USER CENTRED DESIGN DESPINA LAZAROU LEVEL 4 MAY 17TH 2013
Le Corbusier
Shodhan House, 1956.
Frank Lloyd Wright
Fallingwater, 1939
T ABLE
OF
C ONTENTS
Le Corbusier ....................................................... 3 A brief timeline of his life .......................................... 3-4 Photographs ............................................................... 4-5 Villa Shodhan ............................................................... 6-7 Plans/sections .......................................................... 8-10 Driving principles ..........................................................11 Frank Lloyd Wright ........................................... 12 A brief timeline of his life ...................................... 12-14 Photographs ........................................................... 15-16 Fallingwater ....................................................................17 Plan and sections ......................................................... 18-19 Driving principles ..........................................................20
2
Le Corbusier October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965. His actual name is CharlesEduard Jeanneret-Gris, he adopted the pseudonym Le Corbusier in the 1920’s, and it alleged that it derived from an ancestor's name. He was a Swedish architect writer, designer, urbanist and one of the pioneers of what nowadays called contemporary architecture. Also he was dedicated to provide better living conditions for the residences of the accumulated cities.
A brief timeline of his life: 1887-1913 è Charles-Eduard Jeanneret-Gris was born in La Chaux –De-Fonds in the northwestern of Switzerland. From a young age he was attracted to visual arts and he studied at the art school of his city with an architect teacher named René Chapallaz, who later had a huge influence on his earliest buildings designs. In 1908 in Vienna he studied architecture and between 1910-1911 for about six months he worked near the capital of Germany, Berlin for the famous architect Peter Behrens. Followed by 1911, he filled nearly about 80 sketchbooks with reference what he saw in Balkans, Bulgaria, Turkey and Greece that he visited through the year, with many sketches of Parthenon, whose later honor in his work ‘ Towards a new Architecture’ (1923).
1914-1930 è He was teaching at his old school for the duration of the World War 1 and until the war was over he did not return to Paris. For that time of four years while using modern techniques he worked on theory based on architecture. Between these was his project of the ‘Domino House’ 1914-1915. Thereafter in 1918, Le 3
Corbusier met Amédée Ozenfant the Cubist painter and later after encouraged by Ozenfant to paint, they rejected Cubism as irrational and romantic and introduced a new artistic movement, Purism.
Photographs: Domino House (1914-1915)
• This project became the foundation for the most of his designs for the next ten years
Domino house is an open floor plan structure, consisting of concrete slabs supported by a slightly number of thin reinforced concrete columns around the edges, there are staircases on one of the sides of the floor plan to access to each level.
Villa Savoye (1928-1931)
Villa Savoye is a modern villa in Poissy, Paris. He and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret designed it.
Notre Dame du Haut (1954) 4
This is a chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp. The structure is made mostly of concrete and is in comparison small, enclosed by thick walls, with the upturned roof supported on columns embedded within the walls.
Ahmedabad Textile Mill Owners’ Association House (ATMA House) (1954)
Is a modern architecture building in Ahmedabad, India. A ceremonial ramp makes for a grand approach into a triple height entrance.
5
Villa Shodhan (1951-1956) Or Shodhan House is an innovator villa also located in Ahmedabad, India. This villa is symbolizes Le Corbusier’s domestic architecture.1 The building is currently used as a private residence. The first design of Shodhan House was assigned to secretary of the Mill owners, Surrotam Hutheesing, in 1951. Even so, the plans were then sold to Shyamubhai Shodhan a fellow mill owner. Although he had a dissimilar lifestyle, Shodhan chose to retain the original plans, as was the case for all of Le Corbusier’s Indian projects. 2 3
Fundamental aspects to be considered in designing Villa Shodhan included sun, wind, the view upon arrival and landscaping. The landscaping sets off the building by contracting the curved mounds of the site with the geometric, rectangular lines of the structure. The rectangles on the northwest and southwest facades are further emphasized through the installation of brise soil for protection from glare.4 The design of Villa Shodhan is structurally simplistic while still retaining plasticity in the treatment of the divided spaces. The overall frame of the building is in raw concrete, with clear markings of the wooden formwork. The frame 1 2
