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Michael Graves (1934) studied at the University of Cincinnati,
Ohio and at Harvard University. After working as a Fellow
at the American Academy in Rome for two years, he started
his own practice in Princeton, New Jersey. He became a professor
at Princeton University in 1972.
A member of the "New York Five", Graves re-interpreted
the rational style that had been introduced by Le Corbusier
in the 1920s into a neoclassical style. By the mid-1970s,
Graves had become less concerned with the roots of Modernism
and had developed a wide-ranging eclecticism in which he abstracted
historical forms and emphasized the use of color.
Michael Graves generates an ironic, vision of Classicism
in which his buildings have become classical in their mass
and order. Although influenced by the fundamentalists in developing
an architectural language, Graves has become an opponent of
modern works who uses humor as an integral part of his architecture.
Indeed, many of his recent designs seem to celebrate architectural
pastiche and kitsch.
Michael Graves is responsible for the transformation of the
former government residence Transitorium into the strikingly
designed Castalia. This building will provide a new home for
the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports.
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