Modernisms Essay

THE INFLUENCE OF ANCENT HISTORY FROM 3000 B.C. MESOPOTAMIA TO THE 20TH CENTURY: Ziggurat Forms in the Period of Modernisms MOHADESEH SADAT MOEIN SHIRAZI AR548 MODERNISMS

Figure 1 model of cookery school

PROGRAMME: BA ARCHITECTURE MODULE: AR548 MODERNISMS STAGE: 3 CREDITS: 15 TERM: AUTUMN 2016 MODULE CONVENOR: GERALD ADLER ADDITIONAL TUTORS: DAVID HANEY, CHLOE STREET

NAME: MOHADESEH SADAT MOEIN SHIRAZI ESSAY TITLE: THE INFLUENCE OF ANCENT HISTORY FROM 3000 B.C. MESOPOTAMIA TO THE 20TH CENTURY: ZIGGURAT FORMS IN THE PERIOD OF MODERNISMS WORD COUNT: 3,041

Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms It was during my Architecture and Landscape project, in which we had to design a cookery school and surrounding gardens, when I was first introduced to the ancient structure of the ziggurat. My proposed theme for the cuisine taught in the cookery school was to be of Middle Eastern origins, as an attempt to embrace the influence of the international population of Canterbury, where the project site was set. This led me to precedent research involving Middle Eastern architecture which had some associations with the preparation, storage and serving of food, as well as relationships with floods (the site was a flood zone with river nearby). In my final design I echoed the forms of the ziggurat within my building levels, the ramp in the entrance, as well as some protruding parts of my landscape.

The ziggurat is a large scale, stepped pyramid structure with terraces, usually built as part of a temple complex. The structures were built by ancient Sumerians, Babylonians, Elamites, Akkadians, and Assyrians in various locations around Mesopotamia and the Western Iranian Plateau, serving different gods. The distinct form of the ziggurat was the result of new temples being rebuilt on the platforms of older ones destroyed due to the obsolete nature of their materials, such as mud. This levelled process of rebuilding eventually lead to techniques allowing the Mesopotamians to create pyramidal forms.1 The earliest known ziggurat, Sialk, dates back to approximately 5000 years ago, built in Kashan, Iran by the Elamite civilisation. Other notable ziggurats include Chogha Zanbil, also in Iran, the Great Ziggurat of Ur and Ziggurat of Aqar Quf, both in Iraq. Ziggurats were built to fulfil various purposes. One assumption is that they supported elevated shrines accessed by ramps from the sides. Evidence of this was coloured tiles found at the top, whilst the rest of the exterior consisted of baked bricks.2 It is said that the Mesopotamian ziggurats were not used as places of worship, but as dwellings for the Gods or the priests who served them. Many ziggurats were emblematic platforms displaying a connection between the heavens and earth. They were the structures joining society to their Gods. This can be seen in the names they chose for each ziggurat.

For example, the destroyed Marduk ziggurat of Etemenanki, now widely identified as the inspiration for the Tower of Babel, translates to ‘The Foundation of Heaven and Earth’ in Sumerian.3 Despite their religious significance ziggurats also possessed functional, practical elements. They served as refuge for the priests during times of high water levels and floods, as they could climb to the top floor. The ziggurats were equipped with accommodation, storage rooms, bathrooms and courtyards.

The limited number of stairways to the top made it difficult for common people to trespass and the security could be easily controlled by a handful of guards. Within the Preclassic era in history, Mesoamerican Pyramids were also built although these pyramids were stepped which meant that they were more analogous to ziggurats.

Fast-forward to the 20th century, and suddenly many examples of ziggurat forms, either inverted or as normal, can be seen within Art Deco, and later on in the century, within the range of post-war architecture. Was there a building typology for which the ziggurat was best suited to, or mostly used in? In what way was the use of the ziggurat symbolic, functional, or representative of the repetition of history?

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Patrick Nuttgens, The Story of Architecture (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1983), p.22 “Ancient Man and His First Civilizations: The Ziggurat.” Real History World Wide. Accessed January 8th, 2017. http://realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/Sumer/the_ziggurat.htm.

