Timeline
-
x
Single Family Residences
Early in his career, Goldberg worked on a number of small residential projects, starting with the Higginson House in 1934. The modestly-sized, modernist homes of his early career often included imaginative use of materials and technology and in many cases custom furniture and fixtures. By the mid-1950s, his private residential work came mostly to an end, as the firm began work on larger-scale projects.
-
x
Multi-family Residences
A desire to improve urban living informed the design of all Goldberg’s multi-family residences - with Marina City as his defining example. Built as a "city within a city", it combined residential apartments, recreational activities, entertainment, and commercial offices into one complex. This was a turning point that began his firm's movement towards larger projects, including River City; an extension of many of these same ideas. While his work was primarily addressed to the middle class, the needs of lower-income residents were the focus of projects at Drexel and Raymond Hilliard Homes.
-
x
Institutional Projects
Beginning in the 1960's, Bertrand Goldberg Associates received many commissions for educational and health care facilities. Nine major new hospitals were designed and built, and two entire college campuses were also completed - for Health Sciences Center and Wright College. In these projects, the firm was able to implement new solutions to long established problems by assuming responsibility for not only architecture, but also programming, planning, and engineering.
-
x
Industrial Projects
Goldberg's early interest in industrial design and manufacturing would inform his later work in large-scale systems. An experiment in automobile design was followed by prefabricated housing and then mobile structures built for the U.S. military in World War II. After the war, his interest in prefabrication continued until the 1950's, when his unused design for a plywood boxcar evolved into modular housing units.
-
x
Concepts & Proposals
Committed to all design disciplines, Goldberg designed furniture to accompany his early residential projects. He also designed several public exhibitions or promotional displays as inventive means to demonstrate and promote his projects. Later, this interest in spectacle was revisited through several unbuilt but fantastical projects including a futuristic night-time entertainment center and a proposal for a floating World's Fair.
-
x
Commercial Projects
From a mobile ice-cream store on wheels, to large auditoriums and high-rise office buildings, Goldberg's commercial projects covered a wide spectrum of both scale and purpose. Nonetheless, each typically showcased a distinctive approach to problem solving through innovative use of materials and form.
A note about complications in the history
Every effort has been made to provide a cogent and brief history on the work of Bertrand Goldberg and his office. However, the reader may find a few inconsistencies, as a brief history is complicated by a few factors:
- Projects often had multiple names, not only during design, but even once built. For example, Drexel Town and Gardens is published under five different names.
- Projects had extended timelines, especially the larger ones. Marina City was started in 1959, completed in 1967. Others were even longer, such as AHC, HSC, and River City. Not only did some change names over this duration, but they evolved conceptually from the master planning or original design concepts. Relating individual buildings to earlier master plans is not an exact science.
- There are some complicating factors in dating the work: early drawings were mostly lost,. Conceptual drawings (especially in the later office) were not always dated or clearly identified.
- The information provided here is abridged.
In general, most of these issues have been sorted through and clarified. However, it is possible some inconsistencies may be found. Should more detailed clarification be necessary, it is recommended that reference be made to the original materials at the Art Institute of Chicago.