Chicago school of architecture

Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century. They were among the first to promote the new technologies of steel-frame construction in commercial buildings, and developed a spatial aesthetic which co-evolved with, and then came to influence, parallel developments in European Modernism. A "Second Chicago School" later emerged in the 1940s and 1970s which pioneered new building technologies and structural systems such as the tube-frame structure.

In 1871 a devastating fire destroyed most of downtown Chicago.

This frontier American city, unfettered with European traditions, now had a blank slate upon which to rebuild. Social and economic factors after the fire, as well as the technological advances of the time, gave rise here to the worlds first skyscrapers.

From this in 1871

The architects that contributed to this unprecedented type of commercial building, including Louis Sullivan, were collectively known as to this in 1896 the Chicago School.

The Otis Safety Lift, patented in 1861

The telephone

The electric light bulb

Some of the distinguishing features of the Chicago School are the use of steel-frame buildings with masonry cladding (usually terra cotta), allowing large plate-glass window areas and limiting the amount of exterior ornamentation. Sometimes elements of neoclassical architecture are used in Chicago School skyscrapers. The "Chicago window" originated in this school. It is a three-part window consisting of a large fixed center panel flanked by two smaller double-hung sash windows.

Architects whose names are associated with the Chicago School include Henry Hobson Richardson, Dankmar Adler, Daniel Burnham, William Holabird, William LeBaron Jenney, Martin Roche, John Root, Solon S. Beman, and Louis Sullivan.

First chicago school

The top level houses mechanical devices such as elevator engines and water tanks. Its appearance proclaims its difference in function from the rest of the building. A succession of workers offices fill the upper stories and are modular and repetitive in appearance. Street level spaces for shops, banks, and public commerce. These are large, open spaces liberal, expansive and sumptuous that will flow up into the second storey.

In the 1940s, a "Second Chicago School" emerged from the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and his efforts of education at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. This was supported and enlarged in the 1960s due to the ideas of structural engineer Fazlur Khan. He introduced a new structural system of framed tubes in skyscraper design and construction. He defined the framed tube structure as "a three dimensional space structure composed of three, four, or possibly more frames, braced frames, or shear walls, joined at or near their edges to form a vertical tube-like structural system capable of resisting lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation."[

The first building to apply the tube-frame construction was the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building which Khan designed and was completed in Chicago by 1963.This laid the foundations for the tube structures of many other later skyscrapers, including his own John Hancock Center and Willis Tower, and can been seen in the construction of the World Trade Center, Petronas Towers, Jin Mao Building, and most other supertall skyscrapers since the 1960s.

Second chicago school of architecture

SKYLINE OF CHICAGO

Chronological context in Architecture - Modernism to Postmodernism 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

First generation modernists

The pioneers of modernism. They each treated form, space, structure, materials and ornament in novel ways.

Second generation modernists

These were the architects of high modernism- the universal International Style- as well as the fashionable Art Deco period.

Third generation modernists

These were the architects of Postmodernism. They reacted against the orthodoxy of high modernism.

Peter Behrens Auguste Perret -

Berlin Paris

Walter Gropius Le Corbusier

Frank Gehry Philip Johnson

C. R. Mackintosh Otto Wagner Adolf Loos Louis Sullivan -

Glasgow
Vienna Vienna Chicago

Mies van der Rohe

Gerrit Reitveld William Van Allen Napier Art Deco architects

Charles Moore
I. M. Pei Michael Greaves Louis Kahn Robert Venturi

Frank Lloyd Wright - Chicago and mid-western states of USA

LOUIS SULLIVAN (1856-1924)

Louis Henry Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism. He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright. Along with Henry Hobson Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American architecture". He received the AIA Gold Medal in 1944.

Form ever follows function

Dankmar Adler (1844, in Germany 1900, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.)

After he began his own firm, Adler hired Louis Sullivan as a draughtsman and designer in 1880; Sullivan was made a partner in the firm in 1883

Adler was not only an architect but also a gifted civil engineer who, with his partner Louis Sullivan, designed many buildings including influential skyscrapers that boldly addressed their steel skeleton through their exterior design: the Guaranty Building in Buffalo, New York, the Chicago Stock Exchange Building (18941972) and the Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri.

Adler and Sullivan's Auditorium Building (1889) is an early example of splendid acoustical engineering, as is their Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Synagogue. Both drew upon the fine acoustics in Adler's earlier Central Music Hall. Adler was an acclaimed expert in acoustics.

Auditorium building 1889

EXTERIORTypical semi circular arches -inspired from the roman arches. Granite masonry for first 2 floors Ashlar masonry for upper storeys.

Thicker foundations. 10 floors+tower(water tank)

ENTRANCEEntrance lobby -seems to be borne down by wt of bldg

Ornamental patterns on balustrade got simplified as one moved up

Staircase- narrow-deviation from european standards -grand ceremonial staircase.

AUDITORIUM4250 seats broke away from traditional horse shoe plan - no side seats. But stage comparatively small and lacking in storage space Stage-system to fly out the sides of the proscenium arch to make stage area continuous with rest of the auditorium

Acoustic tunnel conical -diminishes reverberation by decreasing the volume of auditorium -to control the flow while improving diffusion of the sound Stairways and public area- did away with all walls so sound could flow away till the rear part of the great theatre Stage directly visible from foyer on first floor

4000 light bulbs light up the auditorium Ventilation and lighting system passes through the arches Function- focus light on stage Form-arches and bulbs fixed along their lines. Rest of auditorium lighted in same way only lighting and arrangements change. Curve due to pressure of the first balconynot hidden from sight and used as a visible member in design

Offices-smallest part of building-least space taken.

Hotel -wide entrance large balconies daylight, richly decorated staircase

dining room on 10th floor-roosevelt university now uses as library.

