Hoa V

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE-V
UNIT-1:- LEADING TO A NEW ARCHITECTURE (Pg-2 to16)
UNIT-2:- BEGINNING OF NEW ERA (Pg-17 to 33)
UNIT-3:- REVIEWING INDUSTRALISATION (Pg-34 to 55)
UNIT-4:- ISSUES OF ORNAMENTATION AND AESTHETICS (Pg-56 to 77)
UNIT-5:- INSTITUTIONS (Pg-78 to103)
History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 1

UNIT-1
CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE
In the mid of 19th century, the general option regarding the nature of architectural development
could probably best be summarized by a quotation from “The course and current of
architecture”, written by Samuel Huggins, every style of whose origin we have any knowledge has
arisen not from an act, or someone setting about the invention of a new style, but spontaneously,
out of circumstances brought on by some great political, intellectual or religious revolutions.
Factors responsible for the birth of modern architecture

a. Birth of revolutionary theories
b. Birth of historiography
c. Concept of picturesque
d. The age of revival
Birth of revolutionary theories

Vitruvian Trinity: - The most traditional definition of the architecture had the following aspects
Utilitas-commodious planning
Firmitas- sound construction
Venustas- Pleasing appearances
Concept of ‘space’ as a positive architecture entity was added in the modern era. Though the
architects with revolutionary ideas disputed the responsibility of the virtruvian concept,
revolutionary architecture cannot discard any of these, but can only vary the degree of emphasis
placed on one or more of these essential constituents at cost of the others.
The four major architects who pioneered revolution theories were

a. John soane
b. E.L.Boullee
c. C.N.Ledoux
d. J.N.L.Durand
Their ideas were revolutionary as against “evolutionary”, whose aim was not to maintain tradition
by applying and reinterpreting old principles in the length of changing conditions to re-evaluate
the principles themselves
JOHN SOANE:-used combination of the style without consideration to involvement of any

principle. Emphasised that the building should be designed like a group of sculptures with an
entire whole appreciable from any point of view. Le Corbusier adopted his ideology. Eg: The Bank
of England, Sir John soanel museum at Dulwich.
E.L.BOULLEE:- Emphasised the use of symmetrical solids such as cubes, pyramids, spheres. He
considered spheres as the only perfect architectural shapes, which can be devised. He set his
imagination beyond barriers such as constructability or commodious. Eg:-Cenotaph for Isaac
Newton, which was beyond the scope of construction materials and techniques available in that
period.

C.N.LEDOUX:- Being a disciple of Boullee exploited the dramatic effects of sphere and cube
masses. He conceived building as a symbol which should be deliberately designed to express its
function. This was against the practice of creating building as a resultant of their function. Thus he
was a founder for the technique of “Expressionism”. This was adopted later by Enrich Mendelshon
& E Saarinen.
J.N.L. DURAND: - He considers economy and functional efficiency as the prime criteria for good
design. He reiterated that a building could be pleasing and the practical requirements are
satisfied, thus expressing the doctrine of functionalism. He preferred circular plan because they
were economical and they contained the greatest volume of the spaces for a given length of
enclosing wall.
HISTORIOGRAPHY:-
Every student of 18th century architecture must have been struck by the number of epoch-
making though apparently disconnected events which occurred round about the year 1750.
The important events which happened around 1750 such as
(i) Starting of school for modern civil engineering by Perronnet in 1747
(ii) In 1752, Blondel published the first modern History of architecture
(iii) In 1754, Laugier published the first book equating architecture with rational construction.
These events paved the way for the architecture following industrial revolution. These events
produced several positive changes. Along with these there were negative effects such as
uncertainty as to which of the architectural style was appropriate or correct and also
abandonment of standardized, in architectural compositions. Since the value and elements of
architectural style were disputed, a demand for variety arose.
The industrial revolution meant that the old ways of living to be modified and lead to the creation
of new structures to meet the transformed ways of living. Due to abundance of wealth, there was
increase patronage for architecture from people other than the church or monarchy.
The search for novelty triggered by the disputes in architecture was thus exploited by the younger
architects in meeting the demands of their patrons such as barons, feudal lords and beneficiaries
of the capital system.
All the above was due to an awareness of history which leads to changes in architectural
philosophy and implemented by the influences of economic factors.
PICTURESAQUE:-
This was originated in England, prior to 1740 the landscaping for setting of building followed by
angular geometric patterns. Due to the English founders for natural scenery done by their
fondness for painters of natural scenery, there arose a desire for less rigid layouts of genders. The
term “picturesque” was associated with it due to its influence by painting.
This style made for informality interior setting of building, which led to introduction of artificially
established rocks and cascades as a part of landscape. This influenced, in turn the design of
cottages and villas to suit the picturesque settings they were to be placed.
REVIVALISM:-
Modern architecture was considered as a victory over “revivalism”-practice of past style in the
19th century. Between 1750- 1920 architecture went against the established principles. The
uniqueness of the twentieth century revivalism was that several styles were revived at the same
time with equal importance to each.

Awareness of presences of “style” grows through various theorists.
 J.F.Blonded defined the style as “authentic character that has to embed the relative to the
purpose of building.
 Nicholaus Pevsner defined the style as “what has together of the one that achievements of
the creative individuals of one age”
Pre-historians revived the Greek, Roman, Renaissances & gothic styles. Between 1920 and 1940, as
a result of a revolution started by pioneers, architecture gradually returned to the traditional
philosophy of buildings as understood before 1750 , but there were radical differences in
appearance due to change in structure and materials.
The only notion added to the vitruvian trinity is the concept of “space” is a positive architectural
quality, which was an important as the structure by which it was confined.
Three concepts of space:-

First stage: space was brought into being by interplay between volumes-arch of Egypt, summer &
Greece. Interior space was disregarded.
Second stage: Interior spaces become important. Persisted from the Roman Pantheon to the end
of 18th century. This phenomenon of parallax was used to create interest in the interior.
Third stage: At the beginning of the 20th century –single view point of perspective was abolished.
The space emanating qualities to free standing structures could be appreciated.
ORGIN OF NEO-CLASSICISM:-
The architecture of neo-classicism seems to be emerged out of two different but related
developments which radically transformed the relationship between nature and man. The first was
a sudden increase in man’s capacity to exercise control over nature, which in the mid of 17 th
century.
Neo-classical architecture was a product of Neo-classical movement in History. The origins of Neo-
classicism are related to a lot of events that happened during the mid-18th century. Neo-classical
or New-classical architecture describes buildings that are inspired by the classical architecture of
Greece.
The second was a fundamental shift in nature of human consciousness, in response to major
changes taking places in society, which gave birth to a new cultural formation. The over-
elaboration of architectural language in the rococo interiors of the ancient regime and the
secularisation of thought complied the architects of 18th century.
There were aware of the emergent and unstable nature of their age, to search for a true style
through a precise reappraisal of antiquity. Their motivation was not simply to copy the ancients
but to obey the principles on which their works has been based.
The 18th century was described as an astounding century, heralded as the Age of Reason. The
Age was defined by a full social, scientific, intellectual and cultural transformation. This age is also
called the age of enlightenment.

TRANSFORMATION:-
Political
1. Shift from enlightened despotism. To the “Declaration of the Rights of Man” (1789). Revolution in
America and France leading to new citizenry and state.
2. Revolution movements used Neo-classicism for propaganda. They considered this movement
as a reflection of Democracy of Greece and Republican values of Rome.
Economic
a. Agrarian to urban society.
b. Rise in international trade, the beginning of the colonial empires.
c. Capitalist economy.
Technological
Steam engine and new material innovations these led to inauguration of the Industrial Revolution.
Science and Philosophy:
Revolutionary changes, the dawn of the modern era.
Existing religious and scientific views and old world-order challenged by Copernicus, Galileo,
Descartes, Newton. Science and reason gain grounds.
The work of the French “philosophies” made the Enlightenment project popular: Voltaire, Diderot,
and Rousseau.
Architecture
The neoclassical movement that produced “Neoclassical architecture” began after A.D. 1765, as
a reaction against both the surviving baroque and rococo styles, and as a desire to return to the
perceived "purity" of classical art and Architecture.
Neoclassical architecture was in part reaction to the excess of baroque, rococo and was partly a
consequence of new discoveries of Greek, Roman architecture. Neoclassical Art and
Architecture, art produced in Europe and North America from about 1750 through the early 1800s,
marked by the emulation of Greek and Roman principles to a large extent and that of
Renaissance movement to a lesser extent.
Neo Classical
Greek architecture + Roman Architecture + Renaissance
FEATURES OF NEO-CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

Neoclassical, or "new" classical, architecture describes buildings that are inspired by the classical
architecture of ancient Greece and Rome.

A Neoclassical building is likely to have some or all of these features:
a. Symmetrical shape.
b. Tall columns that rise up to the full height of the building.
c. Triangular pediment.
d. Domed roof.
CHARACTERISTICS OF NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE
Though neoclassical architecture employs the same classical vocabulary as Late Baroque
architecture, it tends to emphasize its planar qualities, rather than sculptural volumes.
Projections and recessions and their effects of light and shade are flatter; sculptural bas-reliefs are
flatter and tend to be framed in friezes, tablets or panels. Individual features are clearly
articulated rather than interpenetrating, autonomous and complete in themselves.
a) The buildings are characterized by clean, elegant lines and uncluttered appearances.
b) Use of classical orders and arches
c) In Neoclassical orders are used structurally rather than as a form of decoration.
d) Geometric forms and shapes are used
e) Facades tend to be long and flat.
f) Neo Classical principles of Symmetry, Balance and proportions are maintained
g) Minimal decoration on the exterior.
h) Elements used predominantly satisfy the purpose of both aesthetic and functional
Example: Altes museum, Berlin ,Germany ,Karl Friedrich Schinkel,1823-1830
NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND

In England, where the rococo had never been fully accepted, the impulse to redeem the excess
of baroque found its first expression. Between 1750 and 1765, the major Neo- Classical proponents
could be found in residences.
ARCHITECTS ASSOCIATED WITH NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND
JAMES STUART – Employed Greek Doric Order as early as 1758.

GEORGE DANCE – Designed New gate Gaol in 1765, a superficially Piranesian structure, followed
Neo–Proportional Palldian theories of Robert Morris.
THOMAS HOPE – Greek Revival-Household furniture and Interior decoration (1807).
ROBERT ADAM: The Scottish architect and designer Robert Adam, in the 1750s and 1760’s
redesigned a number of stately English houses.
He studied architecture under Charles-Louis Clérisseau and Giovanni Battista Piranesi in Rome. He
introduced the neoclassical style to Great Britain.
The Adam style, as it became known, remained however somewhat rococo in its emphasis on
surface ornamentation and precocity of scale, even as it adopted the motifs of antiquity.
Works: Sion House, 1762–69, and Osterley Park, 1761–80

NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE
Neoclassicism first gained influence in Paris, through a generation of French art students trained at
the French Academy in Rome.
ARCHITECTS ASSOCIATED WITH NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE:
CLAUDE PERRAULT: Perrault was an influential architect. Aside from his influential architecture,
Perrault is best regarded for his translation of the ten books of Vitruvius, the only surviving Roman
work on architecture, into French, in 1673. His treatise on the five classical orders of architecture
followed in 1683.He gave his concept of “positive beauty” (role of standardization and perfection)
and “arbitrary beauty (expressive function as may be required by a particular circumstance or
character).
Works: Eastern façade of The Louvre, paris.1667-1670 Observatories in Paris, 1668-1672 Triumphal
arch of the Porte Saint-Antoine in Paris, 1669-incomplete.
ABBE’DE CORDEMOY- He challenged the Vitruvian principle namely Utility, Solidity and Beauty by
his own trinity. First principle was the correct proportioning of classical orders, the second was their
appropriate disposition, and the third introduced the notion of fitness which warned against the
inappropriate application of classical elements to utilitarian or commercial structures.
Cordemoy was concerned with geometrical purity and was against baroque devices such as
irregular columnisation, broken pediments and twisted columns. He argued that many buildings
did not need ornamentation at all. He was an Architectural theorist and his writings influenced
Laugier, one of the most important theorists of Early Neoclassicism.
ABBÉ MARC-ANTOINE LAUGIER- One of the earliest and most important theorists of Neo-Classicism.
His Essai sur l'Architecture (1753) was influential, setting out a rational interpretation of Classicism as
a logical, straightforward expression of the need for shelter, derived from the Primitive Hut of tree
trunks supporting a structure.
He placed a great importance over the beauty and purpose of columns as opposed to that of a
pilaster, and argued for a return to Antique principles as an antidote to all the styles that grew
from the Renaissance period onwards, that had hidden the essence of the origins of columnar
and trabeated construction. The immediate influence of his views was on Soufflot.
J.G. SOUFFLOT: Turned down a legal career to teach him architecture. He served as controller of
the King’s buildings, a director of the Goblins factory and a member of the Royal Academy of
Architecture. Recreated the Lightness, Spaciousness & Proportion of Classical architecture.
Works: Church of St-Genevieve in Paris, current pantheon, 1758-1790.
J.F. BLONDEL: Opened an architecture School in 1743 and was the teacher of the Enlightenment
or Visionary architects that included Etienne Louis Boullee, Jacques gondoin, Pierre Patte, Marie-
Joseph Peyre, Jean-Baptistery Rondelet and Claude Nicolas Ledoux.
BUILDINGS OF THE NEO-CLASSICAL STYLE
EASTERN FACADE OF THE LOUVRE PALACE (COLONNADE)
Perrault won the competition held by Louis XIV for a design for the eastern façade of the Louvre
Palace (also known as colonnade), beating out even Bernini, who had travelled from Italy
expressly for the purpose. This work (1665 to 1680), established Perrault’s reputation: the severely
designed colonnade overlooking the Place du Louvre the Quai du Louvre, became widely
celebrated.

The simple character of the ground floor basement sets off the paired Corinthian columns,
modelled strictly according to Vitruvius, against a shadowed void, with pavilions at the ends.
There was a clear shift from the Principles of baroque architecture of that time. The façade,
divided in five parts, is a typical solution of the French classicism.
CHURCH OF ST-GENEVIEVE IN PARIS (PANTHEON)

In 1755, Architect Jacques- Germain Soufflot was commissioned to design a new church
dedicated to Sainte-Geneviève at the site where an older church dedicated to the saint was
ruined.
Soufflot wanted his building to be a mix between a gothic cathedral lightness and brightness and
classical principles The floor plan is similar to Greek-cross layout, 110m long and 85m wide (361 x
279 ft).
The large dome reaches a height of 83m (279ft). The portico, with large Corinthian columns was
modelled after the 2nd century Pantheon in Rome.

The dome features three superimposed shells, and owes its character to Bramante’s “Tempietto”
This is one of the earliest works of Neo-classic architecture and one of the great monuments of the
style.
The church got completed in 1790, 10 years after soufflot’s death. During the early stages of the
French Revolution, the National Constituent Assembly decided to convert it into a secular
mausoleum for prominent Frenchmen. In 1791 it became a secular mausoleum and renamed
Pantheon.
ARC DE TRIOMPHE DU CARROUSEL PARIS
Designed by Charles Percier and Pierre Fontaine, the arch was built between 1806 and 1808 by
the Emperor Napoleon on the model of the Arch of Constantine (312 AD) in Rome.
The monument is 63 feet (19 m) high, 75 feet (23 m) wide, and 24 feet (7.3 m) deep. The 21 feet
(6.4 m) high central arch is flanked by two smaller ones, 14 feet (4.3 m) high. Around its exterior are
eight Corinthian columns of granite, topped by eight soldiers of the Empire.

ENLIGHTENMENT (1689-1789)
a. This is the period after Early neo-classicism, can be termed as High neo-classicism.
b. This improvised and sophisticated version of neo-classical architecture started towards the end
of 18th century.
c. The new movement aimed to liberate not just philosophy but every aspect of life from its
traditional shackles and provide a new strictly reasonable, ratio based orientation.
J.F.BLONDEL after his opening of the architectural school in 1743, RUE DE LA HARPE became the
master of the so called “VISIONARY” OR ENLIGHTMENT generation of Architects. It included
Etienne Louis boullee, Pierre patte, Jacques gondion, and Claude Nicolas ledoux.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ENLIGHTENMENT ARCHITECTURE

Enlightenment architecture was called “revolutionary” or “visionary” because it pushed Neo-
Classical ideas beyond its time, thus inaugurating many modern architectural ideas.
a) Rational and sensationalist appreciation of architectural form.

b) Monument and monumentality.
c) Overbearing, symbolic, and monumental forms.
d) A composition of self-sufficient parts.
e) Beauty of masses, and simplicity of forms and surfaces, generated by
f) Elemental geometric units.
g) A poetics of “plainness”.
h) “Architecture parlante”: an architecture that speaks.
ENLIGHTENMENT ARCHITECTS
ETIENNE-LOUIS BOULLEE
Etienne-Louis Boullee (February 12, 1728 – February 4, 1799) was a visionary French Neo classical
architect whose work greatly influenced contemporary architects.
He studied under Jacques-François Blondel, Germain Boffrand and Jean-Laurent Le Geay, from
whom he learned the mainstream French Classical architecture in the 17th and 18th century and
the Neoclassicism that evolved after the mid century.
Between 1778 and 1788 that Boullee made his biggest impact, developing a distinctive abstract
geometric style inspired by Classical forms. His work was characterized by the removal of all
unnecessary ornamentation, inflating geometric forms to a huge scale and repeating elements
such as columns in huge ranges.
Committed to ideas of symbolic power, he believed that architecture could elicit moral and
emotional responses when the combination of forms suggested a union with divinity.
Boullee promoted the idea of making architecture expressive of its purpose, a doctrine that his
detractors termed architecture parlante ("talking architecture"), which was an essential element
in Beaux-Arts architectural training in the later 19th century.
Boullee preserved his principles in a treatise, which he illustrated with magnificent drawings for
public projects he designed between 1778 and 1788, but the treatise remained unpublished until
1953.
Works:
a) Salon for the Hotel de Tourolles
b) Hotel Alexandre
c) Cenotaph for Sir Isaac Newton,1785
d) Metropolitan cathedral ,1781

CENOTAPH FOR SIR ISAAC NEWTON
In his design of the cenotaph of Sir Isaac Newton, he adopted a vast masonry sphere. He used
light to portray divinity. A fire was suspended at night to represent the sun and extinguished during
day time. The illusion of light was produced by the daylight shining through the spheres perforated
walls.
His style was most notably exemplified in this proposal, which would have taken the form of a
sphere 150 m (490 ft) high embedded in a circular base topped with cypress trees. Though the
structure was never built, its design was engraved and circulated widely in professional circles.
Boullee's Cenotaph for Issac Newton is a funerary monument celebrating a figure interred
elsewhere; the hollow sphere foreshadows the death of Newtonian Physics.
HOTEL ALEXANDRE
The Hotel Alexandre or Hotel Soult, rue de la Ville l'Eveque, Paris (1763-66), is the sole survivor of
Boullee's residential work in Paris. It was built for the financier Andre-Claude- Nicolas Alexandre.
It has four Corinthian columns embedded against a recess in the wall plane create an entry (now
glazed). Flanking doors in the corners of the courtyard have isolated architraves embedded in the
wall above their plain openings, while above oval bull's-eye windows are draped with the swags
of husks that became a common feature of the neoclassical manner. The garden front has a
colossal order of pilasters raised on the high basement occupied by the full height of the ground
floor.
Original Now
Hotel Alexandre

CLAUDE-NICOLAS LEDOUX
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux (March 21, 1736 – November 18, 1806) was one of the earliest exponents
of French Neoclassical architecture. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not
only in domestic architecture but town planning.
He began to study architecture at the age of 21 under the tutelage of Jacques-Francois Blondel.
He then trained under Pierre Contant d'Ivry, and also made the acquaintance of Jean- Michel
Chevotet. These two eminent Parisian architects designed in both the restrained French Rococo
manner, known as the "Louis XV style" and in the "Gout grec" (literally "Greek taste") phase of early
Neoclassicism.
However, under the guidance of Contant d'Ivry and Chevotet, Ledoux was also introduced to
Classical architecture, in particular the temples of Paestum, which, along with the works of
Palladio, were to influence him greatly.
His works were funded by the French monarchy and came to be perceived as symbols of the
Ancient Regime. The French Revolution hampered his career; much of his work was destroyed in
the nineteenth century.
In 1804 he published a collection of his designs under the title "Architecture considered in relation
to art, morals, and legislation." .In this book he took the opportunity of revising his earlier designs,
making them more rigorously neoclassical and up-to-date. This revision has distorted an accurate
assessment of his role in the evolution of Neo classical architecture.
As a radical utopian of architecture, teaching at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts, he created a singular
architectonic order, a new column formed of alternating cylindrical and cubic stones
superimposed for their plastic effect. In this period, taste was returning to the antique, to the
distinction and the examination, of the taste for the "rustic" style.
Column
Works:
a) Chateau de Mauperthuis, 1763 (demolished)
b) Hotel d'Hallwyll, Paris, 1766
c) The Royal Salt works at Arc-et-Senans (1774-1779)
d) Theatre de Besaccon, 1784
e) Palais de justice,1785
f) Ideal city of Chaux,1805

PALAIS DE JUSTICE
An ambitious project which never got

completed due to the French revolution
The building is a cubic block which had all the

features of Neo-classic architecture, columns,
Pediment, Geometric form, Sloped roof and
classical proportions and symmetry
THE ROYAL SALTWORKS AT ARC-ET-SENANS

In the 18th century salt was an essential and valuable commodity. To explore a more mechanised
and efficient method of extraction, than the one existing, constructing a purpose-built factory
near the forest of Chaux, in the Val d'Amour was proposed.
The design, which received royal approval, of the Royal Salt works at Arc-et-Senans, or Salines de
Chaux, is considered Ledoux's masterpiece.
The initial building work was conceived as the first phase of a large and grandiose scheme for a
new ideal city. The first (and, as things were to turn out, only) stage of building was constructed
between 1774 and 1779. Entrance is through a massive Doric portico, inspired by the temples at
Paestum.
The alliance of the columns is an archetypal motif of neoclassicism. Inside, a cavernous hall gives
the impression of entering an actual salt mine, decorated with concrete ornamentation
representing the elementary forces of nature and the organizing genius of Man, a reflection of the
views of the relationship between civilization and nature endorsed by such eighteenth-century
philosophers as Jean-Jacques Rousseau.
The entrance building opens into a vast semicircular open air space that is surrounded by ten
buildings, which are arranged on the arc of a semicircle. On the arc is the cooper's forge, the
forging mill and two booths for the workers.
On the straight diameter are the workshops for the extraction of salt alternating with administrative
buildings. At the centre is the house of the director which originally also contained a chapel. The
significance of this plan is two fold: the circle, a perfect figure, evokes the harmony of the ideal
city and theoretically encloses a place of harmony for common work.
One of the first industrial complexes, integrating

production units with workers housing, rendered
according to the characteristics of the building.
Salt evaporation sheds on the axis with high level roof

and finished with smooth dressed ashlar masonry.
The salt shed and workers house were having spouts of

water which symbolising the saline solution on which
Director’s house in the centre having the complex runs and also equality of labour and
low level roof with pediments and productive system.
finished with rusticated stone finish,
embellished with classical portico.

