Architecture of Atlanta

The Architecture of Atlanta has seen works by most major U.S. firms and some of the more prominent architects of the 20th century, including Michael Graves, Richard Meier, Renzo Piano, and soon, Santiago Calatrava and David Chipperfield. Atlanta's most notable hometown architect may be John Portman whose creation of the atrium hotel beginning with the Hyatt Regency Atlanta (1968) made a significant mark on the hospitality sector. A graduate of Georgia Tech's College of Architecture, Portman's work reshaped downtown Atlanta with his designs for the Atlanta Merchandise Mart, Peachtree Center, the Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel, and SunTrust Plaza.

Landmarks

Arts facilities have led the way for modernists in Atlanta architecture with the High Museum designed by Richard Meier with a 2005 addition by Renzo Piano. Also on the horizon is a new home for the Atlanta Symphony Center, to be designed by Santiago Calatrava, as soon as fundraising can be completed for the projected 300 million dollar cost. Michael Graves' post-modern style is exhibited in the Ten Peachtree Place office building in Midtown and the Michael C. Carlos Museum on the campus of Emory University. The 50 story One Atlantic Center was designed by Philip Johnson in association with John Burgee. Now under construction is One Museum Place, a new residential high-rise across Peachtree Street from the Graves / Piano buildings of the High, designed by London-based David Chipperfield.

Atlanta also has its own Flatiron Building, built in 1897, five years before the more famous Flatiron Building in New York City (1902). [ [http://www.ci.atlanta.ga.us/citydir/URBAN/flatiron.htm Flatiron Building history] ] The Atlanta-Fulton County Central Library, completed in 1980, was designed by Bauhaus member Marcel Breuer (though he didn't live to see it's completion). Another historic building of architectural importance to Atlanta is the Fox Theatre, which was saved from the threat of demolition in 1974.

Architectural firms and institutions

Atlanta is home to a number of progressive architecture firms, including the award-winning, internationally acclaimed Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects (formerly Scogin, Elam and Bray). Major commercial commissions are typically dominated by large corporate firms such as Heery International, Stevens and Wilkinson, Perkins and Will, Smallwood Reynolds and Associates, and TVS (Thompson, Ventulett, Stainback & Associates). Smaller, contemporary practices include Carlos Tardio Architecture, BLDGS, G+G Architects, Houser Walker Architecture, Square Feet Studio, Plexus R+D, Alloy Projects, and Dencity Design.

The Georgia Institute of Technology College of Architecture, located just west of midtown Atlanta offers both pre-professional undergraduate and professional graduate degrees in architecture, and hosts regular lectures and symposia of interest to students and professionals. Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, offers a five-year professional undergraduate degree. [ [http://architecture.spsu.edu/curriculum.htm SPSU Architecture Curriculum] ] and also hosts lectures and exhibits works in the new architecture building's gallery space.

Skyscrapers

References