3 “Ziggurats in Iraq.” Crystalinks, Accessed January 8th, 2017. http://www.crystalinks.com/pyramidiraq.html.

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms

Figure 2 Chogha Zanbil, one of the best preserved ziggurats surviving today.

Figure 3 a 3d CAD rendering of what the Sialk ziggurat may have originally looked like

The ziggurat of Ur was visited by English geologist William Loftus (1820-1858) in 1850, who surveyed it. Later on, the site was excavated by English archaeologist Charles Leonard Woolley (1880-1960) and his team in 1923.4 It is around this same time period, when British archaeologists Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon also discovered the Tutankhamun tomb in Egypt, 1922. This was a period of highly publicised western archaeological discoveries within the east and the discovery of the Tutankhamun, then newly nicknamed ‘King Tut’, did not go quietly. It left a legacy heavily echoed throughout popular culture as well as architecture and design in the 1920s.

The movement we now know as Art Deco (the term only came into widespread use in 1966 after a newspaper article published by Hilary Gelson in The Times) was most prevalent between c.19081935 within the medium of art, design and architecture.5 Although evidence of this style was emerging before, the initial establishment of it was seen in the Exposition Internationale des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels moderne (International Exposition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts), a world fair of art and design held in Paris, 1925 as a celebration of a new, optimistic period of modern developments in response to the bygone disturbance of the First World War which ended in 1918. The exhibition was created by a group called Société des artistes décorateurs (Society of Decorative Artists) who felt that the decorative arts were underappreciated and overshadowed by the fine arts on each occasion they were exhibited in the previous Paris Salons. 6 With this exhibition featuring 20 countries allied with France after the war, there were bound to be various international contributions which would later on serve as inspiration for many designs in the years to come. This is the exhibition from which the name Art Deco was derived. But what qualities did this movement possess, if it was to capture the spirit of its time?

Colin Davies, in his book, Thinking About Architecure, discusses the assumptions made about the relationship between history and architecture, and the reciprocations between architecture making history and vice versa. He points to the concept of ‘Zeitgeist’, a German term acquired from the ideas of German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770-1831). It is the notion that

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“The Ziggurat of Ur.” The British Museum. Accessed January 8th, 2017. http://www.mesopotamia.co.uk/ziggurats/explore/exp_set.html 5 David Raizeman and Carma Gorman, Objects, Audiences, and Literatures: Alternative Narratives in the History of Design.

(Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2007), p.131 6 Victor Arwas, Art Deco. (New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1980), p13.

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms ‘architecture represents and gives expression to “the spirit of the age,” the fundamental beliefs of a society or culture.’ 7 Art Deco can be seen to represent the spirit of its time in many aspects. It was a replacement of the neoclassical revival that came out of the Beaux-Arts, from which many European and American architects propagated the style, especially in late 19th century France and United States.8 Art Deco, on the other hand communicated clearly in its use of ornament that it was from a time different to its predecessors. Art Deco motifs still utilised the essence of nature and organic forms, similar to the French style of Art Nouveau, but this time with sharper, more simplified geometries. It is often described as a pastiche of many styles reinterpreted in new ways. It is eclectic; a decorative art which took its cues from a range of global artefacts and discoveries.

The global influence within the movement can be seen in the extensive use of Egyptian motifs through an early 20th century resurgence of the Egyptian Revival, most likely ignited by the discovery of Tutankhamun and a continuing fascination surrounding the Middle East and Asia, as evidenced by the previous phase of orientalism seen within the art and architecture of the 19th century (for example, the paintings of Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres). The forms of Egyptian temples were repeated in the most common objects, rendered in extraordinary materials such as crystals and mother of pearls to turn each piece into an object of luxury and grandeur. An example of this is the Cartier temple clock. Pyramidal forms were also seen in perfume bottles and ziggurat shapes in table lamp bases, although, the ziggurats in this case were most probably taken from Mayan pyramids.