View inside-looking towards the director’s house: A play of rustication &pure geometry
IDEAL TOWN OF CHAUX

Project for the ideal town of Chaux, surrounding the royal salt works of Arc-et-Senan
Around the time of the royal salt works, Ledoux formalized his innovative design ideas for an
urbanism and architecture intended to improve society,
He expanded this semicircular form of this complex into the representational core of his ideal city
of Chaux. The city would provide a perfect environment for people to live and grow. He
introduced newer building types and abolished existing ones like the police station because he
felt that his ideal city will not have any anti-social activities and crime
Example: The Oikema – Temple of Love: An institute for “sexual instruction”

Inspector’s House at the Source of the Loue River literally would flow through the building
JEAN-NICOLAS-LOUIS DURAND
Built very few but influenced a whole generation of architects, namely Schinkel Gartner Klenze
and Sempur. He reduced his extravagant ideas to a normative and economic typology.
Durand established a universal building methodology through modular permutation of fixed plan
types and alternative elevations.
His ideas that buildings could be planned in repetitive modular units, that their basic framework
could be clad in different styles of architecture according to function or taste and that rich
decoration was not essential to architectural effect, were a perfect formula for developing large
urban settlements quickly effectively and cheaply. He exploited platonic volumes to achieve
appropriate character at a reasonable cost.
KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL (1781-1841)

Was a native Prussian; most of his works were carried out in and around Berlin.By 1830, he had
produced his main works: the Neue Wache guard house (1816), the Schauspielhaus (1812-21),
Humboldt’s country house (1822-1824) and the Altes museum.
His means was severe and neo-classical though the effects he obtained in his interiors with
dramatic lighting, changes in levels and spatial fluidity show an original mind at work. The
influence of Durand is most clearly revealed in the Museum. The exteriors of the Altes Museum is
restrained and academic Neo-Classicism; interiors is full of spatial effects.
A two- storey entrance space within the portico, incorporating a fine double staircase, a splendid
domed sculptured hall, and pictured galleries with hanging screens placed at right angles to the
windows for the best lighting effects. Schinkel’s pupils and his successors followed the informality of
his later works rather than rigidity of the classical style.
HENRI LABROUSTE (1801-1875)

Durand building in Paris is the Ste Genevieve library (1843-50) by Henri Labrouste. It is a long
rectilinear building in which an elegant neo-renaissance façade in two tiers conceals the interiors.
A fine example of Iron engineering with a double row of semicircular iron vaults carried on iron
columns.
Labrouste’s design consists of a perimeter wall of books enclosing a rectilinear space and
supporting an iron-framed, barrel-vault roof which is divided into two halves and further supported
in the centre of the space by a line of Iron columns.
Another main work of Labrouste is THE BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE IN PARIS (1862- 1868).
This complex consists of a reading room covered by an Iron and glass roof carried on sixteen cast
iron columns and a multi-storey wrought and cast-iron book stack. The roof of the main reading
room is a cluster of nine domes faced with ceramic panels, with circular openings for lighting the
interior. The elegance of the cast- iron roof structure contrasts with masonry walls around the
perimeter.

The middle of the 19th century saw the Neo-classical heritage divided between two closely
related lines of development:
• The structural Classicism of Labrouste,

• The romantic classicism of Schinkel.
The structural Classicists tended to emphasize structure-the line of Cordemoy, Laugier _and
Soufflot. The romantic classicists stressed on the form-the line of ledoux, Boullee and Gilly. One
school concentrated on such types as prisons hospitals and railway stations while the other school
focused on representational structures such as the university museum, library and grandiose
monuments.
Enlightenment
a) Continuation of the renaissances deals of freedom.
b) In 17th century saw a “Scientific Revolution”- rise of science and rational thinking.
c) Important scientists like Issac Newton, Galelio, Copernicus – Radial change in thought.
d) As a continuation of this comes enlightment or Age of reason.
e) A campaign based on freedom and reason.
f) Aim was social reform.
g) Breaking the so called sacred circle
h) Relation between monarch, church and Bible.
i) Theory of divine rights
j) There was a very strong optimism which beckoned people to throw away their past and
look forward to their better future.
k) Ideas of man being supreme and able to manipulate nature
l) Lead to the rise of a new class of people who reached upper strata of society because of
their knowledge.
m) Artist, philosophers, scientists, poets, as a part of the ruling class, as advisers.
n) Many philosophers in different part of Europe, prominent ones were John Locke, Immanuel
kant, Benjamin Franklin, etc had different ideas and thoughts about freedom and society.
o) These led to French and American Revolution, so rise of new era based on new ideas. Built
form also reflects these deals.
p) Spreading the deals through societies like the Masonic lodges and Academy of science
founded in Paris.
q) Brought debates into public through competitions like essays, poetry and paintings with
various topics ranging from religious, slave trade, women rights to theories of Newton.
r) Publishing improved the spread of these ideas, invention of printing press.

UNIT-2
BEGINNING OF NEW ERA
Beginning of Contemporary Architecture

(i) Nicholaus Pevsner dates it to 1860- the birth of Modern materials and techniques
(ii) Gideon and scully date back to 1760 –along with birth of revolutionary theories.
Major Phases of contemporary Architecture

Phase-I 1830 to 1900- Industrial revolution to Eclectic period
Phase-II 1900 to till date –Art Nouveau to current trends
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
Introduction to Industrial Revolution
a) The great inventions are the reason for the birth of modern architecture.
b) In 19th century, they did not had any period style like others (baroque, Romanesque)
c) The industrial revolution changed the social and economic patterns of life.
d) It transformed Europe and pushed the political and cultural events in second place.
e) The use of machinery and mechanized transports marked a fundamental break in the
civilization.
f) This break in order made gradual consequences to form a balanced judgment of 19 th
century architecture.
g) The modern time starts with the birth of industrial revolution.
h) The great exhibitions held in London (1851) in Paris (1889) with its machine hall and Eiffel
tower were the triumphs of industrial revolution.
i) This world fair has been recognized rightly for its symbolic role.
j) Artistic freedom and audacity become his privilege of other kind of modern creation.
k) Movements appeared and re-appeared, merging, clashing, and growing through
individual initiative political and economic conditioning.
l) The architecture was applied to bridges, via ducts etc
m) The factories, workshops, depots, covered market, ware house were all the result of the
economics and functional necessity.
n) All structures were purely functional and did not have any impressive features for the
exterior.
o) All most in the same period, the neo gothic style was also there but only to the certain
limited period and building.
p) Architects were making compromises in their own style.
q) The philosophy of architecture changed slowly from the need of an individual to the need
of the society.
r) There are 3 important factors responsible for 19th century architecture (i) modern
materialism (ii) teaching of fine techniques (iii) new professional statues.
s) New invention was playing major role in field of architecture. Some inventions like steam
engine, steel, elevators, electric welding etc.
t) Pre fabrication of components with new materials like steel started.
u) New types of buildings were created for new functions and circulation.
v) The architects of the new building were in some cases distinguished figures of the industrial
revolution.
w) Industrial techniques and architectural output were closely linked.
x) The commercial railway network started in 1825 in Britain.

Social background during the Industrial Revolution
During the industrial era a demand for new architecture was felt. The society was agrarian from
Baroque to the industrial era. The agrarian society turned into a semi feudal society slowly due to
marginal mechanization. In another few years feudal system came into being.
The feudal lords became rich. They grew richer with the advance of the industrial growth. Hence
the differences between the rich and the poor increased. This led to a series of social revolution in
USA (1776), UK (17th century) & France (1789).
Large palatial mansions built projected the wealth of the feudal lords. Gentleman clubs were
formed to patronize the various arts like literature, painting and sculpture. They relied on the
service of architects, and they were categorized according to the segment of the society the
served.
Gentleman architects did the castles for feudal lords, while craftsman architects did the humble
dwelling for the masses and the labour class with economic constraints.
During the industrial era great inventions were made. Machines for spinning cotton were
developed. This resulted in more cotton being grown. Thus many cotton producing towns
developed within 15 years. Thus textiles and yarn were done.
Due to the growth in industry, transportation became important. With the invention of the steam
engine by James watt, Coal and coke became necessary for running of railways. With the
increase in trade the need for transportation increased. Thus seaport town developed to facilitate
trade and commerce.
All these development which occurred within the period of 50 years, affected the architecture of
the period. Due to the importance in transportation roads, railways, bridges, tunnels etc became
necessary.
The development of trade, in town led to the springing of buildings such as banks, stock
exchange, etc related to communication and commercial transactions. All the textile Yarns
needed textile mills, godowns etc thus each town had mines, bank. Thus erection of large
structures involving quick construction methods became necessary.
The gentleman architects were not able to cope up with the requirement. Hence military
engineers and military professional started building the bridges, godowns etc. This led to the
development of profession called “Civil Engineers”.
Competition arose between engineers in terms of material, cost and time. The civil engineers took
the assistance people for developing technical details, qualification and costing of the buildings
developed by them. These people were referred to as “quantity surveyor”. The competition
between engineers led to the development of closed contract system called “tenders”.
At this juncture the society no one felt the service of architect is necessary. In London they framed
the institution of Architects (now know as RIBA-Royal Institute of British Architects”). The
architectural association under the fear that their profession will be eliminated. They undertook to
teach architecture as a profession. The same happened in France and Germany.
Architectural history was taught. Due to these activities several movements and philosophies
developed within the next 50 years. Great personalities like Ferguson, victor Hugo, Violet Due
gave filling to the architectural profession. This understanding of the history and development of
new theories started the demand for a new architecture along the social needs.
Several treatises were written on art and architecture. This kindled the awareness of the people
who were no longer satisfied with the existing architecture. Hence anti-revivalist architects were
born. While some of the architects felt that the architecture of the past should be adopted. They
were referred as “pro-revivalists”. The anti-revivalist and pro-revivalists came up with several
movements of modern architecture during the late 19th to early 20th century.
Robert Owens, social reformist was an industrialist and owner of a cotton mill. He attempted to
improve the living and working conditions of the poor through education and other amenities like
co-operative food stores, markets, bakery etc. he believed in essential humanity of the ruling
classes. He founded the cooperative and made union movement and sought to improve the
conditions of working classes through Legislature.
INFLUENCES OF NEW MATERIALS ON MODERN ARCHITECTURE

The demand for a new architecture was partly motivated by the development of new
constructional methods and materials.
Iron
Before Industrialisation iron was cautiously used in the construction industry due to
a. difficulty in mass production
b. poor resistance to exposure
c. lack of classical precedents in its use
England was a birth place of the whole Industrial revolution. The desire to advance from manual
to Industrialised production existed in other countries. The preliminary experiments undertaken in
these countries were all singularly unsuccessful, whether they concerned the building of bridges or
the industrialisation of silk weaving.
Condition in England was quite different from those prevailing elsewhere. At the end of 17 th
century the wooded areas of England had been seriously diminished. As a result, attention turned
to pit coal as a fuel that might possibly make up for increasing scarcity of wood and charcoal,
mineral fuel had already supplanted wood to some extent.
Abraham Darby (England) industrialised the production of iron in first half of 18th century began
experimenting with the blast furnace in the production of iron, he used coke and not charcoal.
Early Iron Construction in England

In England, the Darby’s occupy this position in the opening stages of the industrialized production
of iron. Abraham Darby leased an old furnace at coalbrookdale in 1709, and it was here that
coke instead of charcoal for fuel. Around 1750 he turned to use of coal, employing it to turn out
pig-iron of quality that could be forged into bar iron.
The new material was at first employed only in making machines. John smeaton, the great
engineer, used cast-iron utensils for the first time (1755).in 1767 the first iron rails were cast, and at
the beginning of the third quarter of the century the first cast-iron bridge was erected over the
Severn.
The first successful cast-iron Bridge was
constructed over the River Severn in 1755
(England).It consists of single near semi circular
arch spanning of 100’-6” and rise of 45’-0”
made up of five cast-iron ribs.
The whole arch is semi-circle in shape, since the

Severn is subjected to floods; the bridge had to
be very strong.
CAST-IRON BRIDGE OVER RIVER SEVERN
The Sunderland Bridge
The Sunderland Bridge( 1793 -96) designed by

Paine span about 236’-0”, the six ribs form the
arch composed of cast iron panels which
acted as voussoirs. A series of 105 such panels,
in this stone vaulting was adopted to iron
construction.
Early Iron Construction on the continent

On the continent iron was first used for building purposes as roofing materials. The timber work
roofs of theatres and ware houses were continually catching fire and burning. So, hand wrought
iron became available in sufficient quantities, attempts were made to prevent such fires by its use.
THEATRE FRANCAIS
An early effort of this kind came in 1786 with the
construction of a wrought-iron roof for the
theatre-Francais in Paris, by the celebrated
theatre builder, Victor Louis. The elegance and
boldness required in the use of iron in the
building of this type was to remain continuously
characteristic of iron construction in France.
The iron roofing of the Theatre-Francais deserves notice for a more specific reason. The entire
construction is counter balanced in such a way that it needs only comparatively thin walls for
support.
THE GRANARY-PARIS
The wooden cupola of Granary at Paris-covering of circular court was destroyed by fire in 1802. In
1811 it was replaced by an elaborate construction in Iron and copper. The architect Bellange and
engineer Brunet Collaborated in its erection. This is the first work in which the Architect and the
constructor were different.

The building shows little more than an
adaptation of old constructional methods to
the new materials, a clever substation of iron
ribs for the wood work normally used.
Drastically altered, it survives as a part of the

present Bourse de commerce.
Use of Cast-iron cupola in England and the United States
The Cast-iron cupola of the rotunda of the British Museum, that cast-iron ribs Extending from the
ground to the top were used in construction of a large building during 1850.
About the same period in 1855-63, the old wooden dome of United States capitol in Washington
was replaced by a dome with cast-iron ribs. Its peristyle rests on an octagonal base and was
interlaced with complicated iron constructional members. Truss girders were required in the
peristyle and the dome to help support the intricate marble profiles on the outside of the whole
structure.
Seguin’s Suspension bridge over the Rhone (1824)
The wire cable suspension bridge goes back to

the early 19th century. The first French example
was built over the Rhone, near Tournon in 1824.
The north American suspension bridge provided

model for Seguin’s work at Tournon. The bridges
were suspended on hemp or rawhide rope.
Marc Seguin used wire cables. This was the first
time wire rope had been employed for such a
purpose in Europe.
Seguin made careful scientific test of its strength

before starting his project.
In America, Seguin’s principles were applied on a larger scale by John Augustus Roebling in his
bridge over the Monongahela River at Pittsburgh, 1846, and the Niagara River, 1851-55, and in the
Brooklyn Bridge, on which the preliminary work was begun in 1868.the suspension Bridge was
continuously developed throughout the 19th century as wider spans were demanded and traffic
volumes increased. More elaborate constructional applications of this apparently limited principle
of elastic suspension were made.
Golden gate, suspension bridge across San-Francisco bay against an overwhelming background
of sea and rock. Longest single span bridge in the world. Overall Length-9200’-0”, Length of
middle span-4200’-0”, Width of the roadway-60’-0”.

Cast-Iron Columns
In 1786, structurally cast iron was used in columns to increase the span of roof supports of English
cotton mills. To obtain obstruction free space for the newly invented cotton spinning mills
machines. The slenderness of cast-iron columns changed the concept of proportion in
architecture. Iron pillars were also used in combination with the other materials.
A typical late 18th century factory at Bolton shows how the attic stories of existent building were
converted to house the newly invented cotton-spinning machines. This factory had been erected
with the kind of heavy wooden framework. At first the machinery was installed only in attic (with
timber roof truss) and later on, the use of cast-iron pillars made it possible to install machinery.
The attic of a cotton spinning factory about 1835, with its cast-iron roof trusses, shows how room
was made for newly invented self-acting mule spinning frames. The necessity for rooms of very
large dimensions is apparent. In this case the spinning frame had to be set up parallel with the
long axis of the left.
These machinery buildings had the wide windows of late baroque structures. A factory near
Manchester, built in 1783, standing amidst unspoiled rural surroundings near the river from which
they drew their power, they present an appearance quite different from factory districts of the
steam age. This mill had iron pillars in interiors. It is still in operation and still uses auxiliary water
power.
Iron pillars were used in combination with stone, brick and timber alike. Somewhat later, the cast-
iron girder and the brick arch floor were used in mill construction. But for more than a century the
cast-iron column played a major role in building of every sort, in all parts of the world. It was used
for a countless variety of architectural purpose during the entire 19th century.
In the crystal palace and in workday market halls, in libraries and in green house, in the first
skyscrapers built in Chicago. The cast-iron pillar furnished the principal means of support and to
form the facade of building and to erect structures from prefabrication parts.
Towards the steel frame

WATT AND BOULTON, FIRST SEVEN STORY MILL, SALFORD, MANCHESTER
The cotton mill of Philip and Lee, built at Salford, Manchester, in 1801. This mill surpasses all others
of its time in boldness of its design. It represents the first experiment in the use of iron pillars and
beams for the whole interior framework of a building. The erection of this factory was an event of
the first importance in the history of modern construction.
The building measures about 140’-0” long and

42’-0” wide, its height of seven stories is
extraordinary for this early date. As the ground
plan shows, there are two ranges of iron pillars
set on each floor. For the first time, iron beams
are used in combination with these iron
columns. The beams, first of the I-section type,
extend across the building from wall to wall at
regular distance.

Special foundations provided for the iron columns of the ground floor, and the junctions between
the Cast-iron columns and beams of the first two floors. The details of the assembly of pillar and
socket show a precision that had been learned in machinery construction.
WILLIAM FAIRBRAIN
He attempted to make his building fire proof. In

this 8 storey flat roofed refinery. He introduced
wrought-iron as well as cast-iron members.
Wrought iron I-section girders joined with iron tie
bars are supported by cast iron pillars. Instead
of brick arch floor, thin wrought iron plates are
used. Jump from such a building to the building
of Ferro concrete is not very great-it is about
matter of time.
HENERI LABROUSTE
He designed the Bibliotheque National, Paris

was the1st library building designed to be a
complete and independent unit. In this cast-
iron and wrought iron construction from the
foundation to Roof. Its outer walls were of
masonry, all structural members of iron. It had a
double height reading room. Roof was of thin
barrel vaults –iron network. The Iron construction
balanced in it, no stress was put on the walls.
In the 19th Century, buildings with new usage such as market halls, departmental stores lead to the
use of cast-iron columns with light weight trusses to support interesting roof form and lighting the
interior through sky lighting.
James Bogardus
The beginnings of the skeleton construction of the present day are met as early as in 1848 in the
home of skyscraper, the United States. The decisive step was the substitution of iron columns for
the masonry of the outer walls as a means of support for the floors of a building. From 1850 to 1880
were based on this system of building, using prefabricated parts.
His best known building was executed in Franklin Square on Pearl Street in New York for famous
publishing house of Harper and brothers, in 1854. The outer wall into the surface almost entirely of
glass. The combination of wide expanses of glass with iron columns and arches in the Venetian
Renaissance style.
Bogardus believed cast iron to be a material capable of satisfying all the demands of both
Engineer and the artist. He would have liked to apply his system to the building of dwelling houses
as well as commercial structures. Commercial buildings with cast-iron fronts and often with cast-
iron skeletons as well, sprang up all over the United States between 1850-1880 the so called “cast-
iron age”.

Progress in buildings due to the invention of elevators
The 1st satisfactory elevator was invented by

Elisha Graves Otis of New York.
Safety of the elevator was demonstrated in

New York in 1853.
First passenger elevator was used in 1857-

department store.
First European elevator was used in the Paris

exposition of 1867.
The first iron framed Skyscraper was built in 1885.

It was the ten storey home insurances building
of Chicago.
Qualities which made Steel Successful were

Free resistance
High tensile strength
Reusable –wastage of material can be minimised
Slender mess in form could be achieved
Cast into any form ease of manufacture
Cheaper compare to timber.
GLASS
The use of glass dates back to the Egyptian civilisation. It had developed over the centuries and
by the middle of the 18th century its development intensified into hand manufacturing and mouth
blowing.
During the industrial revolution glass was used in construction with iron to develop new solutions.
Initially wrought iron was used with glass to construct the glass roof of the galleries Orleans. This use
of glass gave on impression of freedom, openness and being outdoors. While being protected
from natural forces. This was a precursor to the glass and iron halls of the great exhibition.
The first large structure using purely glass panes irons was a French conservatory the green house
of the Botanical gardens at Paris “Renamed the glass gardens”.
Glass was used extensively for show window of stores. Glass was used extensively in the great
exhibition as the crystal palace itself derives its name from the enormous usage of glass on the
exterior to admit light. Maximum size of the panels during that period was only 4’ length.
The enormous areas of the usage of glass are in the vaults of Palais de industries (1855 Paris)
admitted large amount of light, which is almost blinded the contemporary spectators.
In the Paris exhibition 1878 a glass canopy was introduced & carried along the length of the glass
front wall extensive used glass provides visual lightness to the structure. Glass was used extensively
later by architects like Walter Gropius and others from Bauhaus school as plain sheer curtain
between the inner and outer space with pillars set behind the facade.
Within a century glass became part of the architect’s structural techniques. Shifts from solid &
voids to voids only by covering the entire surface with glass occurred during 19th century. Thus
window was extended to become window-wall.
Stained glass walls with the modern paintings were also employed along with new techniques for
treating glass as done in churches. The transparent sculpturesque and reflective qualities of glass
were exploited by several architects of 20th century.
CONCRETE
In 1824, Joseph Asp din discovered Portland cement.
In 1744, John Smeaton, he only first used hydraulic cement for Eddy stone Light home in England.
Lime, clay, sand and crush iron slag such mixes were used through England for harbour, canals
and other water works.
Reinforced concrete construction proposal by Loudon in1792. France pioneered RCC works
synthesis of hydraulic cement by Vicat used principles of rammed construction.
Francois Coignet- strengthens concrete with metal mesh in 1861. Ferro concrete worked with
Haussmann to build structures like 6 storey apartment. In 1867, Joseph Monier made metal
concrete, many companies bought his patents. In 1890, Cottancin got patent for new reinforced
cement (cement + steel rods + bricks).
Francois Hennebique, French builder used concrete in 1879. In 1892 research extensive of using
rounded bars for reinforcement, ties and stirrups got patented. Free standing helical RC staircase
in 1900. Hennebieque’s house at Bourg-la-Reine done walls with Ferro cement poured into
permanent shuttering with glazed facade, cantilevered out of the main building, in 1904.
Till 1899 North America imported cement from Europe, so not much progress in cement
construction. Tony Garnier used RCC systematically in the town hall project from 1901 to 1904
using cantilevering of structures. But the design was in two-dimensional plane. New projects for
three-dimensional plane developed later.
Robert Maillard eliminated beams using mushroom construction in 1910. The industrial use of
concrete became a regular practice. Frank Lloyd Wright did RCC structures about the same time,
in 1901- Village Bank project, in1905- polish factory, Chicago, in 1906- Unity temple, Chicago, he
was in touch with the latest technology. In later works he used concrete in plastic forms.
August Perret- Multi-storeyed apartment Rue Franklin Apartments, in 1903. Ferro concrete Skeleton
undisguised six floors cantilevered floating effect got. Ground floor dissolved in glass lightness from
top towards bottom. The building was considered fragile and discarded initially.
In 1905, Maillart’s bridge across River Rhine at Tavanasa. 3 hinged arch of hollow box section,
triangular opening cut into sides to reduce unnecessary weight and bring in a light and expressive
char to the overall form.
In 1911, Aare Bridges at Aar burg by Maillart self supporting bridge platform stiffened through
frame connected to the haunch of the arch. In 1912, beam less floor slab in Europe, 5 storied
warehouse at Altdorf. Two way slab with heavy reinforcement with lesser shear, dimension of
column head.

