The early stages of modern architecture developed from 1850-1900 with the rise of iron and steel frame construction. This allowed for taller, wider buildings like the Eiffel Tower and Crystal Palace. In Chicago, architects pioneered the steel-framed skyscraper like Louis Sullivan, who coined the phrase "form follows function." The Chicago School emphasized plain designs with reduced ornamentation that accelerated the modern aesthetic. Sullivan was influential in developing the modern style through his organic yet geometric designs.

1. THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Prepared by: Nor Zalina Md Nor
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
AB 243

2. THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
SUMMARY OF
MODERN ARCHITECTURE
EARLY MODERN
Ca. 1850 – 1900
1. Iron-frame architecture, e.g.
Crystal Palace, Eiffel Tower
1. Chicago School:
Skyscrapers (Jenney)
Functionalism (Sullivan)
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
LATE MODERN
Ca. 1900 – 1960
1. International Style – Walter
Gropius, Corbusier, Mies Van
De Rohe.
1. Organic architecture – Frank
Lloyd Wright

3. THE APPLIED ART CRISIS
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
1. From the Industrial Revolution (ca.
1750-1850) onward, the world has
been filled with machine-made
products, which led many artists to
fear the decline of applied arts
(works of art that serve a practical
purpose).
2. The production of furniture, for
instance, no longer required a
skilled woodworker; it could simply
be made out of a machine.

4. THE APPLIED ART CRISIS
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
2 major positions emerged in response
One position, known as the Arts and
Crafts Movement
Advocate traditional, hand-made
applied arts.
Emerged in late nineteenth-century
England, spread across Europe and
the United States.
Argued that mass-produced goods,
could indeed be beautiful works of art if
it is skillfully designed.
Machine production can results in
products with simple geometric forms
and plain, unornamented surfaces.
instead of rejecting these properties as
cold and lifeless, some artists argued
that they should be embraced. This
approach fuelled the gradual rise of the
modern aesthetic.

5. THE RISE OF METAL FRAME ARCHITECTURE
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
The early stage of Early modern is the metal frame architecture
The fundamental technical requirement to large-scale modern architecture was
the development of metal framing.
In this period, the machine-manufacturing plays a major role in shaping the style
of architecture.

6. THE RISE OF METAL FRAME ARCHITECTURE
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
During this period, cast iron framing was introduced
to masonry buildings;
masonry walls were no longer the structure for the
building, instead it was becoming a cosmetic "skin"
over an iron skeleton of the building.

7. THE NEW MATERIALS
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
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)

8. AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
IRON FRAME ARCHITECTURE as Transitional Phase

9. MODERNISM IN ARCHITECTURE
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
The defining feature of modern architecture is the modern aesthetic
which may be summarized as “plain geometric forms”
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.

10. Glass and iron & Iron frame
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Crystal Palace, Joseph Paxton , 1851 Eiffel Tower, Gustav Eiffel, 1887
THE NEW MATERIALS

11. CHICAGO SCHOOL
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
1880 -1900

12. CHICAGO SCHOOL
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
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.

13. CHICAGO SCHOOL
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of
architects, active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th Century.
The Chicago fire of
1871 destroyed most
of the city and gave
an opportunity for
architects to design
and built new
structures

14. CHICAGO SCHOOL
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
At the time cities grew and property values
increasing, and at this point in history,
architects faced intense pressure to extend
buildings upward,
In response, the Chicago school built the
world's first skyscrapers.
The Home Insurance Building, by William Le
Baron Jenney (a member of the Chicago
school), is usually considered the very first
skyscraper.
William Le Baron Jenney

15. CHICAGO SCHOOL
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Home Insurance Building
‘THE FIRST MODERN SKYSCRAPER’
Location & Year: Chicago, Illinois (1885)
Designed by: Engineer William Le Baron Jenney
• Steel frame allow much greater height & stability
without greater weight of traditional masonry.
• William’s revolutionary design utilized an inner
skeleton of vertical columns and horizontal
beams made out of steel.
• As result the wall is thinner, the structure is lighter
but stronger and more windows can be built.
• The steel structure supports the building weight,
and the brick exterior is merely acted as a ‘skin’
protecting the building from weather.

16. CHICAGO SCHOOL
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Home Insurance Building
• 1885 - Originally 10 storeys
• 1890 – Two additional floors were added at the
top – 12 storeys.
• The building set the standard for various other
building innovations, including rapid, safe
elevators, wind bracing and modern plumbing.

17. CHICAGO SCHOOL
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
The skyscraper was the great
technical achievement of the
Chicago school.
The school is also responsible for a
great aesthetic achievement: the
gradual reduction of traditional
ornamentation in skyscraper design.
Skyscrapers were an entirely new
building type, which accelerated
the development of the modern
aesthetic.

18. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
THE FATHER OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE
SEPTEMBER 3, 1856 – APRIL 14, 1924

19. LOUIS SULLIVAN
1856-1924
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE – CHICAGO SCHOOL
• Louis Henry Sullivan was an American architect, and has
been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of
modernism.”
• An influential architect and critic of the Chicago School.
• A mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright, and an inspiration to the
Chicago group of architects who have come to be
known as the Prairie School.
• Sullivan is one of the ‘Recognized Trinity of American
Architecture.’
• He posthumously received the AIA Gold Medal in 1944.

20. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
His Famous Quotes
"It is the pervading law of all things organic, and inorganic,
of all things physical and metaphysical,
of all things human and all things super-human,
of all true manifestations of the head, of the heart,
of the soul, that the life is recognizable in its expression,
that form ever follows function.
This is the law."

21. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
Louis Sullivan coined the phrase;
‘form follow function’
Sullivan’s philosophy became one of the
basic principles of the twentieth Century
architecture.

22. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
Louis Sullivan Design Style
Ornament and structure were integral; their
subtle rhythm sustained a high emotional
tension, yet produced a sense of serenity.
But the building's identity resided in the
ornament. Sullivan's philosophy that "form
follows function" became one of the basic
principles of twentieth century architecture,
and was one of the foundations of Prairie
School style design

23. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
Louis Sullivan Design Style
He uses simple geometric forms but highly ornamented

24. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
Louis Sullivan Design Style
He uses simple geometric forms but highly
ornamented

25. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
Louis Sullivan Design Style
Manipulation of the organic.

26. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
Louis Sullivan Design Style
Sullivan developed a style of ornamentation
reflected nature through symmetrical use of
stylized foliage & weaving geometric forms.

27. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
Louis Sullivan Design Style
Another elements of Sullivan’s work is the massive, semi-circular arch.
Sullivan employed such arches throughout his career – in shaping entrances, in
framing windows or as interior design.

28. LOUIS SULLIVAN
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE - CHICAGO SCHOOL
Louis Sullivan Design Style
Decoration in Terra Cotta

29. ADLER & SULLIVAN : Wainwright Building
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
The Wainwright Building was designed by the famed architects Adler and Sullivan
in 1891. The Wainwright building is credited for being the first successful utilization
of steel frame construction.

30. ADLER & SULLIVAN : Wainwright Building
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
The first two floors are faced in brown
sandstone, the next seven stories rise in
continuous brick piers.
Terra cotta panels of ornate foliage relief's
decorate the each floor.
The tenth story is a frieze of intertwined leaf
scrolls framing circular windows, and is capped
with Sullivan's characteristic overhanging roof
slab.
The building became a City Landmark in
1972. The Wainwright building is also a National
Historic Landmark.

31. ADLER & SULLIVAN : Wainwright Building
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE

32. LOUIS SULLIVAN : Auditorium Building (1886)
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
• It was the commission in 1886 to design the
Auditorium Building in Chicago that marked
the first period of Sullivan’s design maturity
• The Auditorium Building in Chicago is one of
the best-known designs of Louis
Sullivan and Dankmar Adler built in 1889.
• Sullivan ultimately chose to design the
building in the Richardson Romanesque
style that is characterized by
massive rusticated stone walls, heavy
rounded arches and deeply recessed
windows.

33. LOUIS SULLIVAN : Auditorium Building (1886)
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
• While Sullivan handled the building’s visual design, Adler was responsible for its engineering
and acoustical design
• When completed, it was the tallest building in the city and largest building in the US.
• It is a 10-story-high building of granite and limestone with a 17-story tower.

34. LOUIS SULLIVAN : Auditorium Building (1886)
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
• In the center of the building was
a 4,300 seat auditorium,
originally intended primarily for
production of Grand Opera.
• The auditorium was designed so
that all seats would have good
views and acoustics.
• Housed in the building around
the central space were an 1890
addition of 136 offices and a
400-room hotel

35. LOUIS SULLIVAN : Auditorium Building (1886)
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Front Elevation Side Elevation

36. LOUIS SULLIVAN : Auditorium Building (1886)
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Auditorium Hotel – Dining hall

37. LOUIS SULLIVAN : Auditorium Building (1886)
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Interior detail of the Auditorium Theatre

38. LOUIS SULLIVAN : Auditorium Building
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Auditorium Theatre interior from the balcony

39. LOUIS SULLIVAN : Auditorium Building (1886)
AB 243 IA History 02 : Lecture 03
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE & BUILT ENVIRONMENT
THE EARLY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Exterior detail