UNIVERSITY OF WEST ATTICA

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN DEPARTMENT

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE IV

Summary on the book

THE HISTORY OF CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE

by J. M. Montaner

THE WORK OF ART AS A REFERENCE IN ARCHITECTURE

Alina Kashitsyna

2020
CONTENTS

Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….3

Introduction……………………………………………………………………………….……………….…..4

1. Transformation of the artists’ values ……………………………………………………..….5

2. Outstanding examples of artistic approach in architecture………….………..…..6
2.1. Frank O.Gehry…………………………………………………………………………..….....6
2.2. Coop Himmelb(I)au Group………………………………………………………….……7
2.3. Superstudio and Adolfo Natalini.……………………………………………….…….8
2.4. Spanish examples…….………………………………….……………….………………….9
2.5. Other international examples………………………………………………...……….9
3. Methodologies and strategies……………………………………………………………….….10
Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………….……………….…….11

Bibliography………………………………………………………………………….………………….…….12

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Abstract

The questions discussed within this paper concern contemporary architecture and its
relationship with postmodern art. The aim is to make a summary on the unit from the book
“The History of Contemporary architecture” by J. M. Montaner dedicated to art as a reference
for architectural projects, to create a general picture of the post-war architectural and art
scene and to follow its development till the end of the 20th century, highlighting the most
important ideas, architects and their works.

Keywords: Contemporary architecture, postmodern art, conceptual architecture, art as a

reference in architecture

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Introduction

During the history, architecture was searching for the sources that would inspire and orient it
in a certain direction: nature, classics, technique and plenty of other fields that sometimes
were overlapping, and sometimes excluding each other. After the World War II the variety of
the sources has increased a lot: humanism and psychology, a reference to the tradition, a high-
tech aesthetics, a need for the viewer’s participation, as well as for the communication and
interaction. One of the most influential sources for architecture was art (Montaner, 2018).

It should be mentioned that the role of art in architecture started increasing in the beginning
of the 20th century. Yet Ernst Gombrich, one of the greatest art historians of the epoch, was
emphasizing a deep interconnection between the artist and the psychology of the space,
saying that “in reality there’s no art, there’re only artists”.

In tradition-breaking times of 1960s – 1970s, the overlapping experiments between art and
architecture got a flourishing development in North America, in particular by the SITE Group
(Sculpture in the Environment, leaded by James Wines), merging sculpture with contemporary
architecture, and integrating pop art and conceptual art into architecture. The same things
were happening in Europe. Such an intensive development of art and architecture synthesis
became the most evident proof of the crises of production-oriented, functionalist and
rationalist aspects of Modern Movement.

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 1. Transformation of the artists’ values
It may sound a paradox, but in the epoch when the traditional values and ideologies were
devaluated, the art was transformed into a new and highly appreciated value. Moreover, all
the characteristics that concerned the works of art, started concerning the artists as well. Thus,
the artists, who in every possible way tried to break the rules and the stereotypes, transformed
the art into something very diverse and personal. The purpose of art was to reflect the new
knowledge and ideas through people’s feelings and emotions. As an example we can observe
a quick and complete acceptance of new pop generations, like Keith Haring, Jean-Michel
Basquiat and others.

As for the architecture, it was searching for the lost authenticity, trying out the methods that
could make every work unique, establishing the harmonic relationship between the
environment, the user and the architect’s intentions. And what were the architects’
intentions? To make an architecture that would be capable to express itself, to make a dialogue
with people, to establish finally its own ructions and arguments.

It wasn’t only architecture that entered the world of art, but also art that approached the
architecture. For example, the sculptors and plastic artists “intervened” into interior spaces,
public environments and landscapes. Very interesting proposals of Robert Smithson, Daniel
Buren, Walter de Maria, Sol LeWitt, Richard Serra, Claes OldenBurg, Mario Merz and others
reflect the intention to synthesize in one artwork the space, the object and the environment.

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 2. Outstanding examples of artistic approach in architecture
International architecture has lots of examples where an artistic approach plays a basic role in
the concept and strategy of architectural project. Among the brightest representatives of the
“artistic movement” in architecture are: Canadian-American architect Frank O. Gehry, Coop
Himmelb(I)au Group (Vienna, Austria), Haus-Rucker and Co. (Dusseldorf, Germany), Gunter
Behnisch and Partner (Germany), Formalhaut Group (Germany), Superstudio (Florence, Italy),
Archigram (Great Britain), Archizoom (Italy), Sottsass (Italy), Spanish architects Jordi Garces,
Enric Soria, Juan Navarro Baldeweg, Santiago Calatrava, British architect Nigel Coates,
American architect Steven Holl, Argentinian architect Emilio Ambasz and others.

2.1.Frank O. Gehry (b.1929)

Gehry’s work is based on the artisan joint of simple shapes – prisms, cylinders, pyramids,
spheres etc., where movement and perishability are the supplementary terms. His work is a
reflection of a certain area or district that is characterised by a tendency to architecture, which
is flexible, adjustable and plastic like an art.

