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18TH CENTURY – THE AGE OF REASON legislation; led to revolutionary economic

19TH CENTURY ENGINEERING (DEVELOPMENT OF
ARCHITECTURE PRIOR TO THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE)
1. The year was 1750 – in Western Europe marked
the end the great synthesis of the Baroque (last
unified cultural period of the western world)
2. After 1750 – came not the unified styles but
movements – “isms”, character is completely
different from any so called historic styles or
periods.
3. the growing middle class resented royal power
(wealth & government was in the hands of an
absolute monarch & aristocracy) and its
expenditure on war and armies
4. In England – followed Palladio, and designed
Neo-classical Venetian villas for the for the
English landed aristocracy
5. but for the emerging middle-class who cannot
afford individual Palladian palaces –
entrepreneurial architects solved it by designing
townhouses joined together in terraces to give
an impression of a grand palatial building
principles by Karl Marx
Development of Architecture Prior to the
International Style
A. THE ARCHITECTURE OF ROMANTICISM
a. The first movement or “ism” emerging out from
the fragmentation of western culture
b. Romanticism looked directly to nature for
inspiration
c. Romanticism remained essentially lifeless due
to indiscriminate use of forms from the past
without concern for function and technique
B. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE ENGINEERS, 1800-1900
a. Engineers replaced architects as inventors of
imaginative structures. “The Humbler
Structures” – bridges, railroad stations, large
halls for work and exhibitions – paved way
for contemporary architecture by utilizing
new materials: Iron and steel

Two Fundamental Revolutions:

1. Industrial Revolution – introduced the “Age of
the machine”
2. Philosophy of Enlightenment – challenged the
absolutism of Church and State and proclaimed
the new values of democracy, of freedom, of
The Severn Bridge 1775-1779
equality, of social justice and nationalism
3. A third can be added – Scientific- by Abraham Darby (span 30 m. - the world's first
technological Revolution (Klassen) iron bridge)

Age of “Reason” – Science was thought to be able

to measure all – art and religion
Science - before long will know all the answers and
solve all the problems

Resulting Conditions:
1. Use of machine power for production changed
home based industry to factory industry – this
entailed massive migrations from the
countryside to the city. Overpopulation
(England)
2. Overpopulation led to a complete breakdown of Library of Saint-Genevieve (1843 – 1855), Paris,
the social institutions of a traditional city France by Henri Labrouste (first attempt to use
(inadequate infrastructures and housing for the cast-iron and wrought-iron construction in an
poor) important public building from foundation to roof)
3. Capitalism - Economic liberalism (private
enterprises). Gradually moderated by state

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Great Exhibitions:
• France inaugurated the exhibition
movement with the first national
exhibition in Paris in 1798
• The first International exhibition was
held in London in 1851
The Great Exhibition in London 1851:
William Le Baron Jenney (1832 – 1907)
The Crystal Palace, London, 1851 (destroyed by
fire in 1936) by Joseph Paxton (concept taken
from his study of the underside of a leaf – cross-
ribs)
The Paris Exhibition of 1889:
Marked at once the climax and conclusion of a
long development, great engineers like Eiffel reached the
height of the powers.
Two architecturally important structures:
The Gallery of the Machines by CLF Dutert and
Victor Contamin
Daniel H. Burnham (1846 – 1912)
The Entrance Pavilion (Eiffel Tower), by
Gustave Eiffel. H=305 m.
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C. THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE CHICAGO SCHOOL
a. 1871, the great commercial city of Chicago
(Midwest USA) almost completely destroyed
by fire with approx. 30,000 inhabitants.
b. Made a substantial contribution to the
development of multi-story high-rise
buildings – the American “Skyscraper”
c. It developed the steel skeleton as a load
bearing structure.
d. Noted invention at this point – the safe
elevator by Elisha Graves Otis (invented a
safety device that prevented elevators from
falling if the hoisting cable broke.)
e. 1st time in the 19th century the schism between
construction and architecture / architect and
engineer was healed.
• Regarded as founder of the Chicago School
• He was an engineer before he became an
architect
The Second Leiter Building 1889, Chicago,
Illinois (pure skeleton construction
made of steel to make the design
fireproof and has no more self-
supporting walls)
• American architect and Urban Planner
• Formed a partnership with John W. Root
architects of one of the first American
skyscrapers: the Masonic Temple Building in
Chicago
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• To many, considers him as father of modern

architecture
• Believed that a function of a tall office building
must have 3 parts according to its major
functions: a base for shops, restaurants and
other public spaces, a shaft of identical
offices more for private use and an attic for
mechanical equipments
• A mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an
inspiration to architects of the Prairie School