3 4
Serenyl (1983), p91 Boesiger (1957), p134 Serenyl (1983), p91 Curtis (2001), p210 6
is anchored to the ground, not elevated on stilts, a feature that Le Corbusier used frequently in the 1920s.5 Standard sheet metal is added to the underside of the interior ceilings and a protective parasol is used as the roof.6 7 The design of the interior concrete piers, running to the full height of the building’s elevation, is based around the architect’s domino skeleton design established in 1915. The rooms are grouped around a triple-height terrace. The terrace plays an important role in the natural climate control process, cooling down the bedrooms in the middle of the day and providing an alternate sleeping area during the summertime.8 Upon the parasol roof of the villa, there is a garden abounded in thick grass and water troughs. Overrun plants and trees, seeming to camouflage the building and its environment, also reinforce the vision of the dense greenery. The roof also features an oval aperture, which matches up with a hole in the lower slab roof, giving visitors a framed view of the sky. This is almost mimicked by the pool, situated at the base of the ramp, aiming to bring the outside in.9
5
Serenyl (1983), p101 Boesiger (1957), p134 7 Curtis (2001), p208-210 8 Serenyl (1983), p105 9 Curtis (2001), p210 6
7
Plans/sections:
Villa Savoye
8
Villa Shodhan
9
Notre Dame du Haut
10
The driving principles of Le Corbusier: During Le Corbusier’s career, he developed a set of architectural principles that dictated his technique, named ‘The five points of a new architecture’. These were:
• The replacement of supporting walls by a grid of reinforced concrete columns that bears the load of the structure is the basis of the new aesthetic. • Roof gardens: the flat can be utilized for a domestic purpose while also providing essential protection to the concrete roof. • The free designing of the ground plan: the absence of supporting walls means that the house is unrestrained in its internal usage. • The free design of façade: by separating the exterior of the building from its structural function the façade becomes free. • The horizontal window: the façade can be cut along its entire length to allow rooms to be lit equally.
11
Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) He was born as Frank Lincoln Wright and he was an architect, interior design, writer and educator, from America. He is a designer of 1,000 structures and completed 532 works. Wright believed that in the design of structures that were in unison with humanity and it’s environment, a philosophy that he called ‘organic architecture’. This philosophy is best explained by his design for Fallingwater (1935), which has been called ‘the best alltime work of American architecture’. 10 The work of his includes original and innovative examples of many different types of constructions, like offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels and museums. During his lifetime he was well known, and Wright was recognized in 1991 by the American institute of Architects as ‘the greatest American architect of all time’ 11
A brief timeline of his life: 1867 – 1885 è He was born in a farming city called Richland Center, Wisconsin, United States, in 1867. In 1876 his mother Anna Lloyd Jones, a county schoolteacher, visited an exhibition in Philadelphia were she saw an exhibit of educational blocks created by Friedrich Wilhelm August Frobel. These blogs are known as Froebel gifts and they were the 10
Brewster, Mike (July 28, 2004). ‘Frank Lloyd Wright: America’s Architect’’. Business Week (The McGraw-Hill Companies), Retrieved January 22,2008 11 Brewster, Mike (July 28, 2004). ‘Frank Lloyd Wright: America’s Architect’’. Business Week (The McGraw-Hill Companies), Retrieved January 22,2008 12
foundation of his kindergarten curriculum. These were geometrically shaped and could be assembled in various combinations to form three-dimensional compositions. In his autobiography Wright described how this is the influence of these exercises on his approach to design: ‘For several years I sat at the Kindergarten table-top…and played…with the cube, the sphere and the triangle – these smooth wooden maple blocks… All are in my fingers to this day…’12 Many of his buildings are noteworthy for their geometrical translucency. At the point were Wright turned 14, his parents separated. In 1885 the divorce was finalized and after that his father left and Wright claimed that he never saw him again.13 On that occasion Wright changed his middle name from Lincoln to Lloyd in honor of his mother’s family, the Lloyd Joneses. As the only man in the family left, Wright assumed financial responsibility for his mother and two sisters.
