Barry Bergdoll, January 13th, 2010, 7:00 pm
Marcel Breuer and the Invention of Heavy Lightness: From the Bauhaus to Atlanta. 
Central Public Library, Auditorium
1 Margaret Mitchell Sq
Atlanta, GA 30303-1022 

Breuer’s architecture on the face of it experienced a radical shift over his long career, from the light weight floating volumetrics of his immediate post-Bauhaus designs, such as the Harnismacher House in Weisbaden, Germany of 1932 to the great civic monuments of his mature American period: St. John’s Abbey in Minnesota, the Whitney Museum in New York, and the Atlanta Public Library. Yet throughout the dramatic exploitation of the cantilever as the veritable experience of modernity remained constant. This lecture will explore the emergence of a new aesthetic of heaviness, of roughness, and of dramatic structural experimentation. And it will underscore how Breuer defined a new civic presence for architecture in an age of challenges to the city, one that is only slowly being reassessed and appreciated anew.

Bob Gatje, October 28th, 2009, 7:30 pm
REMEMBERING MARCEL BREUER
Central Public Library, Auditorium
1 Margaret Mitchell Sq
Atlanta, GA 30303-1022 

A one-hour illustrated talk that recalls the achievements and personality of a great man and a great architect. Robert F Gatje presents slides and anecdotes gathered in the course of researching his recent book - Marcel Breuer: A Memoir (The Monacelli Press; 2000) - to conjure up a time when the profession of architecture was peopled by giants who treated one another with great collegiality . Bob was one of Breuer’s partners for a decade and worked by his side for a total of twenty-three years. They collaborated in three of Breuer’s New York offices and in the Paris office that Gatje established in 1964. The memories assembled focus on many of the landmark projects that were designed by Breuer including the St John’s Abbey church, IBM France’s research center at La Gaude, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the St Francis de Sales parish church in Muskegon, and the French alpine ski town, Flaine.

A recurring theme is that of mentoring: Breuer’s exposure at an early age to the much older Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe; his lifelong association with artists such as Albers, Klee, Kandinsky, and Calder; and the influence of his great mentor, partner, and friend Walter Gropius. Breuer, in turn, devoted his own great talents as a teacher and inspiration to a whole generation of students and staff. Their affectionate stories have been gathered by Gatje as a contribution to renewed discussion of Marcel Breuer and his work 100 years after his birth.

Peachtree Street Architectural Walking Tour

Description:  Traveling between the Central Library and MODA, this tour examines the development of Atlanta's most famous street and its architecture through the twentieth century.

Download your self-guided tour map HERE.

The Epsten Group 
Urban Treks of Social & Environmental Change
Walking tour -Download PDF tour maps here.

Description: Green walking and bike tours around Old 4th Ward identifying businesses and community highlights relevant to social and environmental change.

Click here or on the image to download the map.

Take a walking tour of Peachtree Center and explore downtown Atlanta through the eyes of the architect! Admire the art and architecture at SunTrust Plaza. Experience the revolutionary atrium designs of the Hyatt Regency Atlanta and the Atlanta Marriott Marquis. See Atlanta landmarks such as AmericasMart, the world’s largest single wholesale marketplace, and the iconic glass-clad tower of The Westin Peachtree Plaza Hotel. End your tour at the top of The Westin in the revolving Sun Dial Restaurant and enjoy the spectacular view of the city that has inspired John Portman for more than fifty years!