Sunday, April 17, 2011

Walter Gropius

Walter Gropius was born on May 18th, 1883 in Berlin, Germany, and is "widely regarded as one of the pioneering masters of modern architecture" (Wikipedia). Gropius was the founder of the Bauhaus School, a school of architecture, in 1919. The school was in operation from 1919 to 1933, when it was closed under pressure from the NSDAP (Nazi) regime.

Friday, April 15, 2011

The Father of Landscape Architecture: Frederick Law Olmsted

Born on April 26, 1822, Frederick Law Olmsted is considered by many to be the father of American landscape architecture. Much of Olmsted's fame is rooted in his designs of many well-known urban parks, including Central park and Prospect Park in New York City, New York. His work was by no means limited to New York, however. Rather, it spans from Boston to Palo Alto, covering tens of thousands of acres of urban land. Perhaps one of Olmsted's greatest works is the landscape surrounding the United State's Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Pictured is Olmsted's "Plans for the Hillhouse Property" on Yale University campus in New Haven, Connecticut.