Architecture

WORLD OF ARTWORLD OF ART
CHAPTER
EIGHTH EDITION
World of Art, Eighth Edition
Henry M. Sayre
Copyright © 2016, 2013, 2010
by Pearson Education, Inc. or its affiliates.
All rights reserved.
Architecture
14

Learning ObjectivesLearning Objectives
1. Describe the relationship between
architecture and its environment.
2. Outline the architectural technologies
that predate the modern era.
3. Describe the technological advances
that have contributed to modern and
contemporary architecture.
4. Describe how the idea of community
serves as a driving force in
architecture.

IntroductionIntroduction
• American architect I. M. Pei won the
commission for a plan to expand the
Louvre Museum.
 This resulted in the underground center
topped with a now-iconic glass pyramid.
• The "look" of buildings depends on two
factors: environment and technology
(materials and methods available to a
culture).

I. M. Pei, Glass Pyramid, Cour Napoléon, Louvre, Paris.
1983–89; in front of the 17th-century Denon wing of the museum. Pyramid height 69',
width 108'.
© Tibor Bognar/Corbis. [Fig. 14-1]

EnvironmentEnvironment
• A building's form may echo or contrast
the world around it, or respond to
climate.
• The significance of the pyramids of
Egypt may rely upon the image of the
god Re, symbolized by rays of sun
descending to the earth.

Pyramids of Menkaure, Khafre, and Khufu Pyramids of Menkaure (ca. 2470 BCE), Khafre
(ca. 2500 BCE), and Khufu (ca. 2530 BCE).
Original height of Pyramid of Khufu 480', length of each side at base 755'.
© Free Agents Limited/CORBIS. Photo: Dallas and John Heaton. [Fig. 14-2]

The Impact of ClimateThe Impact of Climate
1 of 21 of 2
• The View of Mulberry House and Street
shows slaves' houses, which featured
steeply pitched roofs in a style similar
to the thatched-roof houses found in
West Africa at the time.
 Since the climate was similar, it made
sense; the design allowed warm air to
rise in the interior so cool air could be
trapped beneath it.

Thomas Coram, View of Mulberry House and Street.
ca. 1800. Oil on paper. Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, South Carolina.
Carolina Art Association, 1968.18.0001. © Image courtesy of the Gibbes Museum of
Art/Carolina Art Association. [Fig. 14-3]

The Impact of ClimateThe Impact of Climate
2 of 22 of 2
• The Spruce Tree House at Mesa Verde
in Colorado reflects the relationship of
the Anasazi people to their
environment.
 The cave provided security.
 A kiva was a round, covered hole in the
center of the communal plaza where all
ceremonial life took place.
• It featured horizontally laid logs built up
to form a dome with an access hole.

Spruce Tree House, Mesa Verde.
ca. 1200–1300 CE. Courtyard formed by restoration of the roofs over two underground
kivas.
Photo: John Deeks/Photo Researchers, Inc. [Fig. 14-4]

Cribbed roof construction of a kiva. [Fig. 14-5]

"Green" Architecture"Green" Architecture
1 of 21 of 2
• Architects conscious of climate change
have created a more environmentally
friendly and sustainable practice known
as green architecture.
• Green architecture is characterized by
smaller buildings; integration and
compatibility with the surrounding
environment; energy efficiency and
solar orientation; and use of recycled,
reusable, and sustainable materials.

Obie Bowman, Brunsell Residence, Sea Ranch, California.
1987.
© Obie Bowman Architect. [Fig. 14-6]

Adam Kahn, Brockholes Visitor Center.
Lancashire Wildlife Trust reserve, Preston, UK, 2011.
© Ashley Cooper/Corbis. [Fig. 14-7]

"Green" Architecture"Green" Architecture
2 of 22 of 2
• The New York MoMA sponsored Rising
Currents: Projects for New York's
Waterfront in an effort to combat
effects of rising sea levels.
 Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang's New
Aqueous City explored buildings
accessed from above with bridges that
rise on vertical support structures.

Eric Bunge and Mimi Hoang, nARCHITECTS, New Aqueous City.
2010. From Rising Currents: Projects for New York's Waterfront, a workshop-exhibition
sponsored by the Museum of Modern Art, New York, March 24–October 11, 2010.
Courtesy of nARCHITECTS. [Fig. 14-8]
[Fig. 14-]

Early Architectural TechnologiesEarly Architectural Technologies
1 of 21 of 2
• Walls may employ one of two basic
structural systems.
 The shell system involves one basic
material providing both structural
support and outside covering.
 The skeleton-and-skin system
consists of a basic interior frame that
supports a fragile outer covering.

