Archithese 2.2024
Mirrors in Late Modern U.S. Architecture
Journal Article, 2024
Late modern mirrored-glass architecture in the United States has often been decried as faceless, derivative, and devoid of meaning. Surveying the landscape of mirrored buildings and theorizations of mirrored architecture reveals, however, meaningful experiments and symbolic depth behind these façades. Discussing theorizations by Fredric Jameson, Arthur Drexler, Diana Agrest, and Reinhold Martin, then analyzing works by Eero Saarinen, Kevin Roche, Philip Johnson, and Gunnar Birkerts, I conclude that even if conventional curtain walls had lost their luster by the late 1970s, late modern architects were far from finished with reflective surfaces.
Mirrored theme float, Jimmy Carter Inauguration Parade, Washington, D.C., 20 January, 1977. Published as frontispiece to Pamela Heyne, Today’s Architectural Mirror: Interiors, Buildings, and Solar Designs (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982).
Mirrored theme float, Jimmy Carter Inauguration Parade, Washington, D.C., 20 January, 1977. Published as frontispiece to Pamela Heyne, Today’s Architectural Mirror: Interiors, Buildings, and Solar Designs (New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1982).