With the AIA 2017 conference currently taking place in Orlando, we've reprised our series on postmodern architecture and design for a one-off special, spotlighting an iconic pair of buildings in the Florida city: Michael Graves' colourful hotels for Disney World.
New York and New Jersey-based Michael Graves Architecture & Design created the Dolphin and Swan hotels at the Walt Disney World resort, to the southwest of Downtown Orlando, during the late 1980s.
Their brightly hued exteriors, boldly geometric volumes and animal-shaped pediments set them far apart from much of Orlando's mundane resort architecture ? with the exception of the elaborate theme parks and attractions.
The pair of vast hotel buildings, totalling two million square feet, sit opposite each other on either side of a lake, but are connected by a causeway across the waterside. Together they include over 2,200 guest rooms, and huge conference and event facilities, including 16 food and beverage outlets.

Disney's hotel operators had originally wanted all of their hospitality venues to follow strict brand guidelines, in order to create a "uniform experience" across its global resorts. But Graves' firm had other ideas.
The studio had already become well-known for the nods to historical styles it incorporated its projects, like the mish-mash of styles that can be picked out from its Denver Public Library.
This attitude formed the foundation of the architectural movement dubbed postmodernism, for ...