History of Architecture II
EYOAB EQUBAY
Lecture 1.........
Formalism Architecture !
[Link] EQUBAY
Definition
As architectural objects are typically
non-representational and designed
with manipulation and relation of
forms as a primary task, it is natural
that their formal properties be seen as
playing a central role in our aesthetic
appreciation of them.
Theory……
Buildings
designed in that style exhibited
many Classical elements
strict symmetrical elevations
building proportion
Scale
Classical columns
highly stylized
Feature of New Formalism Theory
Use of traditionally rich materials,
such as travertine, marble, and
granite or man-made materials
that mimic their luxurious qualities
Buildings usually set on a podium,
Designed to achieve modern
monumentality
Feature of New Formalism Theory
Smooth wall surfaces
Delicacy of details &
Formal landscape; use of pools,
fountains, sculpture within a
central plaza
Welton Becket (American Architect)
Becket was born in Seattle,
Washington and graduated from the
University of Washington program
in Architecture in 1927 with a
Bachelor of Architecture degree
([Link].).
Welton David Becket (August 8,
1902 – January 16, 1969) was an
American modern architect who
designed many buildings in Los
Angeles, California.
Welton Becket (American Architect)
Becket's buildings used unusual facade materials
such as ceramic tile and stainless steel grillwork,
repetitive geometric patterns, and a heavy emphasis
on walls clad in natural stone, particularly travertine
and flagstone.
With The Walt Disney Company and the United
States Steel Corporation, Becket's firm co-designed
Disney's Contemporary Resort, which opened in 1971
at Walt Disney World Resort.
Philip Johnson (American Architect)
Philip Cortelyou Johnson (July
8, 1906 – January 25, 2005)
was an American architect best
known for his works of Modern
architecture, including the
Glass House in New Canaan,
Connecticut, and his works of
postmodern architecture,
Philip Johnson (American Architect)
In
1930 Johnson joined the architecture department of the Museum of
Modern Art in New York. There he arranged for American visits by Gropius
and Le Corbusier, and negotiated the first American commission for Mies van
der Rohe.
In1932, working with Hitchcock and Alfred H. Barr, Jr., he organized the first
exhibition on Modern architecture at the Museum of Modern Art.
The
show and their simultaneously published book International Style:
Modern Architecture Since 1922 played an important part in introducing
modern architecture to the American public.
Lincoln Center (New York, U.S.)
Built up – 1955 - 1969
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
(also simply known as Lincoln Center) is
a 16.3-acre (6.6-hectare) complex of
buildings in the Lincoln Square
neighborhood of Manhattan in New York
City. It has thirty indoor and outdoor
facilities and is host to 5 million visitors
annually.
When first announced in 1999,
Lincoln Center's campus wide
redevelopment was to cost $1.5 billion
over 10 years and radically transform
Mark Taper Forum (California, U.S.)
Built up – 1967
The Mark Taper Forum is a 739-seat thrust
stage at the Los Angeles Music Center
designed by Welton Becket and Associates
on the Bunker Hill section of Downtown Los
Angeles. A $30-million renovation of the
Taper led by the Los Angeles firm Rios
Clementi Hale Studios began in July 2007
after the 2006/2007 season. The theater
reopened on August 30, 2008 for the first
preview of John Guare's The House of Blue
Leaves.
2 Columbus Circle (New York, U.S.)
Opened in - 1964
2 Columbus Circle is a 12-story
building located on a small trapezoidal
lot on the south side of Columbus
Circle on the Upper West Side of
Manhattan, New York City.
Controversy was sparked in 2002 after
the Museum of Arts and Design
(MAD) purchased the building and
planned to significantly alter its design,
including modifying its facade.
Dorothy Chandler Pavilion (California, U.S.)
Built up – 1962 - 1964
The Dorothy Chandler Pavilion is
one of the halls in the Los Angeles
Music Center, which is one of the
three largest performing arts centers
in the United States. The Music
Center's other halls include the Mark
Taper Forum, Ahmanson Theatre,
and Walt Disney Concert Hall
ThePavilion has 3,156 seats spread
over four tiers, with chandeliers,
wide curving stairways and rich
décor.
The Forum (California, U.S.)
Built up – 1966
The Forum is a multi-purpose indoor
arena, in Inglewood, California, United
States.
The arena is formally known as The
Forum Presented by Chase, and has
previously been known as the Great
Western Forum and nicknamed the
"Fabulous Forum" in a newspaper headline.
Architect Charles Luckman's vision was
brought to life by engineers Carl Johnson
and Svend Nielsen, who were able to
engineer the structure so that it had no
major support pillars.
American Embassy(Delhi, India)
Built up – 1955 - 1969
The Embassy of the United States of
America is complex is situated on a 28-acre
plot of land in Chanakyapuri, the diplomatic
enclave of New Delhi, where most of the
embassies are located.
The Embassy was designed by American
architect Edward Durell Stone, then a
professor of architecture at Yale University
and the designer of Radio City Music Hall.
