Sunday, January 20, 2008

The Monday Quiz XI

Architecture

1. What is this famous building?


2. How about this one?

3. What city is shown in these four photographs?
(They are all of the same city.)




4. Whose influential ideas about city planning are shown in these images?



5. Who designed these houses -- and what is the specific name he gave this kind of house?





Submit your answers in the comments!

32 comments:

Karin said...

1. The Sydney Opera House
2. Very Pretty Gardens (must visit)
3. Salt Lake City, Utah? (big church w/no windows)
4. Bud Clark--woop! woop!
5. Frank Lloyd Wright--cantelevered

Jennifer said...

What I want to know is what Mrs5000 bribed you with to choose architecture.

d said...

1. sydney opera house
2. ummm. looks vaguely european...the vatican?
3. portland, or?
4. um. santa claus?
5. frank lloyd wright - boxy ranchy style

Kritkrat said...

1. Duh.
2. Versailles. Is that even how you spell Versailles?
3. Hmm, Knoxville, TN?
4. Um, no idea.
5. FLW - prairie ranch.

You always know how to make me feel stupid.

Anonymous said...

1. Sydney Opera House
2. I dunno. The British Parliamentary building?
3. No idea. Taipai?
4. "Use blueprints in architectural design" and "grids are good."
5. Frank Lloyd Wright. Prairie houses.

Anonymous said...

1. Sydney Opera House
2. Versailles
3. Orbit City of Jetsons fame?
4. Grey scale design sketches?
5. Frank Lloyd Wright, Prairie Houses

G said...

1. The Sydney Opera House
2. Versailles
3. No flipping clue
4. Robert Moses or Le Corbusier (because the first view is of Paris); I believe the term is "superblocks"
5. Frank Lloyd Wright; is it prairie house

Anonymous said...

1. Sydney Opera House
2. Europe
3. Yes
4. No
5. Wright: Little Houses on the Prairie

Anonymous said...

OK, Sue convinced me to at least try...
1. Sydney Opera House?
2. I don't know -- the Pentagon?
3. Crap. Barcelona?
4. Mine.
5. Frank Lloyd Wright -- and I know this answer but freeze up when I take quizzes.

5 points for sticking my neck out?

x said...

I love this. As a psychologist, I will base my answers not just on the pictures but also on the answers of others, cheater that I am:
1. Has to be the Sydney Opera House because so many people think it is, and whenever the majority believe something to be true it must be, especially on the Internet, right?
2. I thought this might be Versailles but I remember it with more gardens, but I must be right because a few other people thought so and I just love the person who guessed "The Pentagon" which is also a seat of power, in a different century, country and style albeit, but still, in essence, that answer should also get credit.
3. This city is clearly outside our solar system as it mystified everyone. Are you sure you didn't scramble up pictures from different cities? Really, many of the shapes have a lunar feel. A city on one of the moons of Saturn?
4. Heir Meister Blueprint, famous city planner of the Third Reich
5. Thanks for throwing us a bone with Frank Lloyd Wright. Clearly him because everyone else thinks so and I was an art history major, but more important, I'm conformist and will not disagree with a crowd.
3.

Rebel said...

1. Sydney Opera House
2. Versailles?
3. I really don't know, but whoever lives there is probably going to feel crappy that they have so many iconic landmarks (that bridge looks really familiar0in their city, but people *still* don't know where it is. Guessing Kyoto Japan.
4. Takin' a huge leap here - Stalin? They were big on creating order.
5. Frank Lloyd Wright - not sure what the houses were called.... maybe something like "Homes for Modern Living" or something generic like that?

Mr. Shain said...

finally my obsessive life-long subscription to *wallpaper is paying off!

1. sydney opera house (with self-cleaning roof)
2. versailles, bien sur
3. there was a recent NYT article about niemeyer and how he's crazy old and sloppy now (sad). the answer is, however, brasilia.
4. corbusier introduced the high-rise residential plan with adjacent park style--those of us who have lived in former communist republics know this system well.
5. wright - the craptastic prairie home

Rex Parker said...

