ARCH 304 History of Architecture II MODERNISM - Its initial movements Sofia Sebastian

MODERNISM the buildings and building practices of the late 19th and the 20th centuries The history of modern architecture encompasses the architects who designed those buildings, stylistic movements, and the technology and materials that made the new architecture possible. originated in the United States and Europe and spread from there to the rest of the world

early modern architectural projects imaginative designs for a city of the future by Italian visionary Antonio Sant’Elia; exuberant and richly decorated buildings in Glasgow, Scotland, by Charles Rennie Mackintosh; houses with flowing interior spaces and projecting roofs by the American pioneer of modernism, Frank Lloyd Wright.

early modern architectural projects bold new factories in Germany by Peter Behrens and Walter Gropius; the sleek villas of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier; steel and glass skyscrapers designed by German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

What is MODERNISM ? This unifying spirit does not mean that the buildings of different architects would be similar in appearance, nor that architects would agree on other issues. reaction against the architecture of the 19th century, which they felt borrowed too heavily from the past. 19th century architecture was oppressively bound to past styles or cloyingly picturesque and eclectic. expressed the spirit of a new age and would surpass the styles, materials, and technologies of earlier architecture.

The aesthetics (artistic values) of modern architects differed radically. Some architects, enraptured by the powerful machines developed in the late 19th century, sought to devise an architecture that conveyed the sleekness and energy of a machine. Their aesthetic celebrated function in all forms of design, from household furnishings to massive ocean liners and the new flying machines. Other architects, however, found machine-like elegance inappropriate to architecture. They preferred an architecture that expressed, not the rationality of the machine, but the mystic powers of human emotion and spirit.

Modern architects also differed in their understanding of historical traditions. While some abandoned historical references altogether, others used careful references to the past to enhance the modernity of their designs. Italian architect Antonio Sant'Elia resoundingly rejected traditional architecture in his Futurist Manifesto of 1914 (Futurism). He called for each generation to build its houses anew and celebrated glass, steel, and concrete as the materials to make this possible.

In the United States Frank Lloyd Wright also rejected 19th-century European architecture. His new architectural concepts were related to educational building blocks he had played with as a child, to Japanese architecture, and to the prairie landscape on which many of his houses were built. Yet the fireplaces with adjacent seating that occupied a central position in his houses referred to the very distant past. In Wright’s houses, few dividing walls separated rooms and one room seemed to flow into the next. Wright’s open design was extremely influential, and variations of it were used, not only for the houses of the wealthy, but for apartments and middle-class homes in Europe and the United States.

Modern architecture also challenged traditional ideas about the types of structures suitable for architectural design. . Important civic buildings, aristocratic palaces, churches, and public institutions had long been the mainstay of architectural practices up to the 19th century, but modernist designers argued that architects should design all that was necessary for society, even the most humble buildings. They began to plan low-cost housing, railroad stations, factories, warehouses, and commercial spaces. In the first half of the 20th century many modernists produced housing as well as furniture, textiles, and wallpaper to create a totally designed domestic environment.

MODERNISM – general architectural character asymmetrical compositions use of general cubic or cylindrical shapes flat roofs use of (often new) materials - reinforced concrete, metals and glass large windows in horizontal bands an absence of ornament or mouldings a tendency for white or cream render Plans would be loosely arranged, often with open-plan interiors openness to structural innovation

New Materials and Technology Crystal Palace in London, England, designed by English architect Joseph Paxton to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. Iron, glass and concrete —formed the technological basis for much modern architecture. . In 1779 English architect Thomas Pritchard and Abraham Darby designed the first structure built entirely of cast iron: Ironbridge, a bridge over the River Severn in England. In 1889 French engineer Gustave Eiffel carried forward Paxton's daring ideas for iron construction in his 300-m (984-ft) tall Eiffel Tower in Paris. Concrete - compound of lime, clay, sand, and iron slag to produce concrete Builders throughout Europe and North America began to erect warehouses with beams of iron instead of wood and to create storefronts with cast-iron façades. Steel for construction also became abundantly available in the 19th century.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III – Lecture 2 - MODERNISM - Its initial movements Reinforced Concrete Improvements in concrete ran parallel to developments in iron and steel technology . 1868 - French gardener Joseph Monier embed a wire mesh in concrete in the manufacture of tubs and tanks In 1892 French engineer François Hennebique combined the strengths of both in a new system of construction based on concrete reinforced with steel.

Hennebique’s invention made possible previously unimaginable effects: HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III – Lecture 2 - MODERNISM - Its initial movements Hennebique’s invention made possible previously unimaginable effects: . extremely thin walls with large areas of glass; roofs that cantilever (project out from their supports) to previously impossible distances enormous spans without supporting columns or beam; and corners formed of glass rather than stone, brick, or wood.

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III – Lecture 2 - MODERNISM - Its initial movements Reinforced Concrete One of the earliest architects to experiment with these new effects was Belgian architect-engineer Auguste Perret, whose 1902 apartment building on Rue Franklin in Paris, France, exemplified basic principles of steel reinforcement. . On the façade, Perret clearly separated the structural elements of steel-reinforced concrete from the exterior walls, which were simply decorative panels or windows rather than structural necessities. The reinforced concrete structure also eliminated the need for interior walls to support any weight, permitting a floor plan of unprecedented openness.

church of Notre Dame at Le Raincy, France - 1922 HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III – Lecture 2 - MODERNISM - Its initial movements Reinforced Concrete Auguste Perret, used reinforced concrete to create the unadorned tower as the spire of his church at Le Raincy, just east of Paris . church of Notre Dame at Le Raincy, France - 1922

conceived the idea of pre-stressing concrete HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III – Lecture 2 - MODERNISM - Its initial movements Reinforced Concrete Eugene Freyssinet - revolutionary discoveries – use of reinforced concrete conceived the idea of pre-stressing concrete Bridge at Esbly, France - 1946 . Airship hangars – 1921 The incredible slenderness of pre-stressing the concrete units of the structure. The long span of thin concrete seems to fly over the river Marne. The reinforced concrete structure also eliminated the need for interior walls to support any weight, permitting a floor plan of unprecedented openness.

