Transcript The Triumph of the Iron Masters

A New Vision
The Turn of the Century
The Turn of the Century 1880-1920
• Most distinctive and stimulation moment in
architectural history
– Architectural theories and slogans were
formulated
– Extraordinary masterpieces in architecture
changed the shape of towns and cities
– Cities in Europe and America grew
– Sophisticated technologies were developed
rapidly
• Music and visual arts were as lively as ever
The Great War 1914-18
• World War I broke out in Europe
• Growing self-confidence in the capability and
resources of America
Chicago 1880s-90s
• Architectural revolution
– Chicago School
– Henry Hobson Richardson 1838-1886
• Worked for Labrouste in Paris
• Returned to America after the civil war
• Started his architectural practice by winning a design
competition in 1866
Henri Labrouste
Marshall Field Warehouse
Chicago USA 1885-7
Henry Hobson Richardson
Model for new generation of Chicago
architects
Richardson’s personal heavy style
Crane Library
Quincy Massachusetts USA 1880-3
Henry Hobson Richardson
Crane Library, one of Richardson’s most celebrated projects, is also among
his simplest and smallest public buildings.
The library proves that even the bold, masculine Richardsonian
Romanesque style can seem quiet and contemplative
Design is informal
Skillful combination of mass and line with heavy details
Crane Library
Quincy Massachusetts USA 1880-3
Henry Hobson Richardson
Chicago Fire 1871
• Destroyed the city of Chicago including the
cast iron buildings which were not fireproofed
• Gave the opportunity and challenge for
architects to design buildings which dispensed
of historical styles
– This set the scene for the Modern movement in
architecture
1st Definitive Skyscraper
Home Insurance Building, Chicago
1883-5
William le Baron Jenney
Fireproof construction
Metal frame clad in brick
masonry
Traditional detailing in its exterior
is evident
Architectural Firms
• Skyscraper projects were taken on by
architectural firms
– Burnham and Root
– Holabird and Roche
– Adler and Sullivan
• These firms effectively established the Chicago
School and essential outlines of the twentieth
century commercial architecture
Elevator
• Invented in 1852
• Made widely available by Siemen’s invention of
the electric elevator in 1880
• Outstanding among the early skycrapers in
Chicago were the
– Monadnock Building designed by Burnham & Root
1884-91
• Solid masonry construction
– The Reliance Building also designed by Burnham &
Root 1890-4
• Metal Frame Construction
Monadnock Building
Construction start: 1889
Construction finish: 1891
Designed by: Burnham & Root
Renovated: 1893 by Holabird & Roche
Type: Skyscraper
Stories: 17
Maximum Height: 197 feet / 60 meters
The Reliance Building
1890-4
Chicago
Burnham and Root
Louis Sullivan 1856-1924
• One of the most cultivated of all American architects
• Most intense and logical architect of his generation
• His designs became the prototype for countless 20th
century offices and department stores
Guaranty Building
Exterior View and
detail
Chicago
Louis Sullivan
Louis Sullivan 1856-1924
• Sullivan’s principle, inherited from 19th
century theorists, that ‘form follows function’
became a slogan for many years to come
Carson Pirie Scott
Chicago
Louis Sullivan, 1899-1904
Principal Materials
• Steel, which was pioneered in Britain and
brought into general use in America
• Reinforced concrete, which was developed in
France
– By 1892 Francois Hennebique perfected a system
for the best location of steel reinforcement in
concrete
– The combination of the compressive strength of
concrete and the tensile strength of steel was one
of the turning points in architectural history
Saint Jean de
Montmartre Church
Paris
Anatole de Baudot
Reinforced Concrete
Construction
Anatole de Baudot was a pupil of
Viollet-le-Duc
Followed his master’s ideal of using
modern technology to develop further
