1:41 < To Do Assignment Details ARCH 3214-001: Hist & Thry of Architecture 2 Prompt #1 5G 62 In the House Beautiful 1953 essay, "The Threat to the Next America," Elizabeth Gordon criticized the International Style Modern Architecture and its capacity to undermine individuals' confidence in their own judgment and logic. She wrote: "They are a self-chosen elite who are trying to tell us when we should like and how we should live. And these arbiters have such a narrow, often ignorant, conception of the good life that only non-human, low performance things get their stamp of approval. These arbiters make such a consistent attack on comfort, convenience, and functional values that it becomes, in reality, an attack on reason itself” (Gordon 1953, 127). She further argues that because the ideas are promoted by highly regarded institutions, they became even more dangerous. - Read the article closely and engage in a discussion with her about her perspective on the International Style ideologies and buildings. Share at least two positions that you agree with and two with which you disagree. Refer to and cite specific passages as you engage in a discussion. - Gordon's article was conceived as a public service with the goal of protecting unassuming consumers. Do you see this article as protecting consumers or as an attack on International Style? - Is the International Style as rigid as she argues? View Discussion 2 Dashboard Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox 1:41 < To Do Assignment Details ARCH 3214-001: Hist & Thry of Architecture 2 Prompt #2: 5G 62 Gordon inserted herself into spheres of tension as she associated the International Style with cultural dictatorship and alignments with totalitarianism and communism. In the 1953 House Beautiful article she chose to employ statements like - "Break people's confidence in reason and their own common sense and they are on the way to attaching themselves to a leader, a mass movement, or any sort of authority beyond themselves" (Gordon 1953, 127), and terms like cult, totalitarianism, self-chosen elite, and dictators. In doing so she entered in political territory conjuring visions of surveillance and oppression, as McCarthyism (campaign against communism) spread through governmental, educational, and cultural institutions across the country. - Examine closely the article's language around politics and power and articulate your understanding of 'cultural dictatorship. Refer to and cite specific passages as you engage the discussion. - Where is the line between political and artistic ideologies? If clients, homeowners, students, or consumers are not required to adopt ideologies, can there be dictatorship? - What do you see as compromising ideologies that are perpetuated in design today? What role does ideological fear play in design? View Discussion 2 Dashboard Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox 1:41 < To Do Assignment Details 5G 62 ARCH 3214-001: Hist & Thry of Architecture 2 Prompt #3: In the House Beautiful article Gordon offered her criticisms of Mies van der Rohe's famous Farnsworth House in Plano, IL: "The much-touted all-glass cube of International Style architecture is perhaps the most unlivable type of home for man since he descended from the tree and entered a cave. You burn up in the summer and freeze in the winter, because nothing must interfere with the 'pure' form of their rectangles-no overhanging roofs to shade you from the sun; the bare minimum of gadgets and possessions so as not to spoil the 'clean' look ... No children, no dogs, extremely meager kitchen facilities—nothing human that might disturb the architect's composition" (Gordon 1953, 250). The article underscored that good design was not intended to address modern architecture as art, but only as dwelling. For Gordon, in the absence of utility, beauty did not have value. - Examine closely the article and Gordon's prioritization of function over aesthetics. Is there a place in architecture in which art or aesthetics reign over function? - What do you agree with and what perspectives are missing? Can beauty exist in a home in the absence of function? Refer to and cite specific passages as you engage the discussion. View Discussion 2 Dashboard Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox/n1:41 To Do Assignment Details .5G62 ARCH 3214-001: Hist & Thry of Architecture 2 - Can minimalist, 'pure' design ever be beautiful? Does beauty always need to be coupled with comfort? Discussion Framework: Part 1 (your initial post): Your initial post must meet the following: 1. Respond to one of the prompt options for the week. (That is not a free-write or write whatever you want). 2. Title the post to correspond to the chosen prompt. 3. Compose a response that consists of at least 200 words, of your own writing, which critically examine the reading(s) and engage the prompt. (Please omit any unnecessary fluff to reach a particular word count.) 4. Express your thoughts in clear and careful writing. Make sure to type, review, and edit before posting. (Please do not write like you are Snapchatting or texting a friend.) Use complete sentences and appropriate terminology. Provide evidence from the text to support your position. Where relevant, refer to direct passages using the Chicago Manual of Style Author Date parenthetical citation. These quotations are not included in your reflection word count. 5. Thoughtfully engage with peers' work. Some responses may include concluding questions to further discussion. For Part 2 (your engagement post): 1 You then reply to at least one person with a substantive View Discussion 0OO 000 2 Dashboard Calendar To Do Notifications Inbox