Joanna Brown's ARC4010 Digital Journal

ARC4010

History of Modern Architecture

Digital Journal

Joanna Brown 17133290

Contents Page: Page 4: The Pre-Raphaelites

Page 5: Intrduction to Modernism

Page 6 - 7: The Bauhaus

Page 8 - 10: Le Corbusier, Chandigarh Page 11: Italian Modernism

Page 12: Hot Modernism, Critical Regionalism

Page 13: After Modernism UK & USA 19501970

Page 14: Frank Lloyd Wright

Page 15: Informal ways of Deign & Brazillian Modernism.

Page 16 - 17: References

Page 18: Bibliography

Page 4

The Pre-Raphaelites

The Pre-Raphaelites were founded in 1848 and were a secret socitey, brotherhood of artists and one writer. Their initial principal themes of the art made were religous but also used subjects from literature and poetry in association with love and death.

After many opposing the idea of this movement, the Pre-Raphaelites beame highly influential. An example of them is Sir Edward Burne-Jones.

St Philip’s Catherdral -BurneJone’s stained glass windows

The Ascension

External View of St Philip’s Cathedral The Last Judgement

The windows at St Philip’s Cathedral, Birmingham, were designed by Sir Edward Burne-Jones also born in Birmingham.

The four main stained glass windows were installed in stages and The Last Judgement was installed as a memorial window to Bishop Bowlby in 1897. The Ascension was installed in 1885 and the Nativity and the Crucifixion two years later.

The Crucifixion

Introduction to Modernism

Modernism was a loose collection of ideas that covered a range of styles in art, architecture design and literature which as a whole rejected the movements that came before it. The movement came about after the First World War and really took off between 19141939.

Modernism involved a utopian desire to create a better world, to start from the beginning, belief in the machine and industrial technologies. In the 1930s Modernism became a style where new and innovative deign based on geometry, abstract forms and industrial influences would be identified.

Page 5

Figure 1. Design for White City housing scheme, drawing, Eric Mendelsohn, 1934, UK. Museum no. E.677-1993. Š Victoria and Albert Museum, London

In an attempt to resolve the housing chrisis. Influential architects at the time such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Eric mendelsohn and Walter Gropius, designed and developed model housing, as seen in Fig 1.

Figure 2. MR20, armchair designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

Page 6

Bauhaus Manifesto Walter Gropius

Figure 4. Project for a Brick Country House, 1924

This plan of a house was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe at a point in his career which led him to form clear spatial ideas in his architectural designs.

I really liked this drawing of a plan as it looks simplistic from a far, yet looking in more depth is rather complex in beauty.

The plan is made up of numerous lines which vary in thickness and length.

When looking at this plan it almost seems it could be endless and almost like floating in space where there are no boundaries of expansion. There seems to be a notion of how to make houses with corners and edges yet not one has been defined. This brings a unique beauty which encapsulates the Bauhaus ehtos.

Mies van der Rohe eventually replaced Walter Groupius at Bauhaus, whom he shared the same visonary attitudes with.

Figure 4. Barcelona Pavillion, 1

I was drawn to the B it stayed true to the c which was “Truth to aspects of the inside the building and perh necessarily sit in any Such as the Barcelon became iconic, repre Everything was caref Mies van der Rohe cr which had the generi taught by the Bauhau within this one piece these were the insiste geometry and functio

1929

arcelona Pavilion as core text of Bauhaus, Materials�. All were designed for haps should not other environment. na chair which later esented even in films. fully thought out reated a building ic conventions us School integrated e of architecture; ence on simplicity, onality.

Page 7

Figure 3. Model B3 Chair (1927-28)

I have chosen this piece of furniture due to the huge impact it created since its initial design to now. I love the fact that at first appearances the chair looks a little daunting and the opposite of comfortable, however once sat in, has the reverse effect.

I admire Breuer for his innovaton with this piece of furniture, how just analysig his bicycle led him to create something of a masterpiece.

The model B3 chair designed by Marcel Breuer could be one of his best works as the innovation in the use of tubular steel changed the direction of mass-production furniture for the future. Designers everywhere began experimenting with tubular steel to form radically new furniture.

One of the ways his design manifests the Bauhaus ethos is the fact that at the time showed complete creaticity and originaltiy through the use of material. The Model B3 Chair makes the sitter look effortlessly cool.

Page 8

Le-Corbusier

- Chandigarh

Page 9

Page 10

Chandigarh

Italian Modernism Giorgio Chirco & Aldo Rossi

Page 11

Giorgio de Chirico

Giorgio de Chirico was an Italian Artist who was most famous for his metaphysical paintings, as seen in Fig 6 and 7. At the time he began to paint these, Europe was going through industrialisation, where things were becoming mass produced and the machine was taking form. This had an impact ob all aspects of the craft world, from the architects to the furniture makers. As well as this the futurist movement was also taking place in the art world. This movement aimed to capture the dynamism and energy of the modern world. However you could say that Chirico’s work demonstrated the opposite to this.

In a number of his painting’s, the city space is depicted as quite bleak, dark and perhaps solemn. In them he adds singular statues or faceless manikins, as seen in both Fig 6 and 7.