Early Architectural TechnologiesEarly Architectural Technologies
2 of 22 of 2
• Walls of the lower floors must also
support the weight of upper floors.
• Tensile strength is the ability of a
building material to span horizontal
distances without support or buckling in
the middle.

Load-Bearing ConstructionLoad-Bearing Construction
• Load-bearing walls bear the weight of
the roof.
 Structures are usually solid all the way
through.
• The Anasazi kiva is built from adobe
bricks with a roof of wood.
 Downward pressure exerted on wooden
beams by stones on top of them above
the outside wall counters buckling.

Post-and-Lintel ConstructionPost-and-Lintel Construction
1 of 51 of 5
• Post-and-lintel construction consists
of a horizontal beam supported at each
end by a vertical post or wall.
• The Lion Gate at Mycenae in Greece
features stones so large that ancient
Greeks believed it could have only been
built by mythological Cyclopes.

Lion Gate, Mycenae, Greece.
1250 BCE.
© Konstantinos Kontos/Photostock. [Fig. 14-9]

2 of 52 of 5
• This type of construction is
fundamental to Greek architecture.
 Each column in the First Temple of Hera
is made of several pieces of stone called
drums.
 Grooves in the columns are called
fluting and run the vertically.
 Each column tapers slightly at the top
and bottom, known as entasis.

3 of 53 of 5
• Greek temples were situated on an
elevated acropolis, the center of civic
life.
 Colonnades, or rows of columns, were
constructed according to the rules of
geometry, equality, and proportion.
• Three types of Greek columns are
Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian.

First Temple of Hera, Paestum, Italy.
ca. 550 BCE.
Canali Photobank, Milan, Italy. [Fig. 14-10]

4 of 54 of 5
• The vertical elevation of the Greek
temple is composed of the platform,
the column, and the entablature.
 The relationship among these units is
called the order.
• The elevation of each order begins with
its floor, the stylobate.
• The column in the Doric order consists
of the shaft and the capital.

The Greek orders, from James Stuart, The Antiquities of Athens, London.
1794.
Courtesy of Library of Congress. [Fig. 14-11]

5 of 55 of 5
• The Ionic capital is characterized by a
scroll.
• The Corinthian capital is decorated with
acanthus leaves.
• The entablature consists of the
architrave, or weight-distributing
element; the frieze, the decorated
horizontal band; and the cornice, or
molded projection crowning the wall.

Arches, Vaults, and DomesArches, Vaults, and Domes
1 of 61 of 6
• Romans perfected the use of the round
arch, which allowed them to make
structures with a larger span.
 Wedge-shaped voussoirs are cut to fit
the semicircular form and a keystone is
added at the top center to ensure equal
pressure.
• The barrel or tunnel vault is an
extension in depth of the single arch.

Pont du Gard, near Nîmes, France.
Late 1st century BCE–early 1st century CE. Height 164'.
© Walter Bibikow/Getty Images. [Fig. 14-13]

Barrel vault (left) and groin vault (right). [Fig. 14-14]

2 of 62 of 6
• The Colosseum is an amphitheater,
two semicircular theaters brought face
to face and supported with barrel vaults
and groin vaults.
 It is made of concrete, which the
Romans invented through adding
volcanic aggregate to a mixture.

Barrel-vaulted gallery, ground floor of the Colosseum, Rome.
72–80 CE.
© 2015. Photo Scala, Florence - coutesy of the Ministero Beni e Att. Culturali.
[Fig. 14-15]

Aerial view, Colosseum, Rome.
72–80 CE.
© Guido Alberto Rossi/age Fotostock. [Fig. 14-16]

3 of 63 of 6
• Romans also perfected the dome, as
demonstrated in the Pantheon.
 The poured concrete is over 20 feet
thick where the dome meets the walls,
the springing.
 The oculus at the top of the dome is
the building's source of illumination.
• Roman interior architecture came to
inspire later Christian churches.

