Michael Graves designed his personal residence in Princeton, New Jersey, known as the "Warehouse", by renovating an existing ruined warehouse building from the 1980s onwards. The modestly scaled residence is invisible from the street but reflects Graves' rejection of modernism through its vernacular inspiration drawn from Italian farmhouses. The L-shaped building consists of renovated north and east wings containing a study, living room with Soanean alcoves, and dining room overlooking a courtyard garden. Though modest, the warehouse is a symbolic and highly personal work representing Graves' philosophy through its balanced blend of modern and traditional elements.

1. THEORY OF DESIGN
PRESENTED BY:
MOHD SIDDQUI
MEGHA GHASOLIYA
MOHIT DANGI
MOHIT SHRIVASTAV

2. AR. MICHAEL GRAVES
Michael Graves was born on July 9, 1934, in Indianapolis,
Indiana. He studied at Harvard University and designed
modernist private houses before adopting postmodernism
in the 1970s. He’s known for designing such structures as
the Portland Building, the Humana Building in Louisville
and the Indianapolis Art Center. His other projects include
the restoration of the Washington Monument and the
creation of a line of items for Target. Graves died at the
age of 80 on March 12, 2015, in Princeton, New Jersey.
LEGACY
In 2003, Graves was paralyzed from the waist down after he suffered a
spinal cord infection. He then became a force in advocating for the
disabled, both through his acts and designs. For his years of
accomplishment, Graves received many honors, among them the National
Medal of Arts, the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the
Richard H. Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture, to name just a few.

3. WORKS
BUILDINGS AND PROJESCTS
He directed the firm Michael Graves & Associates, which has offices in Princeton and in New York
City. Graves spent much of the 1970s designing modernist residences, such as the Snyderman
House in Fort Wayne, Indiana. One of his most famous works, the Portland Building, which opened
in 1982 in Portland, Oregon, is regarded as the first major built example of postmodern
architecture. Some of his most notable completed buildings include the Humana Building (a
skyscraper in Louisville, Kentucky),the Denver Public Library, and the renovation of the Detroit
Institute of Arts. He built many buildings for the Walt Disney Company, including the company
headquarters in Burbank, California, Disney's Hotel New York at Disneyland Paris, and
the Swan and Dolphin resorts at Walt Disney World. In the 1980s, he also designed an expansion
for the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, Graves also received recognition for his
multi-year renovation of his personal residence in Princeton, nicknamed "The Warehouse“.
Product and furniture design
In 1985, Graves designed a stainless steel teakettle featuring a red whistle shaped like a bird for the
Italian company Alessi, which became the company's all-time bestselling product. Graves designed
the scaffolding used for the restoration of the Washington Monument in Washington DC. During
that assignment, which Target Corp sponsored, he met a Target executive who appreciated his
product design and a relationship was formed. He began designing consumer products for the mass
market and Target sold his products through their stores. In 1998, Target commissioned Graves to
design a model home to showcase the new line of housewares; Graves went a step further did a
complete design of the contemporary house with custom furniture, lighting, fixtures, and other
unique items.

4. WALT DISNEY WORLD
DOLPHIN & SWAN HOTEL
 LOCATION : WALT DISNEY WORLD RESORT, FLORIDA
 DESIGN STARTED : 1987
 DESIGN COMPLETED : 1990
 AREA : 2- MILLION SQ. FEET
 STRUCTURE : REINFORCED CONCRETE & STEEL
SUPERSTRUCTURE
 MATERIAL : EXTERIOR INSULATION & FINISH SYSTEM
WITH PAINTED MURALS.

5.  THE 1,500 ROOM WALT
DISNEY WORLD RESORT
DOLPHIN FACES ITS
COMPOSITION PROJECT,THE
758-ROOM WALT DISNEY
WORLD RESORT SWAN
HOTEL, ACROSS A LARGE
CRESCENT SHAPED
ARTIFICIAL LAKE.
 BOTH HOTELS CONTAIN
EXTENSIVE CONVENTION
FACILITIES, RESTAURANTS,
AND RETAIL SHOPS.

