Final+Project

One of the most important architects of the time is Richard Meier, winner of the Pritzker prize, he designed a beautiful and modest house called “Giovannitti House”, it has 2,200 square-foot, it was built from 1979 until 1983, in Pittsburgh, United States. It was called like that because the last name of the client is Giovannitti. Frank Giovannitti hired Meier to design a house that met his needs, the client wanted a private house inside of the quiet neighbourhood, the house was designed for two persons. The space of the parcel was increasingly reduced, since the cost of the project was very expensive for the client. The context surrounding the Giovannitti house is a forest. When the construction of the house began, Meier wanted large glass windows for the homeowners and their guests to have a beautiful view of the forest, but as the parcel of land was reduced, the client could also see his neighbours at 25 meters away. If we take a look of some pictures and drawings of the house, we can see that the principal form of the house is a cube, or a puzzle of various cubes that conform one cube from far away. The house contains in the ground floor: a garage, a kitchen, a living room, a bathroom, a laundry room, a storage room and a big terrace. The first floor contains: three terraces and a living room. In the second floor there are: the master bedroom and a bathroom. The materials used for Meier are mainly three: glass, steel and stucco. He used glass for the large windows, steel for the structure that bounded the pieces of glass together. Also he used porcelain-enameled steel panels for the exterior view, that characterize the white color of the house facade. And, stucco for the coating of the walls. Additionally, wood was used for the stairs. Also, in various parts of the house we can find glass blocks, that serve to distort the vision, for decoration and let the light in, for example, one wall of the bathroom of ground floor has it, and in the first floor, too. The structural system that supports the weight of the house is compounded of the walls (made of bricks) and columns. In this house we can identify the 3 principal types of walls: structural wall system (most of the walls support the loads, that is, load-bearing-walls), partition walls (walls that make separations and divisions, for example the wall between the bathroom and the living room in ground floor, functioning like a wall and is removable), retaining walls (serve to provide a barrier to the movement of earth, for example the wall of the garage). Therefore, we can say that Meier could make this small project, a beautiful home that meets all functional and aesthetic purposes​​. He located the house in a certain place and direction, making the maximum light use with huge windows and in turn providing a quiet and incredible view. He used his characteristic white color on the walls, which makes it timeless (it has been deteriorated over time, but does not look like an old house). I hope that you enjoyed this project. Thanks.
 * Final Project: Giovannitti House **



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**web references:**
http://www.richardmeier.com/www/#/projects/architecture/name/0/114/0/

http://www.galinsky.com/buildings/giovannitti/index.htm

http://en.wikiarquitectura.com/index.php/Giovannitti_House