Merits of concrete
Can be cast into any shape
It is good in compression
Rust free
Fire resistant
Cheaper than pure steel structure
THE GREAT EXHIBITION

With the advent of the industrial revolution new invention were worked to suit the production
requirement. Hence these exhibition were conducted in several opportunities to display the new
discoveries side by side and thus to facilitate their comparison and adoption. These exhibitions in
turn accelerated the development of industries. These exhibitions offered opportunities for
creative architecture.
Two periods are noted in the history of exhibitions

First period- opens and closes in Paris; it begins at 1798 – 1849.
Second period- The international exhibitions from later half 19th century.
In the second half of the 19th century, with industry undergoing its greatest expansion, industrial
exhibitions afforded truly creative architecture is the best opportunities. The growth of modern
industry, innovations in machines.
The exhibition were born almost simultaneously with modern industry, they appeared at the time
when the shift from handwork to machine production. Exhibitions facilitated comparisons,
adoption of new technologies.
The history of the exhibition is divided into two periods. The earlier of these periods opens and
close in Paris; it begins at 1798 – 1849..
First Exhibition at Champe de Mars, Paris in September 1798. After the French revolution, dissolution
of guilds that made freedom to follow any trade. This festive motive accounted for its location in
the Champe- de- mars, the scene of all national celebrations since the fall of the monarchy. There
were 110 exhibitors which include luxury items, watches, wall papers, cloths, cotton yarn displayed
as “carded & spun by machine”.
The second period occupies the latter half of the 19th century and owes its force to the principle of
free trade. In this period the exhibition takes on a new character, it becomes international in its
scope. These great exhibitions were the product of the liberal conception of economy; free trade,
free communication, and in improvement in production and performance through free
competition.
These exhibition kindled a spirit of rivalry among nations excel the previous exhibitions not only in
the industrial exhibits but also in architecture. These types of buildings were fast, easy construction
and removal. Becomes iron fabricated to the required size with appropriate materials
representing the period. Changing aesthetics according to new materials used. Improved
production and performance better communication.

The new structural treatments of load and support demanded new aesthetic reactions. In the
past people had grown to expect the basis of the equilibrium between load and support in a
building to be visible at a glance, to lie open to inspection. But with the introduction of new
methods of iron construction it becomes more and more difficult to differentiate between load
and support. A new poised equilibrium of all parts of a structure began to appear. The exhibitions
were out of direct contact with human needs.
The two most beautiful buildings of this period of great exhibitions were the crystal palace of 1851
and Galerie des machines of 1889. The first was destroyed by fire in 1937; the second was
senselessly torn down in 1910.
Characteristics of Exhibitions
(i) They were meant to be temporary and hence called for rapid erection and dismantling, both
facilitated by use of iron.
(ii) They were trial grounds for new methods and demanded new aesthetic responses.
(iii) They symbolised the optimism to unite the entire world through free trade, free
communication, improvement in production and performance through free conception.
(iv) They originated from old Paris. Hence the first French exhibition in 1798 and all other later
exhibitions retained a festive motif.
THE GREAT EXHIBITION, LONDON, 1851

THE CRYSTAL PALACE, done by JOSEPH PAXTON.
The method of construction used was a serial production.

The structure was a combination of wood, iron & glass.
Fridge and furrow construction was adopted.
It was planned around the largest sheet of glass available at the tie which was 4’-0” long.
The whole building was made from pre-fabrication units within a time span of 6 months.

It was made of wooden ridge a furrow frames for the glass, supported by iron lattice girders and
cast iron pillars, bolted to the floor.
Its length was 1851’-0”, span of vaulting only 72’-0”. Area achieved was 8,00,000 sft.
EXTERIOR VIEW INTERIOR VIEW
The crystal palace was the realization of a new conception of building, one for which there was
and precedent. In addition, the first building of such dimensions constructed of glass, iron & timber
over a framework of cast and wrought iron girders accurately bolted together.” The Crystal
palace is a revolution in architecture from which a new style will date”.
UNIVERSAL EXHIBITION, Paris 1855

Building- The Palais del’ industries
Rectangular structure with high central aisle surrounded by double row of galleries.
Low side aisle were supported by numerous cast iron pillars.
The central aisle has a span of 49m. Wrought iron lattice girders, early hand crafts were used.
Tie bars were avoided by the use of heavy buttresses.

It is about 850’-0” long and 350’-0” wide, built of stone and supported with iron beams not enough
to display the entire products so two more temporary structures built.
Galerie des machines & Palais des Beaux arts.
Central aisle connected to the 1200m galerie des machines along River siene. Machine gallery
had 28m wide classical entrances on either side.
Nave with semi-circular metal truss, with technical exhibits. Salon de I’ art, occupied a major
section in the exhibition.
The main building (Palais de I’ industrie) was completely enclosed in heavy stone walls with an
immense triumphal arch. Emphasis was on the opening up of space. Hence enormous areas of
glass were used. This resulted in excessive lighting in the interior, blinding the spectators. In order to
counteract the lateral stress- immense blocks of lead were used as abutments.

THE PARIS EXHIBITION OF 1867
The main building was elliptical in shape about 490m x 386minside the main building seven
concentric galleries were placed, which increased in size towards the outside. A garden was laid
in the centre.
The outer most gallerie de machines were twice width & height of the others. The transverse walls
dividing galleries into separate segments enabling a spectator to compare the quality of displays
on adjacent segments.
Span of the gallery of machines was about 35 metres, height of 25 metres. The pillars height is
about 28 metres. Archer of the vaulted girders rose to 25 metres. The pillars went beyond the level
of vaulting to avoid the use of tie bar. Hydraulic lifts were used for vertical axis, around which there
ran a platform fiving a striking view of this city of galleries in corrugated iron and glass.
Eiffel Gustavo worked on gallerie des machines. Pavilions, restaurants, amusement parks around
the main building. The annexe buildings are Russian village, sphinx, agriculture annexe etc.
EXPOSITION UNIVERSELLE DE 1878

The exhibition of 1878 was intended to show the world that France had recovered from its defeat
in 1870. The exhibition was divided into two sections: one devoted to a monumental building in
stone, the other to temporary exhibition structures.
The main exhibition building follows the rectangular outline of the champ-de-mars. A series of
galleries in parallel formation extended over the length of the site, all of them flanked and
dominated by the Galerie des machines. The inflated sheet- metal architecture of the main
entrance and of the pavilions on both sides.
The frame work of girders was built of separate parts. Girders were of the de Dion type. Stepped
roof joists ran through the lattice girders and joined them into a continuous structure. The walls are
filled with glass. A projecting glass canopy was carried over the front façade. Precision was
appreciable.
Transfers of forces to the foundation were easy. Provision for expansion of the iron frames was
made by a complex system of bolts set in oval holes along the ridge of the other roof at intervals
of 60 metres.
The exhibition of 1889 centred around the Eiffel tower, which Eiffel and his engineers had risen on
the bank of the Seine in the short span of 17 months. In this exhibition they saw new conceptions in
construction and new advances in industry.
The exhibition buildings were spread out behind the tower. There were two wings, one housing the
beaux- arts, the other the art of liberaux, which were joined together by a section devoted to
general exhibits.
The gallery of machines designed by architect Victor contamin, Eiffel tower by Gustav Eiffel
(300m tall). The gallery is about 420m long, 115m span &45m tall, three hinged arch form for
achieving the span.
A kind of travelling crane was erected within the galerie des machines. It transported spectators
over the length of immense hall and enabled them to inspect all the machinery which displayed
on the floor below.
The structures composed of twenty trusses with glass walls enclosing the sides formed a true iron
vault. The trusses were five times as deep as the width of 3.5 m deep by 0.75 m wide. This was
considered a distortion compared to the preparation of the stone architecture.

Enlargement of trusses gave the feeling of void. Arched girders rested directly on the floor without
any column support through a hinged joint, which allowed foundation movements without
structure collapse.
EIFFEL TOWER
The height of the tower was about 1000’-0”, designed as 3 stages. Visually it is an adaptation of
the lofty spans of in bridges, increased in scale.
Supports were four pylons anchored to separate foundation. The four arches connecting the
supports are decorative. Elevators were used to reach the various stages of tower apart from
sense of spiral staircases. Interpenetration of inner and outer space. Protests earlier regarding this
hideous sculptures of Paris, later became a symbol of Paris.
THE GREAT EXHIBITION CHICAGO, 1893

Louis Sullivan’s own transportation building and covered piers than ran out into Lake Michigan. This
led to achieve popular success. The architecture was found to lack originality.

Complex designed by Federick. Built in the classical theme. At the Chicago World’s fair the
architects believed that they were reviving the creative spirit of medicean times and the public
fancied that the radiance of Florence was being recalled for them to live in.

UNIT-3
REVIEWING INDUSTRALISATION
INTRODUCTION OF ARTS AND CRAFT MOVEMENT

Arts and Crafts movement that flourished between 1860 and 1910, especially in the second half of
that period, continuing its influence until the 1930s. It was led by the artist and writer William
Morris (1834–1896) and the architect Charles Voysey (1857–1941) during the 1860s, and was
inspired by the writings of John Ruskin (1819–1900) and Augustus Pugin(1812–1852). It developed
first and most fully in the British, but spread to Europe and North America.
It was largely a reaction against the impoverished state of the decorative arts at the time and the
conditions in which they were produced. It stood for traditional craftsmanship using simple forms
and often applied medieval, romantic or folk styles of decoration. It advocated economic and
social reform and has been said to be essentially anti-industrial.
The Arts and Crafts movement initially developed in England during the latter half of the 19th
century. Subsequently this style was taken up by American designers, with somewhat different
results. In the United States, the Arts and Crafts style was also known as Mission style.
PRINCIPLES
The Arts and Crafts style started as a search for aesthetic design and decoration and a reaction
against the styles that were developed by machine-production.
Arts and Crafts objects were simple in form, without superfluous decoration, and how they were
constructed was often still visible. They tended to emphasize the qualities of the materials used.
They often had patterns inspired by British flora and fauna and used the vernacular, or domestic,
traditions of the countryside.
Several designer-makers established workshops in rural areas and revived old techniques. They
were influenced by the Gothic Revival (1830–1880) and were interested in medieval styles, using
bold forms and strong colours based on medieval designs.
They claimed to believe in the moral purpose of art. Truth to material, structure and function had
also been advocated by A.W.N. Pugin (1812–1852), an exponent of the Gothic Revival. The Arts
and Crafts style was partly a reaction against the style of many of the items shown in the Great
Exhibition of 1851, which were ornate, artificial and ignored the qualities of the materials used.
"Ornament, must be secondary to the thing decorated", that there must be "fitness in the
ornament to the thing ornamented", and that wallpapers and carpets must not have any patterns
"suggestive of anything but a level or plain". These ideas were adopted by William Morris. Where a
fabric or wallpaper in the Great Exhibition might be decorated with a natural motif made to look
as real as possible, would use a flat and simplified natural motif. In order to express the beauty of
craft, some products were deliberately left slightly unfinished, resulting in a certain rustic and
robust effect.
By the end of the nineteenth century, Arts and Crafts ideals had influenced architecture, painting,
sculpture, graphics, illustration, book making and photography, domestic design and the

decorative arts, including furniture and woodwork, stained glass, leatherwork, lace making,
embroidery, rug making and weaving, jewellery and metalwork, enamelling and ceramics.
Arts and Crafts, or Craftsman, houses have many of these features:
1. Wood, stone, or stucco siding
2. Low-pitched roof
3. Wide eaves with triangular brackets
4. Exposed roof rafters
5. Porch with thick square or round columns
6. Stone porch supports
7. Exterior chimney made with stone
8. Open floor plans; few hallways, Numerous windows
9. Some windows with stained or leaded glass
10. Beamed ceilings
11. Dark wood wainscoting and mouldings
12. Built-in cabinets, shelves, and seating
ARTS AND CRAFT MOVEMENT IN EUROPE

Arts and Crafts movement emerged during the late Victorian period in England, the most
industrialized country in the world at that time. Anxieties about industrial life fuelled a positive
revaluation of handcraftsmanship and pre capitalist forms of culture and society.
Arts and Crafts designers sought to improve standards of decorative design, believed to have
been debased by mechanization, and to create environments in which beautiful and fine
workmanship governed.
The Arts and Crafts movement did not promote a particular style, but it did advocate reform as
part of its philosophy and instigated a critique of industrial labour; as modern machines replaced
workers, Arts and Crafts proponents called for an end to the division of labour and advanced the
designer as craftsman.
Arts and Crafts designers sought to improve standards of decorative design, believed to have
been debased by mechanization, and to create environments in which beautiful and fine
workmanship governed.
ARTS AND CRAFT MOVEMENT IN AMERICA
The American Arts and Crafts movement was inextricably linked to the British movement and
closely aligned with the work of William Morris and the second generation of architect-designers,
including Charles Robert Ashbee (1863–1942), who toured the United States, and Charles Francis
Annesley Voysey (1857–1941), whose work was known through important publications such as The
Studio.
British ideals were disseminated in America through journal and newspaper writing, as well as
through societies that sponsored lectures and programs. The U.S. movement was multi centered,
with societies forming nationwide. Boston, historically linked to English culture, was the first city to
feature a Society of Arts and Crafts. Chicago's Arts and Crafts Society began at Hull House, one of
the first American settlement houses for social reform. Numerous societies followed in cities such as
Minneapolis and New York, as well as rural towns, including Deerfield, Massachusetts.
Unlike in England, the undercurrent of socialism of the Arts and Crafts movement in the United
States did not spread much beyond the formation of a few Utopian communities. Rose Valley was
one of these artistic and social experiments. William Lightfoot Price, a Philadelphia architect,
founded Rose Valley in 1901 near Moylan, Pennsylvania. The Rose Valley shops, like other Arts and
Crafts communities, were committed to producing artistic handicraft, which included furnishings,
pottery, metalwork, and bookbinding.
The Arts and Crafts Colony was another Utopian Arts and Crafts community. There craftspeople
worked in various media, including wood work, pottery, textiles, and metalwork. In harmony with
the principles of the Arts and Crafts movement, Byrdcliffe furniture is a study in rectilinearity, simply
treated materials, and minimal decoration. In addition to pottery, women fashioned jewellery in
the Arts and Crafts mode. Stones were chosen for their inherent artistic qualities, resulting in
jewellery that promoted truth to materials.
Gustav Stickley (1858–1942), founder of The United Crafts (later known as the Craftsman
Workshops), was a proselytizer of the craftsman ideal. Emulating William Morris's production
through guild manufacture of his furniture, Stickley believed that mass-produced furniture was
poorly constructed and overly complicated in design. Stickley set out to improve American taste
through "craftsman" or "mission" furniture with designs governed by, simple lines, and quality
material.
The rise of urban centers and the inevitability of technology presaged the end of the Arts and
Crafts movement. The search for nature and an idealist medieval era was no longer a valid
approach to living. By the1920s, machine-age modernity and the pursuit of a national identity
had captured the attention of designers and consumers, bringing an end to the handcrafted
nature of the Arts and Crafts movement in America.
ART NOUVEAU
Art Nouveau is an international movement of architecture and the decorative arts at the turn of
the 20th century. It is characterized by non-geometric plant and floral-inspired motifs, as well as
highly-stylized, sinuous lines.
Art Nouveau was a vibrant but short-lived phenomenon that flourished but from 1890 to 1910 and
touched on all the visual arts. Fashion and furniture, pots and paintings, books and buildings, no
object was too small or too large, too precious or too ordinary, to be shaped by the designer
working according to the ideals—moral and social as well as aesthetic—associated with the Art
Nouveau, even though these ideals were never codified in a coherent manifesto and were
inflected according to the place wherein they were practiced.
An Art Nouveau style, several characteristics that bind its representatives together may be
credibly summarized: first, a desire to avoid the historicism so dominant during the 19th century,
using as inspiration Nature in all its fertility and heterogeneity; second, an emphasis on the
expressive power of form and colour and an aspiration to refine and elevate the material world;
third, a determination to erase the distinction between the fine and the applied arts, between the
designer and the craftsperson, between art and every-day life; and fourth, a willingness to
experiment with materials, transforming the character of traditional ones, like stone, stained glass,
and mosaic, and inventing new uses and shapes for recently developed ones, above all cast and
wrought iron.
It was a reaction to mass production and a return to handcraftsmanship and the human
imagination. Designers in the movement include Charles Rennie Mackintosh, René Lalique, and
Louis Comfort Tiffany.
During the late 1800s, many European artists, graphic designers, and architects rebelled against
formal, classical approaches to design. They believed that the greatest beauty could be found in
nature.
Art Nouveau (French for "New Style") was popularized by the famous Maison de l'Art Nouveau, a
Paris art gallery operated by Siegfried Bing. As a revolutionary movement which started in Brussles
(Belgium) between 1880- 1890, it affected the industrial arts and architecture. Took place in the
advanced industrial nations of the Western Europe and the United states.
Art Nouveau art and architecture flourished in major European cities between 1890 and 1914. In
the United States, Art Nouveau ideas were expressed in the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Louis
Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright
Art Nouveau buildings have many of these features

Asymmetrical shapes
Extensive use of arches and curved forms
Curved glass
Curving, plant-like embellishments
Mosaics
Stained glass
Japanese motifs
INFLUENCES OF ART NOUVEAU IN ARCHITECTURE
HENRI VAN DE VELDE

Henri Van De Velde was a painter, pioneered the movement in arts, it spread later to
architecture. Art nouveau designers sought their building to be “total works of art” in which every
detail, down to last fixture would bear the same architectural character as the overall building.
Henri van de Velde (1863–1957), who began his career as a painter and in 1895, at his home in
Uccle, established an influential decorating enterprise. He designed not only the building but
everything within: furniture, table settings, wallpaper, lighting fixtures, tapestries—even his wife’s
clothing.
In 1896 he presented his furniture works in Samuel Bing’s gallery “L’ Art Nouveau” in paris and
become internationally known. In 1898 he became member of the Les Vingt in Brussels, where he
familiarised with English arts and craft movement. He published several books and essays on his
original art theories, such as Le Deblaiementd’ art (1895), Renaissance in arts and crafts (1901).
He mainly worked in Germany; in 1900 he opened in Berlin a branch of his Brussels workshop. In
1902 he invited to Weimar to establish the arts and crafts school, which he directed from 1906 to

1914 and which would later became the famous Bauhaus, the centre for the modernist
movement in Germany.
Van De Velde described ornamentation as element attachment to form for improving the
aesthetic quality, while ornament refers to the frank revelation of the inner structural or functional
identity of form.
He was a theoretician of modernism and functionalism, contemporary style in architecture. He

was known as the first art nouveau artist to work in an abstract style and developed the concept
of union of form and function.
He designed a vast range of items, such as architecture works, interior decorations, furniture,
ceramics, metalwork and jewellery. His furniture designs are linear, highly detailed by innovative
decorations and expressive ornamental design, tempered by strong traditional elements.
Works
Furniture
Writing desk and chair in oak, bronze, copper,
leather, with incorporated electrical lamps and
metalwork fittings.
Chair designed by Henry van

de Velde in1895 for the dining room of the
house "Bloemenwerf". Manufactured by Society
van de Velde, Ixelles, Belgium. Exhibition in the
Pinakothek der Moderne.
Artist
Posters, packaging, advertising for Tropon,

makers of foodstuffs in Cologne-Muhlheim. The
first commission that gave him a chance to
practise his skills as an artist.
Architecture
Van de Velde house, Brussels, Belgium (1895)
Havana company store, Berlin (1899)
Interior of Folkwang Museum, Hagen (1900)
University Library, Ghent, Belgium (1935)

Havana company store, Berlin (1899)
During 1900, in Berlin, Van de Velde completed
the Havana Company Cigar Store in the
Mohrenstrasse, and the Haby Barbershop, the
interiors of which were part of the same
experimental stylistic trend.
They are interesting to compare, for, although the principle of a simple wall background with
superimposed linear ornamentation was continued, the cigar store was predominantly curvilinear
in design, even to the shelves on which the cigar packages and boxes were stacked.
This was, indeed, a non-functional tour de force, for such an irregular arrangement must certainly
have wasted space, collected dust and must also have been relatively inaccessible. The S-curve
wall mouldings and the chairs, echoing the billowing display-cases, produced a bizarre and
fanciful effect.
Interior of Folkwang Museum, Hagen (1900)
Van de Velde was also occupied at this time with a more important project, the Folkwang
Museum at Hagen. Several other architects, among them Peter Behrens, worked on the museum
with him. It was to be opened as a permanent building.
It marked Van de Velde's mature style; his concepts of ornamentation became more subtle and
sophisticated -"classic" of their type -set off against smooth-textured neutral walls. The degree of
restraint exercised in the interior indicated that Van de Velde was well aware of the purpose of
the various halls and did not wish to attract the visitor to his own work at the expense of the objets
d' art.
The entrance hall contained a circular stone

bench surmounted by small sculptured figures
by Minne, with an architectural backdrop
composed of a series of three arches,
permitting an inviting glimpse of the sculptured
beyond. The narrow incised mouldings on the
arches in no way detracted from the essential
simplicity of the hall.
VICTOR HORTA
Horta is one of the most important names in Art Nouveau architecture; the construction of
his Hotel Tassel in Brussels in 1892-3 means that he is sometimes credited as the first to introduce the
style to architecture from the decorative arts.
After introducing Art Nouveau in an exhibition held in 1892, Horta was inspired. The design had a
groundbreaking semi open-plan floor layout for a house of the time, and incorporated interior iron
structure with curvilinear botanical forms, later described as “biomorphic whiplash”.
Horta’s greatest work, the Maison de Peuple (1895–99; demolished), demonstrated the popular
aspect of the style. Not only could wealthy industrialists indulge their taste for it, but their
employees too recognized that it evoked their aspirations.
The iron frame used in combination with brick and stone permits a free plan with spaces of varied
heights and dimensions, perfect for accommodating the program’s differing functions, revealed
on the exterior through the individualized fenestration; nothing is regular or repetitive. The main
door resembles a mysterious cave or mouth that draws one into its recesses, empathy being a
quality exploited by many Art Nouveau architects.
Elaborate designs and natural lighting were concealed behind a stone facade to harmonize the
building with the more rigid houses next door. The building has since been recognised as the first
appearance of Art Nouveau in architecture.
WORKS
Hotel Tassel in 1892
Rue de Turin
Hotel Van Eetvelde,1895
Mansion and Atelier Horta, 1898 (now Horta Musuem)
HOTEL TASSEL, 1892
The Hotel Tassel is a town house built by Victor Horta in Brussels for the Belgian scientist and
professor Emile Tassel in 1893-1894. It is generally considered as the first true Art Nouveau building,
because of its highly innovative plan and its ground breaking use of materials and decoration.
At the Hotel Tasse,l Horta definitively broke with this traditional scheme. In fact he built a house
consisting of three different parts. Two rather conventional buildings in brick and natural stone —
one on the side of the street and one on the side of the garden — were linked by a steel structure
covered with glass.
It functions as the connective part in the spatial composition of the house and contains staircases
and landings that connect the different rooms and floors. Through the glass roof it functions as a
light shaft that brings natural light into the centre of the building.
In this part of the house that could also be used for receiving guests Horta made the maximum of
his skills as an interior designer. He designed every single detail; door handles, woodwork, panels
and windows in stained glass, mosaic flooring and the furnishing. Horta succeeded in integrating
the lavish decoration without masking the general architectural structures.
Stairway of Tassel House, Brussels

