|
Biographical Summary
Bertrand Goldberg was born in 1913 in Chicago, Illinois, and received
his training in architecture from 1930 through 1936 at several
institutions, including the Cambridge School of Landscape Architecture
(now incorporated into Harvard University); the Bauhaus in Berlin,
Germany; Armour Institute of Technology (now Illinois Institute
of Technology) in Chicago; and also through a tutorial with engineer
Frank Nydam. He worked in the offices of George Fred Keck (1935)
and Paul Schweikher (1935-36) before organizing his own firm in
1937. During World War II, Goldberg was active under the Lanham
Act designing housing and mobile penicillin laboratories for the
U.S. government. Goldberg's distinctive designs often required
innovative technology, as seen in such noted Chicago buildings
as Marina City, the Raymond Hilliard Homes, and River City. He
was the recipient of numerous awards and his work was the subject
of many exhibitions in the United States and Europe. Goldberg
was elected to the College of Fellows of the American Institute
of Architects in 1966, and was awarded the Officier de l'Ordre
des Arts et des Lettres from the French government in 1985. Goldberg
died in Chicago in 1997.
Interview Highlights
Goldberg speaks about study at the Cambridge School of Landscape
Architecture; study with Mies van der Rohe and colleagues at the
Bauhaus in Berlin; experiences in pre-war Germany; working for
George Fred Keck; working for Paul Schweikher; Mies in Chicago;
Mies's visit to Taliesin to see Frank Lloyd Wright; designs for
use during WW II; prefabrication; mast-hung structures; designing
and building Marina City, the Raymond Hilliard Homes, and River
City.
Standard Houses; Suitland, Maryland, 1941. Bertrand Goldberg
Papers, Ryerson and Burnham Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago.
Elevation and section for the Raymond Hilliard Homes; Chicago,
1963. Department of Architecture, The Art Institute of Chicago.
Interview Excerpt
"I think...the difference between regarding architecture
as the design of art objects as pure design [is] in a sense unrelated
to the way in which the building will be used. It's the difference
between looking at architecture as an art object, as a three-dimensional
painting, as a convenient exploration for an art critic, and regarding
architecture as a kind of sociological art form that participates
in the development of the community, that participates in the
further development of the--I hate to use the word functional
because it's a throwback to another period--but what I have described
to you are the designs which come out of a wedding between the
space as used and the people who use the space. In a sense, the
building is a comment, a statement, a mirror of the way each person
in that building will reach out and either surround himself with
that space or touch the space or remodel the space....I don't
see buildings being divorced from the people inside the buildings
or outside the buildings even. Everybody hugs the building in
some form. It's a sensuous kind of experience." (pp. 292-293)
Other Resources at The Art Institute of Chicago
Architectural drawings from Bertrand Goldberg & Associates
may be consulted by appointment in the Department
of Architecture; job files, photographs, slides, speeches,
publications, and other records of the firm are housed in the
Ryerson and Burnham Archives.
See also the oral histories of associates in Goldberg's firm,
Ben Honda and Tony
Grunsfeld; and Goldberg's mentors, William
Keck and Paul Schweikher.
Funding for this oral history was provided by the Graham Foundation
for Advanced Studies in the Fine Arts.
About the Chicago Architects Oral History Project
Department of Architecture • Ryerson & Burnham Archives
Send questions or comments to:
Ryerson & Burnham Archives, Chicago Architects Oral History Project
|
