CONTENTS Page 2: Introduction Page 3: TASK ONE|Origins of Modernity? Page 5: TASK TWO|Pre-Raphaelites Page 7: TASK THREE|Bauhaus Page 9: TASK FOUR|Le Corbusier Page 11: TASK FIVE|Italian Modernism Page 13: TASK SIX|Avant Garde Page 15:TASK SEVEN|Hot Modernism Critical Regionalism Page 17: TASK EIGHT|After Modernism UK & USA 1950-1970 Page 19: TASK NINE|Frank Lloyd Wright Page 21: TASK TEN|Informal ways of Design & Brazillian Architecture Page 23: BIBLIOGRAPHY
Introduction Brief: ‘This module engages with the key design ideologies of the 20th Century. The History of Western Architecture has an on-going complex relationship with Modernism. Despite having moved beyond Modernism and post-modernism, at the beginning of the 21st Century, the designed environment we live in; buildings, furniture, interiors and the public realm, still holds traces of and responds to elements of the Modernist ideologies.’
Aims - To develop your understanding of and work with historical precedent, which you can in turn employ in design studios; - To deepen your analytical and critical approaches to the history of architecture and design; - To encourage you to develop and define an intellectual critical position in the wider context of the Modernist discourse; - To identify areas of specific interest in order to develop some particular in-depth knowledge which could focus both design work and further study.
TASK ONE|Origins of Modernity Introduction
TASK ONE|Poster
Modernism is said to have initially been developed through opposition to the Industrial Revolution in Victorian England where the opposers were the likes of English poets and artists. Many of them were inspired by the work and writings about John Ruskin who, at the time was an art critic with strong views towards improving the standard of living for the working class. Throughout the course of modernism, the design movement has been shaping society through literature with the likes of James Joyce and his book, the Ulysses in 1922 up to the characteristics in architecture through architects whose works are still around today such as, Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier and, Villa Mairea by Alvar Aalto.
To start of this module, I was tasked with producing a poster to express the fundamentals of how the Modernism movement began. In my poster I had explored different genres of Modernism such as Architecture, Furniture and Product Design. Each genre did come with its own story such as how modernism was accelerated by Facism with key individuals pushing forward a better change in Archtecture, a key example being Mussolinni in Italy with his excessive use of white marble to display a similar variation of Adolf Hitler’s image of the perfect Italian/human being. In my opinion, it has always been key moments in history have always moulded the way designers produce their work as displayed by Mussolini’s dictated architecture styles throughout Italy leading up to the second world war.
modernism in architecture Modernism in architecture had mainly came around into full effect in the mid 19th century to move away from Since individuals such as, Édouard Manet and Vincent Van the orthodox architectural styles that were deemed Gogh, art has always been the birthplace of modernism on as traditional. The idea was to promote an entirely new concept that was purely functional and new as a creative level. The birth of modernism had been recogshown in the construction of ‘The Crystal Palace’ in 1851 nised when Édouard Manet had revealed his latest piece with it being the first building to have a series of cast of modern life art in 1863, the Le déjeuner sur l’herbe (The plate glass that was supported by a cast iron frame. Luncheon on the Grass).
Modernism in Art
Modernism in Product Design Modernism through product design has leaned towards more of the functional side of design rather than form with an example being the evolution of the ‘tea set’. the standard china dinning cup and saucer was designed purley for asthetics pimraryly up until the mid 20th century where cups were able to be stacked. Many products such as the Barcelona Chair (designed by Ludwig Miles Van Der Rohe and Lilly Reich) are known to be inconic products that are still in demand in todays fhashion. These products can also say that modernism was a head of its time since the movement is still incorperated into many other interior design movements.
TASK TWO|Pre-Raphaelites Pre-Raphaelites The Pre-Raphaelites were known as a secretive society that began in London, 1848. The group consisted of mainly of young rebellious artists and one writer that were all in opposition of the Royal Academy of Art which was where the group’s name had derived from as they were against the promotion of the Renaissance master Raphael. The main cofounders of the group were William Holman Hunt, Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais who were at artists at the time. The group was heavily inspired by the theories of John Ruskin (17th century artist) where some members took his words to a religious level. The Pre-Raphaelites believed in incorporating art with ‘serious subjects’ to produce extreme realistic works. Overtime, the group had moved from literature and poetry as their inspiration and looked towards the modern social problems that they had faced at the time, focusing more on symbolism and making a statement.