The innovations made in the Hotel Tassel would mark the style and approach for most of Horta's
later town houses, including the Hotel van Eetvelde, the Hotel Solvay and the architects own
house and 'atelier'.
It might be superfluous to mention that these houses were very expensive and only affordable for
the rich 'bourgeoisie' with an 'Avant-Garde' taste. For this reason the pure architectural
innovations were not largely followed by other architects. Most other Art Nouveau dwellings in
Belgium and other European countries were inspired by Horta's 'whiplash' decorative style which is
mostly applied to a more traditional building.
HOTEL VAN EEVELDE
The visible application of "industrial" materials such as steel and glass was a novel for prestigious
private dwellings at the time. In the Hotel van Eetvelde Horta also used a hanging steel
construction for the facade. The interior receives additional lighting through a central reception
room covered by a stained-glass cupola.
An extension to the house was designed by Horta in 1898. This building has a more conventional,
beautifully detailed sandstone façade. It was designed to house a garage, an office for van
Eetvelde as well as supporting apartments and therefore had a separate entrance.
The Hotel van Eetvelde in Brussels was designed

in 1898 by Victor Horta, undoubtedly the key
European Art Nouveau architect. While most
other architects flirted with the new style, Horta
found it gave the best expression to his ideas.
His skill is demonstrated in his ability to slip his
domestic designs into narrow constricted sites.
The interiors become of great importance as centres of light, which permeates through the filigree
domes and skylights—usually in the centre of the building. The Hotel van Eetvelde is a remarkable
example of the way Horta handled the situation and used it to highlight the imposing staircase,
which leads up to the first-floor reception rooms.
Hotel Solvay, 1895

The Hotel Solvay is a large Art Nouveau town
house designed by Victor Horta on the Avenue
Louise in Brussels. The house was commissioned
by Armand Solvay, the son of the wealthy
Belgian chemist and industrialist Ernest Solvay.
Horta designed every single detail; furniture,
carpets, light fittings, tableware and even the
door bell.
He used expensive materials such as marble, onyx, bronze, tropic woods etc. For the decoration
of the staircase Horta cooperated with the Belgian pointillist painter Theo van Rysselberghe. The
Hotel Solvay and most of its splendid content remained. They acquired the house in the 1950s and
did the utmost to preserve and restore this magnificent dwelling.

House in Rue de Turin
In architecture Victor Horta’s Rue de Turin, was a forerunner for the movement. It did not have any
influence from the past. Influenced by a group of printers called “Les Vingt” –a three dimensional
form of two dimensional painting version.
Rue de Turin stand in a row of conventional Brussels residences. He achieves flexibility and some
independence between floors through the use of the internal iron skeleton. Since it had to
conform to the same conditions, it resembles them in being long and very narrow; the front is
about 23’-0”.
It had a character strong in usage of lines and curves. Frank expression of metal structures, tendril
like ornamentation, transformed gradually into vegetal shapes of baluster, wall papers and floor
mosaics.
ANTONI GAUDI
Antoni Gaudi studied and practiced architecture in Barcelona, Spain. He was influenced by the
Romantic Movement. “La Renaixenca Catalan” and in 1890 he proceeded to modernism, the
Catalan version of art nouveau.
He used the local structural types and construction technique in brick and ceramic. He was
influenced by the mud construction of Berbers, who drew inspiration from natural form.
One of his first commissions was project management and construction in 1883 of the cathedral
“La Sagrada Famila” in Barcelona. First started in gothic style, the structure was later designed and
built with great artistic freedom, in order to seem an organic part of nature.
He wanted to realise a major utopia, which he described as architecture without square angles.
His modernist buildings, furniture and crafts objects are fascinating for their unusual structures
forms, covered by multi- coloured mosaics.
His works were symbols of artistic renewal and experimentation, characterised by elements. The
style of Gaudi was different from the works of his contemporaries and had a provocative
approach.

Gaudi concentrated on optimisation of structural forms hence used variation of the parabola. The
Park Guell the underground Grottos with parabolic arches are suggestive of dark cleanings in an
underground forest.
In the case Batllo’ the form reminded of several natural forms such as waves, corals, fish bones,
gaping jaws, dragon etc. In Casa Mila the plastic conception of swirling waves on the exterior
were extended to the interior.
WORKS
La Sagrada Familia cathedral, Barcelona
Casa Mila, Barcelona
Casa Batllo
Parc Guell
La Sagrada Familia cathedral, Barcelona
The church was a combination of modernista elements and a unique version of gothic style seen
primarily in its height, use of rose windows and arches, triples portals and architectural sculptures
The facade of the Nativity

The church has 3 facades, each with 3 porches. The
facade of the nativity was completed first. The 3
portals of this facade are related to the Christian
themes of faith, hope and charity.
The iconography supports the central dogmas of the

catholic church. Eight spires of a projected 12 , the
towers rise to more than 100 metres and symbolise the
12 apostles. The name and statues of the apostles,
seated on pedestals, appear on the tower.
The Facade
The pinnacles
The pinnacles at the tops of the towers
are decorated with colourful mosaics
with various textures. The word “ excelsis”
and “ Hosanna” are embedded in some
of the pinnacle.
The pinnacles
Casa Mila, Barcelona

Casa Mila, commonly known as La Pedrera is the largest civil building designed by Antoni Gaudi.
The apartment block was constructed between 1906 and 1910. It was Gaudi's last work before
devoting himself to the construction of the Sagrada Familia.
Pedro Mila I Camps; a rich businessman was impressed by the Casa Batllo, an expressionist
building designed by Gaudi. He commissioned Gaudi to construct an apartment building on a
corner site at the Passaic de Garcia, in the Eixample district.

It breaks with traditional architecture by using not a single straight line. The building does not use
load-bearing walls, but rest on pillars and arches. Together with the use of steel this allowed the
architect to create completely irregular floor plans. Even the height of the pillars and ceilings differ
from one to another. In order to allow light in all the rooms, the apartments are arranged around
two central courtyards, one circular and the other oval shaped.
On the outside, the undulating balconies look like a series of waves. The iron-wrought balconies
were designed by Joseph Maria Jujol, who improvised on the spot. Some people see the facade
as a cliff-like rock with caves. During construction, people dubbed it a quarry, or 'Pedrera'. To
date, people still call the building 'La Pedrera' rather than 'Casa Mila'
The top floor, attic and the extraordinary roof are open to visitors. The apartment on the top floor
gives an idea of how the interior must have looked at the beginning of the 20th century. Just like
on the outside, the interior has virtually no straight lines. The attractive rooms have a lot of
character, with a mixture of expressionist and Art Nouveau styles.
Parc Guell
Park Guell is one of the world's most intriguing parks. The park's colourful main staircase and the
fanciful pavilions that were designed by Antoni Gaudi look like they belong in some fairy tale.
This popular park started out as a development project. Eusebi Guell, a well known
Catalan industrialist, acquired a 17 hectare (42 acres) large hilly plot in the Garcia district,
north of Barcelona. He wanted to turn the area into a residential garden village based on
English models. 60 Housing units as well as several public buildings were planned. But it is a
failed project.
In 1900 Güell commissioned his friend and protégé Antoni Gaudí with the development of
the project. With the support from other architects including Josep M. Jujol and his
disciple Francesc Berenguer, Gaudi worked on the garden village until 1914 when it was
clear the project was a commercial failure: Guell failed to sell a single house.
In 1918 the city acquired the property and in 1922 it was opened to the public as a park.
Gaudí's Staircase and Pavilions

Two houses were completed as well as pavilions for visitors
and park keepers. The pavilions, designed by Gaudí, seem
to be taken out of Hansel and Gretel, with curved roofs
covered with brightly colored tiles and ornamented spires.
The staircase at the entrance of the park is also designed by
Gaudí. The dragon-like lizard at the center of the with
trencadis-ceramics decorated staircase is the best known
symbol of the park.

Serpentine Bench
A connecting flight of stairs leads to another famous feature
of the park: the Gran Placa Circular. Originally intended as a
market place for the residents, this plaza is bordered by
what was known as the world's longest bench.
The colorful ceramic serpentine bench, designed by Jujol,

twists snakelike around the plaza. The view from the plaza is
spectacular, you can see as far as the Mediterranean Sea.
Serpentine Bench The whole platform is supported by 86 huge columns,
creating a hall beneath the plaza, known as the Sala
Hipòstila.
Gaudí Museum
Between 1906 and 1926, Gaudí lived in one of the two
houses that were completed. The house, known as the Casa
Museu Gaudí, was designed by Francesc Berenguer. It
serves as a museum and displays some of Gaudí's furniture
(including some from the Casa Batlló) and drawings.
The park also includes the Casa Trias (not open for visitors).
The buildings in the park are connected by winding roads
Covered path with paths that are often supported by tree-like columns.
Casa Batlló
The colourful Casa Batlló, a remodeled 19th century building, is one of Gaudí's many
masterpieces in Barcelona. Its unique interior is just as extraordinary as its fairytale-like exterior.
Between 1898 and 1906 three adjacent houses in one block on

the fashionable boulevard 'Passeig de Gràcia' were built by some
of the most important modernist architects: Casa Amatller, Casa
Lléo Morera) and Gaudí'sCasa Batlló.
All three houses were designed in a different interpretation of the

modernist style in what seems like a competition between the
architects. This lead to the local term 'Mançana de la Discordia',
which means apple of discord, referring to Greek mythology
where an apple, given by the goddess Eris 'to the fairest' lead to a
dispute between three goddesses, eventually leading to the
Trojan War. Conveniently the word mançana also means 'block',
so the expression 'Mançana de la Discordia' can also be
translated as 'Block of Discord'.
Wooden modernist door

Casa Batlló is the most expressive. The house was originally built
between 1875 and 1877. In 1900 it was bought by the rich
industrialist Joseph Battló i Casanovas who commissioned Gaudi
to tear down the old house and reconstruct a new one. Gaudi
however convinced Battló to remodel the existing building.
Between 1904 and 1906 Gaudi redesigned the façade and roof,
added an extra floor and completely remodelled the interior.

The façade of the Casa Batlló is made of sandstone covered with
colourful trencadis (a Catalan type of mosaic). Typical of Gaudi,
straight lines are avoided whenever possible. The first floor features
irregularly sculpted oval windows. Balconies at the lower floors
have bone-like pillars, those on the upper floors look like pieces of
skulls. These features gave the house the nickname 'House of
Bones'. The enlarged windows on the first floor gave it another
nickname, 'House of Yawns'.
The colourful scaled roof recalls a reptile skin. According to some

authorities on Gaudi architecture, the roof represents a dragon;
the small turret with a cross would symbolize the sword of St.
George stuck into the dragon. The bones and skulls on the façade
represent all the dragon's victims.
Interior
The house's interior is as fascinating as its exterior. Again, Gaudi
avoids straight lines at all cost. Like in his next (and last)
commissioned private building, the Casa Mila, he paid great
attention to detail when designing the wooden doors, stained
glass windows, colourful tiles and carved out fireplace.
HECTOR GUIMARD
He was a French architect, furniture designer and craft artist. He inspired by some of the new
architectural theories circulating, the radical ideas of French architect Viollet-le-due and sinuous
architect of Belgium Victor Horta greatly influenced his design.
Guimard proceeded to a complete re-evaluation of his artistic

approach; furniture and interior decoration of a house had to
become parts of a total work of art.
From 1898 to 1905 he designed and created the station

entrances of Paris subway " Le Métropolitain"; they were a
fabulous expression of Art Nouveau, the new art, which was
discovered during the 1900 World Exposition in Paris.
The architectural and decorative works of Hector Guimard are characterized by fluid, unusual
lines, vibrant curves inspired by nature, essential shapes underlined by light and contrast of the
different materials used, such as wood, iron and stone. They are the most representatives of the
organic and floral Art Nouveau Style in France, and his would later be known as the "Guimard
Style".
Major works:
Castel Beranger, Paris, France

Hotel Guimard, Paris
Metropolitan Entrances, Paris

Castel Beranger, Paris, France
The Castel Beranger is nonetheless an important transitional work in Guimard's career. The stem
and branch-like character of both the interior furnishing and the exterior ironwork stand in a
curious and brittle contrast to the articulate, architectonic but disjunctive elements that make up
the mass of the buildings exterior.
With 36 apartments, each different from the next, the Castel Béranger is a curious compound of
rational planning and non-rational intent and expression. Guimard was to exploit its competition
as an occasion for promoting le style Guimard. To this end he staged an exhibition of the building
and its contents in the Salon du Figaro in 1899, while simultaneously publishing a book of the work
under the title, L'Art dans l'habitation moderne.
More acerbic than his flamboyant country houses of the turn of the century and located in the
fashionable, fast-growing suburb of Auteuil, the Castel Beranger gave Guimard a prime
opportunity with which to demonstrate the synthetic subtleties of his style.
Metropolitan Entrances, Paris

The history of graphic design and its development in the Twentieth century is deeply rooted in the
English Arts and Crafts movement around 1890, which later influenced the short period of Art
Nouveau. The Art Nouveau movement was most prominent in France, Belgium, Italy and Spain
from 1890 until about 1905.
The style is characterized by a heavy influence
from nature — flowing lines, aggressive curves
and organic shapes and the belief in unified
design, in which artists and architects should
see projects as a whole piece and have a
hand in the design of everything from the
structure to furnishings.
The commission of the style, especially in

France, was unique in that Art Nouveau’s main
clientele were middle-class shop owners and
small manufacturers speak — as opposed to

This resulted in Art Nouveau being considered a more personal, social style, frequently employed
in cafes, music halls and residential complexes.
CHARLES RENNIE MACKINTOSH
He was a Scottish architect, furniture designer and painter at the peak of the Arts & Crafts
Movement in Scotland or England, Charles Rennie Mackintosh was the founder of the "Glasgow
School", an outstanding architecture and decoration style, forerunner of Modern Movement in
Scotland.
In 1884 he trained as an architect in a local firm and studied art and design at evening classes at
the Glasgow School of Art, in Scotland. In 1890, he established his own practice and in 1894 he
founded a group called "The Four" with fellow artists he met at art school.
Influenced by Continental Art Nouveau, Japanese art, Symbolism and new-Gothic styles, they
successfully exhibited metalwork, furniture and illustrations in Glasgow, London, Vienna and Turin.
The majority of Mackintosh's works and innovative designs were created within a short period of
intense activity between 1890 and 1911.
He collaborated to the 1900 Vienna Secession and with Austrian architect-designer J. Hoffmann,
greatly influencing his work. In 1902, he presented his "Mackintosh" room furniture at the Turin
International Exhibition and he later designed houses and various Tea-Rooms interior decorations.
Very appreciated all over Europe, but nearly ignored at home, in 1914 he retired and dedicated
him to painting, producing a beautiful collection of fine watercolour flower studies.
He was one of the most influential figures of Art Nouveau, as he developed his original,
incomparable and linear style in architecture and decorative arts. He finely exploited natural and
artificial lighting and explored new spatial concepts, based on strong traditional Scottish elements
adapted to modern way of life. His buildings were treated as whole works of art, where every
detail was carefully designed into clear and pure lines.
Works
New Glasgow School of Art
Furniture, dining chairs, tables and cabinets, in dark oak or white painted wood
"Mackintosh chair", in dark oak
Mackintosh, Hill House, Helensburgh
His elegant decorative interiors complemented his
wooden furniture, designed with minimal decorations,
such as brass fittings or leaded glazed glass panels, often
enriched by a typical recurrent motif, the stylized rose,
also known as the "Glasgow rose".
One of his most famous pieces of furniture is the "Hill

house chair", in dark oak wood, designed into
geometrical shapes, perpendicular delicate lines and a
tall ladder back with applied ornaments. Very popular
today, Mackintosh's designs, stylized flowers and
decorative elements have inspired many modern
graphic works, furniture re-editions, as well
as jewellery and silverware designs.

New Glasgow School of Art
In 1889 Mackintosh was offered a position with the architectural firm Honey man and Keppie,
Back in Glasgow, Mackintosh received his first big design project for work on the Glasgow Herald
Building, completed in 1895. In 1896 his design would go on to win the design competition for the
new Glasgow School of Art building.
First stage:
The first stage of the building
was constructed from 1897
to1899. In 1899, only the east
wing and center portions of
the building were able to be
built, since a tight budget of
meant postponing the west
wing.
The main entrance of the building and visual focal point is on the north side. While this design is
strongly centred around the main entrance and by the large blocked windows of the design
studios, both the building as a whole and the central entrance are not perfectly symmetrical
notice in particular the variation in number and shape of windows at the highest part of the
building.
Mackintosh incorporated many artistic details into this main

entrance from the wrought-iron brackets on the studio
windows and the arch supporting a lantern across the main
entrance to the intricate stone work above the door: a rose
bush bordered by two women whose dresses flow down to
form the surrounding moulding.
The two balconies on the second and third story lead out
from the Directors Room and Studio respectively according
to the original plans, positioning the head of the school in
the most visible and central area of the building
MACKINTOSH, HILL HOUSE, HELENS BURGH
Hill House in Helens burgh, Scotland is one of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's most famous works,
probably second only to Glasgow School of Art. It was designed and built for the publisher Walter
Blackie in 1902 – 1904.

In addition to the house itself, Mackintosh also designed most of the interior rooms, furniture and
other fixings. Mackintosh's attention to detail even extended to prescribing the colour of cut
flowers that the Blackies might place on a table in the living room, so as not to clash with the rest
of the decor
EXTERIOR
The uniform and greyish exterior treatment of the building blends in with the cold cloudy sky of
Scotland. The completely asymmetrical construction forms different roof levels and shapes, and
also records Mackintosh’s appreciation for A. W. N. Pugin’s picturesque utility where the exterior
contour evolves from the interior planning. The minimum decoration, heavy walls, and rectangular
and square windows express a strong, sober construction. The exterior qualities of the building are
nearly the opposite of the warm, exotic, carefully decorated and smooth interior. Again,
Mackintosh relates to Pugin’s theory by minimizing exterior decoration to emphasize the interior
design: the transition from the outside world into a safe, fantastic inside space. Paint analysis of
the harling on the exterior shows that it might have been left as an unpainted pale grey initially.
INTERIOR
The mansion combined the Edwardian period’s traditional ‘femininity’ of an intimate, inside
space, with the ‘masculinity’ of the exterior public world, both uncommonly used throughout the
interior of the building. To Mackintosh, bringing the masculine aspects to the inside would break
away from the over decorated, entirely feminine conventional interiors. This allowed him to
convey different feelings and experiences depending on the purpose of each space. Mackintosh
used different materials, colours and lighting, when necessary to perform a full experiential
transition from one point to another. All in such an elegant and well planned manner

EARLY WORKS OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
He studied in school of engineering from university o f Wisconsin in 1883, worked as a junior

draught-man for Allen.D.madison from 1885-87. After that he worked as head of the planning and
design department, in Alter and Sullivan-Chicago 1893-1896.he travelled around Europe from 1897
– 1909. He established an office in Tokyo in 1915 and Wright foundation fellowship in 1932. He got
gold medal from RIBA in 1941.
F.L.Wright was of the American tradition; his strength and inspiration were drawn from the soil. His
materials were taken from the land, wood, stone and clay bricks. He understood the human
needs, free from tension which centred the mental health and happiness of the dwelling.
To achieve this he evolved a new concept of interior space, rooms of a house, prior to his time,
were box like form with large opening in between them. Each form had a simple function, rooms
overlap and interpenetrate often at the corners. Spaces are defined rather than enclosed and
uses are relative rather than obsolute.
Roofs, balconies gradually become flat slabs, geometric interplay between vertical and
horizontals replaced an emphasis upon the walls.
All these were incorporated in these 3 building
Larkin Administration Building (1904)
Robie House (1909)
Unity temple (1906)
ROBIE HOUSE
He designed not only the house, but all of the interiors, the windows, lighting, rugs, furniture and
textiles. As Wright wrote in 1910, "it is quite impossible to consider the building one thing and its
furnishings another.
EXTERIOR
The projecting cantilevered roof eaves, continuous bands of art-glass windows, and the use
of Roman brick emphasize the horizontal, which had rich associations for Wright. The exterior walls
are double-width construction of a Chicago common brick core with a red-orange iron-spotted
Roman brick veneer.
To further emphasize the horizontal of the bricks, the horizontal joints were filled with a cream-
colored mortar and the small vertical joints were filled with brick-colour mortar. From a distance,
this complex and expensive tuck pointing creates an impression of continuous lines of horizontal
colours and minimizes the appearance of individual bricks.
The design of the art glass windows is an abstract pattern of colour and clear glass using Wright's
favourite 30 and 60-degree angles. Wright used similar designs in tapestries inside the house and
for gates surrounding the outdoor spaces and enclosing the garage courtyard. The planter urns,
copings, lintels, sills and other exterior trim work are of limestone.

Interior
In plan, the house is designed as two large rectangles that seem to slide by one another. Mr.
Wright referred to the rectangle on the southwest portion of the site, which contains the principal
living spaces of the house, as "the major vessel." On the first floor are the "billiards" room (west end)
and children's playroom (east end). These two rooms open through central doors to an enclosed
garden on the south side of the building.
A door from the playroom opens into the courtyard on the east end of the site. On the second
floor are the entry hall at the top of the central stairway, the living room (west end) and the dining
room (east end).
A fireplace originally separated the entry hallway from the living room. The living and dining rooms
flow into one another along the south side of the building and open through a series of twelve
French doors containing art glass panels to an exterior balcony running the length of the south
side of the building that overlooks the enclosed garden.