Evidence of the revival of ancient Mayan and Mesoamerican architecture can also be seen in the sculptural reliefs of the facades in many 1920s United St ates commercial and residential buildings, namely Frank Lloyd Wright’s Samuel-Novarro House in 1928 Los Angeles, or the Guardian Building in 1927 Detroit, designed by Wirt C. Rowland of Smith, Hinchman & Grylls.9 It may be argued that the resemblances of ziggurats seen in these buildings were purely decorative and served as ornament, in order to highlight the high status of the buildings in the context of the 1920s glamour (the zeitgeist).

Figure 4 Cartier temple clock, adorned with Egyptian motifs

Figure 5 an example of an art deco style table lamp with ziggurat base

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Colin Davies, Thinking about Architecture: An Introduction to Architectural Theory. (London: Laurence King Pub., 2011) p.142 8 And whilst it may have appeared out of touch with modernity, the Beaux-Arts architects did make use of modern construction techniques with steel frames and tall skyscrapers. In fact the tallest building of its time (and tallest building to ever be intentionally demolished), the Singer Building, was completed in 1908 by a student of the Beaux-Arts school, Ernest Flagg (1967-1947) 9 For an extensive list on American buildings with Mayan influences, see Ruth Anne Phillips, ""Pre-Columbian Revival": Defining and Exploring a United States Architectural Style, 1910--1940." (Doctor of Philosophy, City University of New York, 2007) p.231-7

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms Figure 6 Façade of the SamuelNovarro House

Figure 7 interior of the Guardian Building in Detroit

Skyscrapers resembling Ziggurats in New York, on the other hand, had another story to tell. With zoning legislations taking place in 1916 New York as a result of poor light, lack of fresh air and increasing coverage from tall heights of the buildings, a formula was developed called the zoning envelope. According to Carol Willis in the book Form Follows Finance, the formula required the following: ‘after a maximum vertical height above the sidewalk (usually 100 or 125 feet) a building must be stepped back as it rose in a accordance with a fixed angle drawn from the center of the street. A tower of unlimited height was permitted over one-quarter of the site.’10 This limitation meant that many skyscrapers were forced to take the shape of stepped back pyramids, with the floor space reducing at certain intervals in the height, in order to fit the angle of their maximum sidewalk heights (an angled structure would have been inefficient with the steel frame construction techniques at the time). Here we see New York skyscrapers of the Art Deco era resembling ziggurats not primarily for decorative or symbolic intentions, but for the purpose of fitting into a pre-determined formula based on the district they were located. The Paramount Building, built in 1927 New York by C.W. and George L. Rapp is an epitome of a skyscraper ziggurat utilising the most efficient configuration of space out of its zoning envelope and site boundaries.

Although, it could be said that the hierarchical layout of the levels worked to the building’s favour, for the creation of terraces on each level where the floor area changed (just like the ancient ones) or for a visually pleasing placement of ornaments at the top, such as the glass globe and the four-faced clock, providing an urban beacon within the city’s night time skyline.

Figure 9 a zoning diagram from 120 Wall Street illustrating the

Figure 8 zoning diagram of three sizes of districts

maximum possible use of space dictated by site boundaries

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Carol Willis, Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skyline in New York and Chicago. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1995) p.69-73

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms

Figure 10 zoning envelope towers. From left: Paramount Building (1927), Lincoln Building (1930), Irving Trust/1 Wall Street (1931), French Building (1927)

These ‘zoning envelope towers’, distinct in their set-back style, were forced to possess the ziggurat form, but some also used it to their advantage, to convey a meaning and contribute to creating the image of their time.

The art deco movement eventually faded out as modernist ideals grew in favour of less handmade, more machine-made components. Architects like Le Corbusier (1887-1965), who had the most controversial pavilion in the Paris 1925 exposition (Pavillon de l'Esprit Nouveau, a rejection of decorative arts and a call for the standardisation of mass production) were more in line with the direction in which prominent European historians of the modernist movement, such as Sigfried Giedion (1888-1968), were writing history.1112 In the mid-20th century, post-war Le Corbusier introduces the fresh surface of Béton brut (raw concrete), which launches a whole range of concrete buildings with bold forms influenced by earlier modernism around the world. This bold style dominated by purity in material and sometimes monumental form is later on recognised as brutalism (as mentioned in Reyner Banham’s 1966 book The New Brutalism: Ethic or Aesthetic?). Many buildings under the category of Brutalism are seen echoing ziggurat forms.

