One of my favorite architects is celebrating a birthday this week – Michael Graves. Utilizing Disney characters and symbols in his designs, this leader of the Postmodern movement, provided Disney with enchanting buildings as well as household objects. Lets take a look at his projects:
Team Disney, Burbank, CA, 1986
The style of the building borrows elements from the ancient Greeks using figural columns similar to caryatids, entablature, pediment, and an agora surrounded by stoa. The reflecting pool is the original design for the space, but has been filled in.
Dolphin Resort, Walt Disney World, 1987
Swan Resort, Walt Disney World, 1987
The Swan and Dolphin resorts use elements from the Napoleonic Era in the Empire Style as well as modern embellishments like banana leaves.
Hotel New York, Disneyland Paris, 1992
Hotel New York utilizes Art Deco motifs that echo the era of New York’s most famous skyscrapers. The exterior looks like a packed skyline.
United States Post Office, Celebration, FL, 1996
Celebration’s post office uses one of Grave’s trademark features, a rotunda, to serve as the public entrance, and a rectangular block with an open-air loggia to house the mailboxes.
Graves is also known for designing the simple things that we use in everyday life like: pens, book ends, picture frames, timepieces, dinner ware, etc.
And since the Team Building is not for sale, we just settled on some of those everyday, household items to add to our home decor.
