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Modern Architecture -Origins & Manifestations

Inventions & Discoveries


Less is More Form Follows Function

Minimalism
Truthfulness of Form, Material & Expression
- Dr. Sangeeta Bagga, Assistant Professor, Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh EDUSAT LECTURE- 1 1

Modern ArchitectureOrigins
The Industrial Revolution was a period from the 18th to the 19th century where major changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining, transportation, and technology had a profound effect on the socio economic and cultural conditions of the times. It began in the United Kingdom, and then subsequently spread throughout Europe, North America, and eventually the world. In the two centuries following 1800, the world's average per capita income increased over 10-fold, while the world's population increased over 6-fold.
A Watt steam engine, the steam engine fuelled primarily by coal that propelled the Industrial Revolution in Great Britain and the world.

"For the first time in history, the living standards of the masses of ordinary people have begun to undergo sustained growth. ... Nothing remotely like this economic behaviour has happened before. It started with the mechanisation of the textile industries, the development of iron-making techniques and the increased use of refined coal. Trade expansion was enabled by the introduction of canals, improved roads and railways.

Innovations during the Industrial Revolution


The commencement of the Industrial Revolution is closely linked to a small number of innovations, made in the second half of the 18th century: Three 'leading sectors', in which there were key innovations, which allowed the economic take off by which the Industrial Revolution is usually defined
Textiles Cotton spinning using Richard Arkwright's water frame, James Hargreaves's Spinning Jenny, and Samuel Crompton's Spinning Mule (a combination of the Spinning Jenny and the Water Frame). The end of the patent was rapidly followed by the erection of many cotton mills. Steam power The improved steam engine invented by James Watt and patented in 1775 was initially mainly used to power pumps for pumping water out of mines, but from the 1780s was applied to power other types of machines. This enabled rapid development of efficient semi-automated factories on a previously unimaginable scale in places where waterpower was not available.
Iron making In the Iron industry, coke was finally applied to all stages of iron smelting, replacing charcoal. This had been achieved much earlier for lead and copper as well as for producing pig iron in a blast furnace, but the second stage in the production of bar iron depended on the use of potting and stamping (for which a patent expired in 1786) or puddling (patented by Henry Cort in 1783 and 1784).

The only surviving example of a Spinning mule built by the inventor Samuel Crompton

Model of the spinning jenny in a museum in Wuppertal, Germany. The spinning jenny was one of the innovations that started the revolution 3

Innovations during the Industrial Revolution


Transfer of knowledge
Knowledge of innovation was spread by several means. Workers who were trained in the technique might move to another employer or might be poached. A common method was for someone to make a study tour, gathering information where he could. Another means for the spread of innovation was by the network of informal philosophical societies, like the Lunar Society of Birmingham, in which members met to discuss 'natural philosophy' (i.e. science) and often its application to manufacturing. There were publications describing technology. Encyclopaedias such as Harris's Lexicon Technique (1704) and Abraham Rees's Cyclopadia (1802 1819) contain much of value. Periodical publications about manufacturing and technology began to appear in the last decade of the 18th century, and many regularly included notice of the latest patents.
Coalbrookdale by Night, 1801, Philipp Jakob Loutherbourg the Younger Blast furnaces light the iron making town of Coalbrookdale

A Philosopher Lecturing on the Orrery (ca. 1766) Informal philosophical societies spread scientific advances

Rise of Metal-frame Architecture


The fundamental technical prerequisite to large-scale modern architecture was the development of metal framing.
The term industrial age denotes the period of history in which machinemanufacturing (as opposed to manufacturing by hand) plays a major role. This age began ca. 1750 (with the onset of the Industrial Revolution), and continues to this day. The industrial age can be divided into two parts: the iron and steam phase (ca. 1750-1900) and the steel and electricity phase (ca. 1900-present). The iron and steam phase is also the age of iron-frame architecture. During this period, cast iron framing was introduced to masonry buildings.

Since iron was becoming cheaper and more plentiful, it also became a major structural material following the building of the innovative The Iron Bridge in 1778 by Abraham Darby III.

