Close To Home Paper

Sarah Mabry
IAR 222
11-14-07

When learning about Modernism a person never imagines that they could actually find examples of it in the city in which they live. It seemed only to be in big cities such as Chicago and New York. Modernism can be found even in cities like Greensboro. The Close To Home exhibit allows visitors to gain that understanding of what Modernism is and its impact on the city and the world through the work of Ed Loewenstein and others creating a large community to work with in.
The materials of the installation are what make it so visually pleasing to each visitor that enters the space. The combination of wood and metal give the space a polished and clean appearance. Wood was used to build the frames that hold up the metal sheets. Each metal sheet is used as a display space for the numerous graphics. Silver magnets are used to hold up the graphics on the metal. Using the magnets gives a clean and mysterious way that the graphics are held. It makes a visitor want to touch them and investigate how they are held up. Metal pipes where included at the top and bottom of each panel. The use of the metal and wood give the panels an even more modern appearance. The mixture of materials is seen in some the interiors of Loewenstein homes. There will be a mixture of brick, wood paneling, and glass used with in the space.
Light plays an important role in the space. Light fills the space from all angles. The glass doors that lead a person into the space allowing for an abundance of natural light to enter in. Allow with the natural light there are the overhead lights in the gallery. Each one provides a uniform blanket of artificial light. As a visitor walks along the exhibit they will encounter more light that is projected on the walls in the form of digital models of the project. All these elements bring the light in to illuminate the space. The light presents the concept by giving an example how many modern buildings can be lit. Loewenstein’s homes appear to have ample artificial lighting above surrounded by glass walls. The glass as in the gallery space allows for natural light to shine though.
Within the installation color is playing a subtle role. There are three colors that are used on the wood material. The framing of each panel is wood that was left in its natural state. There are accents of a burnt orange stain and a light shade of turquoise. In places there are in set panels that are stained in a dark chocolate brown. This stain allows for it to pop put against the natural wood of the framing. Another color is added in the metal piping as well. It provides an addition color that is not over powering. These colors could be seen in any modernist building in any part of the world. The light turquoise is also repeated in many of the graphics in the space. This color seems to act as a way finding device that carries a person around as they are reading.
The images with in the space add many elements to the exhibit. One of the most powerful images is the picture of Ed Loewenstein at the entrance on the left side. It allows a viewer to understand the impact of this man on Greensboro’s landscape and with in the movement itself. The other images that are very powerful to the visitors and especially the students are the ones of the women from Greensboro Woman’s College working on their urban studio home. It is very impressive to see women of the 1960s out working to build a home just as students of the program do today. These images show the community that modernism creates. The text located on the graphics brings out the accent colors that are used in the wood elements. The light turquoise and the gray are used to pull out these colors. Each graphic takes a person through the space letting them gain a better understanding of the installation. These graphics support the concept of the exhibit.
The different types of media help to give variation to the space. There is a combination of printed media in the graphics and images then there is a use of digital media as well. The visitor does not get bored with viewing the same type of media. At each entrance it starts out with the printed media. As a person walks through there are the surprises of the digital media. There are the digital models that walk a person through the exhibit space in the design process phase of the project. Placed in the corners of the installation are computers that allow a person to pull up more information about Ed Loewenstein, the woman from the Women’s College who worked on the urban studio home and the movement of modernism. The most successful ones are the printed graphics and images along with the projected models. The ones that are the least effective are the computers located in the corners of the exhibit. They seem to repeat the same information as is given in the installation.
Each visitor takes the time to stop and read the graphics as they walk through the space. The design of the space allows for a visitor to enter either one of the two entrances. That gives lets confusion as to the flow of the installation. The experience that a visitor has is one of being in a home. It’s a foreign space that is large but it does have a feeling of closeness with in the space. That is due to the shape of the structure and the concept that is seen through out it. The sense of community that a person gains is what makes the homey feeling. Modernism is a global
movement that seen in the smallest to largest citiesin America. Community is what makes the design happen. That feeling is well portrayed in the space.
Close To Home is a celebration of a man and his work and the movement in which he fits. Community is what makes it happen. A global movement that is possible for everyone.







For this sketch I wanted to represent the connection that is made with the installation and the surface floor that it sits on. Each piece of wood comes together to connect then it places itself on the floor. The colors used in the wood and metal blend well with the concrete gallery floor. Both panels strike a nice balance with the floor.



As a person walks through the exhibit each panel flows well from one to the other. What makes that happen are the corners of the gallery. Each panel stops but it is not a sudden stop. The panels stop in the corners. At the end of the panel there is a piece of wood that is the same as what it used in the panels. It gives what’s on the walls and the panels a cohesive look to the project.



In the sketch above I wanted to represent the how the panels come together. The one on the left is larger in scale compared to the one on the right. The two panels are different in scale within themselves but each one comes together gracefully. It is done by using joints that are carefully thought out.