Skyscrapers and the Relationship to Golf Course Architecture

From the earliest times man has wanted to build big buildings from the Egyptian pyramids to the cathedrals throughout Europe to the skyscrapers of now.  The actual building of skyscrapers was not possible until the later half of the 19th century.  Prior to the skyscrapers building like the pyramids and cathedrals were built with stone or masonry walls that supported the weight of the building (called load-bearing walls).  How high these buildings could be built was limited by how massive the base could be.  No wonder people suffered building these buildings having to pull and lift huge masses of stone.  

However, two events occurred that changed this, the first was the invention and development of a public safe elevator in 1853 by Elisha Graves Otis, and the second was the Chicago fire of 1871.  The Fire of 1871 leveled the city to rubbish which would serve as a blank slate for rebuilding the city.  The great fire as one might have expected would result in a slow recovery, but actually the opposite happened, rapid population growth occurred.  Given the land constraints of Chicago (Lake Michigan, Chicago River) the only option for handling the Chicago boom was building up.  This required new construction methods  requiring materials like steel, cement, and glass.

 

 

 

 

The early skyscrapers were influenced by European design philosophies.  Art Deco which originated in France was popular in the 1920s and 1930s.  The characteristics of this design were sculpture and decorative art.  Skyscrapers build at this time reflected this design philosophy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During the 1920s and 30s  the philosophy of Modern Architecture began to emerge that was rooted in the German design school Bauhaus.  We were entering the Great Depression and building ornamentation and sculpture were seen by architects of the modern school as expensive and having no value.   The idea of modernism was “form follows function”.  In other words the primary aspect of a building should be on function or purpose.  Modern architecture  or sometimes referred to minimalist would construct a skyscraper of just glass and steel with no ornamentation.  The International style of architecture would emerge from modern architecture where buildings were rectangular, stripped of all ornamentation, with open interior spaces.  The downside to this type of architecture is it gets boring, buildings looked the same.

 

 

Realizing that buildings were becoming boring and actually to the public stand offish.  Architects began to add “ornamentation” to break up the monotony and this was the bases for the Postmodern architecture design philosophy.  Thus, Postmodern architecture incorporated art with function.  Postmodern Design originated in the 1950s but did not become real popular until the 1970s.

So far we have seen the progression of skyscraper architecture through the various phases of Art Deco (ornamentation, gaudy), modern or minimalist, and postmodern as philosophical categories to classify architects or buildings.  Yet, like any categorization it is often hard to characterize buildings that incorporate different design philosophies.  As we look at golf course design and try to categorize a golf course or architect as minimalist design or artificial but pleasing to the eye are we looking at some of the same characteristics found in building skyscraper architecture?  By following one set idea do we risk becoming boring? And like new building materials and techniques contribute to the taller and taller skyscrapers , how does new golf equipment and maintenance practices influence what we are producing.

And one final question, form follows function is used in golf course design, can you describe what a golf hole might look like?