These seem to almost get lost in the painting, perhaps to show that what was happening in Europe at the time was not necessarily what Figure 6. Piazza d’Italia, 1913 Giorgio de Chirico agreed with. At this time of his career Giorgio de Chirico was heavily influenced by Friedrich Nietzsche’s works whom was a German philosopher that refused to believe in Christianity’s empathy for the weak, and forming the idea of ‘superman’ who is able to override ordinary morality. Therefore Chirico’s works show a fantastic ideal architecture which follow the rules of perspectives but present the Figure 7. Mystery and confusion of reality and dream worlds.

Melancholy of a Street, 1914 Aldo Rossi Aldo Rossi was an Italian Architect who wrote several critical interpretations of the modern city. He was among many architects of the early 1960’s to do so, however his key text, “L’architettura della citta” is the most well known.

Mary Louise Lobsinger (2006) states that ; the book illustrates Rossi’s belief in the continuity and progressive evolution of modernism and elaborates a concept of function that includes broadly discussed criteria such as Figure 8. L’architettura della societal, psychological and historical. citta, 1966

Hot Modernism, Critical Regionalsim Page 12

Regional Modernism - Local styles, native forms of colonised countries.

Local materials and in direct response to climate, landscape and way of life (Curtis,W. 1996).Reginal Modernism was conceived in the industrual West and moderniam as a universal language. Architects were attuned to the climate of repective loactions, they learned from local traditions yet did not directly immitate local forms.

Critical Regionalism - People wanted to reject the past, however when hotter countries turned to modernism as an arhitectural style they questioned this rejection of the past. This is to do with the balance of the impact of universalisation.

Figure 9 and 10. Fuente de los Amantes - Mexico City 1968. Architect: Luis Barragan

The Barcelona Pavilion designed by Mies van der Rohe, heavily inspired Luis Barragan to design Fuente de los Amantes in Mexico City. Just visually looking at them both, you are able to see many strking comparisons, such as the flat pool of water, the use of cubic design. However Barragon clearly did not confront the issues in Mexico at the time, but instead drew inspiration from Andulucian and Moroccan sources. Luis Barragan created an almost mini utopia. As you can see in the Fuente de los Amantes, he “created an architecture of abstract rectangular planes, volcanic-rock walls and sliding surfaces of water, which brought together a modern sense of space.....� Curtis.

(1996). Interestingly, both buildings are designed very simlarly, however the climates are of huge comparison, Mexico experiences very hot temperatures and also quite cold ones, however Spain has quite mild temperatures throughout the Figure 11. The Barcelona Pavillion, 1923. year.

Architect: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

Brutalism in the UK: Problems and Legacy

After Modernism UK&USA 1950-1970

Page 13

Figure 12. Photograph of the deomolition of Old Birmingham Central Library.

Why was it demolished?

Birmingam City Council had little interest in preserving the Library and so actively assisted with the demolition, it was thought that the building had no importance in Birmingham’s history and that Brutalist architecture should not be a reason to keep the building. Both the Council and Civic Society argued the functional aspects of the bulidng were no longer fit-for-purpose which became a significant argument in the process of listing. Finally it was argued that it was far too costly to repair the building to envioronmental standards.

Figure 13. Photo of the Old BCL, Chamberlain Square, 2015.

Old Birmingham Central Library 1974, designed by John Madin was eventually closed in 2013 and demolished in 2015(Fig. 12).It consisted of a sevenstorey cantilevered inverted ziggurat that housed a reference library and an adjoining curving three-storey wing that was a lending library. The building was an example of Brutalist architecture and represented the culmination of postwar Modernist ideology. In the 1950s to the oil crisis of 1973 construction was paramount and rapid in growth.

Arguments to keep the building: In 2003, English Heritage argued that the Library should be Grade II listed to maintain part of Birmingham’s architectural history of Brutalism. The Twentieth Century Society also argued that the Library was historically and architectually important and was able to be adapted to the 21st century needs to Birmingham.

Personal Conclusion: From my research, as soon as the Library was closed and a new one had been approved for planning, the legacy of the BCL was cemented. However much of a strong case Societies built up would not matter, due to the local council having such strong powers of persuasion to demolish the building. Overall the Library’s aesthetic appearance was not liked by many and it did not matter about the legacy of Brutalist Architecture within the City.

Frank Lloyd-Wright (1867 -1959) Page 14

ARCHITECTURE AND LANDSCAPE

Frank Lloyd Wright grew up in a predominantly farming family in Jones Valley, Wisconsin. This is significant in relation to Wright’s association with the landscape as later on in his life Frank returned, building not only his home but an Architecture school. From 1911 the Taliesin estate began to expand over all 600-acres, as seen in Fig 15. (Spirn, 2000) Frank Lloyd Wright was a visionary and he moulded Jones Valley to what he thought “Nature” and landscape should be across America. In an interview Wright was asked about his religious beliefs, “my church I put a capital N on Nature and go there”. This could show that Wright regarded nature as his religion, or in fact his God. Wright used his own personal principles and perception of American values and made them into a reality, creating a landscape that conformed all that he believed in, purposefully distancing Figure 15. 1955 aerial photo of the Taliesin estate. himself from the International Modern Source: (Spirn, 2000) movement.

