The City Within a City

The iconic phrase "form follows function" by American architect Louis H. Sullivan (1856-1924) dominated architecture of the 20th century.[1] The advent of improved steel enabled the construction of the skyscrapers that Sullivan designed, creating the nidus for developing the "modern" urban downtown. In this context, downtowns existed for business to conduct its work, especially as office-based businesses were blooming. Chicago, Illinois, the windy city, was situated at the crossroads of America, the flow of goods to and fro by railroad and ship. Sullivan was concerned purely with the needs of business, and his designs, both exterior and interior, reflected those needs. On the other hand, American architect Bertrand Goldberg (1913-1997) was interested in human needs and how architecture could serve those needs through form and function. Goldberg departed from the predominant theory of Functionalism, introduced in the early 1920s, which eliminated any focus on human needs, and leaned instead toward a new brand of Humanism, a philosophy that focused on human needs and rational solutions to address those needs. Goldberg's deep concern for society's problems set him apart from many of his peers. 

Vitruvius had once determined that a building must satisfy three aspects: utility (convenience), durability (stability), and beauty.[2] When this concept was revisited by architects in the last century, American society had experienced a series of industrial, political, psychological, and architectural revolutions that progressed towards a general acceptance of individual freedom and prosperity, reflecting the "American Dream." The continuing neoclassicism that dominated American architecture in the 18th and 19th centuries was inspired by romantic notions of freedom and democracy derived from ancient Greek and Roman civilizations, but it failed to account for the comprehensive study and appreciation of human values.[3] The long-established relationship between the architect and the client had become obsolete in a society emphasizing the right to liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

At the beginning of the 20th century, the "skyscraper" - defined as very tall buildings - came to dominate the urban landscape. This was made possible by the use of steel. The need for such buildings was the natural consequence of the Industrial Revolution, where the ever-increasing aspects of advertising, trading, shipping, and retailing goods and services required office work for administration and coordination. As governmental functions expanded, so did the government's need for office space. The novelty of skyscrapers became evident because they did appear to "scrape the sky." Such ultra-tall buildings gave cities distinctive silhouettes, and the views from these buildings were unparalleled. The Empire State Building became the world's most iconic skyscraper when it was built in 1931. Downtown Chicago had also come to be littered with skyscrapers 50 to 60 stories tall, built under the influence of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, who emigrated to Chicago from Germany. Downtown Chicago became a concentrated place to work but not to live.

The peace and prosperity that began after World War II in the United States ended in 1945 brought upon many new issues that came at a price. According to data collected by the United States Census Bureau, Chicago experienced its first decline in population in 1950 since its founding. From 1950 to 1960, the white population in the metropolitan area had decreased by 12.8%, while the nonwhite population increased by 39.2%.[4] The increasing levels of racial segregation in the urban areas that surrounded downtown aggravated the ongoing population shift into the suburbs. Suburban flight was also facilitated by the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944, or the G.I. Bill, which offered favorable low annual rate loans to men returning after WWII.[5] The American Dream had become home ownership. Automobiles allowed families to live further away from where they worked. " A Real Estate Research Corporation report in 1946 revealed that less than 30 percent of the city's postwar population lived within five miles of Stage and Madison Street.[6] This migration of middle to upper-class families intensified the existing income segregation within urban centers. Since taxes were apportioned by the population of an area, cities could not generate enough revenue to support its preexisting services and infrastructures. The reliance on automobiles had also created a tax drain for cities. Instead of addressing the city's deterioration, money was spent on expanding highway and transit systems designed for the convenience of suburbanites. In a situation of suburban flight in the 1950s, not unlike what America is currently undergoing during the COVID-19 pandemic (although the reasons are working at home in a spacious and quiet environment), people reevaluated their way of life, wanting to raise children in peaceful and quiet environments. [7]