One example of a brutalist ziggurat is John Andrews’ (born 1933) Scarborough College megastructure built in 1963 Toronto. This was one of the many new university campuses being built on mostly untouched countryside lands around the world, in this period of experimentation and exploration of the concept of megastructures. These were very large scale buildings in which most amenities were provided. The scheme in Scarborough was designed so that it could grow in the future with new constructions being added whilst the existing activities and buildings on site remained undisturbed. This was a carefully planned cluster of forms which respond directly to their immediate environmental conditions. The meandering of the building on the landscape takes a maximum 10 minute walking distance into consideration, within the paths it has created, for convenience when travelling around campus. Inverted, cantilevering ziggurats are used to provide shading in directions facing the most sunlight, whilst the pyramidal facades provide angled skylights.

The wing segments of the building change direction according to the function each building serves.

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Kenneth Frampton, Le Corbusier. (London: Thames & Hudson, 2001) p.37-40 Colin Davies, Thinking about Architecture: An Introduction to Architectural Theory. (London: Laurence King Pub., 2011) p.143 12

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms Kenneth Frampton (born 1930), an architect and critic, critiques the building in a 1967 Architectural Design issue and says the following: ‘The choice of site has ruthlessly determined the plan profile of the building, making it an obsessive and rock-like extension of the escarpment upon which it rests. The old classic imperative that man-made form be rendered distinct from natural form is at once challenged by this organic parti.’13 From the above commentary it is evident that the ziggurat form is considered an organic response to the existing site, rather than a monumental statement of human authority over the land. This megastructure and its intentions are extremely similar to the 1968 University of East Anglia campus built in Norwich by Denys Lasdun (1914-2001). Although the ziggurats in this scheme are orientated at a different angle and appear to be more regular (there are no inverted ziggurats in this scheme), they were just as carefully integrated into their landscape as the megastructure of John Andrews. In a 1963 interview after a talk by Denys Lasdun in which he presents the vision of his (then incomplete) university scheme, Lasdun is asked what problems they have run into throughout the design process. He replies ‘not to wreck the most wonderful landscape in which we find ourselves’.14 It is clear that consideration of the existing landscape is of most importance to his design. William J.R. Curtis (born 1948), in his book Modern Architecture since 1900s, states that the design was ‘nothing less than a demonstration of his urban landscape philosophy’, in which Lasdun emphasises the element of platforms; re-imagining buildings as a series of interlocking platforms. The raised levels in his scheme were a prominent feature which offered plenty of easily accessed walkways with views to the scheme, showing an appreciation to the existing landscape.15

Figure11 University of East Anglia campus accommodation

Figure 13 site plan of UEA

Figure 12 Aerial view of the University of Toronto Scarborough campus

Figure 14 site plan of Scarborough

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“John Andrews Brutalist Megastructure in Toronto.” Iqbal Aalam. Accessed January 9 , 2017. https://iqbalaalam.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/john-andrews-brutalist-megastructure-in-toronto/ 14 “About Anglia: Denys Lasdun Chosen To Design The New Norwich University.” East Anglican Film Archive.. Filmed 1963.

Online clip, 7:39. http://www.eafa.org.uk/catalogue/213000 15 William J. R. Curtis, Modern Architecture since 1900. 3rd ed. (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 1996) p.542-3

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms

Figure 15 diagrammatic sections of the different ziggurat configurations in Scarborough

Figure 16 section through UEA accommodation

The ancient Mesopotamian gods were said to have been on mountains. High points of altitude were associated with closeness to god, or the heavens (as seen in the Tower of Babel). There are suggestions that the ziggurats were built in such shapes to represent these mountains. They were a sign of familiarity for the society and therefore allowed common people to relate to a higher being.

With such careful consideration of the exiting sites seen in the 1960’s ziggurat campus designs, one could draw similarities between the concept of the ancient ziggurats and the new ones to argue that they were all structures built to represent the familiar existing landscape.