The Flatiron Building by Burnham (was one of

the tallest buildings in New York City
upon its completion in 1902)

The Guaranty Building, Buffalo, N.Y. by

Adler and Sullivan

The Reliance Building, Chicago

by Burnham, and Root
(from 4 – 16 storeys)

The Auditorium Building, Chicago by

Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan

The Monadnock Building, Chicago

by Holabird & Roche (south half);
Burnham & Root (north half)

Louis Henri Sullivan (1856 – 1924) The Wainwright Building, St Louis

• Best known architect of the Chicago School by Adler and Sullivan (10 storeys)
• Famous for his dictum “Form Follows
Function”

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D. THE ARCHITECTURE OF ART NOUVEAU

a. Also known as Floral Style
b. Intended as a search for an art free from all
historical styles
c. Drew its inspiration direct from nature to create
a new style; the free form curve became its
hallmark; dynamic stem structure of plants
and buds… lilies, sunflowers…anything
which symbolized purity.
d. It took various names in different European The Glasgow Art School, Scotland by
countries: Mackintosh
• “Jugendstil” – Germany
• “Secession” – Austria Antoni Gaudi (1852 – 1926) or Antoni Plàcid Guillem
• “Liberty” – Italy Gaudí i Cornet
• “Modernisme” - Spain • was a Spanish, Catalan architect, who
belonged to the Modernisme (Art Nouveau)
Victor Baron Horta (1861 – 1947)
• Belgian architect and designer
• one of the most important names in Art
Nouveau architecture

The Church of the Sagrada Familia, Barcelona

By Gaudi (Art Nouveau)

The Hotel Tassel, Brussels by Victor

Horta (generally considered
as the first true 'Art Nouveau'
building, because of its highly
innovative plan and its ground
breaking use of materials and
decoration) Casa Milà, Barcelona, Spain; better known as
La Pedrera (Catalan for 'The Quarry')
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928) By Gaudi
• Scottish architect, designer, and watercolourist
• He was a designer in the Arts and Crafts E. THE ARCHITECTURE OF PROTO-RATIONALISM:
movement and also the main exponent of Art a. Movement towards reduction – architecture is
Nouveau in the United Kingdom reduced to construction, function to material
function, architectural form to abstraction,
building to economic enterprise.

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Otto Koloman Wagner (1841 – 1918) Peter Behrens (1868 – 1940)

• an Austrian architect. • German architect and designer

The AEG Turbine Factory, Berlin, Germany

1909 by Behrens
Vienna Postal Savings Bank, Vienna, Austria by
Wagner
THE ARCHITECTURE OF THE INTERNATIONAL STYLE (1920’S
IN EUROPE)
Adolf Loos (1870- 1933)
• Major architectural style of the 1920s and
• one of the most important and influential
1930s.
Austrian and Czechoslovakia
• The term usually refers to the buildings and
architects of the formative decades of
Modernism, before World War II.

Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (1883 – 1969)

• German architect and founder of Bauhaus.
Along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and
Le Corbusier, he is widely regarded as one
of the pioneering masters of "modern"
architecture.

The Steiner House, (1910) Vienna, Austria by

Adolf Loos

Auguste Perret (1854 – 1954)

• a French architect and a leader and specialist
in concrete construction
• worked on a new interpretation of the neo-
classical style
The Bauhaus or "House of Building" or "Building
School"), Dessau, Germany by Gropius
• Bauhaus style became one of the most
influential currents in Modernist architecture
and modern design
• The school existed in three German cities
(Weimar from 1919 to 1925, Dessau from
1925 to 1932 and Berlin from 1932 to 1933)

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886 – 1969)

• born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies
The Rue Franklin Apartments 1903, Paris, • German American architect, one of the leading
France by Perret and most influential exponent of the glass

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and steel architecture of the 20th century • Vision of how whole cities would be
International Style. transformed by the new machine-made
• Famous for his dictum “Less is more” and world
“God is in the details”

