A Big Surprise

IToday was full off surprises. We were staying in the Hilton and there is a walkway to the Conference Centre which is built on the lake edge. It was designed by FLW! And very nice too.

All curves and lights integrated with the walls and full of particle physicists conferring. Then we inspected the Capitol which looks like Washington Capitol.

Capitol as seen from conference centre.

This is the famous Unitarian church.

View of the front window from inside.

Then we were driven about 60 miles to Milwaukee and more specifically to the art Gallery - on the lake.

This is by Calatraves and is beautiful. It looks a bird spreading its wings to take off over the lake. The inside is as impressive as the outside. Even more impressive were the contents. Two rooms of Georgia O'Keefe. And an enormous retrospective of Kandinsky(eat your heart out, Rosie). Apparently Milwaukee had a great collection of Kandinsky and they teamed with the Pompidou Centre in Paris which also has a great collection. It is only being shown at Paris And Milwaukee. World class stuff. If this building was not enough, it was an expansion from the previous building, still present, by Saarinen!

The long low building on the right is the new one. There was nothing like enough time to see everything. By this time it was the end of the afternoon but we had not finished. We drove to see FLW houses which were sort of prefabricated.

There are five of them in a row. We were shown round two of them. Very livable in.

I have just read various comments which is a bit difficult on my iPad. Yes the furniture is uncomfortable and in the Unitarian church, they have discreetly replaced the benches. They look the same but --- there is a lot of built in furniture. I approve of the wardrobes and the bookshelves. But I am not sure I would want all the tables built in. 

And yes that Art Deco chair upholstery is marvellous. But it is printed not woven. 

 

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