Interior, Pantheon, Rome.
117–125 CE.
Photo: Hemera Technologies. [Fig. 14-17]

Exterior, Pantheon, Rome.
117–125 CE.
© Vincenzo Pirozzi, Rome. [Fig. 14-18]

4 of 64 of 6
• The barrel vault at St. Sernin typifies
Romanesque architecture.
 Every measurement is based on the
central square at the crossing, where
two transepts cross the length of the
central nave aisle.
 The apse at the end of the church is
topped by a Roman half-dome.

Nave, St. Sernin, Toulouse, France.
ca. 1080–1120.
© Bildarchiv Mondheim GmbH/Alamy. [Fig. 14-19]

Plan, St. Sernin, Toulouse, France.
ca. 1080–1120.
[Fig. 14-20]

5 of 65 of 6
• Immense interior space was a feature
of Gothic cathedral architecture.
 The Amiens Cathedral interior achieved
a height of 142 feet.
• The pointed arch was used to
distribute weight more directly down
the wall.

Amiens Cathedral.
Begun 1220.
© Bednorz-images, Cologne. [Fig. 14-21]

6 of 66 of 6
• Since all arches spread weight outward
and create a risk of collapse, flying
buttresses were created to support
high arches from the outside.
 These arches allowed the stone
architecture to achieve lightness and are
an aesthetic response to a practical
problem.

Flying buttresses, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, Paris.
1211–1290.
© Bednorz-images, Cologne. [Fig. 14-23]

Flying buttress. Diagram (after Acland).
[Fig. 14-24]

Modern and ContemporaryModern and Contemporary
Architectural TechnologiesArchitectural Technologies
• Prior to the nineteenth century,
architecture was limited to innovation
in stone.
• In the nineteenth century, iron
transformed the built environment.

Cast-Iron ConstructionCast-Iron Construction
• By adding carbon to wrought iron,
engineers created strong and rigid cast
iron.
• The Eiffel Tower was the tallest
structure in the world when it was built.
 The open skeleton allowed for wind to
pass through, though Parisians hated it
at first.

Gustave Eiffel, Eiffel Tower.
1887–89. Seen from the Champ de Mars. Height of tower 1,051'.
Alain Evrard/Globe Press. Photo Researchers, Inc. [Fig. 14-25]

Frame ConstructionFrame Construction
1 of 31 of 3
• Lumber was better suited for domestic
architecture and in 1833, wood-frame
construction was introduced.
 Sometimes called balloon-frame
construction, the method is inexpensive
and relatively easy.
 The walls of Old St. Peter's Basilica
utilized basic principles and an
elementary triangular truss.

Wood-frame construction. [Fig. 14-26]

Reconstruction drawing of Old St. Peter's Basilica, Rome.
ca. 320–27.
[Fig. 14-27]

2 of 32 of 3
• Wood-frame construction could
accommodate a range of styles from
the Harrison Gray Otis House in
Massachusetts to the Mansion at
Parlange Plantation in Louisiana.
 Both use brick to cover the wood frame.
 The Plantation house has been insulated
and painted white to combat humid
Louisiana summers.

Charles Bulfinch, Harrison Gray Otis House, Boston, Massachusetts.
1795–96.
Photo courtesy of Historic New England. [Fig. 14-29]

Architect unknown, Mansion at Parlange Plantation, New Roads, Louisiana.
ca. 1785–95.
© Philip Gould/Corbis. [Fig. 14-30]

3 of 33 of 3
• The "bungalow" style was popularized
in the early twentieth century.
 Gustav Stickley published designs in his
magazine The Craftsman and related
them to the style of his plain yet
beautiful furniture designs.
 By the late 1920s, as many as 100,000
stock plans had been sold across
America.

Christian Gladu, The Bungalow Company, The Birch, North Town Woods, Bainbridge
Island, Washington.
1998.
Photo courtesy of Bungalow Company. [Fig. 14-31]

Steel-and-Reinforced-ConcreteSteel-and-Reinforced-Concrete
ConstructionConstruction
1 of 111 of 11
• Louis Sullivan developed a "system of
ornament" combined with the
development of steel in order to
transcend urban conditions in Chicago.
 With vertical emphasis, a fireproof steel
skeleton was conceived.
 This allowed for ornamentation to be
freely distributed across the building's
facade.

2 of 112 of 11
• Sullivan's Bayard Building in New York
displays floral decoration between its
many windows.
• The original meaning of the phrase
"form follows function" has been
somewhat obscured.
 It didn't call for a lack of ornamentation,
but the "function of all functions," what
Sullivan called "Infinite Creative Spirit."

