Quote:
Originally Posted by Jasoncw
John Portman may have created the atrium hotel, and maybe a short lived trend to go with it, but he didn't shape the course of architecture for decades to come like those other buildings/architects.
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That may be true but based on the title of the list, the PBS series appears to focus on changing America rather than changing architecture itself.
Albert Kahn's Highland Park plant and other similar reinforced concrete factories he designed for Packard, Ford, etc. had some effect on the modernist movement in architecture but more important, the factories were much more efficient that previous factories. These plants facilitated the mass production of automobiles and the creation of millions of jobs (the Highland Park plant alone had a workforce of 40,000 at its peak). These plants and the jobs they provided played a part in the enlargement of the middle class and the cars they produced contributed to suburbanization (who said change is always good).
By the way, the picture shows an administration building; only a tiny portion of the much larger factory building is visible in the background.