1. Sydney Opera Haus (House)
2. Versailles
3. Er ... Awesome Architectureville? I'm going to say Toronto (only 'cause of that Giant Spire in the long shot).
4. Bauhaus?
5. Frank Lloyd Wright ... Waterfall House? Cantilever House? Bite Me House?

rp

Anonymous said...

1. Sydney Opera House.
2. Versailles (?) -- first thought was St. Petersburg castle...but gardens swayed me.
3. Brasilia -- I've seen many pics of the church...don't know the other three, would have guessed Austin based on them.
4. Le Corbusier (?) -- looks like La Seine in the first drawing.
5. FLWright. I think my choices are Prairie and Usonian. They constructed a Usonian house block by block at the Marin Civic Center (designed by FLW) for a traveling show in the '80s. It seemed more perfunctory, style-wise, than these. I thought Prairie was marked by rows of similar windows, which I'm not getting here. Maybe there's another term for the central core / arms generating out idea, like in these and Fallingwater. Don't know, so I'll guess Prairie-style.

Anonymous said...

Gee, hope I don't get drubbed out of the profession if I miss one. . .
1 Sydney Opera House
2 Palace of Versailles
3 Brasilia!
4 Le Corbusier's
5 Frank Lloyd Wright--Usonian

mhwitt said...

My word, I actually know four of five of these.

1. The Sydney Opera House. I have had the great fortune of visiting the SOH and seeing an exhibit of the papers of architect Jørn Utzon while there. It is beautiful from all angles, and perhaps especially when up close.
2. That's the Louvre, right? I sure hope so since I've been there too.
3. Brasilia. I have not been within four thousand miles of Brasilia, but a recent issue of Harper's Magazine included an essay on Brasilia... with pictures!
4. Those are images of of a fantastic and futuristic Paris I believe, but I don't know who drew these sketches. I'll throw out a guess: Lewis Mumford.
5. These are Frank Lloyd Wright "Prarie Houses."

Elizabeth said...

I don't believe this! The first Monday quiz I might actually do reasonably well at, and I have to go and oversleep this morning ...

Word of honor (trying to retrieve my honor) that I didn't look at the answers, but it's the Sydney Opera House, Versailles, Toronto, Hitler, and Frank Lloyd Wright though I have to confess anything other than "prairie" style is a guess. Well, that's a guess, too.

Retroactive exclamation point maybe? Provided I'm as (W)right as I think I am?

Elizabeth said...

Guess the answers weren't posted, and by everyone else's, I'm definitely not as cool as I think I am ...

Michael5000 said...

Here goes!

1 - The Sydney Opera House
2 - The Palace of Versailles
3 - Brasilia
4 - Le Corbusier
5 - Frank Lloyd Wright and the Usonian style.

Michael5000 said...

Aaaand we're giving out exclamation points this week to Mr.Shain, Karmasartre, and Mrs.5000. I'm not going to be too picky about the Usonian concept. Mrs.5000 is the only one who nailed that detail, and she's, like, an architect. So.

Well done.

Anonymous said...

I did not know the middle three. The Palace at Versailles is one to see before croaking.

Michael5000 said...

Brasilia is important in architecture and urban planning because it was built from the ground up at mid-century. An effort by the Brazilian government to move the country's economy inland, it is one of the most thoroughly planned major cities in the world.

Poor Corbusier -- looking at him now, people compare him with Hitler and Stalin. Not really what you want your legacy to be. He has the bad luck to be the name most often attached to an idea that, 80 years ago, seemed idealistic and progressive: that you could provide decent and comfortable housing with plenty of open recreational space by building up in sleek, symetrical apartment towers. Doesn't really work for the most part, but it took hard experience to learn that.

Usonian homes are indeed "craptastic" in some ways -- they are not terribly practical for many aspects of most modern lifestyles -- but they embody some cool ideas. The one Usonian home here in Oregon is way cool, with all sorts of fun nooks and quirks, and definitely worth a tour if you are in lovely Silverton. The Usonian Inn, in Spring Green, Wisconsin, is pretty slick as well; it's the only Usonian commercial building ever built. I was zipping through the Badger State on a road trip a few years back, saw it, and screeched to a halt, stopping for the night even though it was only 11 a.m.