Masonry walls were gradually relieved of their structural role, eventually becoming a cosmetic skin over an iron skeleton of columns and arches. Iron bridges and iron-and-glass buildings (e.g. greenhouses, train stations, markets) were also constructed.
The 1698 Savery Engine the world's first commercially useful steam engine: built by Thomas Savery. Also called Miners friend
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Transport in Britain during Industrial Revolution


The Industrial Revolution improved Britain's transport infrastructure with a turnpike road network, a canal and waterway network, and a railway network. Raw materials and finished products could be moved more quickly and cheaply than before. Improved transportation also allowed new ideas to spread quickly. Coastal sail Sailing vessels had long been used for moving goods round the British coast. The transport of goods coastwise by sea within Britain was common during the Industrial Revolution, as for centuries before. This became less important with the growth of the railways at the end of the period.
Navigable rivers All the major rivers of the United Kingdom were navigable during the Industrial Revolution. Some were anciently navigable, notably the Severn, Thames, and Trent.
Pontcysyllte Aqueduct, Llangollen, Wales

Canals Canals were the first technology to allow bulk materials to be easily transported across the country. By the 1820s, a national network was in existence. Canal construction served as a model for the organization and methods later used to construct the railways. Roads & Railways
Railways helped Britain's trade enormously, providing a quick and easy way of to transport mail and news.

Puffing Billy, an early railway steam locomotive, constructed in 1813-1814 for colliery work.

Rise of Metal-frame Architecture


A. Early Modern ca. 18501900 Culmination of iron-frame architecture (Crystal Palace, Eiffel Tower) B. Late Modern ca. 1900-60 C. Postmodern ca. 1960-present D.Art Deco ca. 1920-40 Antonio Gaudi

Chicago school: skyscrapers, functionalism Louis Sullivan)international style (Gropius, Corbusier, Mies), Wright (organic architecture) Total aesthetic freedom

E. Art Nouveau ca. 1890-1910

The Thames Tunnel (opened 1843). Portland Cement was used in the world's first underwater tunnel

Cotton mills in Ancoats about 1820 7

Social effects of the Industrial Revolution


In terms of social structure, the Industrial Revolution witnessed the triumph of a middle class of industrialists and businessmen over a landed class of nobility and gentry. Ordinary working people found increased opportunities for employment in the new mills and factories, but these were often under strict working conditions with long hours of labour dominated by a pace set by machines. However, harsh working conditions were prevalent long before the Industrial Revolution took place. Preindustrial society was very static and often cruelchild labour, dirty living conditions, and long working hours were just as prevalent before the Industrial Revolution. York
John Lombe's water-powered silk mill at Derby. 8

England ("Cottonopolis"), pictured in 1840, showing the mass of factory chimneys

Social effects of the Industrial Revolution


The transition to industrialisation was not without difficulty. Some industrialists themselves tried to improve factory and living conditions for their workers. One of the earliest such reformers was Robert Owen, known for his pioneering efforts in improving conditions for workers at the New Lanark mills, and often regarded as one of the key thinkers of the early socialist movement.

New Lanark-Ideal Worker Village- Robert Owen .

Over London by Rail Gustave Dor c.1870.Shows the densely populated and polluted environments created in the new industrial cities.

Social effects of the Industrial Revolution


Whole streets, unpaved and without drains or main sewers, are worn into deep ruts and holes in which water constantly stagnates, and are so covered with refuse and excrement as to be impassable from depth of mud and intolerable stench. As a result of the Revolution, huge numbers of the working class died due to diseases spreading through the cramped living conditions. Chest diseases from the mines, cholera from polluted water and typhoid were also extremely common, as was smallpox. Accidents in factories with child and female workers were regular. Strikes and riots by workers were also relatively common.
. Workers- Lancanshire 10

Pitiable living conditions

Modern Architecture Part -2 Materials of Modern Architecture


Age of iron and steam (age of iron-frame architecture) ca. 1750-1900 iron-frame masonry buildings, iron-and-glass buildings, iron bridges Age of steel and electricity (age of steel-frame architecture) ca. 1900-present steel framing and reinforced concrete serve as the primary structural materials of large-scale architecture

A cast iron frame must use arched construction. The alternative, post-and-beam construction, is not feasible due to the brittleness of cast iron. (The term brittle is equivalent to lacking in tensile strength)

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Post-and-beam Construction vs. Arched Construction

The familiar post-and-beam metal frames of todays architecture only became possible with the mass-production of steel , which has immense tensile strength. During the steel and electricity phase of the industrial age, which could also be called the age of steel-frame architecture, steel and reinforced concrete became the predominant structural materials of large-scale architecture. Reinforced concrete which is simply concrete filled with reinforcing steel bars, or rebars, is thus combining the tensile strength of steel with the compressive strength of concrete.
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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900


