20th
century architects
an artistic comparision
Peter Zumthor "it reflects light and colour and gives an intimation of its inner life" Instead, he reacts to the needs of each individual commission. The Kunsthaus Bregenz art museum stands in the light of Lake Constance. It is made of glass and steel and a cast concrete stone mass which endows the interior of the building with texture and spatial composition. From the outside, the building looks like a lamp. It absorbs the changing light of the sky, the haze of the lake, it reflects light and colour and gives an intimation of its inner life according to the angle of vision, the daylight and the weather. Peter Zumthor, born April 26, 1943, Basel, Switzerland ,the son of a furniture maker and master joiner, graduated from the Kunstgewerbeschule in Basel, Switzerland, in 1963. In 1966 continued his studies at the Pratt Institute in New York City and n 1979 he established a practice in Switzerland. From the beginning, Zumthor purposefully kept his practice small so that he could be intimately involved with all elements of planning and construction.
right:
Although sometimes classified as a
middle:
minimalist because of the austerity of his spaces, Zumthor does not have a single style or material of choice.
Thermal Baths Vals
Graub存nden, Switzerland
left:
Kolumba Museum
cologne, germany
Bruder Klaus Chapel
wachendorf, germany
Kunsthaus Bregenz art museum, lake constance
bregenz, germany
Frank Gehry was born in Toronto,
a ship. Its brilliantly reflective titanium
Ontario, Canada in 1929. He studied at
panels resemble fish scales, echoing
the Universities of Southern California
the other organic life (and, in particular,
and Harvard, before he established
fish-like) forms that recur commonly
his first practice, Frank O. Gehry and
in Gehry’s designs, as well as the
Associates in 1963.
river Nervión upon which the museum
Over the years, Gehry has moved
sits. Also in typical Gehry fashion, the
away from a conventional commercial
building is uniquely a product of the
practice to a artistically directed atelier.
period’s technology.
His deconstructed architectural style began to emerge in the late 1970s when Gehry, directed by a personal vision of architecture, created collage-like compositions out of found materials. Instead of creating buildings, Gehry creates ad-hoc pieces of functional sculpture. The Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, is a magnificent example of the most groundbreaking architecture to have come out of the 20th century. The curves on the building have been designed to appear random. The architect has been quoted as saying that “the randomness of the curves are designed to catch the light”. The museum’s design and construction serve as an object lesson in Gehry’s style and method. Like much of Gehry’s other works, the structure consists of radically sculpted, organic contours. Sited as it is in a port town, it is intended to resemble
the Dancing House Nationale-Nederlanden
top:
Prague, Czech Republic
bottom: Ray and Maria Stata Center Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Cambridge, Massachusetts, usa
Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain
"that is so stupid-looking it's great"
Frank Gehry
renZo Piano "My inspiration came from the land, ... and, of course, from Paul Klee . . . and the poetics of his paintings."
Renzo Piano was born in Genoa (ITALY)
as museums, galleries, churches, music parks, institutes and
on September 14, 1937. He graduated in
national centers, shopping centers, bridges, reconstructions of
1964 from the school of Architecture of
squares, airports.
the Milan Polytechnic.
Piano, a member of the “High-Tech” movement, established
As a student, he was working under the
technology as a starting point for his designs. Fortunately, he
design guidance of Franco Albini, while
modified his attempts to generate an architectural character
also regularly attending his father’s
based on technological forms with a concern for user comfort
building sites where he got a valuable
and needs.
practical experience.
The Paul Klee Centre is a multifunctional space: in addition to
Between 1965 and 1970, he completed
the permanent collection, it also houses temporary exhibitions
his formation and work experiments
concert hall, and a centre with ateliers for children.
with study travels in Britain and
The shapes of the building recall the curves of the surrounding
America.
landscape, thus becoming an integral part of it.
Renzo Piano ‘s principal work includes
The centre is composed of three hills made of glass and steel.
more than 40 worid-famous projects,
Each ‘hill’ corresponds to one different function of the centre, and runs through the life of the artist, who was a painter, a musician and a poet.
Zentrum Paul Klee Bern, Switzerland
The light, potentially harmful to the extremely fragile art pieces, is diffused by a system of translucent screens that delicately reflect the light.
Auditorium Parco Della Musica Rome Itlay
Milwaukee Art Museum, milwaukee, usa
Architect and sculptor Santiago Calatrava was born in
turn this maxim on its head. His designs
Valencia, Spain, in 1951. He earned a degree in architecture
suggest stylized natural objects—waves,
and then in civil engineering, intrigued by the mathematics
wings, or sun-bleached skeletons, with
behind historic architecture.
rows of white concrete ribs curved into
In the mid-1980s, Calatrava began to get hired for large-
distorted parabolic arches. The true
scale public projects, and opened offices for his company in
purpose of these dramatic contours are
Zurich, Paris. and Valencia. During this period, he also began
typically more aesthetic than structural.
to exhibit his abstract sculptures in museums and galleries.
The Milwaukee Art Museum addition
Calatrava regularly traverses the lines between art and
was Calatrava’s first project in the United
architecture; his buildings are frequently called sculptural,
States. Feeling insecure about working
while his sculptures and paintings are like sketches of
in the U.S., he actually withdrew himself
buildings.Calatrava is known for his flowing, curved buildings.
from the selection process in 1994, only
He uses steel, concrete, and new computer modeling to create
to be coaxed back. Today, Calatrava
compositions that appear at once natural and structurally
has completed dozens of buildings and
impossible. If “form follows function” was a rallying cry of
bridges around the world, with many
modern architecture, Calatrava’s postmodern structures
more in the works. His theat
Puente del Alamillo at night, Seville, Spain
Tenerife Opera House, Canary Islands, Spain
rical, uplifting designs are immediately recognizable, and often his buildings, like the Quadracci Pavilion, look poised to soar away on the breeze.
"I hope that we have designed not a building, but a piece of the city."
santiaGo calatrava
20th
century architects
an artistic comparision