Louis Sullivan1856-1924

The father of modernism (in architecture).

The chronological contextof Sullivan’s architecture

Chronological context in Architecture- Modernism to Postmodernism -

1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

First generationmodernists

Second generation modernists

Third generationmodernists

The pioneers of modernism.They each treated form, space,structure, materials and ornament innovel ways.

These were the architects of ‘highmodernism’- the universalInternational Style- as well as thefashionable Art Deco period.

These were the architects ofPostmodernism.They reacted against the orthodoxy ofhigh modernism.

Peter Behrens - Berlin Walter Gropius Frank Gehry

Auguste Perret - Paris Le Corbusier Philip Johnson

C. R. Mackintosh - Glasgow Mies van der Rohe Charles Moore

Otto Wagner - Vienna Gerrit Reitveld I. M. Pei

Adolf Loos - Vienna William Van Allen Michael Greaves

Louis Sullivan - Chicago Napier Art Deco architects Louis Kahn

Frank Lloyd Wright - Chicago and mid-western states of USA Robert Venturi

The context of his architectureGeographical context:

Louis Sullivan was an American architect based in Chicago. His buildings are located in

mid-western cities of the United States – notably Chicago, St Louis and Buffalo.

Chicago

Context continued…Historical context:

He was a member of the Chicago School, a small group of architects and engineers who pioneered the development of skyscrapers from the 1880s.

He worked in partnership with Dankmar Adler, a structural engineer. Sullivan himself was more concerned with the artistic expression of skyscrapers rather than with their technical features.

Sullivan and Adler were not the first to develop skyscraper construction, but Sullivan is credited with being the first to give the high-rise building its unique visual expression as “a proud and soaring thing”.

He wanted American architects to stop imitating buildings “from other lands and other times”. He envisioned an American architecture that was democratic and would reform and elevate society- an architecture “of the people, for the people, by the people”.

Sullivan argued that a building’s structure should express its function, and he coined the famous architectural catchphrase “form [ever] follows function”. This became a central theme for much twentieth century architecture.

Louis Sullivan is also well-known for mentoring the young Frank Lloyd Wright, America’s most famous architect, and arguably the greatest architect of the twentieth century. Many of Sullivan’s ideas rubbed-off onto Wright.

Context continued…Social context:

In 1871 a devastating fire destroyedmost of downtown Chicago.

This frontier American city,unfettered with European traditions,now had a blank slate upon which torebuild.

Social and economic factors after thefire, as well as the technologicaladvances of the time, gave rise hereto the world’s first skyscrapers.

The architects that contributed tothis unprecedented type ofcommercial building, including LouisSullivan, were collectively known asthe ‘Chicago School’.

From this in 1871 …

… to this in 1896

Context continued…The skyscraper evolved in Chicago because of:

Congestion. Chicago’s population doubled between 1880 and 1890 and during the same period real estate prices in the city centre soared nearly 600%. The city centre was restricted geographically to a nine block grid bounded by the Chicago River to the north and west, by Lake Michigan to the east and by the rail yards to the south. As a rapidly growing commercial centre and railroad hub to the expanding Mid-west, the only way to build was up!

The steel frame. William LeBaron Jenny’s Home Insurance Building, Chicago, 1885, (pictured at right) was the first tall building to be supported, both the inside floors and the outside wall, by a fireproof metal frame. Traditional structures had load-bearing masonry walls that supported the weight of the building, and the higher the building the thicker and more massive these walls needed to be. The development of steel in the 1850’s (which was stronger and more fire-resistant than iron) allowed Jenny to develop what became known as ‘Chicago Construction’, a multi-story, skeletal structure of steel that reduced the thickness of the walls, increased valuable floor space, and because it weighed much less than masonry, allowed immense increases in height. The façade could now be opened with windows to maximise the amount of daylight reaching the interior of the building.

Context continued…

The skyscraper evolved in Chicago because of:

The safety elevator. Elevators are critical to the practicality of skyscrapers. The Otis Safety Lift, patented in 1861 (pictured at right), while not the first elevator, was the first to employ a safety device that stopped the lift from falling if the hoisting cable broke. This device now made elevators safe for people to travel in. The steam-powered Otis Safety Lift made it not only easy, but also more desirable to work on the upper floors of high-rise buildings. Advances in elevator technology now make it possible to populate ever-taller skyscrapers.

The electric light bulb. This invention significantly reduced the risk of fire that had been a danger with gas lamps, especially in commercial structures. The electric light bulb improved the safety and habitability of high rise buildings.

The telephone. This invention was also important for efficient communication between workers at different levels of a high-rise building, or between buildings.

Context continued…The skyscraper evolved in Chicago because

of:

The frontier attitude. Chicago was a youthful, optimistic, frontier city with progressive ambitions and an increasingly administrative infrastructure as the city turned from an agrarian to an industrial economy. Unlike New York, Chicago did not look to Europe for architectural inspiration and tradition did not get in the way of entrepreneurial clients who commissioned daringly tall buildings from the city’s pioneering architects.