Iron-frame architecture, which flourished primarily in England, France, and (eventually) the United States, occupies the transitional zone between traditional and modern architecture. Iron-frame buildings were erected mainly during the age of iron and steam (ca. 1750-1900). As noted earlier, this architecture included iron-frame masonry buildings, iron-and-glass buildings, and iron bridges. Utilitarian structures (and utilitarian products in general) were important for demonstrating the aesthetic potential of plain, mass-produced materials. Whereas iron supports in grand architecture were often hidden behind masonry (such that the buildings retained a traditional appearance), they were left exposed in structures where appearance was deemed unimportant (e.g. mills, factories) or where masonry was unnecessary (e.g. bridges, railway stations). Utilitarian buildings also often lacked traditional ornamentation, again due to lack of concern for appearance. As the nineteenth century drew on, many architects began to embrace these features (plain industrial materials and lack of ornamentation) as aesthetically desirable.

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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900

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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900

The Severn Bridge

Abraham Darby commissioned this painting by William Williams in 1780 to promote the Bridge. There are 482 main castings, but with the deck facings and railings the number rises to 1,736. There were no injuries during the construction process, which took three months during the summer of 1779, although work on the approach roads continued for another two years. The Bridge was opened to traffic on 1st January 1781. Movement in the south abutment was severe and it had to be demolished in 1802 and replaced by two timber side arches, which in turn were replaced in cast iron in 1821 and remain to this day. In 1934 the Bridge was closed to vehicles and scheduled as an ancient monument, but pedestrian tolls continued until 1950. Universally recognised as the symbol of the Industrial Revolution, Severn the Iron Bridge stands at the heart of the Ironbridge Gorge World Heritage Site.

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The Severn Bridge- An aerial View. It is still used as a foot over bridge

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Severn Bridge: The stages of construction

All the large castings were made individually as they all were slightly different. The joints would all be familiar to a carpenter - mortise and tenons, dovetails and wedges - but this was the traditional way in which iron structures were joined at the time.
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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900: The Crystal Palace

Iron-and-glass architecture culminated in the mid-nineteenth century, with Londons Crystal Palace (destroyed), designed by Joseph Paxton (a renowned architect of greenhouses) as the main pavilion of the first Worlds Fair. The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and plate-glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's 990,000 square feet (92,000 m2) of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in the Industrial Revolution.
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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900: The Crystal Palace

The Great Exhibition building was 1,851 feet (564 m) long, with an interior height of 128 feet (39 m).Because of the recent invention of the cast plate glass method in 1848, which allowed for large sheets of cheap but strong glass, it was at the time the largest amount of glass ever seen in a building and astonished visitors with its clear walls and ceilings that did not require interior lights, thus a "Crystal Palace".
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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900


Iron-and-glass architecture culminated in the mid-nineteenth century, with Londons Crystal Palace (destroyed), designed by Joseph Paxton as the main pavilion of the first Worlds Fair. Then, near the end of the nineteenth century, the foremost iron-frame structure of all time was constructed: the Eiffel Tower, designed by the bridge engineer Gustave Eiffel. The fierce controversy provoked by the towers modern aesthetic illustrates the eras lack of mainstream acceptance for plain, unornamented construction.
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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900

The Eiffel Tower, designed by Gustave Eiffel. The fierce controversy provoked by the towers modern aesthetic illustrates the eras lack of mainstream acceptance for plain, unornamented construction. The Eiffel Tower is an iron lattice tower located on the Champ de Mars in Paris, named after the engineer Gustave Eiffel, whose company designed and built the tower.
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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900


The Guaranty Building, which is now called the Prudential Building, was designed by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler, and built in Buffalo, New York. Sullivan's design for the building was based on his belief that "form follows function"

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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900

The next step in the development of modern architecture was the shift from iron-frame to steel-frame construction. Steel-frame architecture emerged in Chicago, among a circle of architects known as the Chicago school, which flourished ca. 1880-1900. At this point in history, architects faced growing pressure to extend buildings upward, as cities grew and property values soared. In response, the Chicago school built the worlds first skyscrapers. (A good definition of skyscraper, for the purposes of architectural history, is a metal-frame building at least one hundred feet tall.) The Home Insurance Building (1884; demolished), by William Le Baron Jenney (a member of the Chicago school), is usually considered the very first skyscraper.
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Early Modern Architecture ca. 1850-1900


While this building featured a metal frame composed of both iron and steel, pure steelframe construction emerged (in works of the Chicago school) within a decade. It should be emphasized that in metal-frame architecture, the entire weight of the building is supported by the frame. The buildings walls thus serve as mere curtains or screens, which are hung upon the frame merely to seal the buildings interior from the elements. In other words, the metal frame is the buildings skeleton, while the walls are its skin. The skyscraper was the great technical achievement of the Chicago school. Yet the school is also responsible for a great aesthetic achievement: the gradual reduction of traditional ornamentation in skyscraper design. Whereas buildings of ordinary height lend themselves well to traditional styles, skyscrapers were an entirely new building type, for which traditional aesthetics proved unsatisfactory; consequently, skyscrapers accelerated the development of the modern aesthetic.

