Modernism Architecture - Dr. Mohammed Sabah Al Shabander - Copy.pdf

Modernism Architecture
An overview of early 20th century
Architecture trends
Dr. Mohammed Sabah Al-Shabander
Sultanate of Oman
University of Technology and Applied
Sciences
Higher College of
Technology
Department of
Engineering

Objectives
 We should :
 Understand why the Industrial Revolution,
Darwinism, Marxism and sociopolitical
changes altered ideas about the nature and
subject matter of art in the later 19th century.
 •Examine the meanings of “Modernism” and
“Realism” philosophically and in the
appearance of art and architecture.
2

3
World Population, 400 BCE - 2000 CE

4
$0.00
$500,000.00
$1,000,000.00
$1,500,000.00
$2,000,000.00
$2,500,000.00
$3,000,000.00
1700 1820 1870 1913
The Modern Revolution meant
powerful economic growth in the
world as a whole.
World Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in Dollars
as valued in 1990

5
Railroad
Steamboat
Transatlantic cable
Newspaper
The Communication
Revolution

Objectives
 We should :
 •Understand the formal and content issues
of the Impressionists, Post-Impressionists,
and Symbolists.
 •Examine experiments in materials and
form in art and architecture at the turn of
the century.
6

Modernism and Realism
 We should :
 Examine the meanings of “Modernism”
and “Realism” and the rejection of
Renaissance illusionistic space.
 •Understand the changes in Realist art
in form, style, and content.
7

Modernism and Realism
 We should :
 •Examine the use of art –especially
photography and printmaking --to
provide social commentary.
8

The Arts and Crafts Movement
 We should :
 Examine the ideas of Ruskin and Morris
in shaping the Arts and Crafts
Movement.
 •Understand the interest in aesthetic
functional objects in the Arts and Crafts
Movement.
9

The Arts and Crafts Movement
 We should :
 •Examine the preference for high-
quality artisanship and honest labor.
 •Examine the preferred nature forms
of Art Nouveau in art and
architecture.
10

VICTOR HORTA,
staircase in the
Van Eetvelde
House,
Brussels, 1895.
11

12

Architecture in the Later 19thCentury
 We should :
 Understand the new technology and
changing needs of urban society and
their effects on architecture.
 •Examine new materials use in
architecture and the forms made
possible as a result.
13

Architecture in the Later 19thCentury
 We should :
 •Understand how architects were able
to think differently about space as a
result of new technology and
materials.
 •Examine the remarkable work and
theories of Louis Sullivan.
14

The Architecture of Louis Sullivan
LOUIS SULLIVAN,
Guaranty
(Prudential)
Building, Buffalo,
1894–1896.
15

Discussion Questions
 In what ways did the Modernist art of
the later 19th century break from the
past?
 How did Modernist artists call
attention to the „facts‟ of art making?
16

Discussion Questions
 Why did the public find the subjects,
forms, and techniques of the
Impressionists shocking?
 What would you consider the most
important breakthrough in
architecture?
17

Definition
Modernism is a literary and cultural
international movement which flourished in
the first decades of the 20th century.
Modernism is not a term to which a single
meaning can be ascribed. It may be applied
both to the content and to the form of a
work, or to either in isolation.
18

Definition
 It reflects a sense of cultural crisis which was
both exciting and disquieting, in that it opened
up a whole new vista of human possibilities at
the same time as putting into question any
previously accepted means of grounding and
evaluating new ideas. Modernism is marked
by experimentation, particularly manipulation
of form, and by the realization that knowledge
is not absolute. 19

Modernism
20

TECHNOLOGICAL TRANSFORMATION
 The New Materials
 The two principal materials for the new
forms and high massive buildings:
 • steel (pioneered in Britain and
brought into general use in America)
 •reinforced concrete (developed in
France)

 Steel
 The fundamental
technical prerequisite
to large-scale modern
architecture was the
development of metal
framing.

 Glass and iron,
 iron frame
 Crystal Palace,
Joseph Paxton,
1851

 Eiffel Tower,
Gustav Eiffel, 1887

 Reinforced
Concrete

 Francoise Hennebique
 in 1892, perfected a system
for the best location of steel
reinforcement in concrete; the
combination of the
compressive strength of
concrete with the tensile
strength of concrete in a
homogenous grid was one of
the turning points in
architectural history.

 The First R.C.
Structure
 Church of St. Jean-de
Montmartre , Anatole de
Baudot, Paris, 1897. The
first example of reinforced
concrete in church
construction.