Fig. 1 Marina City

Marina City as a Solution

Bertrand Goldberg conceived Marina City (see Fig 1.) in 1959, five years before the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Its purpose was to revitalize central city area of Chicago by attracting middle-income singles or childless married couples, and thus help to reverse the trend of suburban flight. He was aware of the prejudice and socioeconomic disparities that African-Americans were facing at the time, and he did not believe in segregation. Goldberg wanted to create "a city within a city," a place open 24-7 where people could find recreational activities and work in the same building where they lived. Thus, Marina City became the first mixed-use complex that included residential skyscrapers in a North American downtown. The multi-complex included two 65-story residential buildings, an office building (that eventually was converted into a hotel), a theater, and a plaza with an ice-skating rink, all built upon a marina spread across a 3.1-acre lot along the Chicago River's north bank of that included stunning views of Lake Michigan. Its form allows each residential unit to have a balcony (larger apartments had two), a feature that would set it apart from other high rises. The residents were given job opportunities created within the development, working in the offices or as staffs for the various amenities. Marina City opened in 1963 and was fully completed by 1967. At the time of its opening, Marina City was simultaneously the most economical apartment building in the United States and the tallest one of its kind in the world, with an average of 500 residents per acre, becoming the densest city block in the world. Marina City, became Goldberg's most recognizable project, attained landmark status from the City of Chicago in 2016.[8] It was built with funds invested by the Building Service Employees International Union, a novel source of financing at the time. Its construction provided union jobs and union housing upon its completion. Its use of multiple buildings to accomplish "a city within a city "has served as an example of urban planning that continues into the present. It utilized and celebrated reinforced concrete and created molds that could be used multiple times, an advance in economical construction techniques. Its rounded design significantly reduced wind shear strain on the structure. It was the first residential high-rise that combined commercial offices/businesses with numerous amenities such as stores, a theater, restaurants, a gym, a bowling alley, a swimming pool, a marina, and an ice rink.[9] The exterior design of its residential towers reflected curvilinear shapes that occurred in nature, "eggs, shells, and trees, which were strong and efficient."[10] Marina City is now considered an icon of Chicago architecture and a symbol of bold urban planning ideas.

Form and Space

Born in 1913 in Chicago, Bertrand Goldberg began his study of architecture at the Cambridge School of Landscape. Unsatisfied with the Beaux Art Style that was taught in the United States, he moved to Berlin to seek education at the Bauhaus while also apprenticing under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The Bauhaus School, under Mies' direction, was experimenting with a new, more practical, and modernist approach to architecture. During his apprenticeship with Mies, Goldberg realized a constant recurrence of the 90-degree angle. "I was revolting against a century of static space, against the straight line, against the idea of man-made in the image of the machine. All of Mies' drawings are identical, whether the designs were for a factory, a hospital, or a private home."[11] The realization that his mentor's work was only in the form, not the function, inadvertently became a foundation for his practice. Goldberg, a man of Jewish heritage, returned to Chicago after the Bauhaus school was closed by the Nazis. His social progressivism no doubt sprung from his first-hand witness of antisemitism in Nazi Germany. Goldberg believed that form should be dictated by function but, at the same time, acknowledged that human needs will change throughout different periods. He studied under Joseph Albers, who taught principles of objectivity, economy, and abstraction of form, exploring spatial composition through the use of pure geometries to generate 3D form (see Fig 2.) from two-dimensional patterns. He understood that human beings could be deeply affected by interior residential spaces and, as an architect, paid special attention to interiors. He purposefully deviated from "box" spaces and floor plans in Marina City. No longer can a person imagine what a building might look like just by seeing its floor plans. However, it was not meant to be a revolution against contemporary architecture but rather the fundamental understanding, through his brand of Humanism, that fluidity of form is required to best accommodate the multitudes of human needs within our society. 

Goldberg also studied construction engineering at the Armour Institute, housed within the Illinois Institute of Technology. Thus, he was both an architect and an engineer. He departed from the traditional view that architects should not become closely involved with engineers and the construction of their designs. So, not only did he pay attention to construction techniques, but his knowledge of them also allowed him to incorporate them into his designs. In the United States, after the Great Depression of the 1930s, attention turned away from architects designing private homes and toward designing government-supported public works projects, such as schools, public housing, and hospitals.[12] It was during this period that he began to experiment with prefabricated modules. His Humanism was on display even before Marina City, with his design of prefabricated houses in Maryland, which resulted in housing that was much more affordable to those with lesser incomes because the components were manufactured offsite and put together on-site in a relatively rapid fashion, which in turn, shortened construction time and lowered construction costs.

Reinforced Concrete

Bertrand Goldberg knew reinforced concrete had been used successfully in office skyscrapers built before Marina City.[13] With the engineering of reinforced concrete, circular designs established by mathematic calculations rooted in physics, Goldberg also knew that a circular design for Marina City would be safe and durable (see fig 3.). The engineers were aware that the central columns of each tower would have to be built first to allow the radiating floors that ended in scalloped-shaped balconies to be attached, but they also added piers along the periphery to attach to the central column, providing even more stability.[14] Goldberg recognized that apartments that radiated outward (see fig 4.) as spokes from the center would give a feeling of expansiveness. One of Goldberg's innovations was using prefabricated molds made of fiberglass, which were reusable.[15] This was a much cheaper alternative to forming wooden molds that could only be used once and were very difficult to fabricate in the first place. The concrete exterior was sprayed with plaster containing glass, saving 10 to 15 percent of costs compared to a steel structure.[16] These cost savings helped make the project more affordable for developers and residents and contributed to Goldberg's humanist vision for the complex.

