Columbus is a modern architecture mecca. The AIA ranked it 6th in the country for architectural innovation and design (and locals are not shy about sharing this with you). You can read more about J. Irwin Miller, the "architecture fund", and Modernism in Columbus here.
Columbus contains work by Eliel and Eero Saarinen, I.M. Pei, Harry Weese, Richard Meier, Robert Venturi, Gunnar Birkerts, Kevin Roche, and landscape architect Dan Kiley.
I had remembered most of the notable projects from architectural history class but as always happens, my perspective and comprehension of the work changed after seeing each in person. I was most struck by how well many of the buildings were integrated into the landscape. More likely, how well the landscape was designed to enhance the architecture. Dan Kiley was the landscape architect for many of these projects. I found it difficult to stand back and take that one big-picture photo of many of the buildings. I always seemed to be standing in a grid of trees (or behind one) which obstructed the clear sight line.
I first ran into this problem while trying to photograph Eero Saarinen's Irwin Union Bank. The bank site consists of Saarinen's building on the street corner, drive-through deposit lanes, and an adjacent green space. Instead of populating the green space with trees and leaving the paved drive lanes barren, Dan Kiley chose to reverse the arrangement. Rather unexpectedly, a line of trees outlines the open green space while the landscape density (grid of trees) occurs between the drive lanes. This arrangement provides for an open park space, changes an open paved survace into a transition between landscape and building, and prevents the steel and glass building from being an isolated object on the street corner (a common complaint about Modernism and bank buildings in general).
In a church, architectural vocabulary is at its most delicate. The subtle interaction of light, space, and nature, instead of ornamentation, generate the pure atmosphere of today's Finnish church. Unpretentiousness has its origins deep in the past and national character. -Severi Blomstedt, Director, Museum of Finnish Architecture
The architectural influence of Columbus begins with Finnish born Eliel Saarinen, continues with his son Eero and runs through the Cranbrook Institute and the Saarinen office with Harry Weiss and Kevin Roche. Aimee and I were able to slip into Saarinen the elder's First Christian Church before it closed to the public at noon on Saturday. My experience there, both inside and out, brought back vivid memories of my summer semester in Finland almost six years ago. The exterior is stark, the cubic form of the sanctuary and bell tower are plain brick with little ornament. This was quite unusual for a church, especially during the Gothic Revival and Art Nouveau styles of the 1940's.
I wanted to reference the Blomstedt quote above because I believe he touches upon the essence of Finnish architecture, and much of Columbus' architecture as well. For the most part, First Christian Church is devoid of ornament, especially ornament one would expect to find in a church. I entered the sanctuary from the side aisle, behind and to the right of the alter rather than on axis. The space was asymmetrical, the only side aisle was the one from which I entered, and that space was softly illuminated by vertical windows slicing through the white brick walls.
The compression of the aisle opened to the full height of the sanctuary. Aimee pointed out that there was not a single pane of stained glass in the church and no icons save two simple crosses. Instead, the sacredness of the space was quietly implied by the quality of light, wood screens, and the delicate pattern of the window mullions.
It is amazing that this building, the first modernist church built in the United States, was built in 1942. It reminded me of the Resurrection Chapel by Erik Bryggman which I had visited in Finland. I think the similarities are notable: an assymetrical floor plan, a side-lit aisle, and no interior ornamentation, just light playing upon white walls and explicit references to nature.
It was not my intention to just talk about the work of the Saarinens in Columbus. Actually, the bit about the Irwin Union Bank was commenting on Dan Kiley. But this last building was again, a collaboration between Eero Saarinen and Dan Kiley.
During the guided tour that Aimee and I took, our tour guide mentioned that Saarinen had also designed J. Irwin Miller's house there in Columbus. But it was not on the tour, not in our guidebooks, and he could not tell us where it was because it was still owned by the Miller family. Actually, it had just been donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art contingent on the museum's promise to match the $5 million Miller endowment to keep the house operating as a museum. But until that transaction becomes official, the house is not open to the public and not part of our tour.
On Sunday afternoon, on our drive out of town, I noticed a tall geometric hedgerow fronting the road, concealing the property behind it. The hedges were large cubes, every other one shifted back, like the first two rows of a chess board. Man, that looked a lot like something Kiley would do, and if there is a house back there, I'd bet it's Miller's. I drove past and Aimee actually convinced me to turn around - what's the worst thing that could happen? And sure enough, when we took the driveway past the hedgerow, we found ourselves in a Kiley landscape with a white, low roofed, glass and steel building set within the trees.
We had found a jewel of Columbus that not everyone gets to see. How many I wonder. We walked around the house and peered into the windows - nobody was there. I was excited about our find and paranoid about trespassing at the same time. My paranoia (mostly) faded and I relaxed and focused on this house I had not known existed. Since I had never heard of this house before, never seen a photo, and never read a critique, it was interesting to observe it without preconceptions. The facades were simple, each a similar arrangement of dark stone infilling a window wall. But they were differentiated by programming and (surprise) landscaping - each had a distinct character and function (automobile approach to the east, formal patio to the north, open yard sloping away to the west, and formal garden and pool to the south).
This piece of modernism was not (could not be) siteless and the spaces Saarinen and Kiley created rendered warmth to the materials.
Columbus - the city and the architecture - exceeded my expectations. "Unexpected" seemed to be the word that kept coming to mind. Aimee said that she was pleasantly surprised at how much she enjoyed the trip too (no headway however on my idea of an architectural tour of Europe for our honeymoon...Nevis it is! ).
