MICHAEL GRAVES

1934-2015

INFLUENCES
GRAVES CONTINUES TO
TURN TO ARCHITECTURE
ITSELF FOR HIS
INSPIRATION.
HE HAS A DEEP INTEREST
IN EXISTING
ARCHITECTURE :- ANCIENT,
NEO- CLASSICAL, MODERN & DERIVES PLEASURE FROM
REINTERPRETING ITS
FORMS & COMPOSITIONS.
HE BELIEF IN TO THE BASIC
PINCIPLE THAT THERE IS NO
SUCH THING AS AN
ORIGINAL IDEA BUT THAT
EVERYTHING ORIGINAL IS
BASED ON THE REWORKING

Michael Graves, Team Disney The

Eisner Building, 1991

Michael Graves,

Portland Public Services Building, 198

DENVER CENTRAL LIBRARY

For a post-modern building,

the interior of the library is
fairly conservative when it
comes to the decorative
aesthetics.

Most of the spaces appear

as traditional library spaces
composed of natural wood
evoking
a
sense
of
grandeur.

One begins to understand

the abstracted colonnades,
vaulting,
and
colorful
painting creating more of a
fun learning environment
rather than a stark, serious
library space.

FACADES ARE SYMMETRICAL & LINEARITY B

BY ADDING VERTICAL BANDS OF COLORS &
WINDOWS.

 The Denver Central Library may be one of the first librarys

to function more than just a library.
In addition to the extensive literary collections, the library
functions as a community gathering space consisting of
multipurpose rooms, meeting facilities, shops, a caf, and a
special museum-like collection.

FACADES ARE SYMMETRICAL &

LINEARITY BROKEN
BY ADDING VERTICAL BANDS OF
COLORS &
WINDOWS
SYMMETRIAL FAADE
GEOMETRICAL SHAPES USED ARE
SYMMETRICAL AND FINISHED AS
WELL
REPEATING 2-D PATTERNS , USED
FOR WINDOWS
MICHAEL
GRAVES
USES
GEOMETRIC SHAPES TO MAKE HIS
BUILDING LOOK INTERESTING.

HUMANA BUILDING

PLACE : LOUISVILLE,KENTUCKY,HUMANA
DESIGN STARTED :1982
DESIGN COMPLETED:1985
STRUCTURE MATERIAL USED: STEEL FRAME & GRANITE
NO. OF STORIES : 26

 GRAVES STRATEGY HAS BEEN TO INTERNALIZE THE EVENTS OF THE

BUILDING, IDENTIFYING PARTICULAR COMPONENTS OF THE PROGRAM
THAT CAN BE GIVEN FORMAL EMPHASIS.

WHETHER THE EMPHASIS OF THE BUILDING IS PRIMARILY HORIZONTAL OR

VERTICAL, A HIERARCHIAL ROUTE IS ESTABLISHED THROUGH THE
REPETITIVE SPACES.

RELATIONSHIP B/W INDOORS OR OUTDOORS BY PUSHING THE WALL AS

FAR OUT AS IT CAN GET TO MAKE A BAY WINDOW THAT GRABS THE LIGHT
OR BY CARVING SOMETHING OUT OF THE FACE OF THE BUILDING SO
PEOPLE CAN LITERALLY GO OUTSIDE.

Richly coloured composition made up of abstract, highly personal variations on

classical forms.

Lobby is beautifully detailed, with a

It is a kind of collage of modernist and classical elements,
put
in a way
that is
number
of together
different kinds
and colours
of marble, combined deftly enough to
like neither the modernist skyscrapers.
provide visual variety at no cost to
overall coherence.

TWENTY-FIFTH FLOOR