FREE ESSAY ON MICHAEL GRAVES

MICHAEL GRAVES

Michael Graves
Michael Graves, born the summer or 1934 in Indianapolis, knew he wanted to be an artist
by the age of six. Encouraged by his mother to seek a more practical career, Graves
choose architecture. After studying at the University of Connecticut, he got his master's
degree at Harvard University. After finishing school in 1959, he moved to New York City
where he worked at the office of George Nelson. While working in New York, Graves
received a fellowship to study at American Academy in Rome, Italy. Graves studied the
classical architecture, which inspires much of his work. It was his time in Rome that
allowed him to make the connection between ancient and modern architecture. 
In 1962, Graves started teaching architecture at Princeton University. He designed
buildings upon commission, but not until 1977 did his work become nationally know. Graves
received a commission for a cultural center spanning the Red River on the Minnesota/North
Dakota border. Although lack of funding never allowed his design to be built, he gained a
lot of attention. Graves' next project, the Portland Building, is a fifteen story
postmodernist skyscraper. It can be defined this way because of its unusual use of color.
There is also a reference to Greek columns on the facade of the building. 
As more commissions followed, Graves began his own design studio in Princeton. As a
privileged member of the designers at this studio, I can witness the process of Graves'
design. His firm is split into teams of designers. There are the interior and
architectural designers in one building and the industrial designers in a separate
studio. Michael and the team leaders primarily plan each project out. The teams then
develop the project. Computer drawings are then sent to the modelers and painters. The
atmosphere at the Graves studio is extremely laid back, but professional. For example
there are several dogs roaming around the studios, but the conference rooms double as
display rooms for Michael's previous projects and libraries. 
There are several reasons why Michael Graves is considered a post-modernist. The typical
modernist based their designs on structure and technology and used plain surfaces such as
glass and steel. Graves' designs are decorative and use natural materials. The colors
used for most of Graves' designs are gray, soft blues, green stucco, and terra cotta.
These colors add human qualities to the design. In an essay by Ivan Zurich, the
classification of Graves' design is discussed. Is Graves a modern architect, a
post-modern, a late modern, an eclectic, or a classicist? He would answer: I am just an
architect. 'I don't care what people call me,' he says in response to the publicity;
'labels have the negative value of making smaller boundaries for people.'
The Team Disney Building is Burbank, California was built in 1991 as Graves' first
project for Disney. One face of the building uses seven 19-foot dwarfs as columns. These
characters from Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs reference Greek columns in a
playful manner. This side also has a pediment structure. The roof on the opposing side of
the building has semicircular arches. These may be referencing gothic vaulted ceilings.
The large glass plain walls of the building are typical modernist design, but they are
colored terra cotta. 
The Engineering research Center at the University of Cincinnati was completed in 1995. At
first observation, this building seems to be four separate rectangular buildings
connected perpendicularly by a structure with a semicircular roof. The four extruding
buildings have many rectangular features. The setback connecting structure has circular
windows. These few circular elements make the building less like a modernist box. The
main entrance building has columns which reference Greek architecture. 
The most recent nationally acclaimed design by Graves is the scaffolding on the
Washington Monument. The scaffolding contains 37 miles of aluminum that drape over the
obelisk. Standing 575 feet tall, Graves uses nylon fabric and 800 lights to illuminate
the monument at night. The original purpose of the scaffolding was to aid workers as they
repaired and cleaned the national monument, but it has become an artwork in itself. There
is currently a bidding war over the deconstructed scaffolding to have it resurrected as a
separate structure. This work is a perfect example of architectural reaction to society.
This classical obelisk has become deteriorated by pollution and weather, which
commissioned the scaffolding. Graves uses the shape of the original gray masonry and
creates a web around it that is aesthetically pleasing and humane. The blue glow gives
the linear building a softer quality. Graves mimics the block pattern of the masonry in
the structure. 
Michael Graves has expanded his design expertise from primarily architecture, to
products, interiors, and even graphic design. Graves began working with Alessi, a design
company primarily concerned with house-ware art, in the early 1980's. Graves uses many
references to classical architecture in his product designs. Many of his vases and
candleholders resemble columns. Graves has a line of yellow dinnerware decorated with
blue flowers. This graphic element could be referencing the flower motifs of Art Nouveau.
Another kitchenware line by graves uses rings of steel and small dots resembling rivets.
This line could be referencing Russian Constructivism because it looks like the steel
beams of an architectural structure. Graves adds blue handles to soften the metal. 
Graves recently made a deal with Target to sell his designs at reasonable prices to the
public. This is definitely an action of a post-modernist, because he is trying to allow
everyone to have nice objects in their home. Some of the designs resemble the Alessi
product line, but with less definition and less expensive molded parts. Among these is
the Graves toaster. The bubble-like design references the Braun products of the 1950's.
Graves adds a playful blue handle and stubby yellow feet. This toaster looks like a
cartoon on a kitchen counter. 
From my internship with Graves Design I learned about one of Michael's designs that is
relatively unknown to the public. Michael designed the logo for Lenox. His connections
with Disney, Lenox, Princeton University, Alessi, (to name a few) have made Michael
Graves an internationally acclaimed post-modernist designer. 
Bibliography
Alessi, Alberto. The Dream Factory. Cologne: Konemann, 1998.
Canupp, Shelley. Cheap Chic. Press Journal 8 Apr. 2000, sec C:2.
Kudalis, Eric Michael Graves, Minneapolis: Capstone Press, 1996.
Trachtenberg, Marvin, Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: From Prehistory to Post-Modernism.
New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1986.
Wax, Emily. Scaffold Becomes a Monument Unto Itself. The Times 14 Jan. 2000, sec 
A:11.
Zaknic, Ivan MICHAEL GRAVES: RESTORING A LANGUAGE TO 
ARCHITECTURE (an online essay by a student at Lehigh University)