat of a tribute to his work and his curiosity in the realm of industrial design, architecture and urban design.
The compilation of Goldberg’s work features conceptual themes in his designs, the evolution of his ideas, and the shifting trends of American culture. A preview of the exhibit is available on The Art Institute of Chicago’s website. The exhibition will opened on September 17, 2011 and will be running until January 15th, 2012. It is the first retrospective of its kind of Bertrand Goldberg’s work.