Consequences
Productive insecurity originated
 Aesthetics of experimentation
 Fragmentation
 Ambiguity
 Nihilism
 Variety of theories
 Diversity of practices
26

Thematic Features
 Intentional distortion of shapes
 Focus on form rather than meaning
 Breaking down of limitation of space
and time
 Breakdown of social norms and
cultural values
 Dislocation of meaning and sense
from its normal context
27

Thematic Features
 Valorisation of the despairing
individual in the face of an
unmanageable future
 Disillusionment
 Rejection of history and the
substitution of a mythical past
 Need to reflect the complexity of
modern urban life
28

Thematic Features
 Importance of the unconscious mind
 Interest in the primitive and non-
western cultures
 Impossibility of an absolute
interpretation of reality
 Overwhelming technological changes
29

Theoretical Background
Marx and Darwin had unsettled men
from their secure place at the centre
of the human universe.
Their theories threatened humanist
self-confidence and caused a feeling
of ideological uncertainty
30

Theoretical Background
 Marx had revealed men’s dependence
on laws and structures outside their
control and sometimes beyond their
knowledge. Historical and material
determinism.
 Darwin in his conception of evolution
and heredity had situated humanity as
the latest product of natural selection
31

Influential Thinkers
 Physicist Einstein on Relativity (1905)
 Physicist Planck on Quantum Theory
(1900)
 Philosopher Nietzsche on the Will of
Power
 Philosopher Bergson on the Concept of
Time
 Psychologist William James on
Emotions and Inner Time
32

Influential Thinkers
 Psychologist Freud on the Unconscious
(The Interpretation of Dreams, 1900)
 Psychologist Jung on Collective
Unconscious
 Linguist De Saussure on Language
 Anthropologist Frazer on Primitive
Cultures
33

Modernism as a movement
Modernism as a movement can be
recognized in :
 The sciences
 Philosophy
 Psychology
 Anthropology
34

Modernism as a movement
 Modernism as a movement can be
recognized in :
 Painting
 Music
 Sculpture
 And Architecture
35

36

Painting
 Modern art is a reflection of the
world Transformations.
 Cameras make realistic art obsolete.
 Mass production makes art
marketable.
37

Painting
 Artists of the 20th century valued
originality and innovation over just
beauty.
 Symbolism, capturing the essence of
reality in a few lines and colors.
38

Picasso
39

Braque
40

Lyonel Feininger
41

Wassily Kandinsky
42

Paul Klee
43

 The defining feature of modern
architecture is the modern aesthetic
which may be summarized as “plain
geometric forms”.
Modernism in Architecture
44

 Modern Architecture takes its roots from
the Industrial Age when architects are
exploring new materials such as steel and
reinforced concrete.
 The design of buildings are not anymore
influenced by religion nor classicism, but
rather architecture is inspired by the
machine.
45

 Today, we are so accustomed to the modern
aesthetic that it can be difficult to imagine
the controversy surrounding its
development. Yet many decades were
required for this aesthetic to mature and
gain mainstream acceptance, which was
finally achieved in the early twentieth
century (under the leadership of the
Bauhaus).
46

47

 The Chicago School
 The Werkbund
 The Bauhaus
The ‘Schools’ of Modernity
48

 The Chicago
fire of 1871
destroyed
most of the
city and
gave an
opportunity
for
architects to
design and
build new
structures.

William Le Baron Jenney
1832 – 1907
“Father of
the Modern
Skyscraper”

 The First
Structures

 The first definitive
skyscraper was the
Home Insurance
Building, Chicago built
in 1883-85 by William
le Baron Jenney. Of
fireproof construction,
it has a metal frame
clad in brick and
masonry.

Daniel H. Burnham
1846 – 1912
Use of steel
as a super
structure.

Daniel Burnham
and John Root,
Reliance
Building,
Chicago, Illinois,
1890-1895

Louis Sullivan
1856 – 1924
The Chicago School of
Architecture
(Form follows function)
Louis Henry Sullivan was
an American architect,
and has been called the
"father of modernism
architecture" .

Common Themes of Modern
Architecture
 The notion that "Form follows function", a dictum
originally expressed by Louis Sullivan, meaning that
the result of design should derive directly from its
purpose.
 Simplicity and clarity of forms and elimination of
"unnecessary detail“.
 Visual expression of structure (as opposed to the
hiding of structural elements).
 Use of industrially-produced materials; adoption of
the machine aesthetic.
 A visual emphasis on horizontal and vertical lines.