traditional structural principles
Starting from Neo Gothic to Neoclassical
He reduced the traditional forms in the
classical styles to its essentials
Elimination of unnecessary details and
expression of structure are basic in
understanding modern architecture
25bis Rue Franklin
Paris, France 1903
Auguste Perret
Auguste Perret 1874-1954
He realized that the eight-storey frame made
load-bearing walls unnecessary
– The building could have an open space inside
– Placed cladding on the frame with decorated tiles
with flower motif
– Structural elements are freely expressed, razorsharp and deeply modelled to give a well-defined
vertical movement to the building
Notre Dame du
Raincy
Auguste Perret
Raincy, France
Exterior
Segmental vaults of in situ reinforced concrete
were elegantly supported on a few slender
shafts
New light and airy space was encircled by nonload-bearing screen walls of pre-cast concrete
units filled with coloured glass
Notre Dame du Raincy
Auguste Perret
Raincy, France
Art Nouveau
• The French delight in
decorative detail led to the
creation of a new kind of
expressive space
– Art Nouveau
• Whiplash of line
• Abstracted biological and
botanical decoration
• Asymmetry and a wide
repertoire of materials
Hector Guimard, Paris Metro
entrance
Staircase and Entrance
Hotel Tassel 1892-3
Brussels
Victor Horta
Hotel Tassel
Brussels
Victor Horta
Sagrada Familia
Barcelona Spain
Antonio Gaudi
Modernismo
Art Nouveau in Spain was
known as Modernismo
In Sagrada Familia, Antonio
Gaudi took over a new Gothic
design by another architect and
transformed it into a huge
cathedral
The Nativity façade was
completed during his lifetime
Over 107 metres high
Finished at the top with finials
of glass, ceramic and tile
Sagrada Familia
Barcelona Spain
Antonio Gaudi
Casa Batllo
Barcelona Spain
Antonio Gaudi
House of Bones
Structural members
are bone-like in
shape
Casa Mila
Barcelona, Spain
Antonio Gaudi
Used parabolic
arches and has an
amazing multileveled roofscape
Interior has no right angles
Used parabolic arches
Casa Mila
Barcelona, Spain
Antonio Gaudi
Santa Coloma de Cervello
Crypt 1898-1917
Barcelona, Spain
Antonio Gaudi
Elaboration of natural forms
No buttresses are necessary,
as in Gothic structures, as the
structural members are at the
correct angle and slope to
resist the load
Santa Coloma de Cervello
Barcelona, Spain
Antonio Gaudi
Favorite shapes:
Paraboloid, Hyperboloid
and Helicoid
Shapes found in nature
William Morris 1834-96
• Major figure in the
promotion of the Arts
and Craft movement in
the second half of the
nineteenth century
• He saw the style as a
social programme as
much as it is an artistic
style
Red House
Bexley Heath
London 1859-60
Philip Webb
Medieval in style but contemporary in its frank
expression of materials
Made of brick and tile, sparse in detail, substantial
in construction and homely in appearance
Precursor of the functional architecture of the
modern movement
Viceroy’s House for the new capital of India
New Delhi India
Sir Edwin Lutyens
The materials are used in a natural way
and frankly expressed
He made access and entry to his houses
an adventure filled with surprises through
changes in directions before entering the
main room
Glasgow School of Arts, Library 1907
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
Used verticals, horizontals and gentle
curves in timber to work out a richly
decorative space defined and shaped by
columns, beams, cover plates and hanging
frets
All architectural details were his own
design
Majolica House
Plain, dignified and
finely proportioned
The decorative
majolica spreads
right across the
upper four floors in
coloured tiles
Majolica House 1898
Vienna
Otto Wagner
Town Hall 1904-23
Stockholm
Ragnar Ostberg
s
Robie House 1908-9
Chicago
Frank Lloyd Wright
Martin House 1904
Buffalo
Frank Lloyd Wright
Falling Water 1935-7
Pennsylvania
Frank Lloyd Wright
Taliesin West
Arizona
Frank Lloyd Wright