Louis H. Sullivan, Bayard-Condict Building, New York.
1897–98.
© Angelo Hornak/Corbis. [Fig. 14-32]

Louis H. Sullivan, Bayard-Condict Building (detail), New York.
1897–98.
© Nathan Benn/Ottochrome/CORBIS. [Fig. 14-33]

3 of 113 of 11
• Frank Lloyd Wright worked as a
draftsman in Sullivan's Chicago firm
until 1893.
• His Robie House, built in 1909, was
intended to be "organic" despite its
contemporary feel.
 The Prairie House featured a cantilever
that provided protection when one was
outside.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House, South Woodlawn, Chicago, Illinois.
1909.
Photo: Hedrich Blessing Photographers/Chicago Historical Society/UIG via Getty Images.
[Fig. 14-34]

Frank Lloyd Wright, Plan of the Robie House, South Woodlawn, Chicago, Illinois.
1909.
[Fig. 14-35]

4 of 114 of 11
• Steel provided the means for
constructing skyscrapers.
 A steel cage connected by floors made
of reinforced concrete (concrete in
which steel-reinforced rebars are
placed) overcomes the necessity for
thick walls at a structure's base.

The Creative ProcessThe Creative Process
1 of 21 of 2
• Thinking through Architecture: Frank
Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater
 The first drawings for this famous house
weren't completed until two hours
before Edgar Kaufmann made a surprise
call requesting a draft.
 The house was wedded to its site, a
hillside atop the Bear Run stream.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Drawing for Fallingwater, Kaufmann House, Bear Run, Pennsylvania.
1936. Color pencil on tracing paper, 15-3/8 × 27-1/4". The Frank Lloyd Wright
Foundation, Scottsdale, Arizona.
Inv. 36.004. © 2015 Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, Scottsdale, AZ/Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 14-36]

Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, Kaufmann House, Bear Run, Pennsylvania.
1936.
© 2015. Photo Art Resource/Scala, Florence. [Fig. 14-37]

2 of 22 of 2
• Thinking through Architecture: Frank
Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater
 Kaufmann as well as the contractor and
engineer didn't trust Wright's plans for
reinforcing the concrete for the
cantilevers.
• They put in twice as much steel as
Wright had called for and caused the
main cantilever to droop.

5 of 115 of 11
• Le Corbusier's drawing for the Domino
Housing Project seems infinitely
expandable both on the exterior and
interior.
• Le Corbusier lifted houses on stilts to
give the structure lightness.
 Villa Savoye was constructed in primary
forms "because they can be clearly
appreciated."

Le Corbusier, Perspective drawing for the Domino Housing Project.
1914. French Embassy.
© 2015 F.L.C./ADAGP, Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. [Fig. 14-38]

Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret, Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France.
1928–30.
© 2015. White Images/Scala, Florence. Le Corbusier: © 2015 F.L.C./ADAGP,
Paris/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. Pierre Jeanneret: © 2015 Artists Rights
Society (ARS), New York/ADAGP, Paris. [Fig. 14-39]

6 of 116 of 11
• Ludwig Mies van der Rohe pioneered
the International Style.
 This style is marked by austere
geometric simplicity.
 An example, the Farnsworth House
opens itself to the surrounding nature.
 The Seagram Building features exposed
structural I-beams.
• At ground level, it occupies less than half
its site.

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Farnsworth House, Fox River, Plano, Illinois.
1950.
akg-image/VIEW Pictures/Grant Smith. [Fig. 14-40]

7 of 117 of 11
• Eero Saarinen rejected the
International Style in his design for the
TWA Terminal at Kennedy International
Airport.
 The exterior, two concrete wings,
symbolizes flight.
• Contemporary architecture focuses on
creating distinctive buildings for places
of business and travel.

Eero Saarinen, TWA Terminal, John F. Kennedy International Airport, interior, New York.
1962.
© Angelo Hornak/Corbis. [Fig. 14-43]

8 of 118 of 11
• Asian cities tend to possess a greater
"mix" of functions and scales when
compared to American cities.
 Rem Koolhaas's design for the OMA
CCTV tower in Beijing was created for
the Olympic games in 2008.
• He intended it to look different from
many angles, an expression of the
multiple identities of Olympians
themselves.