Originally named the Time Warner Center (see fig 5.), this multi-purpose complex owes its inspiration to Marina City.[17] Located at Columbus Circle, a busy gateway to midtown Manhattan, the structure of the complex, which officially opened in 2004, is remarkably similar to that of Marina City. There are north and south towers that contain offices and residential condominiums, built upon the base of three floors of retail space with high-end retailers and restaurants, a supermarket in the basement, a parking garage, entertainment space (Jazz at Lincoln Center), and housing the New York Mandarin Oriental Hotel. The facade of the building is composed of large glass panels, incorporating the current trend of sustainable construction materials. The complex's upper floors offer stunning views of Columbus Circle with its Christopher Columbus statue and Central Park's southern end. Like Marina City, it is practically a city within a city. Residents can walk, bike, or take public transportation to work. Both of the 55-story towers are uniquely parallelogram-shaped and align along Broadway. Like Marina City, the Deutsche Bank Center includes television broadcasting studios (CNN, the cable news network). Deutsche Bank has assumed control over much of the tower's office space and was granted naming rights to the complex by the developers. Its mixed-use concept, now the staple in modern urban planning, can be traced back to Bertrand Goldberg.

The Legacy of Marina City

The concept of combining housing and work has been proposed in the past. Ludwig Hilberseimer's High Rise City from 1930 (see fig 6.) was part of his study on solutions for congestion caused by the primitive transportation structures.[18] The vertical city consisted of 120 blocks, each containing 90,000 square meters of commercial space and housing 9,000 people. The design would have effectively eliminated traffic, together with the individualistic nature of human beings. Later in his career, Hilberseimer completely changed his view on high-density housing, renouncing the concept of metropolitan population density by claiming it contributed to the city's extensive decentralization.[19] Hilberseimer most likely influenced Goldberg's design of Marina City, as Goldberg believed that density was not so much a problem if it can be done humanely. He understood that overcrowding in cities worldwide could be addressed with appropriate architectural and technological interventions. 

Goldberg learned three important lessons about architecture and urban planning in decaying cities as a result of his work on Marina City: that architecture can contribute to the restoration of the middle-class population of a city; that architecture in urban areas, when appropriately planned, can help reduce housing costs; and that architecture can create living environments for all types of families.[20] He embraced construction unions as advocates for fair wages and safe working conditions. He applied these principles to subsequent projects, such as River City (another downtown mixed-use complex along the Chicago River), the Raymond Hilliard Center (a public housing project), Wilbur Wright College (a City of Chicago public campus) and the Prentice Women's Hospital, which all incorporated unique circular design and clustering around central corridors that also resulted in enhanced functionality and experience of interior space.

Bertrand Goldberg was a believer in the economic and social importance of cities. He came of age during the Great Depression and understood that sociological and financial issues are inseparable. His experience of the free societies of early 20th century Europe and the antisemitism of Nazi Germany honed his humanistic beliefs. Marina City, his greatest achievement, exemplified brilliant financial planning and interdisciplinary teamwork between architect, engineer and developer. Goldberg saw architecture as a potential agent in the solution of problems that human beings endured. He found a way to not only work within his budget, but to also create innovative techniques that took advantage of the flexibility, economy, and art of reinforced concrete. Goldberg has inspired subsequent generations of architects to focus upon human needs within their designs and redirecting the profession back to where it all started in antiquity. 

Goldberg inspired other architects to think of building shapes that went beyond the box designs of his mentor, Mies. Tadao Ando, world renowned Japanese architect, also believed that architecture could reform society and was inspired to use concrete to create forms that incorporated the natural characteristics of their surroundings.[21] Similarly, Jeanne Gang's Aqua Tower (see fig 7.), an 82 story mixed use building whose protruding floor slabs vary along its surface, creates a vertical landscape that mirrored the appearance of glaciers, matching similarly stunning views of Chicago and Lake Michigan as Marina City, but also emphasizing the same connection to nature that inspired Goldberg.[22] Even the circular ramps of Marina City's parking on its first 19 floors have inspired other parking garage designers to go beyond the simple box forms that tend to inhabit many urban downtowns.[23]

What exactly is the proper design? Most architects and urban planners are familiar with the traditional method of using square feet per person to determine a living shelter's size. However, if human problems were reduced to statistics, they could only be solved on an unemotional and scientific level. Goldberg taught us that human needs have to be paramount in architectural design. As world-renowned Chinese architect Tao Ho so eloquently stated, "It is [a] consciousness . . . that drives [me] to establish a humanistic approach to architecture." [24]