The vision of Sullivan. Once the skyscraper’s enabling technology- steel frame construction, elevators, ventilation, fire-proofing, foundations- was in place, the issue became an aesthetic one. What form should these very tall buildings take? Louis Sullivan’s answer to this question was his main contribution to modernism. In 1896 he published his ideas in The Tall Office Building Artistically Considered.

“What is the chiefcharacteristic of the tall officebuilding? It is lofty. It must betall. The force and power ofaltitude must be in it, the

gloryand pride of exaltation mustbe in it.It must be every inch a proudand soaring thing, rising insheer exaltation that frombottom to top it is a unitwithout a single dissentingline.”

Louis SullivanThe Tall Office Building Artistically Considered

Significant Sullivan buildings

The Wainright Building The Guaranty Building, Carson Pirie Scott Building, St Louis, Missouri, 1891 Buffalo, New York, 1896 Chicago, Illinois, 1904

Sullivan’s styleThe first skyscrapers didnot emphasise theirverticality. Instead theyappeared more like aseries of classically-

inspiredbuildings piled one on topof another, as evident inDaniel Burnham’s RookeryBuilding, Chicago, 1888(left).

In contrast Sullivan’sWainwright Building,Buffalo, 1891 (right)proclaims its tallness.Horizontal elements in thedesign are secondary to

theverticals, in particular theseries of unbroken brick-faced vertical piers.

Sullivan’s style continued…With the Wainwright Building Sullivan solved theproblem of how to design the newly developedskyscraper; by treating the structure as aclassical column: the lower two floors form thebase; floors three to nine a fluted shaft; and theornate frieze and cornice on top form a capital.

Sullivan unified the facades of the WainwrightBuilding by treating them as grids of vertical andhorizontal members. He emphasized the verticalmembers by broadening the corner piers andallowing them to rise freely to the cornice. Between the windows Sullivan introduced thinvertical piers that visually connect the base andcornice, while the recessed, decoratedspandrels beneath the office windows providesa counterpoint of less defined, horizontal lines.

It is through this method of knitting the façadetogether with vertical and horizontal accents thatSullivan created, by casting aside historic styles,a modern visual expression for the skyscraper.Wainwright Building, Buffalo, NY, 1891

Function, form and ornament

“All things in nature have a shape, that isto say a form, an outward semblance, thattells us what they are, that distinguishesthem from ourselves and from each other.It is the pervading law of all things organicand inorganic… that the life is recognisabein its expression, that form ever followsfunction. This is the law.”

Louis Sullivan

With this philosophical statement Sullivanestablished the design methodology ofmodernist architecture: that a building’sfunction (ie. its requirements) shoulddefine its character and appearance.

Sullivan believed skyscrapers must havetheir own unique form, their own visualcharacter that expresses the nature of itsvarious functions.

Analysing the requirements ofoffice buildings, Sullivan decidedthey must include: A basement- to house

mechanical services such as heating, lighting and power systems.

Street level spaces- for shops, banks, and public commerce. These are large, open spaces “liberal, expansive and sumptuous” that will flow up into the second storey.

A succession of less public workers offices- these fill the upper stories and are modular and repetitive in appearance “because they are all alike”.

A top level- to house more mechanical devices such as elevator engines and water tanks and which, by its form should proclaim its difference in function from the rest of the building. It should also provide a significant finishing off of the whole building.

Function, form and ornament continued…

The top level houses mechanicaldevices such as elevator engines andwater tanks. Its appearance proclaimsits difference in function from the restof the building.

A succession of workers offices fillthe upper stories and are modular andrepetitive in appearance.

Street level spaces for shops, banks,and public commerce. These are large,open spaces “liberal, expansive andsumptuous” that will flow up into thesecond storey.

These distinct functional zones, eachwith their own architectural

expression,are united into one form, one visualexpression of “a proud and soaringthing”.

Function, form and ornament continued…While Sullivan’s Carson Pirie Scott building, While Sullivan’s Carson Pirie Scott building,

Chicago,Chicago,

1904, anticipates the modular design, 1904, anticipates the modular design, geometric ordergeometric order

and structural clarity of modernist skyscrapers, and structural clarity of modernist skyscrapers, it alsoit also

exemplifies his attitude to ornament. Sullivan is exemplifies his attitude to ornament. Sullivan is as wellas well

known for his intricate Art Nouveau known for his intricate Art Nouveau architecturalarchitectural

ornamentation as for his high rise aesthetic.ornamentation as for his high rise aesthetic.

Function, form and ornament continued…

Sullivan believed ornament must be ofthe building, integral to it’s structure,rather than merely applied over it. Hisornament reflected functional aspectsof the building, distinguishingentranceways, busy public areas andthoroughfares He often ornamented the plainsurfaces of his buildings with lush ArtNouveau and rather Celtic-likedecorations, usually cast in iron orterra cotta, and ranging from organicforms like vines and ivy, to moregeometric designs, and interlace,Inspired by his Irish design heritage.