8. GRAVES WAREHOUSE RESIDENCE

9. Michael Graves house in the university town of
Princeton, New Jersey, is a highly personal work by an
architect best known for large-scale projects.
• The residence is being renovated from a ruined
warehouse. So Graves often address his house as
‘warehouse’.

10. • Modest in scale and virtually invisible from the public street,
the ‘Warehouse’ is nonetheless a symbol of Graves’ passionate
belief in an architecture which is both natural and humane. Its
quiet grandeur reflects his final rejection of the machine
aesthetic of the Modern Movement.
• The house is a personal statement and a private retreat, where
Graves keep the furniture, pictures, books, sculptures and other
objects accumulated during a lifetime of collecting.
• Graves like John Soane, sees his house as a place to display his
collections, which will one day be available to the interested
public. John Soane’s museum house has always been an
inspiration for Graves.

11. • The warehouse is an L-shaped building, consisting of a northern wing and an eastern
wing.
• The original north wing, hidden from the street, had large doors where trucks
regularly disgorged loads of household accessories.
• The later wing, at right angle, was much narrower. It was here that Graves first made
his home. He installed a kitchen and bathroom and lived like a student at first.
• In mid eighties with his practice booming, he tackled the northern wing, bringing in
other members of his office to assist and began work on the garden. This second
phase of work took four years and was followed by a year of work in the kitchen
wing.
• The formal inauguration of house take place in 1992, when a conference of US
Governors took place in Princeton and Graves held a garden party for the Governors’
spouses.

12. DRAWINGS
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
DRAWINGS

13. FIRST FLOOR PLAN

14. EXTERIOR
• The exterior has a quiet monumentality, which derives from the
vernacular barns and farmhouses of the Italian countryside.
• Graves have rejected ‘canonic’ classicism in favour of a freer and more
‘natural’ approach to design and stresses that the house is intended as
a practical place to live rather than a monument, despite his long term
plans to preserve it and possibly house an archive of his work there.

15. • The elevation of the house cannot be read in terms of conventional
classical design. Informal and vernacular in inspiration, they equally
have an almost Cubist abstraction which suggests connection with
Graves’ earlier houses.
• The chimney stack in particular, is a boldly expressed sculptural
design.
• The unity of house and garden is key theme. Graves seeks an
idealized landscape, recalling those he loves to paint in Italy, and
planting is subordinated to an overall architectural intent. The warm
and slightly irregular texture of the stucco, contributes greatly to
the overall effect of the exterior.

16. WORKSPACE | STUDY
• The house is close to Graves’ office, but he occasionally works in here and
keeps a small functional study room on the first floor.
• He often expresses himself in the delicate, enigmatic water colours he
paints, on his tours.
• Study room is lit by the square window on the front wall.

17. LIVING ROOM
• Graves’ living room is
equally made for comfort
rather than mere show. The
relatively low floor to ceiling
heights in the building –
dictated by the original
structure – have been
cleverly utilized to produce
interiors of some intensity.
• Alcoves to the living room
are distinctly Soanean in
form, but reflects the
dimension of original store
rooms used by Princeton
students to store everything
from books to grand pianos.
• A terra-cotta-colored wall
sets off furnishings that
range from antiques to
chairs designed by Michael

18. DINING ROOM
• The dining room is lit by tall
metal framed windows
which look onto the
courtyard which seems to
form a natural extension to
the space.
• The chimney-piece has an
austerity which is more
Modernist than Classical.
• Many of the accessories in
this room were sold as
Grand Tour souvenirs a
century ago. Michael
designed the glass-and-
metal centerpiece vessel for
Steuben (Manufacturer of
handmade art glass and

19. • The Warehouse is a highly personal building, which expresses not
just Michael Graves, master builder, but equally Graves the sceptic
and questioner of orthodoxies, whether modern or ‘traditional’.
The house is clearly both modern and traditional.
• If its plan is essentially Classical and its use of light and shade
specifically Soanean, the easy flow of the spaces and the essential
informality of the building provide a reminder of its architect’s
roots in the Modern movement
• The Warehouse is indeed, a clear statement of a lively
traditionalism which remains a powerful strand in contemporary
American design.
• Its quiet beauty is the work of a man who has played a key role in
reshaping the face of architecture in the late twentieth century.