Reinforced Concrete French architect - Tony Garnier used reinforced concrete for hospitals, stockyards, city stadium The city hall of Boulogne-Billancourt, west of Paris was one of his finest buildings completed in 1934 . The rather plain façade of this building on the southern edge of Paris reflects its construction of reinforced concrete.

Chicago School – Invention of skyscrapers . The construction of buildings taller than Perret’s was made possible by the safety elevator, first demonstrated in 1854 by American inventor Elisha Otis. Architects in Chicago, Illinois, were the first to exploit the possibilities offered by the elevator in combination with the new steel and concrete technologies. . Following a disastrous fire in 1871, Chicago experienced a massive boom in new housing, warehouses, and commercial buildings. The collective response of a diverse group of architects to the reconstruction of the city led to the development of the skyscraper.

Second Leiter Building, Chicago – 1891 Chicago School – Invention of skyscrapers Architect William Le Baron Jenney devised a solution to the problem of fireproof construction for tall buildings by substituting steel in the structural system for cast iron, which melts at high temperatures clad the building’s exterior with traditional masonry, however. . Second Leiter Building, Chicago – 1891 Jenney brilliantly demonstrated his system in the Second Leiter Building (1889-1891, Chicago), in which a steel frame held together by rivets supported itself as well as all the interior walls and floors and the exterior cladding. First Leiter Building, Chicago – 1879 William Le Baron Jenney

Chicago School – Invention of skyscrapers Architect Daniel H. Burnham and Charles B. Atwood, a designer in Burnham’s firm, took Jenney’s system and drove it to new heights with the Reliance Building (1889-1895), which stood 16 stories high, at least 6 stories higher than had been possible with masonry construction. . stripped away the ornamentation characteristic of most buildings at that time and instead used tall windows to emphasize the beauty of the building’s skyward thrust. eliminated Jenney’s heavy masonry exterior, creating a system known as curtain-wall construction.

Chicago School – Invention of skyscrapers Curtain Wall construction system In this system, the exterior wall of each floor is hung on the iron or steel frame so that the wall supports only its own weight and not the floors above it. This method of construction reduced the overall weight of a building, which allowed it to be built higher, and permitted the extensive use of glass on the façade. .

Effects on cities and suburbs The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and the 19th centuries was also responsible for large-scale changes in patterns of living and working, and for the rapid growth of cities Perhaps the most troubling feature of the Industrial Revolution was the squalor created wherever factories were found. Reformers throughout the 19th century struggled to change laws and customs in order to improve working conditions and provide decent and sanitary housing for the new urban masses. . By the beginning of the 20th century, the population of cities such as Paris, London, and New York City numbered well over a million people. Such population concentrations created demand for new roads, railroads, bridges, and subways, and for a wide range of new buildings, including railroad stations, department stores, opera houses, and covered public markets.

Effects on cities and suburbs HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III – Lecture 2 - MODERNISM - Its initial movements Effects on cities and suburbs Among the reformers were those who dreamed of using architecture to create industrial utopias that would help control the unchecked urban growth and keep the working classes themselves in line. Utopia – an ideal and perfect place or state where everyone lives in harmony and everything is for the best . In 1901 French architect Tony Garnier submitted designs for an imaginary city where workers would live in lushly landscaped residential areas and commute by streetcar to clean and pleasant factories (published as Cité Industrielle, 1917). Although his plans went unrealized, such utopian projects exerted a powerful force on architects and governments at the beginning of the 20th century .

Effects on cities and suburbs HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE III – Lecture 2 - MODERNISM - Its initial movements Effects on cities and suburbs Tony Garnier - famous for the intricate drawings he made for the imaginary city – Cite Industrielle city of 35,000 revolutionary concept the first comprehensive town plan of the country All the buildings to be made of reinforced concrete . the residential area is separated from the industrial area by a green belt. The main railway line enters the city through a subway and arrives at a terminal Mid-city holds a civic center, the high school area and an elaborate sports complex

Effects on cities and suburbs Unfortunately, by separating these functions, many of these plans eliminated any sense of community. Governments and private enterprise sponsored new towns based on these guidelines, Much urban planning in the 20th century was devoted to decentralizing cities and setting up self-sufficient garden suburbs. In 1928 the Congrès Internationaux de l'Architecture Moderne (International Congress of Modern Architecture, or CIAM) was founded to promote social justice and modern architecture. . In 1933 this group issued the Athens Charter, which recommended simple, clear urban-planning schemes that would separate leisure, work, housing, and traffic.

Villa Radieuse – Machine city efficient and simple as the industrial machines massive skyscrapers housing millions of people — rich and poor Parks and green areas would divide these massive cities into zones of productivity and leisure each building would contain 2,700 people, all working 5-hour days, using public transit that delivered them right to their homes. lots of natural sunlight and air. center of social life, with rooftop gardens and beaches, as well as catering in the basement and professional childcare for each family.