Who designed the Hoover Dam ?

Question

The name of the architect?

Answer 1

Gordon Kaufmann

Answer 2

The original design for the dam's facade by Bureau of Reclamation engineers made it clear that an architect needed to be brought in. Although the engineers' design was highly functional, the unbalanced outlet houses, government-office powerhouse, and massive eagles set on the roadway towers clashed violently with the image projected of Hoover Dam as a modern structure.

Architect Gordon B. Kaufmann from Los Angeles was given the design to rework the dam; by January of 1933, Kaufmann presented the Bureau with suggestions that were, for the most part, implemented:

"He simplified and modernized the various parts of the dam. On the crest, the overhanging balcony and four unequal towers gave way to a series of observation niches and towers that rise from the wall and continue upward unimpeded. The emphasis, according to Kaufmann, was on 'an orderly series of small vertical shadows punctuated by the larger shadows of the elevator and utility towers.' He treated these extrusions as continuations of the dam face, not as separate moldings. The four large towers have cutback corners and tops reminiscent of the set-back Los Angeles Times Building, but were treated much more simply. The two outer towers were for utilities and public restroms, while the two inner towers acted as public entrances to the dam; from them, elevators descended inside the concrete to the internal galleries and powerhouse. Appropriately, these inner entrance towers contained the only ornament on the dam--two large cast-concrete panels by sculptor Oskar J.W. Hansen. These panels depicted such subjects as flood control, irrigation, power, and the history of the area. Their low-relief, semiclassical, cubist style typified Art Deco sculpture."

Answer 3

Architect Gordon B. Kaufmann from Los Angeles was given the design of the dam the way it had been envisioned based on European models and reworked it to fit the particular locale he was dealing with.