The John Deere World Headquarters built in Moline, IL was designed by Eero Saarinen and the landscaping was designed by Hideo Sasaki. The project was officially completed in 1964 by Kevin Roche after Saarinen's death. This exquisite piece of architecture is used as an office space and museum, and is the main center for Deere & Company.
Thursday, February 5, 2015
Written recordings of the headquarter's users
The building is like an "elegant glass box" reminiscent of Katsura, a zen-like style of architecture using simplistic design. This building is flexible, functional, and particularly important for "a company manufacturing farm implements". The West Office addition creates separate pavilions using glass screen motifs providing natural sunlight to brighten up the mood. There are also some questionable designs used in the building though. The inclusion of a "large unshaded glass roof in an air-conditioned sealed building" is somewhat contradicting to the company's principles of natural conservation, but all in all the building provides a homey environment that's essential to the workers' needs. The employees' remoteness when working in separate offices allows for a variety during lunch and coffee breaks, so there is a balance between work-life and social-life.
(Booth, Laurence. "Deere Addition." Architectural Review 1 Oct. 1979: 212-18. Print.)
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Great observations! Katsura is actually the name of a palace in Japan; it had a huge impact on modernist architects in the 20th century.
ReplyDeletehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Katsura_Imperial_Villa