Burne Jones Stained Glass Windows - St. Philip’s Cathedral The stained glass windows were designed by the Pre-Raphaelite artist, Sir Eward Burne-Jones and produced by the William Morris & Co. company in 1885 where Burne Jones was paid approximately £200 for each of his works that consisted of the Acension, the Nativity and the Cruxcifixion, all of which were installed in St. Philip’s Cathedral. The typical styling of Burne Jones’s artwork was that his figures had elongated body shapes but smaller heads in comparison so that they were out of proportion. This allowed Burne Jones to separate his works in half to create a heavan and hell complex in the designs. His final work, The Last Judgement was installed in 1897 which was designed by Jones to be a memorial in memory of Bishop Bowlby.
TASK THREE|Bauhaus Bauhaus In 1925, a german architect known as Walter Gropius had designed a building that would be the new school of art, architecture amd design in Dessau, Germany. Gropius had designed the exterior and the structure in a way that you could view the interior through the glass side from the outside. This design allows there to be maximum exposure for natural lighting to set the atmosphere that the occupants were submerged in a natural environment rather than just the four walls of a classroom that they would be in. The glass side facade helps to give the impression that the building is light and transparent when it unites both, interior and exterior features as one. The main function of the design whilst being the new school of arts, architecture and design was to set the tone for the level and style of architecture that all current and future professors at the school would be teaching, focusing on modern materials and geometric shapes to create ‘clean designs’.
Bauhaus Manifesto The Bauhaus manifesto is the core principles of what makes a design deemed to be influenced by Bauhaus where if the design has some key charastics such as; - Function over form - Economic - Modern techniques - Simplicity and effectiveness Bauhaus follows a clear statement that all designs should put the main function of the product/building first over the form where the functionality for the user takes priority for ergnomics. A clear example of where functoinality takes precedent over form can be seen in The Wassily Chair by Marcel Breuer that focuses on the seating curvature of the chair . The economic side of Bauhaus is where the design consists of materials that are not necessarily expensive where they are usually materials that are commercially used such as stainless steel or a varied amount of vinyl timber in furntiure. Throughout the majoirty of all Bauhaus designs consist of a clean design that tries to minimalise the amount of detail shown on the exterior, following the idea that ‘less is more’ to showcase a modern touch to the product or building. The Bauhaus movement is practically boarderline minimalism with a lot of works using an excessive amount of whites such as the architecture in Tel Aviv or, primarily consiting of a two tone contrast.
Bauhaus through Arts, Design and Architecture Longue Chair and Ottoman The main reason as to why I had chosen the Lounge Chair and Ottoman as a representation of Bauhaus is due to the different contrasts between the leather and polished wood that makes the products both stand out. Another reason is that for me, it was not hard for me to imagine this style of furniture being used in office environments as of this day and age considering how far Bauhaus has become, the style has been proven by the works of Charles Eames to be quite modern and sleek in today’s standards.
Braun SK55 Dieter Rams’ work has always been deemed as they simplistic with the saying, ‘Less is more’ that can be displayed throughout his work. His imitation of a record player can be reminded of being retro as now, record players and vinyls are the craze right now despite being 50/60 years old. Dieter Rams can be said to be one of the most successful Bauhaus designers with companies such as Apple using his work as the pinnacle of their products designs.
Ehrlich House The Ehrlich House by Haller is based in Tel Aviv, a city that is primarily known to be a host to various buildings based on Bauhaus such as the Bruno House that was also designed by Haller. The reason behind choosing the Ehrlich House is because of the modernity of the building as the building has not become out of date since some aspects can still be linked to the likes of Zaha Hadid.
Conclusion In each of the images above are buildings/products that were designed by specific architects/designers that were each working within thier perameters of what Bauhaus is to them whilst using different influences they still followed the same manifesto. The Longue Chair and Ottoman were designed with the ‘Function over Form’ concept where the shape of the chair and footrest were designed solely to fit the function of being sat on comfortably through the use of ergonomics. The chair is produced from using leather for the surface of the cushioning and a wooden base for the structural support of the chair and foot rest. The Braun SK55 was designed more with simplicity and effectiveness in mind with the front being very minimal and clean in a two tone design. There are only 4 componets that the user may need to use to operate the product that follows the basic ‘commandments’ of Bauhaus. The Ehrlich House follows the similar concept of the previous products where it confuses on minimalism and straight curves with creative lines. Much alike the Braun SK55, the building follows a similar two tone contrast between light and dark.