He strongly believed in creating buildings that harmonised with the environment and so Falling Water, 1935, was put forward to the Kaufman family. Fig, 16. By the 1930s Wright’s designs’ were out of fashion yet Falling Water was his most famous proposal for the future of social architecture.

For him, any solution had to do two things; one, look good serving aesthetic function and two, work well. By placing the waterfall directly underneath the house this was not only unique but also Figure 16. Exterior view of Falling Water, now a tourist attraction. (Moodle) allowed sunlight into every room.

Informal Ways of Design & Brazillian Modernism

Page 15

This displays the library inside the factory. Lina Bo Bardi was able to show that the physical environment can be a significant part of the manifestation of culture and how people transform the space. ( Lima, 2006) Here to the left is the interior space of the lounge and exhibition area, a clear example of transcultural space as the leisure centre was intended to integrate culture and everyday life.

Fig 17,18,19 & 20. SESC Pompeia, by Lina Bo Bardi.

In the neighbourhood people had been using the space for various leisure activites well before Lina Bo Bardi began designing the final outcome. Above is where markets take place. ( Lima, 2006) I have focused on one building in particular; SESC Pompeia (1986) in San Paulo, Brazil, designed by Lina Bo Bardi. The building has not just been modifed from a large factory but focuses on the poeple using the space. The building gives local people opportunity to socialise together. “SESC Pompéia....demonstrate an architectural intent not to dominate, but instead to create an empowering architecture that draws from what was there before while inviting visitors to participate in the creation of the present.” (Sara, 2013) Transcutural Space, in some ways derives from the international style and is far broader than Critical Regionalism. Transculturalism doesn’t start off at a certain point but begins with a variety of cultures, using all your influence actively combining traces of your own cultture and combining the culture already there. Both parties make modificatons to better the other. Transcultural Space is not just about identity but social as well.

References Page 16

Adams, D. (2011) Everyday experiences of the modern city: remembering

the post‐war reconstruction of Birmingham. Planning Perspectives,

Vol 26, No 2, pp. 237-260.

Birmingham Catherdral. (October 2015) Birmingham Cathedral Windows.

Availible at: http://www.birminghamcathedral.com/windows/

[Accessed 25th July 2018] Belcher, M., Short, M. and Tewdwr-Jones, M. (2019) The Heritage- creation

Process and Attempts to Protect Buildings of the Recent Past: The Case

of Birmingham Central Library. The Historic Environment: Policy &

Practice, Vol 10, No 3-4, pp. 408-430.

Black, A. (2016) Libraries of Light : British Public Library Design in the

Long 1960s. Taylor & Francis Group, London. Available at: ProQuest

Ebook Central. [Accessed 1 June 2020].

Curtis, W. (1996) Modern Architecture since 1900. Phaidon Lima, Z. R. M. A. (2006) The faces of Janus: modernism and hybridisation

in the architecture of Lina Bo Bardi. The Journal of Architecture,

Vol 11, No 2, pp. 257-267.

Moma (2004) Marcel Breuer Model B3 Chair. Available at:

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/2851. [Accessed 9 July 2019].

Namsill, S (2014) Frank Lloyd Wright Interview. [Video] Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DeKzIZAKG3E [Accessed 18th

May 2020] Sara, R (2013) Citadels of Freedom: Lina Bo Bardi’s SESC Pompéia Factory

Leisure Centre and Teatro Oficina, São Paulo. Architectural Design,

Vol 83, No 6, pp. 52-57.

Page 17

Spirn, A. W. (July 2000) Frank Lloyd Wright: Architect of Landscape.

Frank Lloyd Wright Quarterly, Vol 11, No 3, pp. 5-25.

Tate, London (June 2017) Art Term: Pre-Raphaelites. Availible at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/p/pre-raphaelite

[Accessed 25th July 2018] Victoria and Albert Museum. (September 2017) What was Modernism.

Avalible at: https://www.vam.ac.uk/articles/what-was-modernism

[Accessed 25th July 2018]

Page 18

Bibliography Botz-Bornstein, T. (2016), Transcultural Architecture : The Limits and

Opportunities of Critical Regionalism. Taylor & Francis Group,

Farnham. Available at: ProQuest Ebook Central.

[Accessed 30 June 2020].

Colquhoun, A. (2002) Modern Architecture. Oxford,

Oxford University Press Curtis, W. J. R. (1996). Modern Architecture Since 1900,

London, Phaidon Ferraz, M. (?)Lina Bo Bardi: Together, The Making Of SESC Pomepeia https://linabobarditogether.com/2012/08/03/the-making-of-sesc- pompeia-by-marcelo-ferraz/ [Accessed 2 July 2020] Forty, A. (2000) Words and Buildings. A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture. London, Thames and Hudson Frampton, K. (2008) Modern Architecture, A Critical History London.

Thames and Hudson Hernandez, F. and Millington, M. (2005), Transculturation : Cities, Spaces

and Architectures in Latin America, BRILL, Amsterdam.

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