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Early Modern Architecture


This transition away from traditional ornamentation culminated in the development of functionalism by Louis Sullivan, the foremost architect of the Chicago school. Functionalism is an aesthetic approach in which a building is simply designed according to its function, then graced with features that are naturally suggested by its internal structure.6 This approach, which leads to the simple geometry of the modern aesthetic, is aptly summarized in Sullivans guiding principle: form follows function.

Functionalism provided the modern aesthetic with a theoretical foundation; consequently, Sullivan is often referred to as the father of modern architecture. Sullivans masterpiece is the Wainwright Building. The exterior of this building reflects its three-part internal plan (a two-story base, a middle section with seven floors of offices, and a service floor at the top), and a brick pier indicates each column in the steel frame.
The horizontal dividers are recessed behind the piers, which emphasizes the buildings verticality: an aesthetic choice that illustrates the creative freedom within the bounds of functionalism.5 Most surfaces are plain, although the horizontal dividers feature stucco decoration.

The intricate frieze along the top of the building along with the bull's-eye windows

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Art Nouveau
In the meantime, a rival aesthetic emerged: Art Nouveau, a style that flourished in Europe and America at the turn of the century (ca. 1890-1910).7 Like functionalism, Art Nouveau was purposely developed as an all-new aesthetic, free of traditional ornamentation. Yet this was an exuberantly decorative style, defined by organic, curving, asymmetrical lines inspired by natural forms (e.g. stems, flowers, vines, insect wings).

The piers read as pillars

The intricate frieze along the top of the building along with the bull's-eye windows
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Art Nouveau
The most overt architectural expression of Art Nouveau is found in the growing buildings of Antonio Gaudi, whose masterpiece is the Sagrada Familia, a cathedral in Barcelona. Casa Mila, also in Barcelona, is his foremost residential work.

Casa Mila- Barcelona

The piers read as pillars

The intricate frieze along the top of the building along with the bull's-eye The Sagrada Familia, a cathedral in windows
Barcelona 27

Art Deco
GE Building

The Chrisler

The piers read as pillars

The Empire State Building

During the period ca. 1920-40 (i.e. the interwar period), another short-lived rival to mainstream modernism flourished: Art Deco. Like the modern aesthetic, Art Deco shuns traditional decoration in favor of plain geometric forms. The main difference is that, compared with the light minimalism of the modern aesthetic, Art Deco works typically look heavy and contrived. Distinctive features of Art Deco architecture include setbacks (inward steps), as well as narrow strips of windows (with strips of concrete/masonry between them, which gives the building a sense of heavy construction). Although Art Deco was primarily a French style, it culminated architecturally in the United States. The foremost examples are found in New York: the GE Building(the centerpiece of Rockefeller Centre), the Chrysler Building, and the 28 Empire State Building.

Late Modern Architecture

ca. 1900-1960

The piers read as pillars

The Bauhaus, German school of design by Walter Gropius

In the early twentieth century, the modern aesthetic (simple, unadorned geometric forms) finally matured, becoming the mainstream aesthetic of architecture and design across the world. This was achieved primarily by the Bauhaus, a German school of design that operated for most of the interwar period. The school was closed when the Nazi government came to power, forcing many of its scholars to emigrate to the United States, where they continued to serve as leaders of the architecture/design world (such that the Bauhaus age actually stretched decades beyond the closure of the school).

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The piers read as pillars

The scope of Bauhaus included interiors, furniture and accessories

The International Style


The scope of Bauhaus efforts included architecture, visual art, interior design, graphic design, and industrial design (product design). It should be noted that while Bauhaus designers generally embraced the aesthetic theory of functionalism, deliberate use of this theory (or even familiarity with it) is not a prerequisite to designing works that feature the modern aesthetic. Thus, for any given modern-style building or object, the designer may or may not have had functionalism in mind. The modern aesthetic reached maturity when excess material (including traditional ornamentation) had been stripped away, leaving only a basic structure of plain geometric forms. As noted above, this maturation was achieved in the early twentieth century, with the Bauhaus leading the way (in terms of both innovation and propagation). Architecture that features the mature modern aesthetic is known as international style architecture, due to the rapid global diffusion of this style once it emerged.
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The International Style


The piers read as pillars

The international styles three most influential pioneers were Gropius, Corbusier, and Mies. Walter Gropius, founder and first director of the Bauhaus, designed the buildings of the schools second campus. Plain walls (white and grey) and screens of glass, sometimes several stories in height, predominate. Gropius balconies showcase an impressive new structural possibility of steel-frame construction: cantilevering (platforms fixed only at one end), which further contributes to a sense of architectural weightlessness.