UNITY TEMPLE, OAK
The Unity Temple which was completed in 1907. The church marked a radical departure from
traditional religious architecture and was considered an outstanding example of Wright's
concepts that form must follow function and building materials must be honestly expressed.
This building was made primarily of concrete and coated with a special pebble aggregate. The
primitive South American inspired ornament was integrated to the building. The squarish meeting
hall, brilliant manipulating of spaces within the church and attached meeting area.
The design was based on squares and rectangles, a formula that is carried throughout the
building including the light fittings.
Larkin Administration Building (1904)
The building was constructed of dark red brick, utilizing pink tinted mortar. Five stories high, the
main building were attached to an annex of approximately three stories. The entire roof was
paved with brick and served as a recreation area for the building's employees, their families and
guests.
The entrances of the building were flanked by two waterfall-like fountains. Above the fountains
were bas-reliefs by Richard W Bock, who also designed the globes on the tops of the central
exterior piers of the building. But later it was removed due to structural issues.

These executives stated that because of the
rapid elevator in the building and the large
expanse of natural lighting, their new store
would be "one of the most attractive retail
establishments in this part of the country.
However, to meet this end, extensive
remodelling of the interior began. The floors
were carpeted and the organ console and
grand piano occupied the space. The court
was lighted by newly-installed diffused, glare
less floodlights placed on the fifth floor.

Also, the main floor now contained sixteen indoor "windows" where Larkin drapes and curtains
were displayed against a pastel background that was back lighted to simulate sunlight. Full-length
mirrors were installed and walls were repainted. The area surrounding the central court was
partitioned to make three model rooms for display.
The second floor was also partitioned into three model rooms. This floor and the third floor held
merchandise. The fourth and fifth floors remained in use as office space for the mail-order branch
of the company. Ten of the double-paned windows that faced the parking lot were transformed
into display windows.
MARTIN HOUSE
This was his first work to be consistently based on a modulated tartan plan form. He used three
elements — the pergola, conservatory and carriage house
The plan of the Martin House can be enjoyed as a two dimensional composition irrespective of its
function as a floor plan. He had the plan rendered to dramatize its compositional values. The
composition displays balance, gradation, terminals, interpenetration, and other valued elements.
The beholder responds because of his lifetime of experience with these elements. The pattern
appears as an idealization of relationships and elements.
We feel the space with our immediate awareness of its characteristics of shelter, variegated light,
harmoniously combined materials, and spatial extensions that lead the eye beyond the
perceived space.

UNIT-4
ISSUES OF ORNAMENTATION AND AESTHETICS
ADLOF LOOS & ARGUMENT ON ORNAMENTATION
Around 1910 Adolf Loos wrote an essay, “Ornament and Crime,” which argued that a
society’s progress was directly tied to the amount to which it spent on ornament. The essay
helped kick off declaration that ornament is crime, a rally cry and a mantra for the Modernists,
who idolized progress over tradition.
Unfortunately, many of the ideas of the Modernist movement persist today, and in many cases
they no longer apply to the world in which we live today. Adherence to the idea of “ornament is
crime” is fascistic, both from the high Modernists with the excitement of high idealism and from
modern-day designers who simply follow its dictum without question, a practice that can result in
weaker design.
Inherent in the claim “ornament is crime” is the idea that the claimer believes he knows what is
the best approach to design, and places him in superiority to the individual. Fascism requires a
collective identity that can be addressed en masse: when a designer attempts to order and
control humanity as if one were the very same as the other, the results are often deeply
problematic. The Modernist movement has been arraigned for this approach, and many critics
cite the examples of Pressac and the Pruitt-Igoe housing projects as Modernist failures.
Both projects were designed based on the idea (from Modernist pioneer Le Corbusier) that the
house is a “machine for living;” implicit in this idea is that humans are all the same enough to live
in a universalized space, and that we would be okay with living in a machine. Unfortunately, the
Pruitt-Igoe housing complex was razed after socio-economic problems rendered it high
unliveable.
Interestingly, despite its criticism, Pressac has not ended in the literal ruins that Pruitt-Igoe did;
Louise Huxtable described her pleasant reaction to visiting the complex in 1981 in the New York
Times, including her appreciation of Le Corbusier evident mastery of architectural principles. She
quotes Le Corbusier as saying “You know, it is always life that is right and the architect who is
wrong,” describing the statement as, the recognition of the validity of process over the sanctity of
ideology.”
By these examples we can see the importance for some give and take within the terms of anti-
ornament design: Pressac succeeded not only because of Le Corbusier creation of a strong
underlying structure but also because it was allowed to morph with the community which
inhabited it. Huxtable says, “One can read the original features, and then read the way they have
been used or assimilated.” But his idea remained, and became part of the Modernist system of
beliefs and design that has shaped design practice since, in many cases much more rigidly.
To make such a blanket statement for design as “ornament is crime” can also shut out important
aspects of humanity: individualism, personal expression, and environment. It denies cultural
identity, differing traditions, and specific contexts. To their credit, this was in fact the Modernists’
very intention; ornament from the spires of a cathedral even down to the serifs in their typography
served as a symbol for the history from which they wanted to divorce themselves. Certainly there
are those for whom the lack of ornament is a part of their personal expression after all, it was the

Modernists’ way to express their ideals—but their declaration does not and should not apply to
everyone. There is also a need to consider that we do not live in a homogenous society,
particularly in America. The declaration that “ornament is crime,” along with all the functionalist
ideals that go along with it, assume a western worldview that seeks to eradicate cultural tradition.
Ornamentation is a deeply important part of many cultures think just of religious architecture.
Loos’s criticism of the “erotic origin” of the cross and his derision of the “Papuan” serves an idea of
“progress,” tied to the rejection of ornament that reprioritizes other worldviews. The anti-culture
expression of the Modernist movement would raze all cultures, traditions, and individual
communities into one, universalized and controlled practice of design.
When the Modernists scorned ornamentation, it was an act of rebellion against the mores,
traditions, and even cultures of the time. However, as further generations have continued to
adhere to this practice, it has lost even its innovation. The spurning of ornament is no longer a
statement or practice being used to break from what’s come before. Rather, it is now a
continuation of the past, the exact reverse of what the Modernists were using it to do. No longer a
considered choice, it is now just a default. Though the Modernist ideal was to eradicate style, the
reality is that their method was no more absolute than any method before it. In fact, Modernism
changed dramatically in meaning and priority even within its own lifespan; think of the vast
difference between the Bauhaus and the American International Style post-WWII, when ideals
shifted to capitalism. In that shift, it became another style, just like every movement before it.
The “modern” look became just that, a look, and as the reasons for spurning ornament left so did
the consideration of why ornament was being spurned in design. This resulted in the creation of
work that was simply intended to look “modern,” emerging as simply an aesthetic. Many times,
these trendy objects can end up functioning less effectively because of the desire to make them
fit the ornament-less look, for example, the Marshmallow chair from George Nelson, described by
Meikle as incredibly uncomfortable. This prioritization of trend rather than consideration
undermines the original purpose of stripping ornament in design and resulting in a lot of trendy
and similar-looking products and houses.
The declaration that “ornament is crime” also ignores that ornament can be used functionally,
something which had actually been happening during the Modernist movement, albeit
unacknowledged. Mies van der Rohe, giant of the functionalist architectural movement, added
otherwise useless I-beams to his Seagram building (ironically an icon of the American version of
Modernism, the International Style) in order to emphasize its verticality. This echoes earlier Chicago
school architect Louis Sullivan’s declaration that part of the function of a skyscraper is to appear
tall and his usage of luxurious ornament on the first floor of department-store buildings in order to
lure in their target market, upper middle class ladies.
There is no need to be ashamed of using ornamentation functionally, and in fact it is a valuable

consideration in good design. The aesthetics of a product can function as an element; for
example, in order to establish branding identity and/or emotional reaction. Shutting out ornament
ignores context and involves less consideration of the material, sometimes putting itself in
disjunction with the environment in which it exists.”Taking away ornament removes a layer of
complexity of function which includes the more intangible elements that can elevate a design.
Designers who reject ornament outright today are creating less considered work and depriving
themselves of layers of nuance and meaning that the consideration of ornament in design could
afford them.

It is important to keep declarations such as Loos’s firmly within their historical context. He sent a
shockwave through the design community of his time, and induced a movement that changed
the design practice significantly. However, after that change, it is ill advised to continue to adhere
to the changing agent because the conditions of the world have changed from it; by its very
action of changing, it rendered itself obsolete. If we today continue with the “ornament is crime”
tradition, we will be denying the reality of our own time, and depriving our generation of our own
style and expression within our own unique context.
In 1966, postmodern writer Robert Venturi countered the Modernist companion-mantra to

“ornament is crime”, “less is more,” with the declaration “less is a bore.” He argued for using
“complexity and contradiction in architecture” and hoisted a banner for the post-modern
movement and their welcome introduction of whimsy, polemics, historical pastiche, and pop
culture into their work.
As she quotes Boudon, “The Quartiers Modernes Fruges were not an ‘architectural failure.’ The
modifications carried out by the occupants constitute a positive and not a negative
consequence of Le Corbusier original conception. Pessac not only allowed the occupants
sufficient latitude to satisfy their needs, by doing so it also helped them to realize what those
needs were.” Huxtable defense of Le Corbusier falls neatly in hand with Venturi’s defense of
ornament as a natural expression of human complexity: “Few architects are capable of making
Le Corbusier observation that “life is right”, because it speaks not to some fixed ideal, but to the
complexity and incompleteness of architecture, to how life and art accommodate to each other.
And that is what Pessac is really about.”
There is also room to question the supremacy of function in consideration of design: there is a
history of polemic design objects whose value is based in the argument they make and the
questions they inspire, including such standout examples as the Carlton bookshelf, the Juicy Salif
lemon squeezer, Dunne & Raby’s “nervous robots,” and many other designs that toe the line
between statement, art, and design. There is occasionally still value in a non-functional object.
The discussion of what priorities and problems are being addressed in design today is as valuable
to designers as the creation of perfectly functioning objects.
We are in a unique position today to both argue and allow the myriad differing priorities and
considerations of design that concurrently exist. In the 21st century, at a time when we have
access to (and indeed are bombarded with) more information than any generation before,
where the blending of cultures, histories, styles, ideas, etc. is in its zenith of occurrence and speed,
the adherence to “ornament is crime” feels horrifically outdated, and it’s long since time to shed
the skin the Modernists grew and emerge with our own decisions for what we want to consider in
our design. We are in a place of choice, where a designer can choose to work wholly
functionally, or wholly polemically—and both approaches have a valuable contribution to the
dialogue and practice of design.
FUTURISTS MOVEMENT MANIFESTOS
Futurist architecture (or Futurism) was an early-20th century form of architecture characterized by
anti-historicism and long horizontal lines suggesting speed, motion and urgency. Technology and
even violence were among the themes of the Futurists. The movement was founded by the
poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, who produced its first manifesto, the Manifesto of Futurism in 1909.

The movement attracted not only poets, musicians, and artists such as Umberto
Boccioni, Giacomo Balla, Fortunato Depero, and Enrico Prampolini but also a number of
architects. The latter group included Antonio Sant'Elia, though building little, translated the Futurist
vision into an urban form.
In 1912, three years after Marinetti's Futurist Manifesto, Antonio Sant'Elia and Mario
Chiattoni founded the Nuove Tendenze (literally New Trends). In 1914 the group presented their
first exposition with a "Message" by Sant'Elia, that later, with the contribution of Filippo Tommaso
Marinetti, became the Manifesto dell’Architettura Futurista ("Manifesto of Futurist Architecture").
Also Boccioni worked on a similar manifesto, but Marinetti preferred Sant'Elia's paper.
Later in 1920, another manifesto was written by Virgilio Marchi, Manifesto dell’Architettura
Futurista–Dinamica ("Manifesto of Dynamic Instinctive Dramatic Futurist Architecture"). Ottorino
Aloisio worked in the style established by Marchi, one example being his Casa del Fascio in Asti.
Another futurist manifesto related to architecture is the Manifesto dell’Arte Sacra
Futurista ("Manifesto of Sacred Futurist Art") by Fillia (Luigi Colombo) and Filippo Tommaso
Marinetti, published in 1931. On 27 January 1934 the Manifesto of Aerial Architecture by Angiolo
Mazzoni and Marinetti. Mazzoni had publicly adhered to futurism only the year before. In this
paper the Lingotto factory by Giacomo Matte-Trucco is defined as the first Futurist constructive
invention. Mazzoni himself in that year worked on building considered masterpiece of futurist
architecture, like the Heating plant and Main controls cabin at Santa Maria Novella railway
station, in Florence.
After World War II Futurism toned down considerably,

redefining itself in the context of Space Age trends,
the car culture and the fascination with plastic
Heating plant and Main controls cabin at Santa Maria

Novella railway station
Characteristics of Futurism
Futurism was a thought in favour of revolutionary change, speed, dynamism and an aggressive
adulation of the “machine”. Futurism saw the modern metropolis as a collective expression of the
sources of the society. Fragmentation, interpretation of space and form abstraction and elements
of reality were incorporated.
Inspiration should be found in the new mechanical world we have created with the use of raw,
exposed and violently coloured materials. Futurism pulled together a collection of progressive
attitudes, anti-traditional position and tendencies towards abstract form, with celebration of
modern materials and an indulgence in mechanical analogies.
WORKS OF SANT’ELIA
A builder by training, he opened a design office in Milan in 1912 and became involved with
the Futurist movement. Between 1912 and 1914, influenced by industrial cities of the United
States and the Viennese architects Otto Wagner and Adolf Loos, he began a series of design
drawings for a futurist Città Nuova ("New City") that was conceived as symbolic of a new age.
Many of these drawings were displayed at the only exhibition of the Nuove Tendenze group (of
which he was a member) exhibition in May/June 1914 at the "Famiglia Artistica" gallery. Today,
some of these drawings are on permanent display at Como's art gallery.
The manifesto Futurist Architecture was published in August 1914, supposedly by Sant'Elia, though
this is subject to debate. In it the author stated that "the decorative value of Futurist architecture
depends solely on the use and original arrangement of raw or bare or violently colour materials".
IDEOLOGY
His vision was for a highly industrialised and mechanized city of the future, which he saw not as a
mass of individual buildings but a vast, multi-level, interconnected and integrated
urban conurbation designed around the "life" of the city.
His extremely influential designs featured vast monolithic skyscraper buildings with terraces,
bridges and aerial walkways that embodied the sheer excitement of modern architecture and
technology. Even in this excitement for technology and modernity, in Sant'Elia's monumentalism,
however, can be found elements of Art Nouveau.
Architect Sant’Elia composed sant Elias’ cita Nuova

,1914. Their concept was the new architecture should
express new spiritual attitudes and also find new form
appropriate to materials and means of construction.
New buildings should be lighter and more in expression.
Even though this movement has no practical effect on
architecture, the main contribution was that of Sant
Elias’s drawings of future cities, buildings. Elias
conceived “building as a sort of machine”. He said the
modern city might be a dynamic machine of moving
and variable parts.

EXPRESSIONISM
Expressionism was a modernist movement, initially in poetry and painting, originating in Germany
at the beginning of the 20th century. It typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective
perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.
Expressionist artists sought to express meaning or emotional experience rather than physical
reality.
Expressionism was developed as an avant-garde style before the First World War. It remained
popular during the Weimar Republic, particularly in Berlin. The style extended to a wide range
of the arts, including painting, literature, theatre, dance, film, architecture and music.
The term is sometimes suggestive of emotional angst. In a general sense, painters such as Matthias
Grunewald and El Greco are sometimes termed expressionist, though in practice the term is
applied mainly to 20th-century works. The Expressionist emphasis on individual perspective has
been characterized as a reaction to positivism and other artistic styles such
as naturalism and impressionism.
In 1905, a group of four German artists, led by Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, formed Die Brucke (the
Bridge) in the city of Dresden. This was arguably the founding organization for the German
Expressionist movement, though they did not use the word itself. A few years later, in 1911, a like-
minded group of young artists formed Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in Munich.
The name came from Wassily Kandinsky's Der Blaue Reiter painting of 1903. Among their members
were Kandinsky, Franz Marc, Paul Klee, and Auguste Macke. However, the term Expressionism did
not firmly establish itself until 1913. Though initially mainly a German artistic movement, most
predominant in painting, poetry and the theatre between 1910-30, most precursors of the
movement were not German.
Furthermore there have been expressionist writers of prose fiction, as well as non-German
speaking expressionist writers, and, while the movement had declined in Germany with the rise
of Adolf Hitler in the 1930s, there were subsequent expressionist works.
Hermann Bahr, German Critic
The term expressionism was coined by Czech art historian Antonin matejcek in 1910. It is generally
used to denote various reactions against Impressionism and academic art in the late 19th century.
Impressionist sought to express the majesty of nature, Expressionist sought to express inner life
though painting of harsh and realistic subject matter. They were highly inspired by the works of
post impressionist artist like Van Gogh and Eduard Munch. This encouraged them to distort forms
and employ strong colours to express various feeling.
The classic phase of the movement lasted approximately from 1905 to 1920. It started in Germany
and spread across Europe. This period was marked by political turmoil and a general sense of
depression and impending war. These feeling were reflected in the works of the Expressionists.
CHARCTERISTICS EXPRESSIONISM
The following are the main characteristics of Expressionist architecture:
a) Distortion of form for an emotional effect.

b) Subordination of realism to symbolic or stylistic expression of inner experience.

c) An underlying effort at achieving the new, original, and visionary.
d) Glass architecture (admits lights of sun, moon & stars into rooms not only through windows
but through as many walls as feasible)
e) Profusion of works on paper, and models, with discovery and representations of more
important than pragmatic finished products.
f) Often hybrid solutions, irreducible to a single concept. Themes of natural romantic
phenomena, such as caves, mountains, lightning, crystal and rock formations. As such it is
more mineral and elemental than florid and organic which characterized its close
contemporary art nouveau.
g) Conception of architecture as a work of art. Utilizes creative potential
of artisan craftsmanship. The handling of volumes, forms and colours to enhance the art
value.
h) Tendency more towards the gothic than the classical. Expressionist architecture also tends
more towards the Romanesque and the Rococo than the classical.
Expressionism in architecture was characterized by biomorphic forms: themes derived from nature
such as caves, rocks, organic and non geometric form. Forms, abstraction, anti rationalist ideas
and anti box architecture were the keywords of architecture.
Hans Poelzig, 1919 Grosses Schauspielhaus (the Biomorphic forms were mostly restricted to
Great Theatre), in Berlin. Interior inspired by sketches because of the economic constraints
stalactite formations in caves. Lighting was a of the times
major element used to enhance the visual
aspects in the theatre.
Rudolph Steiner
with the model
of
Goetheanum:
a spiritual
centre. His
forms were
manifested
with
mathematical
and symbolic cosmology; architecture as a
means to create a “whole living organism” in
which the soul becomes spiritually shaped by
the imprint of the surfaces of the building. Bruno Taut , Alpine Architecture. Utopian vision
of a city in the Alps inspired by works of
Nietzsche.

EXPRESSIONISM IN ARCHITECTURE
In architecture, two specific buildings are identified as Expressionist: Bruno Taut's Glass Pavilion of
the Cologne Werkbund Exhibition (1914), and Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein Tower in Potsdam,
Germany completed in 1921. The interior of Hans Poelzig's Berlin theatre (the Grosse
Schauspielhaus), designed for the director Max Reinhardt, is also cited sometimes. In Mexico, in
1953, German émigré Mathias Goeritz, published the "Arquitectura Emocional" (Architecture
emotional) manifesto with which he declared that "architecture's principal function is
emotion". Modern Mexican architect Luis Barragan adopted the term that influenced his work.
The two of them collaborated in the project Torres de Satelite (1957–58) guided by Goeritz's
principles of Arquitectura Emocional. It was only during the 1970s that Expressionism in architecture
came to be re-evaluated more positively.
Expressionism is a term that arises in the early 20th century around a group of painters, mainly
German and centered in Munich, who sought to convey deep emotional content using
significant amounts of abstraction but without losing figural subject matter. Color played a major
role in their work. They also sought to convey a new and different kind of emotional content,
often verging on complex psychology and psychic struggle. It is important to remember that
during this same time, the work of Sigmund Freud was very new and ground-breaking, suggesting
that many undercurrents in the personality determine human emotional and psychological
reaction in a variety of situational “archetypes.”
While expressionism in architecture may not have quite so much Freudian content, there is
abundant evidence that many architects at least went through a period in which they hoped to
make architecture more emotionally expressive than a machine or industrial aesthetic would
permit.
Expressionism is not a clearly defined term and may have more than one definition. It can often
overlap other kinds of content and formal choices. Nevertheless, there is a certain quality about it
that usually allows us to recognize it. Expressionist forms are often sculptural, sometimes irrational,
usually personal and idiosyncratic. But they are also often distorted. The notion of identifying
“expressive” qualities in a building is not necessarily the same as identifying “expressionistic”
qualities.
A building may convey some intentional meaning through its form (“expressive”); or the stamp of
the personality, individuality, identity, or even the pathology of the architect (“expressionistic”).
This may not always be easy to distinguish. A wildly sculptural form may not always be the
evidence of expressionism. Expressionistic form can also convey spirituality as well as psychology
and it is important to evaluate a potentially expressionist form carefully before pronouncing a
verdict.
Basically there were two categories of buildings: one possible and unconventional the others
crystalline, amorphous curvilinear forms.
INFLUENCES:
Many writers contributed to the ideology of expressionist architecture. Sources of philosophy
important to expressionist architects were works by Friedrich Nietzsche, Soren Kierkegaard and
Henri Bergson. Bruno Taut's sketches were frequently noted with quotations from Nietzsche. His
Zarathustra’s mountain retreat was an inspiration to Taut's Alpine Architecture.
Naturalists such as Charles Darwin, and Ernst Haeckel contributed an ideology for the biomorphic
form of architects such as Herman Finsterlin. Poet Paul Scheerbart worked directly with Bruno Taut
and his circle, and contributed ideas based on his poetry of glass architecture.
Emergent psychology from Sigmund Freud and Karl Jung was important to expressionism. The
exploration of psychological effects of form and space was undertaken by architects in their
buildings, projects and films.
Philosophies of aesthetics, "science of art" movement in Germany theories of aesthetics of Max

Dessoir had overarching influences on the works of Expressionist architects.
Expressionism building examples

Bruno Taut's - Glass pavilion at Werkbund
Erich Mendelssohn’s -Einstein tower, Potsdam
Hans Poelzig's - the interior of Berlin theatre
BRUNO TAUT’S – GLASS PAVILLION AT WERKBUND
The Glass Pavilion, built in 1914 and designed by Bruno Taut, was a prismatic glass dome structure
at the Cologne Deutscher Werkbund Exhibition. The structure was a brightly colour landmark of
the exhibition, and was constructed using concrete and glass. The concrete structure had inlaid
colour glass plates on the facade that acted as mirrors. “The Gothic Cathedral is the prelude to
glass architecture.” Taut’s building was meant to be an experience of light afforded by a
combination of glass and skeletal metal structure.
Taut's Glass Pavilion is his best known single building achievement. He built it for the association of
the German glass industry specifically for the 1914 exhibition. They financed the structure that was
considered a house of art. The purpose of the building was to demonstrate the potential of
different types of glass for architecture. It also indicated how the material might be used to
orchestrate human emotions and assist in the construction of a spiritual utopia.