Tugendhat House, Brno,

Czechoslovakia 1930

Seagram Building, N.Y. An Example of Futurism Architecture,

with Philip Johnson By Antonio Saint Elia

Le Corbusier (1887 – 1965) Constructivism

• or Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris • Form of modern architecture that flourished in
• Swiss-French architect, painter and writer the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early
• Famous for his contributions to what now is 1930s.
called Modern Architecture. In his 30s he
became a French citizen
• Often quoted as saying “a house is a
machine for living”- widely misunderstood
• Le Corbusier – 5 points for contemporary
architecture:
o The Pillar:
o Functional independence of skeleton The Narkomtiazhprom by the Vesnin brothers
and wall
o The open plan Expressionism
o The free facade • an architectural movement that developed in
o The roof garden Northern Europe during the first decades of
• Used the golden ratio in his Modulor system the 20th century in parallel with the
for the scale of architectural proportion. expressionist visual and performing arts
• The style was characterized by an early-
modernist adoption of novel materials,
formal innovation, and very unusual
massing, sometimes inspired by natural
biomorphic forms, sometimes by the new
technical possibilities offered by the mass
production of brick, steel and especially
Notre-Dame-du-Haut Villa Savoye, Poissy, glass.
Ronchamp, France France

Futurism
• Art movement that originated in Italy at the
beginning of the 20th century

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MODERN ARCHITECTURE
The Einstein Tower (1920-21), Potsdam,
Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 – 1959)
Germany by Eric Mendelsohn (German
Jewish architect)
Art Deco
• A popular international design movement from
1925 until 1939, affecting the decorative arts
such as architecture, interior design, and
industrial design, as well as the visual arts
such as fashion, painting, the graphic arts,
and film.
• This movement was, in a sense, an amalgam
of many different styles and movements of
the early 20th century, including
Constructivism, Cubism, Modernism,
Bauhaus, Art Nouveau, and Futurism
• After the second world war, the modern
movement became identified with the
rectangular “functional box”
• Modern architecture is a term given to a
number of building styles with similar
characteristics, primarily the simplification
of form and the elimination of ornament.
• An American architect, interior designer,
writer, educator, and philosopher who
designed more than 1,000 projects, of which
more than 500 resulted in completed works.
• Wright promoted organic architecture
(exemplified by Fallingwater), originated the
Prairie School of architecture (exemplified by
the Robie House), and developed the
concept of the Usonian home (exemplified
by the Rosenbaum House)

The Chrysler
New York
by William Van
Alen
(Art Deco style)

“Falling water” also known as the Edgar J.

Kaufmann Sr. Residence (department
store tycoon) in Mill Run, Pennsylvania

Modes in Architecture:
A. Classical
a. Man imposing order on nature
b. Mathematical, rational
c. Buildings like geometric diagrams
d. symmetrical
B. Romantic
a. Man integrating with nature
b. Organic, intuitative
c. Buildings like natural forms Solomon Guggenheim Museum, N.Y.
d. Asymmetrical By Frank Lloyd Wright

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The United States Pavilion –

Geodesic dome
at Expo ’67,
Montreal by Buckminster
Fuller

Palazetto dello Sport for 1960 Rome Olympics

by Pier Luigi Nervi and
Annibale Vitellozzi (1958)

The Baker House – Dormitory at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology,
USA by Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto Sydney Opera House by
Jorn Utzon of Denmark

World Trade Center N.Y. by

Minoru Yamasaki
(destroyed during the “9/11
terrorist attack”)

New World Trade Center by

Daniel Liebskind

The TWA Terminal, Kennedy Airport, N.Y. by

Eero Saarinen

Post Modernism; four basic approaches:

1. POST MODERN – aims to revert to the use of
traditional language of sign and symbol while
still using modern technology
a. Employs plastic decoration, aluminum
column capitals, neon pediments (one
material pretends to be another)
b. Rummages through history for
Sports Hall for 1964 Tokyo Olympics reference – Egyptian, Classical, Art
by Kenzo Tange Deco, Bauhaus – aims to make
building work on 2 levels (double
coding) for architects and ordinary
people

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Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok,

Hong Kong, China by Sir Norman
Foster
Aluminum-clad top of San Francisco's
Transamerica Pyramid by William L. Pereira

2. NEO VERNACULAR – Combines expressionist

form with “natural” materials and
modern planning and technology, fitting
with old buildings and respecting
existing patterns or routes
3. NEO NEO CLASSICAL – uniting technology and
classical architecture
4. HIGH TECH – or late modern drawing on aircraft
technology, their exposed structure are
Milwaukee Art Museum in Milwaukee,
light and strong, using heavy insulated
Wisconsin, USA (2001) by Santiago
panels, steel and aluminum frames and
Calatrava Valls
mirror glass in neoprene gaskets

Turning Torso in Malmö, Sweden (2005) by

The Hongkong Shanghai Banking Santiago Calatrava Valls
Corporation Limited main building,
Central Hong Kong, China by Sir
Norman Foster

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