Banquet hall later added by Adler and decorated by Sullivan placed on 7th floor roof of auditorium- now used by university as concert hall

Hotel expanded as new building erected across road connected by underground tunnel but became successful 1947-roosevelt university took over independently-identical faade was 1918-Sullivan left office in tower. designed.

Wainwright Building is among the first skyscrapers in the world. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in the Palazzo style and built between 1890 and 1891.

With the Wainwright Building Sullivan solved the problem of how to design the newly developed skyscraper; by treating the structure as a classical column: the lower two floors form the base; floors three to nine a fluted shaft; and the ornate frieze and cornice on top form a capital

Required function=need of light at ground floor (skylighted ground floor) Solution in terms of form= atrium therefore creating a u-shaped form for plan

Plan provides an outer exposure for all offices.

Innovative structural elements raft roofing of reinforced concrete braced, riveted steel frame wall bays carried on spandrel shaft angles

First 2 storeys make up the base Then horizontal ledge which provides flat surface base for pilasters Unusually high cornice brings perpendicular momentum to a stop

Window spandrels set back in a deeper relief plane each storey carries a different brick ornamentation on spandrel

10th storey surrounded by foliage frieze of the roof - circular windows centre of each leaf tendril

Ornamental elementsDecorated spandrels around windows and doors.

The Guaranty Building, which is now called the Prudential Building, built in Buffalo, New York In 1894

He and Adler divided the building into four zones. 1. The basement was the mechanical and utility area. Since this level was below ground, it did not show on the face of the building. 2. The next zone was the ground-floor zone which was the public areas for street-facing shops, public entrances and lobbies. 3. The third zone was the office floors with identical office cells clustered around the central elevator shafts. 4. The final zone was the terminating zone, consisting of elevator equipment, utilities and a few offices. The supporting steel structure of the building was embellished with terra cotta blocks. Different styles of block delineated the three visible zones of the building.

Usage Variations in the color and pattern of the glaze could make it look like granite or limestone; this flexibility helped make it attractive for architects.
Four major types of terra-cotta were widely used 1. Brownstone was the earliest type. A dark red or brown block which was not necessarily glazed, it was used as imitation sandstone, brick or with real brownstone. 2. Fireproof was developed as a direct result of the growth of the high rise building in America. Cheap, light and fireproof, the roughfinished hollow blocks were ideally suited to span the I-beam members in floor, wall and ceiling construction. Certain varieties still in production today.

3. Veneer was developed during the 1930s, is still used today. Unlike traditional architectural terra-cotta, ceramic veneer is not hollow cast. It is a veneer of glazed ceramic tile which is ribbed in the back like bathroom tile and usually attached to a grid of metal ties which have been anchored to the building. 4. Glazed architectural terra-cotta was the most complex building material developed. The hollow units were hand cast in molds or carved in clay and heavily glazed, then fired. associated with the architecture of Louis Sullivan.

Function, form and ornament

ornament must be of the building, integral to structure, rather than merely applied over it.

reflected functional aspects of the building, distinguishing entranceways, busy public areas thoroughfares

the plain surfaces of his buildings ornamented with lush Art Nouveau and rather Celtic-like Decorations

usually cast in iron or terra cotta

ranging from organic forms like vines, ivy, to more geometric designs, interlace Inspired by his Irish design heritage.

Shingle style houses (1880-1900)

Irregular steeply pitched roof Large porches Shingle walls without corner boards Asymmetrical faade Decorative detailing used sparingly Often have a tower Porch posts are often clad in Shingles Most commonly found in coastal New England

Shingle Style houses can take on many forms. Some have tall turrets, suggestive of Queen Anne architecture. Some have gambrel roofs, Palladian windows, and other Colonial Revival details. Some Shingle houses have features borrowed from Tudor, Gothic and Stick styles. But, unlike those styles, Shingle architecture is relaxed and informal. Shingle houses do not have the lavish decorations that were popular during the Victorian era. The architectural historian Vincent Scully coined the term "Shingle Style" because these homes are usually sided in rustic cedar shingles. However, not all Shingle Style houses are shingle-sided. You will recognize them by their complicated shapes and rambling, informal floor plans. Aside from being a style of design, the style also conveyed a sense of the house as continuous volume. This effectof the building as an envelope of space, rather than a great mass, was enhanced by the visual tautness of the flat shingled surfaces, the horizontal shape of many Shingle-style houses, and the emphasis on horizontal continuity, both in exterior details and in the flow of spaces within the houses.

McKim, Mead and White and Peabody and Stearns were two of the notable firms of the era that helped to popularize the Shingle style, through their large-scale commissions for "seasidecottages". Perhaps the most famous Shingle-style house built in American was "Kragsyde" (1882) the summer home commissioned by Bostonian G. Nixon Black, from Peabody and Stearns. Kragsyde was built atop the rocky coastal shore near Manchester-By-the-Sea, Massachusetts, and embodied every possible tenet of the Shingle style. The William Watts Sherman House is a notable house designed by American architect H. H. Richardson, with later interiors by Stanford White. The house is generally acknowledged as one of Richardson's masterpieces, and the prototype for what later became known as the Shingle Style in American architecture.

An icon of American architecture, the demolished William G. Low House was a seaside cottage at 3 Low Lane in Bristol, Rhode Island. It was designed in 1886-87 by architect Charles Follen McKim of the New York City firm, McKim, Mead & White. The house with its single, exaggerated, 140-foot-long gable embodied the tenets of Shingle Style architecture, which included horizontality, simplified massing and geometry, minimal ornamentation, and the blending of interior and exterior spaces.

FRENCH GARDENS

References: www.wikepedia.org www.greatbuildings.com Imagegallery/flickr