During the late 1970s and 80s, Gehry designed a number of residences and small public
buildings in California. His Residence in Santa Monica (1977-1978) stands out due to its concept
and style. Made of humble materials like cardboard, wires, plywood, corrugated metal, plastics
and other, the building looks like a collage of cheap materials. Nevertheless, its geometry
reminds of Cubist painting (Frank Gehry/Artworks, n.d.).

Experimenting with a wide range of materials Gehry treats every building as a sculptural object
that is a unique complex of volumes, materials, structures and colours (Frank Gehry, n.d.). A
vivid proof of this approach is his cooperation with sculptors and plastic artists like Ron Davis,
Claes Oldenburg and Richard Serra.

A research for a Camp Good Times in the mountains of Santa Monica in California (1984-1985),
a complex of buildings for ill children that wasn’t built, erases the border between art and
architecture. Every building has a separate function and symbolic shape that refers to the
water – a weird association for such a dry place as mountains of Santa Monica. Actually, this
design is an example of surrealistic and pop art influence that will be seen a lot in Gehry’s
future works.

A research for Chiat/Day/Mojo in Main Street of Venice, California (1975-1991) is a result of

collaboration with Claes Oldenburg and Coosje van Bruggen. This project commonly goes by
the nickname Binoculars Building, thanks to the enormous pair of binoculars that mark the
entrance to a parking garage and refer to the classical entrance that is framed by two columns
(Mafi, 2018).

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The design of the skyscrapers for Cleveland Tribune (1989) is represented by a giant folded
newspaper as a roof, showing the model that could become a building one day.

Gehry has managed to open a new perspective, where the mechanisms of pop art never lean
towards traditional forms but always renew the morphological and conceptual context.

Besides, his concepts do not refer to any system o typology, as far as he treats every design,
every building individually, giving the shape to every function, empowering the building with
dynamics and intense.

What Frank O. Gehry requires for his works is not to be evaluated according to traditional
architectural criteria, but to be accepted as works of art, regarding the meaning, the
functioning and the satisfaction that they provide.

2.2.Coop Himmelb(I)au Group (1968)

The group that was created in Vienna in 1968 by Wolf D. Prix, Helmut Swiczinsky and Michael
Holzer. In their approach they used as a starting point different art directions: performance,
literature, cinematography, pop experiments with a mix of high technologies. Their work was
influenced equally by Viennese design culture and international effects, such as technological
fantasies of the British group Archigram.

Among the first experiments of Coop Himmelb(I)au Group were: The Cloud project – a moving
structure created between 1968-1972, The Soft Space (1970) – an ephemeral structure from
the foam, The Fresh Cells (1972) – a kind of a glass bottle with a bioclimatic park over the old
building, The House with the Flying Roof (1973) that was created in collaboration with the
students of London Architectural Association, The Blazing Wing (1980) – a huge wing created
with the help of high technologies and was burnt in Graz, The Open House (1983) – the most
signature work by Coop Himmelb(I)au Group, that had as a starting point an abstract sketch
made with closed eyes.

The purpose of their approach was to overcome the limits of the logic by revealing and using
all the energy located in the sketching hand. Obviously, this approach had much in common
with Surrealism, but it helped to make their architecture free and independent from any
traditional forms and ideas.

It should be mentioned that all the works of Coop Himmelb(I)au Group can’t be taken out of
the context of environment and Viennese historical centre. This is actually what makes every
work unique and unrepeatable. Interacting with the traditional Viennese architecture and
using the materials of high technologies, Coop Himmelb(I)au manage to create the building
which are the works of art, the sculptures.

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Among other architectural groups that were using similar approaches were: Haus-Rucker and
Co. (Dusseldorf, Germany), Formalhaut (Germany) – famous for their futuristic studies that
combined architecture with sculpture and tradition with art, Gunter Behnisch and Partner
(Germany) – created poetically similar works to those of Coop Himmelb(I)au.

2.3.Superstudio and Adolfo Natalini

The architecture of the Superstudio, based in Florence and leaded by Adolfo Natalini stands
out by its poetic uniqueness. Their style could be described as intermediate between
architecture and fine arts that united symbolic, communicational, historical and cultural values.

The artistic background of Superstudio consisted of photomontage and industrial design.

Additionally, they often referred to the literature, philosophy, painting, photography and other
arts. The final result was achieved in a paradox way: the advantages of high technologies were
expressed through the original, handicraft and personal approaches.

One of the most famous works by Superstudio is Monumento Continuo, created in the form of
drawings, photomontages and storyboards. Conceived as a model of global urbanization, this
three-dimensional grid runs over the Earth’s surface, negotiating megalopolises, mountains
and oceans. By means of this project Superstudio managed to present a “continuous
monument” that absorbs everything on its way, ignoring scale and location. In such way
Natalini and other architects constructed the synthetic and critical representation of a
humanity which had entered the era of imagery, networks and total communications (Vernant,
n.d.).

Among the later works influenced by the Monumento Continuo were Istogrammi
d’Architettura (1969) and the furniture line Misura (1969-1971), which is based on the
repetition and transformation of the basic rectangular unit.

