Architecture and Design Quiz

Unit 1: Modernity & Architecture

• Modernity is a historical phenomenon encompassing social, cultural, technological, economic, and political changes.
• Modernity in architecture is outlined by various strands, enlightenment ideals, and Neoclassical architecture.
• The Industrial Revolution brought about urban transformations in Europe and America, introducing new building types and materials (steel, glass, and concrete), along with construction techniques and standardization.
• Design education split into architecture and engineering streams.
• Key developments include the Chicago School and skyscraper development, and the works of Louis Sullivan.

Modernism

• Modernism is a philosophical and art movement that departed from traditional forms aimed at modifying traditional beliefs.
• It has a linear view of time, stressing the importance of documenting history for preservation and learning.
• Modernism is a reaction to the Classical era and questioned the validity of Vitruvian proportions.
• It involved a shift in societal consciousness and increased man's ability to control nature.
• Modernism emerged from the late 19th and early 20th centuries, accompanied by extraordinary technical changes.
• Modernism rejected the certainty of Enlightenment thinking and many modernist beliefs.

Architectural Questions

• Why do we build the way we build?
• Why should we build in the same way?
• What is this way based on?
• Whose ideas?

Birth of Modernism

• Questioned universal validity of Vitruvian proportions.
• Documented prehistoric to ancient buildings to understand.
• Man's ability to control nature.
• Separation of architecture and engineering.
• Debate on whether the moderns can rival or surpass the ancients.
• Emphasis on the progressive model of history and life.

Birth of Revolutionary Theories

• Vitruvian Trinity (Utilitas, Firmitas, and Venustas).
• Concept of space as a positive element in architecture.
• Important architects who pioneered revolutionary theories: John Soane, E.L. Boullee, C.N. Ledoux, J.N.L. Durand.
• Ideas were revolutionary, challenging and re-evaluating existing principles.

Historiography

• The important events around 1750, like the starting modern civil engineering school, publishing first modern architecture history, and equating architecture with rational construction.
• Positive and negative effects like uncertainty on the architectural styles, abandonment of standardization, and the demand for variety.
• Increased patronage for architecture from diversified patrons.
• Awareness of history influencing architectural philosophy and economic factors driving change.

Picturesque

• Originated in England before 1740, with a preference for natural scenery over formal geometric patterns in landscaping and building layouts.
• Related to a desire for landscape gardens that are more informal.
• Emphasizes irregularity in settings with the introduction of artificially created elements like rocks, waterfalls, and cascades in interior and exterior landscapes.

Revivalism

• Modern architecture considered a victory over revivalism (practice of past styles).
• Uniqueness of 20th-century revivalism—reviving several styles simultaneously.
• Defined as "authentic character" that relates to the building's purpose.
• Revival of styles like Greek, Roman, Renaissance, and Gothic, but with differing structures and materials.
• Introduced the concept of space as a new quality in architectural design.

Neoclassical Architecture

• Development of Classicism during the Italian Renaissance.
• Symmetry, proportion, and regularity of parts (inspired by Classical antiquity, especially Ancient Rome).
• Techniques including semicircular arches, domes, niches, and aedicules.
• Style later spread across Europe (to France, Germany, Russia, etc.)
• Developed and firmly established in England through the works of Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren in the 17th-century.

Neoclassicism

• A reaction against Baroque and Rococo styles, aiming for purity of Roman and Greek art.
• Emphasis on the "imitation" of Greco-Roman forms.
• Influenced by the French Academy in Rome, training French art students in classical traditions by Jacques-François Blondel.
• Emphasizing civic and private buildings as finest examples of the style.

Origins of Neoclassical Architecture

• Increased man's control over nature and a shift in human consciousness (related to social change).
• Search for a new style that wasn’t simply copying the past but following the principles of the ancient world, especially Classical Greece.
• Neoclassicism became an international style but each country had its distinct features

Neoclassical Style Characteristics

• Clean, elegant lines, uncluttered appearance.
• Structural use of orders instead of decoration.
• Free-standing columns and entablatures.
• Flat, horizontal roof lines (without towers or domes).
• Rectangular, flat facades.
• Minimal decoration.
• Classical proportions on exterior.