Heatherbee said...

Oh dude, this is a MONDAY quiz? I never should have taken time off.

Um, okay, here goes idiocy. 5 is Frank Lloyd Wright and I don't know what he called them so I'll guess that he called them pancake houses.

4 is ...I have not a clue but is that really a helicopter pad in the second drawing?

3 is, let's say, Kuala Lampur? Saying "I have no idea" more than twice gets boring and repetative as well as tedious and feels like you're saying the same thing over again, you know what I mean?

2 is, let's say Versailles (which is wrong) and 1 is, let's say, the 3 rivers in Pittsburgh (also wrong).

Whee, that was fun (if you like humiliation).

Hey, I have an idea. Can I get a prize if I start consistently turning up with the lowest score possible? That could be like the puce star or the mud colored star or something.

Bridget said...

Very cool quiz! didn't know anything about Brasilia, and actually guessed "Hitler" when looking at the Le C drawings . . . something about the utilitarian approach, I guess.

Heatherbee said...

I'm so confused. I thought it was still Monday in Oregon. So why are the answers up? Maybe you usually post answers at 10 pm on Monday? Your Status line on gmail said "Monday Quiz" so I took it.

Oh, now it says interview. Well, good luck. :)

Heatherbee said...

Wait, I have another question. I am religious about not reading others' answers before I post. But is there actually a rule against that?

mhwitt said...

Damn! Of course that's Versaille... I recognize the chapel along the roof line now.

I don't even vaguely recognize the name Le Corbusier. How embarassing.

Anonymous said...

You'll be happy to know these are all covered in the History of Architecture Part 2 class I took freshman year. I knew about Brasilia as a kid because our World Book showed how The Plan Is An Airplane! I've never seen any of them in real life except Oregon's Gordon House (the middle Usonian) and Versailles, seen from the train (on the way to Chartres). Versailles from the train is awesome because you're looking at woods, only the trees are planted in a grid, so they do that vanishing point thing like a Nebraska cornfield. So there's this entrancing rhythm of the gridded forest, and you realize you must be looking at the outskirts of Versailles, then WOOSH an axis opens up with a long vista and then it's back to the aisles of trees. I can't imagine that actually going there and walking around the parterres and listening to some guide in the hall of mirrors could be one-tenth as cool.

McGuff said...

Since my corporate system now restricts blogspot entirely and not just Monday quizzes, I'm relegated to PERSONAL TIME to enjoy M5K-land.

This week's quiz brings to mind Columbus, Indiana (pop. 39,000) considered to be one of the most important US cities architecturally, as well in regard to public art.

Though mrs.5000 would serve up a more informed summary, the story is that civic and corporate leadership explicitly enacted a program of introducing modern architecture into this little town. Eliel and Eero Saarinen (both crossword puzzle staples), Harry Weese, I.M. Pei and others are behind churches, schools, fire stations, industrial and commercial buildings throughout the town.

Fascinating to tour, the town lacked much in way of accommodations and restaurants - but was a worthy destination nonetheless about 10 years ago for me and Ms. Finn.

Michael5000 said...


Yay! Heatherbee's back!!

@mhwitt: If it was the Louvre, I would have shown the I.M. Pei pyramid dealio. It being Versailles, I tried to get in some of the Bill Loy diagonal perspectives.

@Mrs.5000: Cool...

@Phineas: I recommend to anyone whose enjoyment of L&TM5K is hampered by the computer situation in their place of employment: get a new job.

Columbus, Indiana, sounds like my kinda tourist destination. Really. Besides, I don't think I have that county yet.

DrSchnell said...

"Corbusier's vision was wrong/ chemicals for a higher yield/ but the grass is still green in the field/ I'd rather be a cow"

Somebody wrote a song about that once. Dylan? Can't quite recall....

Michael5000 said...

DrSchnell, with whom I was once upon a time in a genuine, bona fide rock band, flatters me by quoting one of my own songs. He doesn't know that, after I learned more about architectural modernism and got more sympathetic to Corbusier, I changed the line a little bit, to "Corbusier's vision went wrong."