1885 – 1888 è There is no evidence that he graduated, but Wright attended a school at Madison.14 In 1886, je was admitted to the University of Wisconsin—Madison as a special student. There he joined Phi Delta Theta fraternity,15 took classes part-time for two semesters, and worked with the professor Allan D. Conover of civil engineering.16 Wright left the school without taking a degree, although he was granted an honorary Doctorate of fine Arts from the University in 1955, and arrived in Chicago in search of employment in 1887. Within days, and after interviews with several prominent firms, he was hired as a draftsman with the architectural firm of Joseph Lyman Silsbee. During the time with 12
Alofsin, Anthony (1993). Frank Lloyd Wright—the Lost Years, 1910-1922: A Study of Influence. University of Chicago Press, p.359. ISBN 0-226-01366-9; Hersey, George (2000). Architecture and Geometry in the Age of the Baroque. University of Chicago Press, p.205. ISBN 0-226-32783-3. 13 An Autobiography, by Frank Lloyd Wright, Duell, Sloan and Pearce, New York City, 1943, p.51 14 Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography, by Meryle Secrest, University of Chicago Press, 1992, p.72 15 Phi Delta Theta list of famous Phis. 16 Frank Lloyd Wright: A Biography, by Meryle Secrest, p.82 13
the firm, he also worked on two other family projects: the All Souls Church in Chicago for his uncle, and the Hillside Home School 1 in Spring Green for two of his aunts.17 After less than a year in the firm, Wright learned that the Chicago firm of Adler & Sullivan was ‘looking for someone to make the finish drawings for the interior of the Auditorium Building’.18 Wright demonstrated that he was a competent impressionist of Louis Sullivan’s ornamental designs and two short interviews later, was an official apprentice in the firm.19
1888 – 1900 è After leaving Louis Sullivan, Wright established his own practice on the top floor of the Sullivan designed Schiller Building (1892, demolished 1961) on Randolph Street in Chicago. During the period of 1894 – 1910 Wright’s projects followed two basic models. In the first place there was his first independent commission, the Winslow House, which combined Sullivanesque ornamentation with the emphasis on simple geometry and horizontal lines that is typical in Wright houses. In the same mode were designed the following projects: The Francis Apartments (1895, demolished 1971), Heller House (1896), Rollin Furbeck House (1897), and Husser House (1899, demolished 1926). For more conservative clients, he conceded to design more traditional dwellings. These included the Dutch Colonial Revival style Bagley House (1894), Tudor Revival style Moore House 1 (1895), and Queen Anne style Charles Roberts House (1896).20 In 1898 Wright relocated his practice to his home in order to bring his work and family lives closer.
17
O’Gorman, Thomas J.(2004). Frank Lloyd Wright’s Chicago. San Diego: Thunder Bay Press. pp. 31—33. ISBN 1-59223-127-6 18 Wright 2005, p.83. 19 Wright 2005, p.86. 20 O’Gorman 2004, pp.56-109 14
Photographs: Unity Chapel (1886) Its location is in Iowa County, Wisconsin. Also it was added to the National Register of History Places in 1974.
Frank Lloyd’s home and studio (1889)
15
Robbie house (1908-1910) One of the most important buildings in American history of architecture it is on the campus of the University of Chicago campus, the Robbie House. It was designed for Frederick C. Robbie.
Walter V. Davidson House
Mrs. Thomas H. Gale House
16
Falling water (1939) Fallingwater is the name of a house built over a waterfall and Frank Lloyd Wright designed it for the Kaufmann family. It was built from 1936 to 1939. Nowadays it is a National Historic Landmark. Wright desired the residence to live close to the natural surroundings, he did not want them just to look at them every now and then but he wanted to make the waterfalls part of their every day lives. It is constructed over a 30-foot waterfall, and the house it looks like is very big on the outside but actually on the inside it is a quite small, which surprises some visitors.21 He inspired by the Japanese architecture that combines harmony between the man and the nature
The low ceilings in the rooms lead the eye directly to look outside.
21
‘What is Fallinfwater’ Western Pennsylvania Conservancy. 17
PLANS AND SECTIONS
18
19
Driving Principles
Frank Lloyd Wright ‘style’ was mostly including the principles of organic architecture. He was one of the first architects that designed and installed custom-made electric light fittings. Wright embraced glass in his designs by the fullest, and found out that it fits into his theory about the organic architecture. The geometric shapes place a big role on his career too. He is known as well for developing homes with progressively more open plans.
20
Bibliography: • http://www.open.edu/openlearn/history-thearts/history/heritage/le-corbusier • Disfiguring: Art, Architecture, Religion (Religion and Postmodernism) [Paperback] Taylor (Author) • Boesiger W (1957) 'Le Corbusier Oeuvre Complete 1952-1957' Editions Girsberger, Zurich pp. 134 • Curtis, William J.R (2001), Le Corbusier Ideas and Forms, Phaidon Press Ltd, China, pp. 208-210 ISBN 0-7148-2790-8 • Doshi, Balkrishna V (1974), Global Architecture 32, A.D.A. EDITA Tokyo Co. Ltd., Tokyo ISBN unknown • Serenyi, Peter (1965), ‘Le Corbusier’s Changing Attitude toward Form,’ Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp 15-23. • Serenyi, Peter (1970), ‘Abstracts of Papers Presented at the Twenty-Third Annual Meeting of the Society of Architectural Historians: Classicism and Anti-Classicism in Le Corbusier’s Architecture,’ Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 29, No. 3, pp.273-274. • Serenyi, Peter (1971), ‘Who was Le Corbusier?’, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Vol. 30, No.3, pp. 255259 [edit] • http://www.fallingwater.org
21