The structure was made at the time when expressionism was most fashionable Germany, and it is
sometimes referred to as an expressionist-style building. The building was destroyed soon after the
exhibition since it was an exhibition building only and not built for practical use.
The Glass Pavilion was a pineapple-shaped multi-faceted polygonal designed rhombic

structure. It had a fourteen-sided base constructed of thick glass bricks used for the exterior walls
devoid of rectangles. Each part of the cupola was designed to recall the complex geometry of
nature. The Pavilion structure was on a concrete plinth, the entrance reached by two flights of
steps (one on either side of the building), which gave the pavilion a temple-like quality. Taut's
Glass Pavilion was the first building of glass bricks of importance.
There were glass-treaded metal staircases inside that led to the upper projection room that
showed a kaleidoscope of colours. Between the staircases was a seven-tiered cascading
waterfall with underwater lighting, this created a sensation of descending to the lower level 'as if
through sparkling water'. The interior had prisms producing colour rays from the outside
sunlight. The floor-to-ceiling colour glass walls were mosaic. All this had the effect of a large crystal
producing a large variety of colours. The idea of bringing in the moon's and the stars light brought
in different positive feelings which led to a whole new culture.
EINSTEIN TOWER, POTSDAM-ERICH MENDELSOHN
The Einstein Tower (German: Einsteinturm) is an

astrophysical observatory in the Albert Einstein
Science Park in Potsdam, Germany built
by Erich Mendelsohn.
It was built on the summit of the

Potsdam Telegraphenberg to house a solar
telescope designed by the astronomer Erwin
Finlay-Freundlich.
The building was first conceived around 1917,

built from 1919 to 1921 after a fund-raising drive,
and became operational in 1924. It is still a
working solar observatory today as part of
the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam.
Light from the telescope is directed down through the shaft to the basement where the
instruments and laboratory are located. This was one of Mendelsohn's first major projects. The
exterior was originally conceived in concrete, but due to construction difficulties with the complex
design and shortages from the war, much of the building was actually realized in brick,
covered with stucco.
In the Einstein Tower the construction containing the optics consists of two wooden platforms,
each six m high, placed one above the other. The telescope has a lens objective of 60 cm
diameter and focal length of 14 m. Rooms for observations and measurements are located at the
base of the tower. In California the lab rooms are under each other; in Potsdam they are
arranged horizontally. Another rotating mirror directs the sunlight to the spectrograph lab located
in the basement behind an earthen wall on the southern side of the tower. It is about 14 m long
and thermally insulated. Here is where the light is split up into its spectral components and
analyzed. This design of a horizontal laboratory wing led to the elongated profile of the entire
facility.

CUBISM
CUBISM IN ART
Cubism is a movement in European painting in the early 20th century. It started in France sometime
between 1905 and 1910. There was a general feeling that means of expression in painting was not
keeping in touch with the modern art. It was developed on the concept of ‘new way of seeing
things’ of Paul Cezanne. This was further carried on by artist like Picasso.
A new theory not based on perspectives was developed to represent spaces and objects. It was
not a one point view, but a way of viewing simultaneously from all sides: going around, inside,
outside, above and below. A fourth dimension of time was also added to art. Planes became
important ways of seeing objects. For example bottles and pipes were flattened out to show the
inside and outside simultaneously.
Adding tactile qualities to the painting through introduction of fabric, paper and other materials
was another feature of Cubist art. Initial experiments on Cubism involved monochromatic art,
since more importance was given to the experiments on representing objects and space
differently.
The new ways of representations meant reproduction of objects by surfaces placed adjacent to
each other, interpenetrating one another using transparent effects. Diverse aspects of the object
were represented simultaneously; nothing was prioritized. Pictures as a result were simple
geometric compositions.
The early period of cubism is known as analytical cubism refers to a process of analysis, or the
painterly examination of the elements of still-life, portrait or landscape subjects and the later
synthetic cubism refers to a process of synthesis, or the painterly reconstruction of a subject after
its fragmentation or analysis. Works of Picasso and Georges Braque mostly belong to the former
while Juan Gris belonged to the latter style.

Pablo Picasso, Card Player Juan Gris, Guitar and glasses
CUBISM IN ARCHITECTURE
The notion that Cubism formed an important link between early-twentieth-century art and
architecture is widely accepted. The historical, theoretical, and socio-political relationships
between avant-garde practices in painting, sculpture and architecture had early ramifications in
France, Germany, the Netherlands and Czechoslovakia. Though there are many points of
intersection between Cubism and architecture, only a few direct links between them can be
drawn. Most often the connections are made by reference to shared formal characteristics:
faceting of form, spatial ambiguity, transparency, and multiplicity.
Architectural interest in Cubism centered on the dissolution and reconstitution of three-

dimensional form, using simple geometric shapes, juxtaposed without the illusions of classical
perspective. Diverse elements could be superimposed, made transparent or penetrate one
another, while retaining their spatial relationships. Cubism had become a influential factor in the
development of modern architecture from 1912 onward, developing in parallel with architects
such as Peter Behrens and Walter Gropius, with the simplification of building design, the use of
materials appropriate to industrial production, and the increased use of glass.
Cubism was relevant to an architecture seeking a style that needed not refer to the past. Thus,
what had become a revolution in both painting and sculpture was applied as part of ‘a profound
reorientation towards a changed world’. The Cubo-Futurist ideas of Filippo Tommaso
Marinetti influenced attitudes in avant-garde architecture. The influential De Stijl movement
embraced the aesthetic principles of Neo-plasticism developed by Piet Mondrian under the
influence of Cubism in Paris. De Stijl was also linked by Gino Severini to Cubist theory through the
writings of Albert Gleizes. However, the linking of basic geometric forms with inherent beauty and
ease of industrial application which had been prefigured by Marcel Duchamp from 1914 was left
to the founders of Purism. Le Corbusier's ambition had been to translate the properties of his own
style of Cubism to architecture. Between 1918 and 1922, Le Corbusier concentrated his efforts on
Purist theory and painting. In 1922, Le Corbusier and his cousin Jeanneret opened a studio in Paris
at 35 rue de Sèvres. His theoretical studies soon advanced into many different architectural
projects.

Translating the concepts of Cubist art into architecture was much more complicated. The early
attempts were restricted to ornamentation only.
Raymond Du Champ Villon designed ‘Villa Cubiste’ in 1912. He was an artist and the building in its
final form was neo-classical in character with cubist decoration.
In Czechoslovakia a group of architects dedicated their works to cubism. Cubism in their works
was restricted to treatment of façade and ornamentation. There was no reflection of cubist ideas
either in plan or form.
The architecture of this group was primarily non-utilitarian in nature. The architectural expression
was sought in abstract spiritual forms or dramatically dynamic forms. Importance was given to the
composition of masses and volumes. Orthogonality was a key characteristic of their works. Plastic
inorganic forms with dynamic compositions were aimed at but what were achieved were
rhythmic forms. There was no architectural logic or structure in the buildings conceived.
There was a clear influence of Baroque, Gothic and Neo-classical architecture in Cubism.
Two of the architects of the Czech group were Vlatislav hofman and Pavel Janak.

Vlastislav Hofman was a cubist with very impractical ideas causing most of his projects to be
restricted to concepts.
Pavel Janak was highly influenced by Baroque architecture. He was a part of return to historicism
movement.
Fara’s house in Pelhrimov (1913-14) by Pavel Janak; rebuilt house in town’s historical center;
facade – new conception of space and matter relationship (like in Picasso’s analytical cubism)
where matter is diluted by space; architectural surface – cubist folds, fractures and waves
became a "mixture of the matter existing inside and the space on the outside."
Black Madonna house (1911-12) by Josef Gocar; originally designed in the modern classicist mode
(rational and clear structure) but after fundamental revision the reinforced concrete skeleton
(inspired by Kotera and his skeletal compositions) acquired its distinctive cubist elements (the front
entrance, capitals of columns between the windows); mansard roof resembles the baroque
setting; fluted columns between the 3rd floor windows and the main cornice create classical
impression.

It was only in the later phase of Cubism: Synthetic cubism that 3-D interpretations of cubist ideals
started appearing in architecture. Asymmetry, transparency, volumetric interpenetration and
simultaneous perception were characterized in this phase of cubism especially in the works of
Corbusier. His Ron champ cathedral is considered one of the best examples of cubist
architecture.
CONSTRUCTIVISM
Constructivism was an artistic and architectural philosophy that originated in Russia beginning in
1919, which was a rejection of the idea of autonomous art. The movement was in favour of art as
a practice for social purposes. Constructivism had a great effect on modern art movements of
the 20th century, influencing major trends such as Bauhaus and the De Stijl movement. Its
influence was pervasive, with major impacts upon architecture, graphic and industrial design,
theatre, film, dance, fashion and to some extent music.
CONSTRUCTIVISM IN ARCHITECTURE
Constructivist architecture was a form of modern architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in
the 1920s and early 1930s. It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly
Communist social purpose. Although it was divided into several competing factions, the
movement produced many pioneering projects and finished buildings, before falling out of favour
around 1932. Its effects have been marked on later developments in architecture.
The influence of Constructivism was spread farther into Europe through various exhibits and its
concerns for social equality found its way into Bauhaus after an exhibition in Berlin. Walter Gropius
was so moved by the ideas that he completely changed the ideals at Bauhaus School.
‘All accessories such as sign, adverstiing, clocks, loudspeakers and even elevator inside have nee
incorporated as integral elements of the design and combined into a unified whole. This is the
aesthetics of constructivism’ El Lissitzky, Russian architect, in 1929
The movement in Russia happened in two phases:
First was when timber construction was employed for temporary structures in exhibition or street
art.

Second phase happened when buildings were constructed which were a hybrid of machine form
and biological structures. Technological elements were introduced into the building to improve
the sculptural qualities. Interlocking dwelling units, acess systems such as ramps and elevators,
search lights, electrical skysigns, radio ariels and cinematographic equipments were all a part of
the architecture of the time.
Constructivist Architecture in Russia
Vladmir Tatlin, Monument to the third international, 1920
This was designed as a distorted frustum, diminishing as spiral

vortex to the summit. It was painted red in memory of the
revolution. The monument celebrated the merging of
technology and sculpture.
Konstantin Melnikov
Mahroka pavilion, All Russia Agricultural and craft exhibition,
Moscow 1923. This was a non-traditional interpretation of
Russian vernacular architecture. Similar style was adopted by
him for the Sucharev market, Moscow built in 1923 and the
Russian pavilion at the Paris Exposition, 9125. The pavilion was
an ensemble of articulated precut standard timber members
with wood block stencil, interlocking mono-pitched roofs and
rhetorical stairways.
Melnikov house, Moscow Rusakov club, Moscow

The second phase of
constructivism is marked by
buildings of steel, concrete and
glass. Rusakov club, Moscow
(1927-8) was noted for its
cantilevered concrete lecture
halls.

In 1923, Aleksei Gan set up what he considered the true group of Constructivists, comprised of
students at Vkhutemas. This group consisted of several production cells: the equipment for
everyday life, children’s books, specialized work clothes and typography, as well as cells
concerned with material structures, mass action, and cinema and photography (Kino-Fot). The
group exhibited their work at the First Discussional Exhibition of the Union of Active Revolutionary
Art (Moscow, May 1924). He was also a founding member of ‘October’ (1928–32), a union of
artists, designers and architects, which primarily advocated Constructivist ideals as the most
suitable for the advancement of the material culture of Soviet society. In 1925 another group
known as the Association of contemporary architects was formed practicing mostly
Constructivism.
Alexander Vesnin, Leningrad Pravda building, Moscow 1923: it symbolized all the ideals of
Constructivism. With its visible radio towers, signs and elevators it stood for the ideal building where
aesthetics was governed by technology.
Russian constructivist had two agendas: one to create an ideal socialist town and the other to
design ‘social condensers’ or community spaces designed architecturally and institutionally. The
result of these were ideals like the six banded linear city proposed by N A Milyutin in 1930 and
workers’ clubs and communal housing designed by Ginzburg exemplified by the Narkomfin
housing block, Moscow 1929. The ideal city plans were very much influenced by the works of Marx
and Engels. The architect, Moisei Ginzburg, built Narkomfin to solve the most pressing problem of
urban planning—how to avoid the isolation that comes with living in a city.
He designed a six-storey apartment block, and then added on an annex containing all things the
inhabitants would need for daily living. There was a library and a shop, a communal kitchen and
dining room, even a rooftop solarium for Moscow’s brief, hot, summer. And there were meeting
rooms to allow the people to discuss the onward march of socialism. The corridors to the flats were
big, wide and open, to encourage people to see them as the village street, and stop and talk
with their neighbours.

The infrastructural requirements of the new Soviet such as hydroelectric projects also were met by
the architects. The Dniesprostroi Dam designed by Victor Vesnin in 1932 falls in this category.
Narkomfin Housing, Moscow
Dniesprostroi Dam
Constructivist Architecture in Europe
After the 1920s the movement spread to parts of Europe and had most influences in Netherlands
and Germany. In Netherlands, Mart Stam and Johannes Duiker continued the efforts of their
counterparts in Russia. Van Nelle factory for the League of Nations at Rotterdam designed by
Andreas Brinkman and Leendert van der Vlugt was a constructivist building characterized by
mushroom columns, curtain walling and reinforced concrete construction. The key feature was a
continuous moving conveyer belt with transparent elevator tubes connecting the factory slab to
a canal side warehouse.
In Germany, Constructivism came from the works of Hannes Meyer and Walter Gropius.

Hannes Meyer, ADGB Trade Union School, Bernau (1928-30)
Swiss born Meyer moved to Bauhaus in 1927.he was an ardent communist. Meyer disavowed
aesthetic and stylistic considerations in design in favor of a functionally driven and socially
responsible architecture: superiority of Marxist over capitalist design:
For the functional diagram of the ADGB Trade Union School, Meyer used a linear arrangement to
organize the various uses of the complex into three distinct yet interconnected components.
The first building supported public functions, auditorium, refectory, and a winter-garden. This
public area connected to a residential zone comprising four identical, three-story dormitory units.
The linear diagram terminated at a two-story school building with a monumental staircase
connecting a ground floor gymnasium and upper-story classrooms. A long steel-and-glass corridor
served as an interior passage linking the complex’s three primary components.
The steel of this interior passage, along with that of the winter garden and the gymnasium
staircase, was painted red. Contrasting sharply with the exposed gray concrete structure and buff
brick that made up the exterior walls of all buildings, the vibrant red signified the complex’s
principal circulation path. It is one of the building’s most prominent public spaces and exterior
features, and emphasized the underlying functional diagram. Each of the dormitories has a
unique color scheme. As originally built, the complex also included a faculty housing wing
connected to the entry and administrative are

This style was later adopted in Pompidou centre
designed by Renzo Piano, Richard Rogers and
Gianfranco Franchini in the 1970s.

DE STIJL
De Stijl (Dutch for "The Style", also known as neo plasticism. It

originated in Netherlands in about 1916. This started as a
movement in painting propagated by painter Piet Mondrian.
He represented the landscapes in a composition of vertical
and horizontal lines. The De Stijl style paintings were
compositions of bold colours, lines and planes: the basic
elements. Geometry was considered the essence of the real.
This takes art to a spiritual plane by leaving behind the
materialistic details and presents a holistic view.
The movement was pioneered by a group of artists and architects under Theo van Doesburg. The
name was adopted from a magazine of the same name published by Doesburg from 1917. The
style is also known as neo- plasticism.
De Stijl architecture was influenced by the works of Frank Lloyd Wright and H P Berlage. The
architecture is characterized by the bold use of colours, simplicity and treatment of walls and
roofs as horizontal and vertical planes. Colours were used to differentiate function and location.
Coloured planes and their juxtaposition was a major feature of the architecture.
One of the most important examples of De Stijl architecture was Gerrit Reitveld and Mondrian’s
Schroder house for at Utrecht in 1924. This small family house, with its interior, the flexible spatial
arrangement, and the visual and formal qualities is now a world heritage site as an icon of
modern architecture.
The few existing drawings and the scale model show that the design evolved from a fairly close
block to an open transparent composition of evenly matched spaces composed of independent
planes. Rietveld gave a new spatial meaning to the straight lines and rectangular planes of the
various architectural and structural elements, slabs, posts and beams, which were composed in a
balanced ensemble. At the same time, each element was given autonomy while emphasizing
the fluidity and continuity of space. Although the building has obvious artistic value, Rietveld gave
much attention to functionality.
The house has two floors, developing around a spiral staircase in the centre. The main structure
consists of reinforced concrete slabs and steel profiles. It is painted in basic colours, red, blue,
yellow, black and white, as well as shades of grey (often referred to Mondrian’s paintings). Unlike
a traditional Dutch house, where rooms are accessible through corridors, this house was
conceived by Rietveld in a flexible manner. There is no hierarchical arrangement of rooms in the
floor plan. The upper floor is one open space around the staircase. It can be divided into three
bedrooms and a sitting room by sliding panels. On the ground floor Rietveld was forced to meet
Dutch regulations in order to acquire a building permit. There five rooms are grouped around a
small hall. The interrelation of the rooms can be sensed by the fanlights above the doors and by
the recessed and staggered inner walls.
The house was detailed completely by the architect.
Other important works of architecture during this period include Deosburg’s café Aubette at
Strasbourg. Contributions were also made by JJP Oud.

Plans of the house
Interior and exterior views of the house

UNIT-5
INSTITUTIONS
DEUTSCHE WERKBUND
Deutsche Werkbund, established in 1907, its chief aim was “the refinement of workmanship and
the enhancement of the quality of production. Artist, workman and industrialist were to
collaborate in producing honest goods of artistic value.
The Deutsche Werkbund (German Work Federation) was a German association of artists,
architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the
development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of
the Bauhaus school of design.
Its initial purpose was to establish a partnership of product manufacturers with design
professionals to improve the competitiveness of German companies in global markets. The
Werkbund was less an artistic movement than a state-sponsored effort to integrate traditional
crafts and industrial mass-production techniques, to put Germany on a competitive footing with
England and the United States.
The Werkbund was founded in 1907 in Munich at the instigation of Hermann Muthesius, existed
through 1934, then re-established after World War II in 1950. Muthesius was the author of the
exhaustive three-volume "The English House" of 1905, a survey of the practical lessons of the
English Arts and Crafts movement. Muthesius was seen as something of a cultural ambassador, or
industrial spy, between Germany and England.
The organization originally included twelve architects and twelve business firms. The architects
include Peter Behrens, Theodor Fischer , Josef Hoffmann, Bruno Paul, and Richard
Riemerschmid. Eliel Saarinen was made corresponding member of the Deutscher Werkbund in
1914 and was invited to participate in the 1914 Cologne exhibition. Its most famous member was
the architect Mies Van der Rohe, who served as Architectural Director.
The first Werkbund Exhibition of 1914 was held at Rheinpark in Cologne, Germany. Bruno Taut's
best-known building, the prismatic dome of the Glass Pavilion of which only black and white
images survive today, was in reality a brightly colour landmark. Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer
designed a model factory for the exhibition. The Belgian architect Henri van de Velde designed a
model theatre.
The exhibition Planning begin in earnest in 1912, and construction work started in early 1914. The
exhibition was opened to the public by Van de Velde on May 15th, 1914. Scheduled to last until
the end of October, it was prematurely shut down on August 8th, in reaction to the outbreak
of World War I a week earlier; the exhibition buildings were dismantled shortly afterwards.
There were two more Werkbund Exhibitions after the war. The second was the Stuttgart Exhibition
of 1927, which included the Weissenh of Estate. At that time, the third Werkbund Exhibition had
been tentatively scheduled for 1937, but the plan was shelved in 1932 because of the Great
Depression and could not be taken up again since the Nazis opposed and ultimately outlawed

the Werkbund. It finally took place on a reduced scale in 1949, back in Cologne, and turned out
to be the last Werkbund Exhibition.
Deutscher Werkbund, English German Association of Craftsmen, important organization of artist’s

influential in its attempts to inspire good design and craftsmanship for mass-produced goods and
architecture. The Werkbund, which was founded in Munich in 1907, was composed of artists,
artisans, and architects who designed industrial, commercial, and household products as well as
practicing architecture.
The group’s intellectual leaders, architects Hermann Muthesius and Henry van de Velde, were
influenced by William Morris, who, as leader of the 19th-century English Arts and Crafts Movement,
proposed that industrial crafts be revived as a collaborative enterprise of designers and
craftsmen. Van de Velde and Muthesius expanded Morris’ ideas to include machine-made
goods. They also proposed that form be determined only by function and that ornamentation be
eliminated.
Soon after the Werkbund was founded, it divided into two factions. One, championed by
Muthesius, advocated the greatest possible use of mechanical mass production and
standardized design. The other faction, headed by van de Velde, maintained the value of
individual artistic expression. The Werkbund adopted Muthesius’ ideas in 1914.
The Werkbund’s influence was further enhanced by its exhibition of industrial art and architecture
in Cologne (1914). Among the buildings exhibited were some of the most notable examples of
modern architecture in steel, concrete, and glass. These included a theatre by van de Velde and
an administrative office building, the Pavilion for Deutz Machinery Factory, and garages by the
architect Walter Gropius.
World War I interrupted the Werkbund’s activity, but after the war it reasserted itself with a
significant exhibition in Stuttgart (1927). Organized by the German architect Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe, the exhibition formed a compendium of contemporary European developments
in domestic architecture and construction. Many of the exhibiting architects, such as Mies,
Gropius, and Le Corbusier, followed the ideas of Muthesius and employed a high degree of
standardization of materials and design, making it possible to build housing units inexpensively on
a large scale.
At the same time the architect Ernst may was called in to organise the housing development on
the outskirts of Frankfort-on-main. In 1929 the government through the werkbund gave Mies van
der Rohe full charge of German pavilion at the Barcelona exhibition. In 1930 Walter Gropius was
chosen to organise the first German exhibition at the Paris Salon since the war. The Werkbund
period witnessed a complete change in the status of the architect in Germany.
BAUHAUS
Bauhaus is a German expression meaning house for building. The motivations behind the creation
of the Bauhaus lay in the 19th century, in anxieties about the soullessness of manufacturing and its
products, and in fears about art's loss of purpose in society. Creativity and manufacturing were
drifting apart, and the Bauhaus aimed to unit them once again, rejuvenating design for everyday
life.