TASK FOUR|Le Corbusier Le Corbusier Le Corbusier was born on October 6th, 1887 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland where he gone on to become a Swiss/French architect, urban planner, writer, painter and designer. Using all of the skills and qualities that Le Corbusier had developed over time, he soon became one of the worlds more recognisable architects as a pioneer for modern architecture. In 1930, Le Corbusier became a national citizen after already beginning work prior to his citizenship where he had gone one to work on many projects such as; Villa La Roche, Villa Jeanerette, etc. Inspired by crowded cities in countries such as in India, he was dedicated to improving their standard of living. Through this, Le Corbusier became an active member of the Congrès International d’Architecture Moderne (CIAM) with the influence he had gained in Urban Planning. Again, using his expertise in Urban Planning he had designed and oversaw the construction of Chandigarh in India (these included the Palace of Justice, Museum and Gallery of Art, Secretariat Building, Governor’s Palace, Palace of Assembly and the Government College of Art and the Chandigarh College of Architecture).
Villa Savoye The Villa Savoye,1931 is located in Poissy, France that was designed by Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret using international modern influences. Upon completion, the villa was regarded was Le Corbusier’s best known design work from the 1930s that had followed all five of his principles which were the following; - ‘Support of ground-level pilotis, elevating the building from the earth and allowing the garden to be extended to the space beneath.’ - ‘A functional roof serving as a garden and terrace, reclaiming for Nature the land occupied by the building.’ - ‘A free floor plan, devoid of load-bearing walls, allowing walls to be placed freely and only where aesthetically needed.’ - ‘Long horizontal windows for illumination and ventilation.’ - ‘Freely-designed façades functioning merely as a skin for the wall and windows, and unconstrained by load-bearing considerations.’
“To be modern is not a fashion, it is a state. It is necessary to understand history, and he who understands history knows how to find continuity between that which was, that which is, and that which will be.”
Chapelle Notre Dame Du Haut The Chapelle Notre Dame Du Haut, translated to Our Lady of the Heights was reconstructed by Le Corbusier after the orginal chapel that had servere structural damage from the atfermath of WW2. In 1949, the Chapel had undergone reconstruction with Le Corbusier leading the project to design a chapel with a more modern approach. This modern approach lead Le Corbusier to sway away from the orthodox design where he had begun to explore different cocave and convex shapes. Le Corbusiers experimention with concave sutfaces can be seen in the roofing that was said to be influenced by a crab’s shell that he found on Long Island. The roofing was formed by incorperating concrete membranes with alluminum tiles The Ronchamp Chapel by Le Corbusier is situated at the center of the French greenlands, surrounded by the vast views that overlook a large amount of land with a perimeter purely of foliage consiting of trees and wildlife. The ground floor that leads to the main altar follows the same trajectory the slope of the hill that the Chapel is situated on so that the building is able to merge itself into the environment despite the white concrete brick making the chapel stand out. However, when the chapel is viewed from afar, the white concrete brick makes the chapel as the clouds with a floating roof. When Le Corbusier designed the Ronchamp, he had used the same raw concrete material as some of the homes in the nearby Ronchamp that creates the link between the local residence, making it familiar to French architecture in the area. However, the style of architecture that the chapel expresses is not necessarily seen commonly throughout the local region, giving it a modern look of future chapels at the time. As drawn in the site plans of the chapel there is a wide perimeter spacing between the chapel and the surrounding environment that attracts the attention to the chapel as the building is not secluded by the wildlife. Much of the materails that were used in Le Corbusier’s redevlopment were reminiscents of the old chapel, using the same alluminium tiles, steel mesh and stones that were left behind from World War Two. The Chapel consists of 10 rooms that were designed to be separely intagible from one another in terms where each room would have different atmospheres. Although each room would collectively have a similar atmosphere, the light diffusion and room temperature are set at different levels throughout the day. The main alter gains the most natural daylight through the southern windows whislt the back external choir spacing receives least and had a much lower temperature in comparison to the rest of the chapel.