Rem Koolhaas and Ole Scheeren, OMA, New Headquarters, Central Chinese Television
(CCTV), Beijing, China.
2008.
© Keren Su/Corbis. Photo courtesy of OMA/Ole Scheeren and Rem Koolhaas.
[Fig. 14-44]

9 of 119 of 11
• Spain capitalized on momentum from
the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona as well
as the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.
 Jean Nouvel's Torre Agbar is shaped like
a bullet and features a multicolored
facade of aluminum panels and windows
onto which 4,500 lights are projected at
night.

Ateliers Jean Nouvel with b720 Arquitectos, Torre Agbar, Barcelona.
2005. Lighting design by Yann Kersalé.
Photo: Roland Halbe. [Fig. 14-45]

10 of 1110 of 11
• Dubai in the United Arab Emirates is
the most rapidly growing city in the
world.
 The Burj Khalifa, twice as tall as the
Empire State Building, is a centerpiece
for an area of development that will
include at least 19 residential towers, 9
hotels, and a 30-acre manmade lake.

Adrian Smith, Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Burj Khalifa, Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
2010.
© Blaine Harrington III/Corbis. [Fig. 14-49]

11 of 1111 of 11
• Dubai's luxury hotel, the Burj Al-Arab,
perches on its own island like a wind-
filled sail.
 Its height is tall enough to contain the
Statue of Liberty.
 A round cantilevered helipad and tennis
court projects from the twenty-eighth
floor.

• Discovering Where to Go: Frank
Gehry's Guggenheim Museum Bilbao
 The museum was covered in titanium to
reflect light with clarity.
 Early drawings reveal Gehry's
explorations but are similar to the
finished building.
 He "sculpts" the buildings with actual-
scale models, then the CATIA program.

Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, North Elevation.
October 1991. Sketch by Frank Gehry.
© Gehry Partners, LLP. [Fig. 14-46]

Community LifeCommunity Life
1 of 21 of 2
• Rather than a symbol of community,
the skyscraper grew to become a
symbol of human anonymity and
loneliness.
• Richard Meier's Atheneum was built on
the site of two of America's great
utopian communities.
 It serves as the Visitors Center of
historic New Harmony.

Community LifeCommunity Life
2 of 22 of 2
• New York's Central Park was an
attempt to put city dwellers more in
touch with nature.
 Frederick Law Olmstead modeled the
design after eighteenth-century gardens
of English country estates.
 It features "gracefully curved lines" that
contrast the sharp cornered buildings of
the surrounding city.

SuburbiaSuburbia
• Olmstead also designed Riverside,
Illinois as one of the first suburbs of
Chicago.
• Growth in the suburbs exploded around
the 1920s, with growth rates doubling
that of the central cities.
 This led to the development of a
highway system, but also the collapse of
the financial base of the urban center.

Olmsted, Vaux & Co., General plan of Riverside, Illinois.
1869.
Courtesy of United Stated Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Frederick
Law Olmsted National Historic Site. [Fig. 14-53]

InfrastructureInfrastructure
1 of 21 of 2
• Cities were faced with urban decline
and the demise of infrastructure, or
systems that deliver services to people.
 Detroit has yet to recover from 1967
riots and loss of jobs in the auto
industry.

InfrastructureInfrastructure
2 of 22 of 2
• The attack on the World Trade Center
on September 11, 2001 greatly
damaged New York's infrastructure.
 An architectural competition for
rebuilding called for addressing urban
planning as well as the site's
significance.
 Calatrava's plan is based on a drawing
of a child's hands releasing a bird into
the air.

Santiago Calatrava, Port Authority Trans Hudson (PATH) station, World Trade Center site.
2004. Digital three-dimensional model.
© 2015 Santiago Calatrava/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York/VEGAP, Madrid.
[Fig. 14-55]

The Critical ProcessThe Critical Process
Thinking about ArchitectureThinking about Architecture
• The needs of humans to dwell in
suitable habitats and congregate in
livable communities remains much the
same across history, despite
architectural advances.
• Moshe Safdie's Habitat was based on
modular designs and recalls the living
structures of the Taos Pueblo people.

Thinking BackThinking Back
1 of 21 of 2
1. Describe the relationship between
architecture and its environment.
2. Outline the architectural technologies
that predate the modern era.

Thinking BackThinking Back
2 of 22 of 2
3. Describe the technological advances
that have contributed to modern and
contemporary architecture.
4. Describe how the idea of community
serves as a driving force in
architecture.

Architecture

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