The planning of the embassy began in
the early 1950s and the complex includes
the Chancery, the Roosevelt House (official
residence of the U.S. Ambassador)
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium
(New York, U.S.)Built up – 1958
Santa Monica Civic Auditorium is a
multi-purpose convention center at
1855 Main Street in Santa Monica,
California, owned by the City of
Santa Monica. It was built in 1958
and designed by Welton Becket.
The building was made of
reinforced concrete and combined
elements of a theater, concert hall,
and trade show and convention
auditorium.
Home Saving Building
(California, U.S.)Built up – 1970
The Home Savings building located in
Santa Monica displays a beach-themed
mural of colored tiles, titled “Pleasures
Along the Beach.” At 40 feet by 16.5 feet,
the mosaic is the largest work of art Sheets
produced for Home Savings.
A sculpture of a child riding a dolphin sits
at the east entrance of the building, and
bronze sculptures of a family playing in the
surf is the centerpiece of the open entry
plaza.
“The view Outside was much
more important than the
exhibits.”
Quote by . Minoru Yamasaki
Lecture 2.........
FUNCTIONALISM
Eyoab Equbay
Definition….
• Functionalism is a theory in architecture which states that the buildings should be designed
based on the function of the building. In the early 1900s, functionalism emerged as a need to
build better for the people in terms of the Functions of a Space.
• A Functional Architecture is an architectural model that identifies system function
and their interactions.
• This theory strongly disregarded the idea to design decorative and ornamental elements as a
form of artistic expression of the architect.
• However, the history of functionalism dates back to the 1st century BCE.
Roman architect Vitruvius derived the theory that buildings need to satisfy three aspects
• Utility
• Stability, and
• Beauty.
• Functionalism, in architecture, the doctrine that the form of a building should be determined
by practical considerations such as use, material, and structure, as distinct from the attitude
that plan and structure must conform to a preconceived picture in the designer’s mind.
• In architecture, functionalism is the principle that buildings should be designed based solely
on the purpose and function of the building.
• In this respect, functionalist architecture is often linked with the ideas of socialism and
modern humanism A new slight addition to this new wave of functionalism was that not only
should buildings and houses be designed around the purpose of functionality, architecture
should also be used as a means to physically create a better world and a better life for
people in the broadest sense.
• This new functionalist architecture had the strongest impact
in Czechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, the USSR and the Netherlands, and from the 1930s
also in Scandinavia (Northern Europe which are Sweden, Denmark and
Norway) and Finland.
• Architecture should reach to an optimum combination of firmitas , utilitas and venustas, meaning firmness,
functionality and beauty.
• Functionality meant the arrangement of rooms and spaces so that there is no difficulty to the use of building and so
that a building is perfectly suited to its site.
• Firmness meant that foundations were solid and that the materials of the building well selected.
• Beauty meant that the appearance of the work is pleasing and in good taste.
• Therefore, the ultimate test of architecture is made by asking these questions:
1. Does the building function well and is it suitable for its site? (functionality)
2. Is the building built well enough to stand up and are its materials durable? (firmness)
3. Does the building appeal to senses?
Function and Form in Architecture
• Architecture is the art of playing with forms (solids) and spaces (cavities).
• Some architects start their designs by playing with forms (solids) and some of them start by
playing with spaces (cavities).
• Likewise, and very relatedly, some architects start their designs by thinking about the
formal appearance of the building and some of them start by thinking about the functional
operation of the building.
• However, for the creation of a good architectural product, both of them are necessary.
Great architects play with them at the same time.
1. Function Following Form
2. Form Following Function and
[Link] Following Form
• The shape of a building should be the architect’s primary consideration, and any functions and activities that
the building is to house should be accommodated into this form.
• The modernist functionalism, which saw the function of a building affect its final shape and form, produced
a reaction, which dictated that function follows form;
That the shape of a building should be the architect’s primary consideration, and any functions and
activities that the building is to house should be accommodated into this form.
• One of the earliest architects who embraced the ideals of this kind of an architecture was Antoni Gaudí; his
most famous work, La Sagrada Familia, or the Parc Güell (both in Barcelona, Spain) use forms in a
sculptural way to great dynamic effect. La Sagrada Familia is extremely ornamental and decorative.
• It looks like it has been sculpted rather than built and its stones appear almost liquid-like and display a light,
open quality.
La Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, Spain Antoni Gaudí, still to
be completed
[Link] Following Function
• ‘Form follows function’ was a phrase developed by American architect Louis Sullivan.
• It meant that the form of any building should be defined by the activities/functions that were to be carried
out inside it, rather than any historical precedent (example) or aesthetic ideal.
• It implied that decorative elements, which are called as ‘ornaments’, were needless in buildings. The
phrase became the motto of Modernist architects after the 1920s.
• Sullivan designed the world’s first skyscrapers using these functionalist design principles. His approach
was concerned with form following function and the buildings he produced were driven by functional
necessity.
