Chicago+School+&+Skyscraper--section+1

Kelsey & Kaitlyn ** __The Skyscraper__ ** The birth of the skyscraper began at the First Chicago School. The First Chicago School was a group of architects who influenced architecture immensely. When Chicago recovered from the Fire of 1871 suddenly the value of land skyrocketed and low buildings were deemed an insufficient use of space. The elevator made it possible to begin building higher and higher buildings. Since Chicago was built on a swamp, it was difficult to have buildings with solid foundations. Frederick Bauman created a solution for this. He believed that each vertical part of a building should have an entirely separate foundation, which in turn would evenly distribute its weight. This proposal had flaws, however; it took up valuable space and could only support 10 stories. Adler and Sullivan created the caisson, or a chamber made out of steel, for the Chicago Stock Exchange. It was the strong, skeletal like, metal frame that led to the perfection of the skyscraper. In the 1880s William Le Baron Jenny created the first __completely__ iron and steel framed building. The advantages to this new building was: almost fireproof buildings, thin walls created more interior space, new floor were easily installed, and exterior walls were not necessary and could be replaced by glass. The First Chicago School was influenced by two hugely different sources. One was an architect named Henry Hobson Richardson, and the other was steel. Richardson rejected the Greek and Roman classical styles preferring the Romanesque style of Southern France. He was the designer of the Romanesque Brattle Square Church. Steel also played a major part in influencing the architects. Ironically Richardson rejected metal framed buildings opting for stone. In 1895 The Burnham & Root’s Reliance Building was finished by Charles B Atwood. It had sharp, daring edges right beneath thin walls, and was two thirds glass, making it a rare spectacle. Louis Sullivan was one of the architects involved in the First Chicago School, and was the most important architect in the United States. He was born on September 1856 in Boston and his father was an Irish dance master! At 16 years old he was at MIT for architectural studies. There he studies calculus, languages, drawing skills, and military training. Louis looked up to William le Baron Jenny and was inspired by his Brattle Square Church. Later he became partners with Dankmar Adler and created the company Adler and Sullivan building commercial buildings, warehouses, theaters, and music halls. His most popular project in Chicago was the Auditorium Building which consisted of 136 stores, 400 hotel rooms, a theater, a recital ball, and a 17 story tower. When he was 34 years old Louis designed the Wainwright Building which emphasized perpendicularity, expanded piers, and effectively used horizontals. This was later perfected when the Guaranty Trust Building and the Schlesinger & Mayer Department store were created. According to Louis Sullivan art was “something that solved problems.”

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