In the interior, on the east wall there are 27 windows that each let in their own variant of lighting into the main room where it is reflected and diffused around each of the 3 white walls. In the main room there is a sense of peace and prosperity due to the elevated roof that gives the room an echo sound scape. There is a contrast between the cieling/ floor and the walls with the walls being completely white and the floor and cieling being a darker grey and brown.
TASK FIVE|Italian Modernism Giorgio de Chirico Chirico was known as a pioneer during the revival of the Classicism movement that was transforming art and design in Europe in the 1920s. Many of his initial works were inspired from his early childhood with him being born to Italian parents but brought up in Greece and becoming homesick when he had moved to Paris, France in the early 20th century (1910s). Because of he was homesick, he had begun producing paintings of empty, rural and abandoned town squares and centres in a classical form. As a result of painting the empty towns such as Mystery and Melanncholy of a Street, this lead to the formation of the ‘Metaphysical Art’ movement with another artist Carlo Carrà. After the time of his death, Chirico became more influential with the next generation of painters towards the end of the 20th century (1980s).
Mystery and Melancholy of a Street This piece by Giorgio de Chirico is of a street where he had depicted only 2 objects in the painting, a female who is presumably a child playing with a stick and hoop in the middle of an empty street and, the shadow of a statue. The Chirico had painted the female as running or moving towards the source of light which in the painting appears to be the natural sunlight represented by the bright yellow and dark shadows. The sunlight is drawn in from behind the darker building where it illuminates the left building, reflecting from its white walls onto the wooden carriage where it shows a contrast between light and darkness when looked down the alleyway. When Chirico was painting the piece, he had created two set vanishing points that can be seen by following the buildings base lines off into the horizon. This was done purposely by Chir-
Piazza d’Italia con Arianna The Piazza d’talia con Arianna is an example of the metaphysical genre of work that Chirico had painted displaying his artistic use of strong long shadows to give the impression that the sun is nearing to the end/sunset. This is also emphasised through his use of warm, ambient oranges to set the tone however, it could be said that Chirico could be trying to emphasis a sense of loneliness in his work with the area being generally empty. In the middle of the canvas is the statue of Ariadne, showing that Chirico was partly inspired by Greek Mythology through the story of Ariadne and the interpretation of the story from Friedrich Nietzsche. Nietzsche states the question, ‘are there any true realities beyond Chaos and Aldo Rossi ‘L’Architettura Citta’ 1966 In the book, ‘L’Architettura Citta ‘Aldo Rossi is very critical towards the understanding of the significance of learning the history of architecture arguing that the for us to fully evolve in architecture practises, we must look back in order to look forwards. He pushes forwards this theory that we cannot look maximize our potential if we do not first understand the core principles of architecture. One of his main arguments are that we must first study what is already there through monuments and artefacts as the city has a “collective memory”, making reference to the Berlin wall after the German reunification.
TASK SIX|Avant Garde Avant Garde The term, Avant Garde was used to describe someone or something that was steadily ahead of its time or, too advanced for the rest of society. The movement was initally formed at around mid 19th century (1850s) through realism that was led by the artist, Gustave Courbet was who heavily inspired by early socialistic ideas that were too, ahead of his time. The next movement to take place under Avant Garde was the modern art movement, specially impressionism which reversed everything that was taught. More unorthodox art works were produced where the grass would be red and the sea could be yellow, bringing a new era to art and design that was deemed as reckless by many. Other forms of Avant Garde movements such as cubism had mainly focused on the form of objects through the works of Picasso whilst others had focused on the display of objects and the colour complexion.
Should Art/ Architecture respond to politics? Personally, I believe that architecture should always respond to politics where necessary to give those without a voice, a chance to stand for their basic human rights. However, the opposite can be seen in America with President Donald. Trump pushing forwards a boarder wall to seal off america off against Mexico in an attempt to reduce immigration. The wall is to cost $5.7 Billion when the money could be spent else where such as rebuilding society, reducing homelessness through the construction of housing project centres and programmes. Instead of forming a wall to block access to another country, I personally feel that it would be better to redirect the same efforts to other factors such as racism in the country, the housing crysis, infastructure for public buildings such as medical care or education. The wall that is proposed would stop some families from having their basic human rights such as having access to their families. The wall also permits access for trade that would leave both countries at a disadvantage due to longer boarder patrol checks and, trade would be decreased massively as it would be much harder for imports to enter the country. Architecture could be used to design a more efficient boarder checkpoint to properly order and organise migrants and travellers rather than blocking access.