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The International Style

The 5 points of Architecture in the Villa Savoye: 1.Ribbon Window, 2.Roof gardens, 3.Pilotis, 4.free plan,5.free facade

The Swiss architect Le Corbusier, though not a member of the Bauhaus, absorbed and became a leading figure of the international style. He preferred smooth expanses of white reinforced concrete pierced with horizontal strip windows, as well as a degree of curvilinear geometry . Le Corbusiers masterpiece is the Villa Savoye.
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The International Style

The piers read as pillars

The Seagram Building

The Lakeshore Drive ApartmentsChicago

While Gropius and Le Corbusier made ample use of reinforced concrete, pure glass-and-steel construction in the international style was perfected by Mies van der Rohe (another director of the Bauhaus), who believed so firmly in eliminating all embellishment that his guiding principle was simply less is more. Mies brought the international style to the height of its influence, as descendants of his glass-and-steel skyscrapers appeared in every corner of the globe. The Seagram Building in New York, essentially a steel frame sheathed in curtains of glass, is often considered his masterpiece. The Lake Shore drive apartments brought in a revolution in high-rise residential lifestyle.
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The International Style

The piers read as pillars

The Robie House

Contemporary with the Bauhaus age was the career of the greatest American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, who focused primarily on residential designs. Wright sought to make his buildings organic; that is, to adjust their layouts and features until they merge with their natural surroundings, rather than simply imposing a rectangular box of a house on any given locale. Wright felt that a house should not be located on a site, but rather be a natural extension of the site.The exterior walls of a Wright house are articulated in a relatively complex, asymmetrical manner (so as to avoid a stiff, boxy appearance), and the house is often visually united with the earth via broad, flat surfaces parallel with the ground (e.g. eaves, cantilevered balconies). Interiors are open and flowing (rather than mechanically subdivided into small rooms), and ample windows (including windows that bend around corners) throughout the house merge the interior with the world outside. A mixture of building materials (e.g. brick, wood, stone, concrete) further contributes to the sense of the house as an organic feature of the landscape.
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The International Style

The piers read as pillars


Despite the contrast between functionalism and Wrights organicism, both are clearly modern (i.e. not based on anything traditional), and consequently similar in appearance to a significant degree. Wright shared the functionalist appreciation for simple geometry and plain, unadorned surfaces, and he embraced mass-produced building materials. One could categorize Wrights architecture as a branch of the international style, or as a cousin. Wrights first great works were his Prairie Houses, built in the Midwest; best-known among them is Robie House in Chicago. His most famous building of all is Fallingwater, Pennsylvania, while his foremost urban work is the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

The Falling Water Bear Run Pennsylvania The Guggenheim Museum

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After The International Style The piers read as pillars


Toward the end of the Late Modern period, the international style experienced two notable trends. One was more extensive use of curvilinear geometry (as illustrated by Wrights Guggenheim Museum, as well as Corbusiers later work). The other was brutalism: a style that features harsh, bulky concrete structures, often with unfinished surfaces. These trends are considered the transitional phase to postmodern architecture, as architects grew impatient with the severe simplicity of the international style.

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Postmodern Architecture

The piers read as pillars

The Sydney Opera house

Postmodern Architecture ca. 1960-present As advances in building materials and engineering opened up incredible new possibilities for architectural design, it was only a matter of time until the severe international style was rejected in favor of total aesthetic freedom. (Given its timeless appeal, construction in the international style has continued since ca. 1960, albeit to a more limited extent.) Consequently, it is difficult to generalize postmodern architecture beyond the observation that anything goes.
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Postmodern Architecture The piers read as pillars

Nonetheless, postmodern architecture does exhibit a range of common features, such as complex geometry (including curvilinear geometry), blending of modern and traditional elements, colorfulness, and playfulness. Many postmodern buildings have a sleek, futuristic appearance; these are often described as high-tech or space-age architecture.

Thankyou
The Gherkin Building
EDUSAT LECTURE- 1 38

- Dr. Sangeeta Bagga, Assistant Professor, Chandigarh College of Architecture, Chandigarh

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