After the collapse of Superstudio in 1978 each of the architects continued its primary ideology
individually. Natalini created some outstanding projects like Cassa Rurale e Artigiana in Alzate
Brianza (1978-1983) combining a traditional building techniques with high technologies, as well
as classic approaches with popular forms.

Natalini’s work could be described by the words that he once said: “my profession is
architecture, I work as a professor, and in fact I am an artist”.

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 2.4.Spanish examples
In Spain we can also meet the works with the stamps of individuality and ambitions of
uniqueness.

Catalonian architects Jordi Garces and Enric Soria stand out for the relatively small-scale but
very conceptual minimalistic works, like Santiga (Santa Maria de Barbera, Barcelona, 1971)
were minimalism meets the land art, the extension of the Picasso Museum in Barcelona (1981-
1986) which is located inside the historical buildings but corresponds to the requirements of
the space for a modern artist, Escuela de Pintura Mural in Sant Sadurni dÁnoia (1985-1987) that
transforms what is left after the Old Hospital of Barcelona into the unique work made as a
collage of shapes and materials.

Another Spanish architect who merged the art and the architecture in his practice is Juan
Navarro Baldeweg. His architectural studies start with painting, were the classical approach is
combined with modern and abstract criteria of composition and light. The first research-
manifest of Baldeweg is Casa de la Lluvia designed in 1979 for his brother. Few years later he
creates another outstanding work - Cultural Centre and Hydraulic Museum in Murcia (1983-
1988).

2.5.Other international examples

Nigel Coates, a British architect who inspired the Architectural Association of the experimental
team of NATO (Narrative Architecture Today) and challenged a lot the very term of
architecture, filling it with intelligence, passion, art and irony (Nigel Coates/About, n.d.).
Famous for his projects of cafes, restaurants and stores, like Bongo Cafe in Tokio (1986),
Katherine Hamnett Store in London (1988), he manages to create a unique mix of baroque
styles with a punk movement of 1980s.

In the USA the one who stands out with his artistic architectural works is Steven Holl. Among
his famous projects are: Berkowitz-Odgis House, Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts (1984-
1988) which is a postmodern remake of utopian architectural theory of Claude-Nicolas Ledoux,
American Library of Berlin (1988) and The Museum of Modern Art in Helsinki (1993-1998).

An Argentinian architect Emilio Ambasz creates the works from glass, partly merged with
landscape. The most representative work of Ambasz is Lucille Halsell Conservatory in Texas
(1984-1990). By means of minimalistic forms he creates an iconic space that makes a dialogue
between natural and technical.

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 3. Methodologies and strategies
Studying the relationship between art and architecture, it is necessary to mention a museum
of modern art, as an example of the space where architecture starts immediate dialogue with
art. And this is where the architect has an opportunity to develop his artistic abilities, or to
collaborate with sculptors, painters and other artists.

At the same time, the architect has to find a balance between creative proposals, on the one
hand, and strict and realistic consistency, on the other. Thus, we can observe some common
characteristics for the architects with a similar artistic approach in architecture: dominant
references to the world of art, the accent on the main concept and the sketches that are
assimilated with the works of art, the defence of the freedom of expression, surrealistic
references and their sensor differentiation.

The importance of art in architecture of 1970s-1990s can be explained by Enzo Mari, who said
that art is the last “source of hope”. The advantages this are obvious: the enrichment of
morphological approaches, bigger communication opportunity, easier adjustment to the
environment etc. But there are also some risks: borrowing the criteria from other fields, there’s
a risk to forget the particular qualities of the existing project/object/situation, pushing
architecture into danger of becoming a kind of entertaining game.

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Conclusion

The relationship between art and architecture wasn’t the issue of the last decades only. In the
beginning of the 20th century a series of plastic arts merged with Constructivism and other
tendencies in architecture came from the experiments in painting and sculpture. After the
World War II the experiments were continued by Smithson, Pollock, Venturi, O.Gehry,
Eisenman and many others, who enriched the morphological approach in architecture with
personal experiences and conceptual ideas, interacting art into architecture and architecture
into art, and thus, empowering both, art and architecture, with far-going possibilities and
perspectives.

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Bibliography

Frank Gehry. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Art Story: https://www.theartstory.org/artist/gehry-

frank/#nav

Frank Gehry/Artworks. (n.d.). Retrieved from The Art Story:

https://www.theartstory.org/artist/gehry-frank/artworks/

Mafi, D. S. (2018, November 27). Best of Frank Gehry. Retrieved from Architectural Digest:
https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/best-of-frank-gehry-slideshow

Montaner, J. M. (2018). Ιστορια της Συγχρονης Αρχιτεκτονικης. Athens: Εκδοσεις Νεφελη.

Nigel Coates/About. (n.d.). Retrieved from Nigel Coates: https://nigelcoates.com/about/

Vernant, A. (n.d.). Art and Architecture Collection/Superstudio. Retrieved from Frac:

https://www.frac-centre.fr/_en/art-and-architecture-collection/superstudio/il-monumento-
continuo-317.html?authID=185&ensembleID=988

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