In 1919, the economy in Germany was collapsing after a crushing war. Architect Walter Gropius
was appointed to head a new institution that would help rebuild the country and form a new
social order. Called the Bauhaus, the Institution called for a new "rational" social housing for the
workers. Bauhaus architects rejected "bourgeois" details such as cornices, eaves, and decorative
details. They wanted to use principles of Classical architecture in their most pure form: without
ornamentation of any kind.
Although the Bauhaus abandoned much of the ethos of the old academic tradition of fine art
education, it maintained a stress on intellectual and theoretical pursuits, and linked these to an
emphasis on practical skills, crafts and techniques that was more reminiscent of the medieval
guild system. Fine art and craft were brought together with the goal of problem solving for a
modern industrial society. In so doing, the Bauhaus effectively leveled the old hierarchy of the arts,
placing crafts on par with fine arts such as sculpture and painting, and paving the way for many
of the ideas that have inspired artists in the late 20th century.
The stress on experiment and problem solving at the Bauhaus has proved enormously influential for
the approaches to education in the arts. It has led to the 'fine arts' being rethought as the 'visual
arts', and art considered less as an adjunct of the humanities, like literature or history, and more as
a kind of research science.
Characteristics: Bauhaus buildings have flat roofs, smooth facades, and cubic shapes. Colours are
white, gray, light brown, or black. Floor plans are open and furniture is functional.
Beginnings
The Bauhaus, a German word meaning "house of building", was a school founded in 1919 in
Weimar, Germany by architect Walter Gropius. The school emerged out of late-19th-century
desires to reunite the applied arts and manufacturing, and to reform education. These had given
birth to several new schools of art and applied art throughout Germany, and it was out of two
such schools that the new Bauhaus was born.
Gropius called for the school to show a new respect for craft and technique in all artistic media,
and suggested a return to attitudes to art and craft once characteristic of the medieval age,
before art and manufacturing had drifted far apart. Gropius envisioned the Bauhaus
encompassing the totality of all artistic media, including fine art, industrial design, graphic design,
typography, interior design, and architecture.
Central to the school's operation was its original and influential curriculum. It was described by
Gropius in the manner of a wheel diagram, with the outer ring representing the vorkurs, a six-
month preliminary course, initiated by Johannes, which concentrated on practical formal analysis,
in particular on the contrasting properties of forms, colours and materials.
The two middle rings represented two three-year courses, the form lehre, focused on problems
related to form, and werklehre, a practical workshop instruction that emphasized technical craft
skills. These classes emphasized functionalism through simplified, geometric forms that allowed
new designs to be reproduced with ease.

Concepts and Styles At the centre of the curriculum were courses
specialized in building construction that led
students to seek practicality and necessity
through technological reproduction, with an
emphasis on craft and workmanship that was lost
in technological manufacturing. And the basic
pedagogical approach was to eliminate
competitive tendencies and to foster individual
creative potential and a sense of community
and shared purpose.
The creators of this program were a fabulously

talented faculty that Gropius attracted. Avant-
garde painters Johannes Itten and Lyonel
Feininger, and sculptor Gerhard Marckswere
among his first appointments.
Itten would be particularly important: he was central to the creation of the Vorkurs, and his
background in Expressionism lent much of the tone to the early years of the school, including its
emphasis on craft and its medievalism. Indeed, Itten's avant-gardism and Gropius's social
concerns soon put them at odds. By the early 1920s, however, Gropius had won out; Itten left and
was replaced by Lazlso Moholy-Nagy, who reformed vorkurs into a program that embraced
technology and stressed its use for society. Other important appointments included Wassily
Kandinsky, Paul Klee, Georg Muche, and Oskar Schlemmer.
In 1925, the Bauhaus moved to the German industrial town of Dessau, initiating its most fruitful
period. Gropius designed a new building for the school, which has since come to be seen as a
landmark of modern, functionalist architecture. It was also here that the school finally created a
department of architecture, something that had been conspicuously lacking in an institution that
had been premised on the union of the arts. But by 1928 Gropius was worn down by his work, and
by the increasing battles with the school's critics, and he stood down, turning over the helm to
Swiss architect Hannes Meyer. Meyer headed the architecture department, and, as an active
communist, he incorporated his Marxist ideals through student organizations and classroom
programs. The school continued to build in strength but criticism of Meyer's Marxism grew, and he
was dismissed as director in 1930, and after local elections brought the Nazis to power in 1932, the
school in Dessau was closed.
In the same year, 1932, it moved to Berlin, under the new direction of architect Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe, an advocate of functionalism. He struggled with far poorer resources, and a faculty
that had lost some of its brightest stars; he also tried to remove politics from the school's ethos, but
when the Nazis came to power in 1933, the school was closed indefinitely.
Legacy
The Bauhaus influence travelled along with its faculty. Gropius went on to teach at the Graduate
School of Design at Harvard University, Mies van der Rohe became Director of the College of
Architecture, Planning and Design, at the Illinois Institute of Technology, Josef Albers began to
teach at Black Mountain College in North Carolina, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy formed what became
the Institute of Design in Chicago, and Max Bill, a former Bauhaus student, opened the Institute of

Design in Ulm, Germany. The latter three were all important in spreading the Bauhaus philosophy:
Moholy-Nagy and Albers were particularly important in refashioning that philosophy into one
suited to the climate of a modern research university in a market-oriented culture; Bill, meanwhile,
played a significant role in spreading geometric abstraction throughout the world.
The Bauhaus school disbanded when the Nazis rose to power. Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe, and other Bauhaus leaders migrated to the United States. The term International
Style was applied to the American form of Bauhaus architecture.
From 1930 to 1933 Ludwig Mies van der Rohe carried on with much of what had been started
under his predecessors. The retention of teachers like Ludwig Hilberseimer helped to ensure a
certain continuity after the change of director. At the same time Mies van der Rohe streamlined
the curriculum to produce something like a system of courses which left almost no room for
utopian experiments. The majority of the new student intake at the Bauhaus had already
completed a course of studies, and the Bauhaus became a "postgraduate school". Mies van der
Rohe’s teaching focused on the design of specific buildings whose appearance owed nothing to
Gropius’s "study of essentials” or to the collective satisfaction of “the people’s needs”, but which
were to be "the spatial implementation of intellectual decisions” (Mies van der Rohe) in an
aesthetically consummate fashion.
CIAM
CIAM (the international congresses for modern architecture), founded in Switzerland in 1928, was
an avant-garde association of architects intended to advance both modernism and
internationalism in architecture. CIAM saw itself as an elite group revolutionizing architecture to
serve the interests of society. Its members included some of the best-known architects of the
twentieth century, such as Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, and Richard Neutra, but also hundreds of
others who looked to it for doctrines on how to shape the urban environment in a rapidly
changing world.
The organization’s founding declaration was signed by twenty-four architects at La Sarraz,

Switzerland, in 1928. None of the signatories was British. The La Sarraz Declaration asserted that
architecture could no longer exist in an isolated state separate from governments and politics, but
that economic and social conditions would fundamentally affect the buildings of the future.
The Declaration also asserted that as society became more industrialised, it was vital that
architects and the construction industry rationalise their methods, embrace new technologies and
strive for greater efficiency.
CIAM's early attitudes towards town-planning were stark: "Urbanisation cannot be conditioned by
the claims of a pre-existent aestheticism; its essence is of a functional order… the chaotic division
of land, resulting from sales, speculations, inheritances, must be abolished by a collective and
methodical land policy."
At this early stage the desire to re-shape cities and towns is clear. Out is the "chaotic" jumble of
streets, shops, and houses which existed in European cities at the time; in is a zoned city,
comprising of standardized dwellings and different areas for work, home, and leisure.
The Athens Charter

The fourth CIAM Congress in 1933 (theme: "The Functional City") consisted of an analysis of thirty-
four cities and proposed solutions to urban problems. The conclusions were published as "The
Athens Charter" (so-called because the Congress was held on board the SS Patris en route from
Marseilles to Athens). This document remains one of the most controversial ever produced by
CIAM. The charter effectively committed CIAM to rigid functional cities, with citizens to be housed
in high, widely-spaced apartment blocks. Green belts would separate each zone of the city. The
Charter was not actually published until 1943, and its influence would be profound on public
authorities in post-war Europe.
The End of CIAM
It didn't take long for architects to question the conclusions reached at Athens, and to worry
publicly about the sterility of the city envisioned by CIAM. Chief among these doubters were
young British architects Alison and Peter Smithson, who led a breakaway from CIAM in 1956. Three
years previously they had outlined their concerns; "Man may readily identify himself with his own
hearth, but not easily with the town within which it is placed.’Belonging' is a basic emotional need-
its associations are of the simplest order. From 'belonging'- identity- comes the enriching sense of
neighborliness.
The short narrow street of the slum succeeds where spacious redevelopment frequently fails."
Smithson worried that CIAM's ideal city would lead to isolation and community breakdown, just as
European governments were preparing to build tower blocks in their ruined cities.
The last CIAM meeting was held in 1956. By the mid-1950s it was clear that the official acceptance
of Modernism was stronger than ever and yet the concerns voiced by the Smithsons and their
allies that the movement was in danger of creating an urban landscape which was hostile to
social harmony, would rise to a crescendo in the decades to come.
CIAM succeeded in developing new architectural ideas into a coherent movement, but
Modernists would spend many years defending, and often undoing, its legacy.
INTERNATIONAL STYLE
International Style, that developed in Europe and the United States in the 1920s and ’30s and
became the dominant tendency in Western architecture during the middle decades of the 20th
century. The most common characteristics of International Style buildings are rectilinear forms;
light, taut plane surfaces that have been completely stripped of applied ornamentation and
decoration; open interior spaces; and a visually weightless quality engendered by the use of
cantilever construction. Glass and steel, in combination with usually less visible reinforced
concrete, are the characteristic materials of construction. The term International Style was first
used in 1932 by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson in their essay titled The International
Style: Architecture Since 1922, which served as a catalog for an architectural exhibition held at
the Museum of Modern Art.
The International Style grew out of three phenomena that confronted architects in the late 19th
century: (1) Architects increasing dissatisfaction with the continued use in stylistically eclectic
buildings of a mix of decorative elements from different architectural periods and styles that bore
little or no relation to the building’s functions.
(2) The economical creation of large numbers of office buildings and other commercial,
residential, and civic structures that served a rapidly industrializing society.
(3) The development of new building technologies centring on the use of iron and steel,
reinforced, and glass.
These three phenomena dictated the search for an honest, economical, and utilitarian
architecture that would both use the new materials and satisfy society’s new building needs while
still appealing to aesthetic taste.
Technology was a crucial factor; the new availability of cheap, mass-produced iron and steel
and the discovery in the 1890s of those materials’ effectiveness as primary structural members
effectively rendered the old traditions of masonry (brick and stone) construction obsolete. The
new use of steel-reinforced concrete as secondary support elements (floors, etc.) and of glass as
sheathing for the exteriors of buildings completed the technology needed for modern building,
and architects set about incorporating that technology into an architecture that openly
recognized its new technical foundation.
The International Style was thus formed under the dictates that modern buildings form and
appearance should naturally grow out of and express the potentialities of their materials
and structural engineering. A harmony between artistic expression, function, and technology
would thus be established in an austere and disciplined new architecture.
The International Style grew out of the work of a small group of brilliant and original architects in
the 1920s who went on to achieve great influence in their field. These major figures included
Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Germany and the United States, J.J.P. Oud in the
Netherlands, Le Corbusier in France, and Richard Neutra and Philip Johnson in the United States.
Gropius and Mies were best known for their structures of glass curtain walls spanning steel girders
that form the skeleton of the building. Important examples of Gropius’ work are the Fagus Works,
the Bauhaus, and the Graduate Center at Harvard University all of which show his concern for
uncluttered interior spaces. Mies van der Rohe and his followers in the United States, who did
much to spread the International Style, are most clearly identified with glass-and-
steel skyscrapers such as the Lake Shore Drive Apartments (Chicago; 1949–51) and the Seagram
Building, done jointly with Philip Johnson (New York City; 1958). Oud helped to bring more rounded
and flowing geometric shapes to the movement. Le Corbusier, too, was interested in the freer
treatment of reinforced concrete but added the concept of modular proportion in order to
maintain a human scale in his work. Among his well-known works in the International Style is
the Villa Savoye (Poissy, France; 1929–31).
In the 1930s and ’40s the International Style spread from its base in Germany and France to North
and South America, Scandinavia, Britain, and Japan. The clean, efficient, geometric qualities of
the style came to form the basis of the architectural vocabulary of the skyscraper in the United
States in the 1950s and ’60s. The International Style provided an aesthetic rationale for the
stripped-down, clean-surfaced skyscrapers that became the status symbols of American
corporate power and progressiveness at this time.
By the 1970s some architects and critics had begun to chafe at the constraints and limitations
inherent in the International Style. The bare and denuded quality of the steel-and-glass “boxes”

that embodied the style by then appeared stultifying and formulaic. The result was a reaction
against modernist architecture and a renewed exploration of the possibilities of innovative design
and decoration. Architects began creating freer, more imaginative structures that used
modern building materials and decorative elements to create a variety of novel effects. This
movement became prominent in the late 1970s and early ’80s and became known
as Postmodernism.
PETER BEHRENS
Peter Behrens (April 14, 1868 – February 27, 1940) was a German architect and designer. He was
important for the modernist movement. Peter Behrens was a pioneer in everything he did in the
first half of the 20th century and his ideas were spread around the world by his students, especially
by Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier. The creation of the concept of corporate
identity had a direct influence. Peter Behrens is also responsible for German Modernism. He is seen
as an important aspect in the transition from Jugendstil, which is similar to Art Nouveau to industrial
Classicism, which is incorporating ancient Greek or Roman style to a structure.
Peter Behrens (1868–1940) was a true visionary and the first Renaissance designer of the modern
age, moving with ease from one discipline to another painting, architecture, product design,
furniture design, and graphic design. His creative interests were boundless. Behrens was the first to
pursue a seamless integration of visual communications and architecture and was an inspiration
to the founders of the modernist movement.
Although Behrens’ background was in fine arts (painting and illustration), he eventually moved
into architecture in 1899. This was because Grand-Duke Ernst-Ludwig of Hesse invited him to be
the second member of the Darmstadt Artists Colony. Here, Behrens was able to design and build
his own house and everything in it, a move which was a turning-point in his life.
Behrens move toward a more serious and austere style of design led to him being appointed
director of the Kunstge werberschule in Dusseldorf in 1903 where he was able to take a role as a
leader in architectural reform.
From 1907-1910, Behrens took on a series of students and assistants, including Mies van der Rohe,
Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius (all of them who went on to win the Royal Gold Medal), but by
1922, Behrens chose to go back into academia accepting an invitation to teach at the
Akademie der Bildenden Kunste, Vienna. Behrens joined illegal Nazi party in Austria on May Day of
1934 which may have resulted in Behrens’ association with Hitler's urbanistic dreams for Berlin.
However, war intervened and Behrens died in Berlin's Hotel Bristol in 1940.
As a teacher, his ideas and teachings on design for industry, as well as everyday objects and
products, influenced a group of students that would ultimately alter the direction of twentieth-
century architecture and design worldwide, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier,
Adolf Meyer, and Walter Gropius, founder of the Bauhaus school in Dessau, Germany.
In defining his approach, Behrens stated, "Design is not about decorating functional forms—it is
about creating forms that accord with the character of the object and that show new
technologies to advantage."

His visionary approach not only influenced the entire aeg corporate culture, it became the first
seminal example of corporate identity and branding that would inevitably become a primary
force within the design professions in the later part of the twentieth century.
Allegemein Elektricitats-Gesellschaft (AEG)
A primary example of Behrens's design philosophy at aeg was a promotional poster he designed
advertising AEG's newest product in 1910—a technologically advanced lamp or light bulb. The
design of the poster is clearly based on fundamental modernist design elements and principles. Its
orthogonal graphic composition is organized with an articulated grid and comprises basic
geometric shapes a continuous frame or square, a circle, and an equilateral triangle. The triangle
provides a focal location for the light bulb and a simplified, abstract dot pattern represents
brilliance and illumination. The pattern and lines framing and dividing the composition of the
poster, as well as the outline of the circle and triangle, are all composed of a series of dots or
points, which symbolize and communicate light.
In 1907, Allegemein Elektricitats-Gesellschaft (AEG), Germany's largest electrical utility and

industrial producer, hired Behrens as their new artistic consultant. It was at aeg that he created a
unified brand for every aspect of the company's visual environment—office buildings, factories,
and visual communication materials.
Behrens work for Allgemeine Elektricitats-Gessellschaft (AEG) was the first large-scale
demonstration of the viability and vitality of the Werkbund's initiatives and objectives. Behrens is
considered the first industrial history designer in history as he designed the entire corporate
branding for AEG, and went on to design the ARE Turbine Factory in 1910.
LUDWIEG MIES VAN DER ROHE
He was born in aachen, Germany, on march 27, 1886. After having trained with his father, a
master stonemason. At 19 he moved to Berlin, where he worked for Bruno Paul, the art nouveau
architect and furniture designer. At 20 he received his first independent commission, to plan a
house for a philosopher (alois riehl). In 1908 he began working for the architect
peter Behrens. He studied the architecture of the Prussian Karl fried rich schinkel and frank Lloyd
Wright. He opened his own office in Berlin in 1912.
After World War I, he began studying the skyscraper and designed two innovative steel-framed
towers encased in glass. One of them was the fried rich strasse skyscraper, designed in 1921 for a

competition. It was never built, although it drew critical praise and foreshadowed his skyscraper
designs of the late 40s and 50s.
Major contributions to the architectural philosophies of the late 1920s and 1930s he made as
artistic director of the werkbund-sponsored weissenhof project, a model housing colony in
Stuttgart. The modern apartments and houses were designed by leading European architects,
including a block by Mies.
In 1930, mies met New York architect Philip Johnson, who included several of his projects in
MoMA’s first architecture exhibition held in 1932, 'modern architecture: international exhibition',
thanks to which Mies work began to be known in the united states.
In the30s, none of his designs were built due to the sweeping economic and political changes
overtaking Germany. He was director of the Bauhaus school from 1930 until its disbandment in
1933, shut down under pressure from the new Nazi government. He moved to the United States in
1937.
From 1938 to 1958 he was head of the architecture department at the armour institute of
technology in Chicago, later renamed the Illinois institute of technology. In the 40s, was asked to
design a new campus for the school, a project in which he continued to refine his steel-and-glass
style. He had also formed a new relationship with Chicago artist Lora Marx that would last for the
rest of his life.
By 1944, he had become an American citizen and was well established professionally. In this
period he designed one of his most famous buildings, a small weekend retreat outside Chicago, a
transparent box framed by eight exterior steel columns. The ‘Farnsworth house’ was one of the
most radically minimalist houses ever designed. Its interior, a single room, is subdivided by partitions
and completely enclosed in glass.
In the 50s he continued to develop this concept of open, flexible space on a much larger scale: in
1953, he developed the convention hall, innovative was the structural system that spanned large
distances. During this period he also realized his dream of building a glass skyscraper.
In 1962, His career was in full-circle when he was invited to design the 'new national gallery' in
Berlin. His design for this building achieved his long-held vision of an exposed steel structure that
directly connected interior space to the landscape. He returned to Berlin several times while the
gallery was under construction, but was unable to attend the opening in 1968. He died in
Chicago on august 17, 1969.
WORKS
BARCELONA PAVILION
In 1927 he designed one of his most famous buildings, / the German pavilion at the international
exposition in Barcelona. In 1929, this small hall, known as the Barcelona pavilion.
Barcelona pavilion (for which he also designed the famous chrome and leather 'Barcelona chair),
had a flat roof supported by columns. This building was used for the official opening of the
German section of the exhibition. It is an important building in the history of modern architecture,

known for its simple form and its spectacular use of extravagant materials, such as marble,
red onyx and travertine. The same features of minimalism and spectacular can be applied to the
prestigious furniture specifically designed for the building, among which the iconic Barcelona
chairs.
CONCEPT
Mies was offered the commission of this building in 1928 after his successful administration of the
1927 Werkbund exhibition in Stuttgart. He had severe time constraints, had to design the
Barcelona Pavilion in less than a year and was also dealing with uncertain economic conditions.
The pavilion for the Universal Exhibition was supposed to represent the new Weimar Germany:
democratic, culturally progressive, prospering, and thoroughly pacifist; a self-portrait through
architecture. The Commissioner, Georg von Schnitzler said it should give "voice to the spirit of a
new era". This concept was carried out with the realization of the "Free plan" and the "Floating
room".
The pavilion was going to be bare, no trade exhibits, just the structure accompanying a single
sculpture and purpose-designed furniture (the Barcelona chair). This lack of accommodation
enabled Mies to treat the Pavilion as a continuous space; blurring inside and outside. "The design
was predicated on an absolute distinction between structure and enclosure a regular grid of
cruciform steel columns interspersed by freely spaced plane.
The floor plan is very simple. The entire building rests on a plinth of travertine. A southern U-shaped
enclosure, also of travertine, helps form a service annex and a large water basin. The floor slabs of
the pavilion project out and over the pool once again connecting inside and out. Another U-
shaped wall on the opposite side of the site also forms a smaller water basin.
The roof plates, relatively small, are supported by the chrome-clad, cruciform columns. This gives
the impression of a hovering roof. The reflective columns appear to be struggling to hold the
"floating" roof plane down, not to be bearing its weight.
Mies wanted this building to become "an ideal zone of tranquillity" for the weary visitor, who should
be invited into the pavilion on the way to the next attraction. Visitors would enter by going up a
few stairs, and due to the slightly sloped site, would leave at ground level in the direction of the
"Spanish Village". The visitors were not meant to be led in a straight line through the building, but to
take continuous turnabouts.
The walls not only created space, but also directed visitor's movements. This was achieved by wall
surfaces being displaced against each other, running past each other, and creating a space that
became narrower or wider. The pavilion’s internal walls, made of glass and marble, could be
moved around as they did not support the structure. The concept of fluid space with a seamless
flow between indoors and outdoors.
CROWN HALL AT ILLINOIS INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
Mies van Der Rohe was able to make his work stand out by being capturing the buildings
simplicity and openness. Crown Hall was completed in 1956 during Mies van der Rohe's tenure as
director of IIT's Department of Architecture.
Centrally located on the campus of the Illinois Institute of Technology, two miles south of
downtown Chicago, Illinois, the building houses the architecture school. The column-free open
plan of the main floor of Crown Hall demonstrates Mies' innovative concept of creating universal
space that can be infinitely adapted to changing use. Its expansive size of 120' x 220' feet in floor
area, with a ceiling height of 18 feet, allows individual classes to be held simultaneously without
disruption while maintaining creative interaction between faculty and students.

