Architecture

From Philip Bishop’s

Adventures in the Human Spirit
(third edition)
What is the building’s function?
Sacred – the earliest great buildings were temples
to honor gods.
Secular – a palace houses a royal family, but it
also has a public function.
Private – or domestic functions only to serve the
individual who is responsible for construction.
Function may include any combination of sacred,
secular, public, or private.
Roman Baths, England
 From which materials is the
building constructed?
Ancient Greeks used wood for houses and
stone for temples, thus the temples lasted.
Romans used concrete (made from cement,
sand, stone, and water), but decorated this
plain material with stone or paintings to
make it look Greek.
Modern builders have improved concrete
with steel reinforcement.
What is the building’s design?
Design is similar to composition in
painting, yet more essential. A poorly
designed building may collapse.
Modern building techniques allow for
greater flexibility in design.
 What is the relation between
exterior and interior of the
building?
Exteriors present the building to the world,
interiors serve its function.
Exterior and interior may reflect a common
design, or they may differ – causing
tension.
 Taliesen West
Frank Lloyd Wright
Aerospace Museum, California
Dulles Airport, D.C. 1958
How does the building employ
the other arts?
Painting and sculpture are often used as
decoration.
Relief sculpture or stained glass and
painting are often used in sacred buildings
to attract and educate the people.
Performing arts may be part of the design of
a theater or part of a church service.
Early 20 Century
th

Architecture
 New Architecture
New materials: structural steel and
ferroconcrete
Emphasized visual abstraction
Bauhaus & International Style
Founded in 1919 by Walter Gropius
Fuses technology with principles of
functional design
International Style = steel, ferroconcrete,
and sheet glass in a geometrical form
 Bauhaus
Create a new form of
building for the future,
Combined architecture
and sculpture and painting
A return to the crafts as
the foundation of all
artistic activity
Designs for objects and
spaces that were to form
part of a more humane
Walter Gropius, future society
Bauhaus, Dessau,
1925-26
Walter Gropius, Bauhaus, Dessau, Germany, 1925-26.
Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy, France, 1928-1929.
Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye (Interior)
Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye (Interior)
Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye (Rooftop)
Le Corbusier, Unite d’Habitation apartment, Marseilles, France, 1946-1952.
Frank Lloyd Wright: Prairie
School
Theoretical connection to nature
Forms have a regional quality connected to
architecture of the US Midwest
“Form follows function”
Close relationship of the building to the
landscape
Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House, 1909. Chicago, Illinois.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House, 1909. Chicago, Illinois.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House (interior)
Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House (interior)
Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater (Kaufman House), 1936-39. Bear Run, Pennsylvania.
Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater (interior)
 Architecture as sculpture
Sculptural qualities that are possible with
new materials like ferroconcrete expand the
role of the architect.
A building can become almost pure
sculpture.
Curves, cylinders, and undulating lines
excite the creative potential of the architect.
 Post-Modernism
Juxtaposition of forms
appear chaotic
Revolves around a
central axis, the atrium
Combines classical,
rectangular spaces
with others of unusual
proportions and forms Frank Gehry,
Guggenheim Museum,
Bilbao, 1997.
 Frank Lloyd Wright
Guggenheim, New York
 Jorn Utzon
Opera House, Sydney
Nationale-Nederlanden
Building,Prague
Frank Gehry