Neoclassical Architecture in England

• Development of the "Greek Style", with its influence on design in 18th-century Britain, largely due to Stuart's publication Antiquities of Athens (1762).
• Revival of Classical Greek architectural elements in town houses, used by wealthier families who frequently spent part of each year in London.
• Important figures: James Stuart & George Dance, who led extensive urban development, with particular reference to Newgate Prison in London, and their work following Neo-Palladian theories.
• Style reflected taste and education as well as the demand for opulent display.

Neoclassical Architecture in France

• Neoclassicism emphasized through the works of influential architects like Claude Perrault (questioned Vitruvian proportions), Abbe De Cordemoy and Abbe Laugier.
• Vitruvian principles (utility, solidity, and beauty), but with concern for geometrical purity.
• No use of Baroque elements like irregular or twisted columns.
• Emphasis on orthogonal structures (right angles).

J.-G. Soufflot

• Created a combination of Greek and Gothic elements in Ste-Genevieve.
• Emphasized light, spaciousness, and proportions (translucent structure).
• Abundant, free-standing columns supporting Roman vaults, aiming for a sense of space and grandeur.

J.F. Blondel

• Combined Cordemoy's and Soufflot's theories.
• Opened an architectural school, training important pupils like Boullee.
• His ideal church design highlights its simplicity and grandeur.

Neoclassicism-Enlightenment Ideals

• Intellectual movement of Enlightenment developed with the rigid rules of Absolutism.
• Liberation from traditional shackles (philosophical movement and in life).
• Shift to ratio-based orientation, with architects like J.F Blondel
• Most visionary architects are mentioned such as Etienne-Louis Boullee, Pierre Patte, Jacques Gondion, and Claude Nicolas Ledoux.
• Developed simple cosmic geometrical forms for unbuilt designs, including the state chemical works of "La Saline" and toll gates around Paris reflecting Tuscan style.

Enlightenment Architects (Boullee)

• A visionary French architect who influenced contemporaries.
• Focused on monumental, geometrical designs.
• Evoked emotion through grandeur (ex. Cenotaph for Sir Isaac Newton).
• Demonstrated concern with the capacity of light in invoking divinity.
• Used a vast masonry sphere in his design, creating an awe-inspiring presence. -Employed light to convey divinity.

Enlightenment Architects (Ledoux)

• French engineer who assumed government positions.
• Work influenced by Palladian tradition—familiar with classical elements.
• His "visionary" aspects of architecture anticipate postmodern classicism.
• Palaces de Justice, The Saline, Ideal city of Chaux, examples of his integrated design with practical and functional use.

Enlightenment Architects (Durand)

• Exploited platonic volumes in design for reduced cost and effective architecture.
• Proposed a universal building methodology using modular permutations of fixed plans and elevation.

Karl Friedrich Schinkel

• Native Prussian architect prominent in Berlin.
• Created works like the Neue Wache guard house, Schauspielhaus (theatre), Humboldt's country house, the Altes museum, demonstrating restrained Neo-Classicism externally and spatial effects internally.
• His work reflected the influence of Durand’s theories in the Altes Museum

Henri Labrouste

• French architect known for use of steel and glass, especially at the Ste-Genevieve library.
• Innovative use of cast iron columns—and their placement.
• Multi-storey wrought and cast-iron book stack.
• Emphasized a spatial experience through structural elements and geometry.
• Created glazed spaces for interior light among walls and architectural features.

Neoclassical Architecture and its Types

• 19th-century Neoclassical heritage divided into 'structural classicism' (e.g., Labrouste, Cordemoy, Laugier and Soufflot) and 'romantic classicism' (e.g., Schinkel, Boullee, and Gilly).
• Schools focused on different types (such as prisons, hospitals) and representational structures (universities, museums, libraries).