Manifesto call to action points - Promote Individuality and experissionism - equality and fairness - Rejct all negativity towards society - Focus on tackling problems as one - Harbour all innocent
TASK SEVEN|Hot Modernism Critical Regionalism Critical Regionalism Critical regionalism is a more of an orthodox approach to architecture where the design is more based upon modern traditional roots where the design takes into account either cultural or, geographical context whilst at the same time trying to be modern rather than an outdate form of architecture. The main problem with critical regionalism is with knowing how to not change tradition but to change it enough that it’s modern which can prove to be difficult with ‘traditional regulations’ Regional Modernism Regionalism modernism (otherwise known as vernacular architecture) is the concept of using materials and energy sources that was in the current region of the site to maximise efficiency. This form of modernism mainly concentrates on the rate of efficiency, taking into account everything from the transportation of materials down to the lifespan of materials, trying to capitalise on as much efficiency as possible. Regional Modernism is normally used in rural areas where you may want to minimalize transportation costs, an example would be building homes in a region that is heavily surrounded by timber where timber would be the main component of the design.
The Alhambra Palace Vs Fuente de los Amantes - Luis Baggaran Luis Barragan ha used The Alhambra Palace as inspiraton for his design, Fuente de los Amantes where many similarities had derivved from the old tradtional palace when put in comparison. Both of the buildings are focused more so on the horizontal architecture and its length rather than the verticality whislt the palace does have both, its main aspects feature along the pond/pool. In both designs, there is a wide use of greenergy that has been incorperated to emit a natural atmosphere when mixed with the pond/pool, showcasing its sustainability as well as its willingness for nature. The main feature that the two buildings share is the pool that is located either in the middle of the complex (Alhambra palace) or, outside around the complex (Fuente de los Amantes) however, it is still the most noticable aspect of the design that could show the owners welath or their connection to nature with still water.
Barcelona Pavilion - Miles van der Rohe Vs Fuente de los Amantes - Luis Baggaran The Barcelona Pavilion has many similarities to the Fuente de los Amantes as they are both simialr in form with the 1 story layout. Many of the materials are the same from the glass open window panels down to the raw concrete used for the path ways. Much of the layout of the Fuente de los Amantes has been taken from the Barcelona Pavilion with it all being open and viewable from at least 270 degrees.
Unite d’habitation - Le Corbusier Vs Kanchanjunga Apartments - Charles Correa Both buildings above are a form of Flats with one focusing on vertical architecture whilst the other focuses on branching outwards, horizontally. Correa can be seen taking inspiration from the same colour blocked theme on each of the differnt apartment windows to add some creativity to the design as they both follow the same, Brutalistic movement giving them an industrialised look. In both buildings, there is a large use of raw concrete being used for the majority of the structural support on the interior and exterior of the apartments since it is in abundance in the local area. The Kanchanjunga Apartments in based in India which is why there is a tint on the cover of the flats to match the natural theme of a hot country, giving off a warm familiar look to that of the surrounding buildings. The Unite d’Habitation does a similar job only with a lighter white/grey tint so that the colour blocks are able to stand out more within the environment.
TASK EIGHT|After Modernism UK & USA 1950-1970 Brutalism After Moderism was coming towards an end shortly after World War Two, the Brutalist movement began to take full effect as a method to easily rebuild homes and offices from the aftermath of the war. Brutalism used solely conventional materails that mainly consisted of concrete as at the time is it was the cheapest method to solve the housing crysis as numerous housing estate flats were constructed all following a similar design. The most recognisable community flats influenced by Brutalism were the Park Hill Flats in Sheffleild.
Park Hill Flats, Sheffield The Park Hill Flats in Sheffield were the councils solution to the housing crysis in 1960s in an effort to boost morale and reduce the amount of homes needed to meet demand as it was advertised as a community haven for families and the elderly. The complex consisted of everything the average family would need such as a school, sport centres, a library, cafes/restaurants, shopping malls and supermarkets. The design was heavily influenced by Le Corbusier’s Unite D’Habitation in Marseilles, France that was originally the first community block of flats on a large scale.