The Werkbund
 The Deutscher Werkbund
(German Workforce) was a
German organization of
artists, architects, and
designers aiming to refine
human craft. It was founded
by Peter Behrens, Josef
Hoffman, and Richard
Riemerschmid in 1907.
 Poster for the 1914
exhibition in Cologne. 56

57

The Werkbund
 The Werkbund was to become an important
event in the development of modern
architecture and industrial design,
particularly in the later creation of the
Bauhaus school of design. Its initial
purpose was to establish a partnership of
product manufacturers with design
professionals to improve the
competitiveness of German companies in
global markets.
58

59

60
FAGUS FACTORY
WALTER GROPIUS, 1911-13

The Bauhaus School 1919-1933
The Bauhaus school was founded by Walter
Gropius in Weimar. In spite of its name, and
the fact that its founder was an architect, the
Bauhaus did not have an architecture
department during the first years of its
existence.
 The concept of the school at the beginning was
influenced by medieval construction of
churches wherein craftsmen and artists
collaborated in the completion and details of
the building. 61

62

 The school provided workshops in:
 • Metalwork
 •Weaving
 •Ceramics
 •Furniture
 •Typography
 •Theatre
63

 The faculty consists of “masters of form”
which are artists and architects and
“masters craftsmen” of different skills.
64

 The Bauhaus, was a school
in Germany that combined
crafts and the fine arts, and
was famous for the
approach to design that it
publicized and taught.
 The term Bauhaus is
German for "House of
Building" or "Building
School".
65

 The Bauhaus had a profound influence
upon subsequent developments in art,
architecture, graphic design, interior
design, industrial design, and
typography.
66

Bauhaus was considered to be the first
design school in the modernist style. It
influenced the art and architectural
trends in the whole world.
67

 The school existed in three German cities
(Weimar ,Dessau and Berlin), under three
different architect-directors: Walter
Gropius, Hannes Meyer and Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe until 1933, when the school
was closed by its own leadership under
pressure from the Nazi regime.
68

 The teaching
methods of the
Bauhaus school
are adapted in
design schools
today such as
Parsons, The New
School for Design.
69

The Teachers of Modernity
 Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, and László Moholy-
Nagy re-assembled in Britain during the mid 1930s
to live and work in the Isokon project before the war
caught up with them.
 Both Gropius and Breuer went to teach at the
Harvard Graduate School of Design and worked
together before their professional split. The Harvard
School was enormously influential in America in the
late 1920s and early 1930s, producing such students
as Philip Johnson, I.M. Pei, Lawrence Halprin and
Paul Rudolph, among many others.
70

The Teachers of Modernity
 In the late 1930s, Mies van der Rohe re-settled in
Chicago, enjoyed the sponsorship of the influential
Philip Johnson, and became one of the pre-eminent
architects in the world.
 Moholy-Nagy also went to Chicago and founded the
New Bauhaus school under the sponsorship of
industrialist and philanthropist Walter Paepcke. This
school became the Institute of Design, part of the
Illinois Institute of Technology.
71

The Big Three of Modernism
Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe, Walter Gropius
 By the 1920s the most
important figures in modern
architecture had established
their reputations. The big
three are commonly
recognized as Le Corbusier in
France, and Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe and Walter Gropius
in Germany.
72

History of Modern Architecture
END OF THE 19th CENTURY (1840-1900)
Historicism + Industrial Revolution
Art + craft movement
William Morris
Art Nouveau Movement
Victor Horta
Henry van de Velde
The Chicago School
Louis Sullivan
Form follows function!
MODERN MOVEMENT(1900-1945)
Modernism + International Style
MODERNISM
Neoclassicism
Peter Behrens
Auguste Perret
Expressionism
Eero Saarinen (TWA Flight Center)
Erich Mendelsohn (Einstein Tower)
Amsterdam School
Cubism
Josef Chochol
Josef Gocar
Futurism
Antonio Sant’Elia
INTERNATIONAL STYLE
De stijl
Piet Mondrian
Theo Van Doesburg
Gerrit Thomas Rietveld
The Bauhaus
Walter Gropius
Marcel Breuer
Constructivism
Vladimir Tatlin
MASTER BUILDER
Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe
Frank Lloyd Wright
Le Corbusier
Eero Saarinen
POST MODERN MOVEMENT (AFTER 1945)
High Tech + Post Modernism + De Constructivism
HIGH TECH POST MODERNISM DE CONSTRUCTIVISM
Renzo Piano
Richard Rogers
Norman Foster
Robert Venturi
Michael Graves
Richard Meier
Philip Johnson
Coop Himmelblau
Zaha Hadid
Frank O’Gehry
Bernard Tschumi
Rem Koolhaas
REGIONAL ARCHITECTURE
Iraqi Modern + Regional Modern Architecture
Iraqi MODERN ARCHITECTURE REGIONAL MODERN

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