Friday, September 17, 2010

Historical Background
Between 1880 and 1920
Saw the development of technology at an amazing speed
It saw the growth and change of shape of towns and cities and increase in land values
Formulation of new theories and slogans in architecture --- the creation of extra-ordinary
masterpiece and new types of buildings
The Chicago School (of Architectural Theory)
Development of the Chicago School, influenced largely by Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886),
model for the new generation of Chicago architects
A New-Romanesque style, boasting of skillful combinations of mass, line and heavy detail

Important Event: The Chicago fire of 1871

Much of the city center was destroyed, including a number of seemingly indestructible cast -iron
buildings
Brought the Chicago School into prominence
Provided Chicago architects with the opportunity and challenge to program buildings in a new
way --- in a style that could in its very nature dispense with historical styles
Set the scene for Modern Movement
The Skyscraper: A New Building Type
Crucial to the modern movement
Home Insurance Building
- First definitive skyscraper
- Built in 1883-1885
- By William le Baron Jenney (1832-1907)
Had a metal frame clad in brick and masonry
In the 1890s, skycrapers were built by the firms:
1) Burnham and Root
2) Holabird and Roche
3) Adier and Sullivan
They effectively established the Chicago School and the essential outlines of twentieth -century
commercial architecture

Architectural Context
Invention of the elevator
- Made it possible to construct multi-storey buildings
- By Otis in 1852
Two principal materials for the new high and massive buildings:
1) Steel
2) Reinforced concrete
Louis Sullivan (1856-1924)
Designed the first commercial building type
Probably the most intense and logical architect of this period
Designed the Carson Pirie Scott Department Store in 1889, showing his mastery of the new building
form. It exemplified the possibility of fusing logic and fantasy in architecture.
It demonstrated the essential elements that made it a prototype for countless twentieth -century offices
and department stores
Sullivan's principle, inherited from nineteenth-century theorists, that 'form follows function' was to
provide a slogan for many years to come

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Art Nouveau
Architectural Character
In France, the French were involved with decorative details which led to the creation of a new kind
of expressive space
Introduced by a French architect named Hector Guimard (1867-1942)
The whiplash line, highly vegetable and flower patterns
Abstracted biological and botanical decoration
Asymmetry
Wide repertoire of materials
Allowed for personal expression and novel decorative themes
Short-lived but highly expressive style
An attempt to find a new look for a new era
Similar to Rococo --- which was in contrast known for its plain exteriors and opulent interiors
Interiors were opulent only in the sense that they made extensive and costly use of materials:
1) Marble
2) Brass
3) Bronze
4) Stone
Commonly used as a form of decoration in theaters, shops, restaurants and cafes
France, Belgium and Spain became the cradles of Art Nouveau

In Spain

Modernismo
Barcelona was the center of a wave of organic design
Antoni Gaudi, born in 1852, was the most inventive and
the most idiosyncratic architects of the Art Nouveau style

In Germany

Jugendstil

In Austria and Sezessionstil

Central Europe
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (June 7, 1868 - December 10, 1928)
Scottish architect, designer,w atercolorist and sculptor
Designer in the Arts and Crafts movement and also the main exponent of Art Nouveau in the
United Kingdom
The so-called "Glasgow" style was exhibited in Europe and influenced the Viennese Art
Nouveau movement known as Sezessionstil (in English, the Secession) around 1900
Worked in interior design, furniture, textiles and metal work
Arts and Crafts

Architectural Character
Emphasized the importance of the craftsman in providing equality in decorative forms
Not just an artistic but also a social programme
Architects of this movement set out to create an honest architecture and succeeded; it is a
landmark in architectural history, a precursor of the functional architecture of the modern
movement

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Art Deco
Architectural Character
Was an opulent style, and its lavishness is attributed to reaction to the forced austerity imposed by
World War I
Strongly adopted in the United States during the Great Depression for its practicality and
simplicity, while still portraying a reminder of better times and the "American Dream"
Popular design movement from 1920 until 1939
Affected decorative arts such as:
As well as the visual arts such as:
1) Architecture
1) Fashion
2) Interior design
2) Painting
3) Industrial design
3) Graphic arts
4) Film
A mixture of many different styles and movements of the early 20th century:
1) Constructivism
2) Cubism
3) Modernism
4) Bauhaus
5) Art Nouveau
6) Futurism
Celebrates the Machine Age through explicit use of man-made materials (particularly glass and
stainless steel), symmetry, repetition, modified by Asian influences such as the use of silks and
Middle Eastern designs
Applied to bridges, cinema interiors, ocean liners and train stations among others
Streamline Moderne
Parallel movement
Influenced by the modern aerodynamic designs emerging from advancing technologies in aviation
and ballistics

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Friday, September 17, 2010

Historical Background
A relatively short-lived movement
Lasted for a little over a decade, from 1919 to 1933
Originated in Germany in the early 20th century, under the "dictatorship" of Walter Gropius (1883-1869)
Primarily a German school of fine arts and dovetailed afterwards by the addition of arts and crafts
Flourished with the common sentiment that arts and crafts should be introduced to the industry to raise
the quality of past WWI German industrial design
Gropius' ultimate mission was to unite artists, craftsmen and architects to recreate the world of medieval
builders in a modern context
The name Bauhaus ( 'building house' in German) could be interpreted in two ways:
1) As a recollection of the medieval mason's lodge, the Bauhutte
2) As a symbol of the desire to tackle the problem of re-housing millions of people who were made
homeless by the previous war
Was ordered closed when Hitler seized power in 1933. It was seen as a hotbed of decadent art and
socialism.
Result: Benefit to America
Those who had taught and had been taught at the Bauhaus then became cultural refugees
It was in the US that many Bauhaus talents reunited. This afforded the country the enjoyment of
the fruits of the Modern Movement --- talent in painting, industrial design and architecture
America became the foremost patron of architectural theory and design in the 1940s
Emphasized:
1) The fundamental unity underlying all branches of design
2) The need for a rational and systematic analysis as the start of any programme for serious buildings
Bauhaus buildings were composed of simple elemental shapes, articulated according to their functions
Arranged in a pinwheel plan with glass corners, presenting and ever-changing sequence of solid and
transparent
Domestic architecture also evolved with the widespread use of terraced, flat-roofed houses
Pioneers and Products
1) Walter Gropius (1919-1933)
2) Johannes Itten (1888-1969)
3) Hannes Meyer (1889-1954)
4) Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969)
5) Lazsio Moholy-Nagy (1895-1946)
6) Marcel Breuer (1902-1981)

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