Birmingham Central Library The 20th century Birmingham Central Library before its demolition in 2013 had many supporters that had pushed for the library to become a listed building. Many of the arguments were that the Library soon became a key landmark upon opening in 1974 where it was soon regarded as the largest open library in Europe with over 1 million people on average visiting the library until it was demolished. The library’s lead architect was a local architect, John Madin where his design was heavily influenced by Brutalism, exposing much of the building’s natural structural integrity. The building was one of very few with significance that portrayed Brutalism through architecture in Britain as many were becoming revamped and demolished to ma ke way for contemporary styled buildings. This meant that the library became an icon for Brutalism since fewer buildings that were influenced by the design movement were still around.
Moreover, there are many people who were in support of the demolition of the old library in replacement for the newly constructed Birmingham Central Library as they pushed forward the idea for a regenerated Birmingham. The old library appeared to be dull and did not portray the creativity and personality of Birmingham with even Prince Charles publicly stating that it looks like “a place where books are incinerated, not kept” after his tour. Currently, Birmingham is seen as the next big city after London with large companies and firms beginning to move their headquarters to the city such as Glenn Howells and HSBC. With a larger presence of bigger firms moving to the city, it calls for a much clean and modern approach to city with the architecture having the catch up to match that of London’s hence the reason for a newly design library. There is also the argument that since Birmingham Central Library was the second largest library in the UK (in terms of public attendance annually), it needed to be revamped to be able to accommodate the needs of a larger attendance and, so that the building would look more anaesthetically pleasing to visit. To bring each side to a conclusion, I personally believe that despite the old Birmingham central library being an icon for brutalism in architecture that the choice to demolish the old library to make way for a newer library with a modern approach. The new Birmingham library showcases architecture in Birmingham much better than the outdated previous library with the interior being ‘fit for books to be kept’. Brutalism is now an outdated movement with many cities now moving from the architecture style to redesign the city as seen by Wolverhampton city centre which is currently undergoing a transformation, first with its brewery and now its train station. However, it should be stated that the previous library does uphold some sentimental value to the city with it being designed by a local architect from Birmingham.
TASK NINE|Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Wisconsin, United States on 8th June 1867 to an acedemic mother and an occasional laywer/muscian father where it can be said that his parents artistic creavitiy and passion was passed down on him. Initally, Wright had trained under Joseph Lyman Silsbee as a draftsman in Chicago where he had mainly worked with clients that were family related such as, his family for Unity chapel and the All Souls Church for his uncle. afterwards, Wright had moved to Beers, Clay and Dutton as a designer where he was tasked with designing a building on his own however, he felt that he could not produce the work on his own and left to rejoin Joseph Lyman Silsbee. This was the kick start of his architectural careers where working under Silsbee he had found that his work to be “gracefully picturesque” compared to those in a similar proffesion whos work evolved around brutalism. Taliesin West Frank Lloyd Wright is regarded as a highly acredited landscape architect as many of his projects that revolved around the surrounding envrionment and landscape such as the Taliesin West that he had designed in Arizona. Wright’s use of natural colours that make the building merge in within the surounding landscape, adpating the asthetics of the building with the red, stone coloured surroundings. The surrounding environment emits a dry atmosphere with very little vegitation however, Wright’s design displays life with blooming areas that are covered with greenery flourishing to give the design site colour and character.
Falling Water Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright is a clear example of how his work is submerged into the landscape, almost making the building seem natural in the environment. Wright had managed to design a home that would be masked within the environment, using local materials such as the cobble stone for the structure, incorperating varied amount of local natural materials that could be found within walking distance of the site.
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was opened on 21st October 1959 in Manhatten, New York City outside Central Park. Frank Lloyd Wright had designed purposely for the storage and display of art works from the likes of Hilma af Klint with the client being Solomon Guggenheim. Throughout the design, there was three main icons that had influenced the design of the building that it is today; Frank Lloyd Wright, Hila Rebay and Solomon Guggenheim. Hila Rebay was the museum curator who had a major say in the design as she was the public face of the building since she oversaw all operations regarding the art work which meant that herself and Wright had to work together under common ground. Wright had designed the Guggenheim Museum had initally experimented with the building shape of the museum, organising the layers of the spiral design in different sizes until he had came to the final design. however, the design was more of an upside down frustum which meant that the paintings would have to be either hung up on the wall slanted or, a stand would have to be added in to account for the sloped walls which was met with some critism from artists whos work would be on display.