A more recent and literal representation of the ancient Ziggurat form is seen in 1997 West Sacramento, California. It is an office building designed by Architect Ed Kado (born 1934) for the Money Store Company and appropriately named ‘The Ziggurat’. This is a 12 storey building, more traditionally shaped and visibly symmetrical in comparison to the 1960s campus designs. It faces a river, which makes it similar to my Architecture and Landscape cookery school scheme, in terms of the building having a relationship with water, just like many ancient ziggurats. Kado’s initial design was an asymmetrical cantilevering form establishing a more direct relationship with the body of water (resembling an inverted ziggurat) however this design was denied by the client in favour of a more symmetrical plan. In an interview on February 22 1998, he explains that the Money Store building’s solid ziggurat shape ‘connotes stability’.16 This suggests that the use of the historical form was symbolic and perhaps structurally convenient to the scheme.

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“Interview: Ed Kado.” Sacramento Business Journal. Accessed January 9th, 2017. http://www.bizjournals.com/sacramento/stories/1998/02/23/focus3.html

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms

Figure 18 view of the Ziggurat (1997) illuminated at night

Figure 17 the Ziggurat (1997) by Ed Kado

I used a simplified version of the ziggurat form within my Architecture and landscape scheme to illustrate the story of the ziggurat and its links to food and flooding. To conclude, my approach could be seen as both a literal and a conceptual way of taking influence from history. Throughout the late 19th century to the late 20th century, we have witnessed countless instances of borrowing, or in some cases, appropriation, of the well-known ancient structure of the ziggurat. Whilst the Mesopotamian ziggurats represented a link between the heaven and the earth, the art deco skyscrapers in the United States represented a link between mankind and growing capitalism. Whether used as an ornamental object of fascination, a monument symbolising power, or as a sensible form efficient enough to make the most out of a site and its natural qualities, there is no denying that ancient historical forms will carry on being repeated and reinvented throughout new styles of architecture in the years to come.

Figure 19 site map of Architecture and Landscape scheme

Figure 20 front elevation of cookery school design

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms BIBLIOGRAPHY Literature Arwas, Victor. Art Deco. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc., 1980.

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Web th

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Mohadeseh Sadat Moein Shirazi, AR548 Modernisms Webbed Feet Ltd. “The Iranian Plateau: 7,500 Years of History.” Accessed January 8th, 2017. http://www.wfltd.com/persians/sialk.htm.

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LIST OF IMAGES 1. Own image 2. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e7/Tchogha_Zanbil.jpg/900px-Tchogha_Zanbil.jpg 3. http://realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/Sumer/the_ziggurat.htm 4. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/0f/99/af/0f99af3086829b1845c7688408217b14.jpg 5. http://addcustomlighting.com/project/scrolled-art-deco-bronze-table-lamp-with-marble-pyramid-base-customlighting/artdecobronzeglobelamp/ 6. http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3044/2390933455_1715eec446.jpg 7. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/originals/28/84/ea/2884ea787c3b380f356bcd161cc24c7d.jpg 8. http://skyscraper.org/EXHIBITIONS/WALL_STREET/walkthrough_images/120wall_zoning.jpg 9. Carol Willis, Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skyline in New York and Chicago. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1995) p.73 10. Carol Willis, Form Follows Finance: Skyscrapers and Skyline in New York and Chicago. (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1995) p.74-5 11. http://brutalism.online/component/joomgallery/image?view=image&format=raw&type=img&id=232 12. http://www.eraarch.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/SC-site-overview2cmyk.jpg 13. https://www.architectural-review.com/Pictures/web/n/v/x/Denys_Lasduns_plan_University_of_East_Angli_636.jpg 14. https://iqbalaalam.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/john-andrews-brutalist-megastructure-in-toronto/ 15. https://iqbalaalam.wordpress.com/2009/11/27/john-andrews-brutalist-megastructure-in-toronto/ 16. https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/be/06/9e/be069e80adf9985691ee3e2e804ec023.jpg 17. http://media.bizj.us/view/img/479921/11downtownrailyardwestsacapril0050*750xx4288-2417-0-0.jpg 18. http://m3.i.pbase.com/o4/47/349847/1/130538203.fMIz8qwY._MG_5821pbase.jpg7 19. Own image 20. Own image

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