Industrial Revolution

• Period of development that transformed rural agrarian societies in Europe and America into urban industrialized ones.
• Marked by a shift from rural to urban living.
• Factors leading to the Industrial Revolution (cottage industry boosting the English economy, and urbanization of the English population spurred by demand for new jobs in factories).

Impact of Industrial Revolution

• Mass production in factories.
• Increased speed and reduced cost of production.
• Urbanization through city growth, including new building necessities (e.g., housing, factories, shops).
• Development of necessary infrastructure (e.g., railways).

Urban Transformations in Europe and America.

• Massive population movement from rural to urban areas in search of work.
• Rapid growth of cities led to poor living conditions (slums with lack of sanitation, ventilation, and light).
• Public health acts and other initiatives by local authorities address the issues stemming from poor living conditions and urbanization.

Industrial Material - Steel

• Overcoming iron's low tensile strength by developing steel alloys.
• Importance of the Bessemer process in steel production.

Early Use of Steel

• Cantilevered Forth Bridge in Scotland (longest spans).
• Arched Eads Bridge (a significant steel bridge for its time), built over the Mississippi River.
• Brooklyn Bridge (a large suspension bridge).
• First skyscrapers and their impact on large buildings, like the Wainwright Building.

Early Use of Cast Iron

• Avoiding iron for houses and opting for arcades, exhibition halls, and railway stations in the beginning.
• Use in bridges (e.g., Wilkinson, Darby and Pritchard's work).
• Notable industrial buildings used by companies like William Strut's cotton mill and Charles Bage's flax spinning mill.
• Crystal Palace (showing earliest use of iron and glass in large structures).

Early Use of Wrought Iron

• Reinforcement in building facades, such as in Perrault's Louvre and Soufflot's Ste-Genevieve designs.
• Emergence of independent use and evolution in bridge design (James Finlay's work and other important figures).
• Key bridges like Clifton Bridge and Britannia's Tubular Bridge demonstrate the expansion of wrought iron.
• Eiffel's use of wrought iron in the construction of the Eiffel Tower, which remains a popular example.

Industrial Revolution - Concrete

• The Industrial Revolution increased development of durable, fire-resistant building materials including Portland cement.
• However, concrete remained limited by low tensile strength.
• Later, reinforced concrete emerged, allowing complex structural solutions for buildings.
• Notable uses include the Eiffel Tower's metal framework and reinforced concrete systems by Francois Coignet in France and Hennebique .

Industrial Exhibitions

• Events showcasing technological and cultural developments and manufactured goods (like World's Fairs).
• Important international expositions include the Great Exhibition in London (1851), Paris Expositions (1855, 1867, 1878, 1889, 1900), World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago (1893), and Vienna Exposition (1873).
• Significance of international exposition buildings as showcases for new materials and architectural approaches (e.g., Paxton's Crystal Palace and structures produced during the 1900 exposition).

Chicago School

• Architectural style developed in Chicago in the early 20th century.
• Characterized by use of steel frames, plate glass windows, and brick or terra-cotta ornamentation.
• Important figures were H.H. Richardson, Dankmar Adler, Daniel Burnham, William LeBaron Jenney, Martin Roche, John Root, Solon S. Beman, and Louis Sullivan.

Chicago School Characteristics

• Steel-frame construction making use of large plate-glass windows.
• Embracing elements of neoclassical architecture.
• Three characteristic parts of the classical column (base, shaft and capital).
• "Chicago Window" with a three-part design and oriel windows.
• Emphasis on verticality in buildings' form

Chicago School Examples

• Sullivan's Carson, Pirie, Scott & Co. Building.
• Auditorium Building.
• Reliance Building.
• Chicago Building,
• Brooks Building,
• Monadnock Building,
• Wainwright Building.

Louis Sullivan

• A key figure in the development of the Chicago School.
• His famous expression, “form follows function,” shaped his architectural vision, promoting new buildings and designs.
• Prominent in the use of ornamentation and tall buildings.
• Developed a spatial aesthetics connected to newly appearing tall buildings.