Despite the museum being official opened in 1959, Guggenheim had commissioned Wright to design and construct the museum in June, 1943. This was halfway through World War Two which meant that materials was scare and so too was money further leading to the reason as to why the building took so long to complete after its original expected date. However, materials and money was not the only cause for the delays as there were many factors that also contributed to this such as disagreements in the design between Hila Rebay and Wright. During the time leading up to the start of construction, Wright’s proposed design was met with some heavy critism with artists who’s work woiuld be on display had protested in anger, labelling the building as a ‘washing machine’ and begun forming a petition. However, it was not Wright who had faced the blacklash but, Hila who was the public facec of the building, ensuring that the museum was in good hands up until she had felt the pressure and agreed with the critics. The relationship between Wright and Hila was based on mutal respect dsepite their different ideology values but the critics had formed a disagreement between the two with Guggenheim stepping in, giving Wright his full support. Upon opening in 1959, many people who had a substanial amount of influence had praised the building with the likes of President Dwight D. EIsenhower stating that the museum is “a symbol of our free society which welcomes new expressions of the creative spirit of man.”.
“It’s going to make the Metropolitan look like a prosestant barn.”
TASK TEN|Informal ways of Design & Brazilian Modernism Lina Bo Bardi Lina Bo Bardi was a well-known Italian bred Brazilian Modern architect who at the age of 25, had graduated from the Rome College of Architecture where 3 years later, she had opened her very own architectural practise studio. However, over the course of the second world war, it became difficult for her to carry on her work as an architect in Italy so she fled to Rio, Brazil with her husband in 1946. She had opened her new practise and co-founded a magazine, Habitat with her husband and had designed and constructed her own home (Casa de Vidro) in the tropical forests outside the city. During her stay as an official Brazilian citizen, Bo Bardi had worked on numerous projects such as the Sao Paulo Museum of Art, the Teatro Oficina, the SESC Pompeia, etc. Lina Bo Bardi had carried on her work as an architect up until her passing away in 1992 where even today, she is still inspiring fellow architects with her touch of modernism through architecture and furniture design.
Casa de Vidro (The Glass House) The Glass House was created by Lina Bo Bardi shortly after her arrival in Sao Paulo for herself and, her husband as their permanent residential home upon completion in 1951. The house’s base function was to act as a place in which Lina Bo Bardi and her husband could reside in away from society with it being the first residential home in the area meaning that they were completely shut off from any outsider interaction. Despite the house being less than half a kilometre from the city, the site’s natural surroundings engulf the view towards the house from the entrance, keeping a level of privacy without the need of walling off the area. The main living room was occasionally used to the host various events for colleagues, artists, local politicians along with intellectuals which would go to say that the main room had a multifunctional purpose with it being allowed to be to manipulated to the different uses, private or public. As the Glass House was the permanent home of Lina, it could be said that it had to be some of her best work, expressing what she felt architecture was and who she was as a person by incorporating what she had learnt as a Brazilian Architect with what she was influenced by from her birthday land in Italy. Case De Vidro shows off Bo Bardi’s creativity throughout the house by keeping both traditional and modern features in and outside the household.
Transcultural Space Transcultralism is where two or more different cultural influences are used in the design of a space where a building or space may have features that originated from two or more different cultures such as with the architect, Lina Bo Bardi, a lot of her work is influenced by both Brazillian architecture as wella s Italian architecture, merging the two together as one such as the SESC Pompeia Leisure Centre in Sao Paulo.
SESC Pompeia Leisure Centre, Sao Paulo, 1977-1986 The SESC Pompeia Lesisure Centre in Sao Paulo consits of a varied amount of spacing for the public to use at any time as it has more than enough room to occupy the residences of Sao Paulo during summer times which is when traffic is at its peak. Outside surrounding the site there is a lot of room for people to lay out to sunbathe despite being inside the centre of the city The interior of the buildings offers a generous amount of spacing with it holding a lot of shade, giving a cooler temperature than outside in the sun which allows for users to quickly cool down since the materials (concrete slate slabs) are not a conductor of heat and tend to cool down quickly. The design of the leisure centre is focused heavily on mid 20th century Italian Brutalism mixed with a splash of colour in the windows, exploring the colourful Brazilian side of the building.
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