The roof of the building is suspended from the underside of four steel plate girders. The girders are
themselves supported by eight exterior steel columns, spaced at 60 foot intervals. The interior is
divided by free-standing oak partitions that demark spaces for classes, lectures and exhibits.
Four steel plate girders welded to eight H-columns form the primary structure from which the roof
has been suspended. Crown Hall is characterized by an aesthetic of industrial simplicity, with
clearly articulated exposed steel frame construction. The steel frame is infilled with large sheets of
glass of varying qualities of transparency, resulting in a light and delicate steel and glass facade
wrapping the open plan, free flowing interior of the upper level. While the lower level consists of
compartmentalized rooms, the high upper floor level, occupying almost 50% of the total area of
the building, is dedicated to a single glass-enclosed architecture studio space. Mies called it a
"universal space", intended to be entirely flexible in use.
THE FARNSWORTH HOUSE

The Farnsworth House is one of the most significant of Mies van der Rohe’s works built for the 1929
International Exposition. Its significance is two-fold. First, as one of a long series of house projects,
the Farnsworth House embodies a certain aesthetic culmination in Mies van derRohe’s experiment
with this building type. Second, the house is perhaps the fullest expression of modernist ideals that
had begun in Europe, but which were consummated in Plano, Illinois.
“Every physical element has been distilled to its irreducible essence. The interior is
unprecedentedly transparent to the surrounding site, and also unprecedentedly uncluttered in
itself. All of the paraphernalia of traditional living –rooms, walls, doors, interior trim, loose furniture,
pictures on walls, even personal possessions have been virtually abolished in a puritanical vision of
simplified, transcendental existence. Mies had finally achieved a goal towards which he had
been feeling his way for three decades."
The I-beams of the Farnsworth House are both structural and expressive, whereas in the Seagram
Building they are attached to exterior as symbols for what is necessarily invisible behind fireproof
cladding. In addition, the one-story Farnsworth house with its isolated site allowed a degree of
transparency and simplicity.
The Farnsworth house with its continuous glass walls is an even simpler interpretation of an idea.
Here the purity of the cage is undisturbed. Neither the steel columns from which it is suspended
nor the independent floating terrace break the taut skin.” In the actual construction, the aesthetic
idea was progressively refined and developed through the choices of materials, colours and
details.
The house faces the Fox River just to the south and is raised 5 feet 3 inches above the ground, its
thin, white I-beam supports contrasting with the darker, sinuous trunks of the surrounding trees. The
calm stillness of the man-made object contrasts also with the subtle movements, sounds, and
rhythms of water, sky and vegetation.
The dominance of a single, geometric form in a pastoral setting, with a complete exclusion of
extraneous elements normally associated with habitation, reinforces the architect’s statement
about the potential of a building to express “dwelling” in its simplest essence. While the elongated
rectangle of the house lies parallel to the course of the Fox River, the perpendicular cross axis,
represented by the suspended stairways, faces the river directly. With its emphatically planar floors
and roof suspended on the widely-spaced, steel columns, the one-story house appears to float
above the ground, infinitely extending the figurative space of the hovering planes into the
surrounding site.
It is composed of three strong, horizontal steel forms - the terrace, the floor of the house, and the
roof attached to attenuated, steel flange columns.
GLASS SKYSCRAPERS
In 1922 Mies van der Rohe designs a skyscraper with an irregular perimeter that is enclosed with a
glass curtain wall. The design is a follow-up of his skyscraper project in 1919 for the Friedrichstrasse
in Berlin.

The geometry of crystalline skyscrapers Friedrichstrasse was transformed into this project in a
biomorphic plant consisting of a core and three wings curvilinear. The exceptional form of the
plant stems from the structure of the site and the result is due to the properties of transparent and
reflective glass facade, which the architect admitted openly.
The randomly curved glass-facade of the 1922-project is not the result of an internal, autonomous
form. The glass surface has its own logic and is dependent on and connected with the city-life
through the properties of the glass. But the design is also not a direct effect of its situation; it is a
critical interpretation of it. The glass curtain wall alternating transparent, reflecting, and refracting
depending on the sun and the point of view reflects and deforms the image of the city, and
places the building in a specified time and place.
SEAGRAM BUILDING
The Seagram Building is a skyscraper, located at 375 Park Avenue, between 52nd Street and 53rd
Street in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, in
collaboration with Philip Johnson.
This building, and the International style in which it was built, had enormous influences on
American architecture. One of the style's characteristic traits was to express or articulate the
structure of buildings externally. It was a style that argued that the functional utility of the
building’s structural elements when made visible, could supplant a formal decorative articulation;
and more honestly converse with the public than any system of applied ornamentation.
The Seagram Building, like virtually all large buildings of the time, was built of a steel frame, from
which non-structural glass walls were hung. Mies would have preferred the steel frame to be
visible to all; however, American building codes required that all structural steel be covered in a
fireproof material, usually concrete, because improperly protected steel columns or beams may
soften and fail in confined fires. Mies used non-structural bronze-toned I-beams to suggest
structure instead. These are visible from the outside of the building, and run vertically, like mullions,
surrounding the large glass windows. This method of construction using an interior reinforced
concrete shell to support a larger non-structural edifice has since become commonplace. As
designed, the building used 1,500 tons of bronze in its construction.

On completion, the construction costs of Seagram made it the world's most expensive skyscraper
at the time, due to the use of expensive, high-quality materials and lavish interior decoration
including bronze, travertine, and marble. The interior was designed to assure cohesion with the
external features, repeated in the glass and bronze furnishings and decorative scheme.
Another interesting feature of the Seagram Building is the window blinds. As was common with
International style architects, Mies wanted the building to have a uniform appearance.Inevitably;
people using different windows will draw blinds to different heights, making the building appear
disorganized. To reduce this disproportionate appearance, Mies specified window blinds which
only operated in three positions – fully open, halfway open/closed, or fully closed.
WALTER GROPIUS
Walter Gropius, German-American architect, educator, and designer (1883-1969) and he was
director of the famed Bauhaus in Germany from 1919 to 1928 and occupied the chair of
architecture at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design from 1938 to 1952.
Walter Gropius was born in Berlin on May 18, 1883. Although he studied architecture in Berlin and
Munich (1903-1907), he received no degree. He then went to work in Berlin for Peter Behrens, who
was influenced by the British Arts and Crafts movement and who attempted to go further by
adapting good design to machine production.
WORKS OF WALTER GROPIUS
BAUHAUS UNIVERSITY
FAGUS FACTORY, GERMANY
GROPIUS HOUSE
FAGUS FACTORY, GERMANY
Fagus factory was the first industrial commission for Walter Gropius and its design was made in
collaboration with who at that time was his partner Adolf Meyer.
According to Gropius, without masking the exact shape, with clear contrasts, sequencing of
identical forms and the unity of form and colour to form the basis of the rhythm of architectural
creation.
In this building are embodied these ideas, a prismatic block, three plants with rectangular and flat
base which reinforced concrete structure with brackets displaced inward frees the exterior walls
of any load bearing plant whose clearly expressed their interest modern commercial and
functional.
The first block designed by Gropius to the shoe factory was the office and was one of the most
important and characteristic of the complex.
The building has three floors with a flat roof which together with the replacement of the walls with
large windows, which in turn also made up the corners of the building, became one of the
building systems characteristic of the modern movement.

The facade is articulated with narrow brick pillars, slightly recessed, which were placed between
the iron frames sticking out of the building and housed the large windows creating a light curtain
wall, creating an inner space natural light and partly diluting indoor-outdoor boundaries. It is
particularly striking resolution of the corners of the block as they converge on two windows
perpendicular to the unique presence in them of the light metal support bar. According to
Gropius, the factory should be a kind of palace for the workers who were offered light, air and
hygienic atmosphere but also "feel the dignity of the great common idea, which of course would
improve their performance".
Production hall:-The two other large buildings in the complex are the production hall and
warehouse. Both were built in 1911 and expanded in 1913. The production hall is a one-story
building that became the present facade after enlargement. The store is a four-story building with
few openings.
The reinforced concrete structure, with supporting displaced inwards, allowed to free the exterior
walls, especially at the corners of the building supporting role.
The main building, rectangular in shape, was designed as a structural framework without pillars in
the corners, with a front metal grid cut by glass covers, one of the first examples of "curtain wall",
or curtain wall.
This factory was first time the walls of a factory were replaced with glass. This novel, for the time,
"curtain wall" has a height that spans all three floors of the building. A metal structure of iron bars
holding the glass planes that make up those windows and metal planes contribute to highlight the
distribution of plants. The narrow columns that articulate the facade and the reception and lower
sockets were made of brick colour stew.
GROPIUS HOUSE, MASSACHUSETTS
The Gropius House was the family residence of noted architect Walter Gropius at 68 Baker Bridge
Road, Lincoln, Massachusetts. It is now owned by Historic New England . This house was his first
architectural commission did in 1937, when he came to teach at Harvard University's Graduate
School of Design, and it was built in 1938.
The house caused a sensation when built. In keeping with Bauhaus philosophy, every aspect of
the house and its surrounding landscape was planned for maximum efficiency and simplicity.
Gropius carefully sited the house to complement its New England habitat on a rise within an
orchard of 90 apple trees.

Set amid fields, forests, and farmhouses, the Gropius House mixes up the traditional materials of
New England architecture (wood, brick, and fieldstone) with industrial materials such as glass
block, acoustic plaster, and chrome banisters. The house structure consists of a traditional New
England post and beam wooden frame, sheathed with white painted tongue and grove vertical
siding. Traditional clapboards are used in the interior foyer, but are applied vertically.
Its detailing keeps strongly to the principles of the Bauhaus, which Gropius had founded and
directed in Germany, exploiting simple, well-designed but mass-produced fittings for steel wall
lights, chromed banisters etc., as well as in the structure of the house (glass block walls
complementing the wooden frame and New England clapboarding).
The lighting in the dining room, for example, mixes a single art-gallery spotlight recessed in the
ceiling, whose beam exactly covers the circular table but not the diners; a second spotlight in the
study, backlighting the glass-block wall between the two rooms and silhouetting the sprawling
plant that climbs the glass wall; and exterior floodlights illuminating the trees in the garden.
The minimalist colour scheme was maintained throughout the house - black, white, pale greys
and earth colours, with sparsely used contrasting splashes of red.
Gropius uses interior clapboard for further ingenious lighting effects: set vertically on the walls of
the entrance hall, the angle of each overlapping board stops light, rather than rain, reaching the
near edge of its neighbour; the result is an appealing pattern of shadows generated by the
contrastingly simple mass-produced wall lights.

Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany
The Bauhaus, an art and architectural school, was founded in the year 1919. Although the school
was forced to close its doors when the Nazi's came to power, its ideas and philosophy are still
influencing the world. The name "Bauhaus" derives from the word "bauen" meaning to build,
including the idea of creating in a spiritual sense, and "haus" meaning the house or building itself.
Following the war and Germany's defeat-inspired desire for a renaissance, the Bauhaus sought to
define a new "style" as international school dealing with international politics. Designed by its
director, Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus remains today one of the most impressive examples of
modern architecture. I have a particular sympathy with the plan of this institution, which is very
functionally articulated and there is no challenging the bold ribbons and walls of glass, the
masterly combination of a variety of rhythms of regularity to produce a composition at once rich
and serene.
There was a delightful sense of camaraderie among the members of the Bauhaus, all seeking a
new way of life. The Bauhaus perhaps represents one of the greatest ideas that have arisen in the
field of education in this century where the main principles of cooperation and creativity were
wrought rigorously into everything purported by the school that detested traditional
academicism.

LE CORBUSIER
Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965), was an architect, designer, urbanist, and writer,
famous for being one of the pioneers of what is now called modern architecture. He was born
in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930. His career spanned five decades, with his
buildings constructed throughout Europe, India and America.
He was a pioneer in studies of modern high design and was dedicated to providing better living
conditions for the residents of crowded cities.
Five points of architecture

Pilotis – reinforced concrete stilts.
Free facade
Open floor plan,
Horizontal strip windows
Roof garden
WORKS
VILLA SAVOYE
UNITED HABITATION
CHANDIGARH ASSEMBLY BUILDING
SHADON HOUSE
MILL OWNERS BUILDING
Villa Savoye
Villa Savoye (1929–1931) that most succinctly summed up his five points of architecture, which he
had been developing throughout the 1920s. First, Le Corbusier lifted the bulk of the structure off
the ground, supporting it by pilotis – reinforced concrete stilts.

These pilotis, in providing the structural support for the house, allowed him to elucidate his next
two points: a free facade, meaning non-supporting walls that could be designed as the architect
wished, and an open floor plan, meaning that the floor space was free to be configured into
rooms without concern for supporting walls.
The second floor of the Villa Savoye includes long strips of ribbon windows that allow
unencumbered views of the large surrounding yard, and which constitute the fourth point of his
system. The fifth point was the roof garden to compensate for the green area consumed by the
building and replacing it on the roof. A ramp rising from ground level to the third floor roof terrace
allows for an architectural promenade through the structure
CHANDIGARH CITY
At present there are 30 sectors in Chandigarh, of which 24 are residential. Each sector is designed
by the number, the capital complex being 1, with the remaining sector numbered consecutively
beginning at the north corner of the city. The sectors at the upper edge of the city are of
abbreviated size.
In all type of housing, partly because of the glazing expense, partly to keep out sun. As the most
economical and readily available material for building at Chandigarh was locally made brick.
Throughout in Chandigarh housing The flat roof was employed ,residential plots ranging in
dimension from 75 sq.yards to 5000 sq.yards.
This is because the Capitol complex is contained within the boundaries of sector 3 extended to its
full dimension.

CHANDIGARH ASSEMBLY BUILDING
The area of the greatest symbolic significance in Chandigarh was the Capitol complex, which in
its final form was based on the design of great cross axis the most important group of building
constituting the capitol-right, the Parliament in the left, in the background secretariat in the fore
ground, the pool of palace of justice.
Here the secretariat building is treated as a horizontal platform like the plain of Chandigarh itself,
carrying on its roof the provincial assembly hall rising in a parabolic arch, a form echoing the
distant hills.
SECRETARIAT
The secretariat, the longest building in Chandigarh, 254m long, 42m high forms the administrative
centre, with ministerial offices grouped in the centre and offices for employees arranged on either
side. The building was composed of six & eight storey blocks separated by expansion joints. The
central pavilion contains the offices of the ministers.

FRANK LYLOD WRIGHT
Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American
architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and
completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with
humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture.
ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE
The term organic architecture was coined by Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959), though never well
articulated by his cryptic style of writing:
"So here I stand before you preaching organic architecture: declaring organic architecture to be
the modern ideal and the teaching so much needed if we are to see the whole of life, and to
now serve the whole of life, holding no traditions essential to the great TRADITION. Nor cherishing
any preconceived form fixing upon us either past, present or future, but instead exalting the
simple laws of common sense or of super-sense if you prefer determining form by way of the
nature of materials." - Frank Lloyd Wright, written in 1954
Organic architecture is also translated into the all inclusive nature of Frank Lloyd Wright’s design
process. Materials, motifs, and basic ordering principles continue to repeat themselves throughout
the building as a whole. The idea of organic architecture refers not only to the buildings' literal
relationship to the natural surroundings, but how the buildings' design is carefully thought about as
if it were a unified organism. Geometries throughout Wright’s buildings build a central mood and
theme. Essentially organic architecture is also the literal design of every element of a building:
From the windows, to the floors, to the individual chairs intended to fill the space. Everything
relates to one another, reflecting the symbiotic ordering systems of nature.
I. Be inspired by nature and be sustainable, healthy, conserving, and diverse.

II. Unfold, like an organism, from the seed within.
III. Exist in the "continuous present" and "begin again and again".
IV. Follow the flows and be flexible and adaptable.
V. Satisfy social, physical, and spiritual needs.
VI. "Grow out of the site" and be unique.
VII. Celebrate the spirit of youth, play and surprise.
VIII. Express the rhythm of music and the power of dance.
Using Nature as our basis for design, a building or design must grow, as Nature grows, from the
inside out. Most architects design their buildings as a shell and force their way inside. Nature grows
from the idea of a seed and reaches out to its surroundings. A building thus, is like to an organism
and mirrors the beauty and complexity of Nature.
LATER WORKS OF F.L.WRIGHT

FALLING WATER
A well known example of organic architecture is Falling water, the residence Frank Lloyd Wright
designed for the Kaufman family in rural Pennsylvania. Wright had many choices to locate a
home on this large site, but chose to place the home directly over the waterfall and creek
creating a close, yet noisy dialog with the rushing water and the steep site. The horizontal striations

of stone masonry with daring cantilevers of colored light brown concrete blend with native rock
outcroppings and the wooded environment.
The structural design for Falling water was undertaken by Wright in association with staff engineers
Mendel Glickman and William Wesley Peters. Preliminary plans were issued to Kaufmann, after
which Wright made a further visit to the site; an old rock quarry was reopened to the west of the
site to provide the stones needed for the house’s walls.
The strong horizontal and vertical lines are a distinctive feature of Falling water. For the
cantilevered floors, he used upside down T-shaped beams integrated into a monolithic concrete
slab which both formed the ceiling of the space below and provided resistance against
compression.
Falling water stands as one of Wright's greatest masterpieces both for its dynamism and for its
integration with the striking natural surroundings. Wright's passion for Japanese architecture was
strongly reflected in the design of Falling water, particularly in the importance of interpenetrating
exterior and interior spaces and the strong emphasis placed on harmony between man and
nature. The house is well known for its connection to the site; it is built on top of an active waterfall
which flows beneath the house. The fireplace hearth in the living room integrates boulders found
on the site and upon which the house was built — ledge rock which protrudes up to a foot
through the living room floor was left in place to demonstrably link the outside with the inside. The
stone floors are waxed, while the hearth is left plain, giving the impression of dry rocks protruding
from a stream.
Integration with the setting extends even to small details. From the cantilevered living room, a
stairway leads directly down to the stream below, and in a connecting space which connects the
main house with the guest and servant level, natural spring drips water inside, which is then
channelled back out. Bedrooms are small, some with low ceilings to encourage people outward
toward the open social areas, decks, and outdoors.
Bear Run and the sound of its water permeate the house, especially during the spring when the
snow is melting, and locally quarried stone walls and cantilevered terraces resembling the nearby
rock formations are meant to be in harmony. The design incorporates broad expanses of windows
and balconies which reach out into their surroundings. The staircase leading down from the living

room to the stream is accessed via movable horizontal glass panes. In conformance with Wright's
views, the main entry door is away from the falls.
On the hillside above the main house stands a four-bay carport, servants' quarters, and a guest
house. These attached outbuildings were built two years later using the same quality of materials
and attention to detail as the main house. The guest quarters feature a spring-fed swimming pool
which overflows and drains to the river below
GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM
Guggenheim museum Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the cylindrical museum building, wider at
the top than the bottom, was conceived as a "temple of the spirit" and is one of the 20th century's
most important architectural landmarks. The building opened on October 21, 1959, replacing
rented spaces used by the museum since its founding.
Its unique ramp gallery extends from just under the skylight in the ceiling in a long, continuous
spiral along the outer edges of the building until it reaches the ground level. The building
underwent extensive expansion and renovations from 1992 to 1993 (when an adjoining tower was
built) and from 2005 to 2008. The museum's collection has grown organically, over eight decades,
and is founded upon several important private collections, beginning with Solomon R.
Guggenheim's original collection.
The building instantly polarized architecture critics, though today it is widely praised. Some of the
criticism focused on the idea that the building overshadows the artworks displayed inside, and
that it is difficult to properly hang paintings in the shallow, windowless, concave exhibition niches
that surround the central spiral. Prior to its opening, twenty-one artists signed a letter protesting the
display of their work in such a space.

It is difficult to properly hang paintings in the shallow, windowless exhibition niches that surround
the central spiral. Canvasses must be mounted raised from the wall's surface. Paintings hung
slanted back would appear "as on the artist's easel". There is limited space within the niches for
sculpture.
In 1992, the building was supplemented by an adjoining rectangular tower, taller than the original
spiral, designed by the architectural firm of Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects
Between September 2005 and July 2008, the Guggenheim Museum underwent a significant
exterior restoration.
In the first phase of this project, a team of restoration architects, structural engineers, and
architectural conservators worked together to create a comprehensive assessment of the
building's current condition that determined the structure to be fundamentally sound. This initial
condition assessment included:
I. The removal of 11 coats of paint from the original surface, revealing hundreds of cracks
caused over the years, primarily from seasonal temperature fluctuations
II. Detailed monitoring of the movement of selected cracks over 17 months
III. Impact-echo technology, in which sound waves are sent into the concrete and the
rebound is measured in order to locate voids within the walls
IV. Extensive laser surveys of the exterior and interior surfaces, believed to be the largest
laser model ever compiled
V. Core drilling to gather samples of the original concrete and other construction materials
VI. Testing of potential repair materials.

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HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE-V

UNIT-1:- LEADING TO A NEW ARCHITECTURE (Pg-2 to16)

UNIT-2:- BEGINNING OF NEW ERA (Pg-17 to 33)

UNIT-3:- REVIEWING INDUSTRALISATION (Pg-34 to 55)

UNIT-4:- ISSUES OF ORNAMENTATION AND AESTHETICS (Pg-56 to 77)

UNIT-5:- INSTITUTIONS (Pg-78 to103)

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 1

Factors responsible for the birth of modern architecture

Birth of revolutionary theories

The four major architects who pioneered revolution theories were

JOHN SOANE:-used combination of the style without consideration to involvement of any

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 2

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 3

Three concepts of space:-

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 4

FEATURES OF NEO-CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 5

NEOCLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND

ARCHITECTS ASSOCIATED WITH NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN ENGLAND

JAMES STUART – Employed Greek Doric Order as early as 1758.

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 6

ARCHITECTS ASSOCIATED WITH NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE IN FRANCE:

BUILDINGS OF THE NEO-CLASSICAL STYLE

EASTERN FACADE OF THE LOUVRE PALACE (COLONNADE)

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 7

CHURCH OF ST-GENEVIEVE IN PARIS (PANTHEON)

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 8

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 9

CHARACTERISTICS OF ENLIGHTENMENT ARCHITECTURE

a) Rational and sensationalist appreciation of architectural form.

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 10

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 11

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 12

An ambitious project which never got

The building is a cubic block which had all the

THE ROYAL SALTWORKS AT ARC-ET-SENANS

One of the first industrial complexes, integrating

Salt evaporation sheds on the axis with high level roof

The salt shed and workers house were having spouts of

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 13

IDEAL TOWN OF CHAUX

Example: The Oikema – Temple of Love: An institute for “sexual instruction”

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 14

KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL (1781-1841)

HENRI LABROUSTE (1801-1875)

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 15

• The structural Classicism of Labrouste,

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 16

Beginning of Contemporary Architecture

Major Phases of contemporary Architecture

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 17

INFLUENCES OF NEW MATERIALS ON MODERN ARCHITECTURE

Early Iron Construction in England

The whole arch is semi-circle in shape, since the

CAST-IRON BRIDGE OVER RIVER SEVERN

The Sunderland Bridge

The Sunderland Bridge( 1793 -96) designed by

Early Iron Construction on the continent

History of Architecture-V Composed by: G.Vani Soundarya, B.arch., Page 20