• The concept of functionalism was further developed by Austrian architect Adolf Loos. He wrote as
‘ornament is crime’, and argued that any decoration on a building was both superfluous and unnecessary.
The thinking of both architects created new and modern responses to architectural design.
• Sullivan designed the world’s first
skyscrapers using these functionalist design
principles. His approach was concerned with
form following function and the buildings he
produced were driven by functional necessity.
Wainwright Building (left) and Guaranty Building (right) by Louis Sullivan
• Adolf Loos He wrote as ‘ornament is crime’,
and argued that any decoration on a building
was both superfluous and unnecessary. The
thinking of both architects created new and
modern responses to architectural design.
Adolf Loos: Muller House, Prague, Czech Republic
• The Modernists adopted both of these phrases “form follows function” and “ornament is crime” as moral
principles, and they have seen industrial objects, machines and factories as brilliant and beautiful
examples of plain, simple design integrity.
• Modernist architecture first arose around 1900 and primarily sought for the primacy of function in
architecture, the simplification of form and the elimination of ornament.
• It said that the forms should be shaped as a result of the functions of the buildings, instead of by
traditional aesthetic concepts.
• Therefore modernist architecture adopted ‘functionalism’ in architecture, which is a principle saying that
architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building.
Modernists were inspired by industrial objects, machines and factories, since they were designed by function
in mind. They presumed that buildings should also work like good working machines and developed a
concept called ‘machine aesthetics’ to describe the formal understanding of such buildings. They have
attempted to have such a machine aesthetics in their own buildings.
AEG Turbine Factory, Germany, Industrial architecture
Architecture is more than functional utility or structural display it is the container
that shapes human life.
The architect Louis Kahn explained this very well:
“when you make a building, you make a life. It comes out of life, and you
really make a life. It talks to you. When you have only the comprehension of
function of a building, it would not become an environment of a life.”
Types of Function in Architecture:
There are different types of function in architecture:
[Link] function
[Link] function
3. Symbolic function
[Link] function
[Link] and contextual function
1. Pragmatic function
Accommodation of a specific use in a room or
space. (for example, a room might be used to
contain a single bed for sleeping or it might be
an office cell containing a desk)
[Link] function
The making of appropriate spaces to direct movement
form area to area. Most buildings contain numerous
rooms with interrelated functions.
People, naturally, need to move from one space to
another. Therefore, the circulatory function should also
be satisfied well.
In some buildings, such as museums and galleries, this
route may be designed as part of the architectural
concept. The route through these buildings might
allow, in this instance, the art or artifacts to be better
understood and experienced.
Kimbell Art Museum by Louis Kahn
3. Symbolic function
A building has also a symbolic function and
demonstrates its use by its exterior view. We
usually expect a correspondence between
buildings appearance and its use.
In the past (among the Romans, Egyptians or
Greeks) there were rules that describe the
appearances of buildings for certain uses, but
nowadays we don’t have such rules.
Temple of Augustus and Livia
Starting with the Modern Movement in
architecture roughly by 1920’s (Modernism),
buildings started to tell us almost nothing about
what goes on inside them.
For example, Mies van der Rohe’s two buildings
in Illinois Institute of Technology campus, look Mies van der Rohe’s Boiler Plant in Illinois Institute of Technology, Chicago, Illinois (1949-
similar in terms of their architectural language 52)
and materials, but one of them is the Boiler House
and the other is a church.
Mies van der Rohe’s Carr Memorial Chapel, Illinois Institute of Technology,
Chicago, Illinois (1949-52)
[Link] function
Good architecture has also physiological and
psychological functions to fulfill. For example, a waiting
room in a doctor’s office or a hospital emergency room
are the places where people feel heightened levels of
anxiety.
An architect might determine that creating a domestic
environment there or to give a view of garden would
help to reduce the level of anxiety.
Louis Kahn’s principal ideas about the function of the
building was the distinction between ‘served’ and
‘servant’ spaces.
Servant spaces have functional use, such as storage
rooms, bathrooms or kitchens the spaces that are
essential for a building to function properly. Served
spaces might be living or dining rooms or offices –
spaces that the servant areas serve
Salk Institute by Louis Kahn
[Link] and contextual function
Function is also socially and culturally
influenced and a building’s form is also a
response to its physical setting and climate.
Every building has the responsibility to
respect and to be in harmony with its
context/environment.
The building has to answer to the genius
loci (spirit of the placea location's
distinctive atmosphere) of that place.
Turgut Cansever – Demir Holiday Village in Bodrum
xamples Across the world
Governmental Office Building in Belgium. The Pharmacy Building in Norway Flatiron Building in US New York
James Charnley House Louis Sullivan
(also known as the Charnley–Persky House Museum Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Cathedral
Foundation and the National Headquarters of the Society and Rectory, Chicago (1900–1903)
of Architectural Historians), Chicago (1891–1892)
Louis Sullivan Louis Sullivan
Merchants' National Bank, Grinnell, Iowa (1914) People's Federal Savings and Loan
Association, Sidney, Ohio (1918)
