UNIT 4

Architectural Schools of thought

Expressionism Expressionist architecture refers to an architectural style that developed in Europe in the first part of the 20th Century.

Expressionism in architecture manifested through the Bauhaus Movement, that originated in Germany and spread to Denmark through Functionalism, and to The Netherlands through the artistic movement "De Stijl".

emphasizing subjective feelings and emotions Architects associatedThree major German architects of the period associated with the expressionist movement were Bruno Taut, Hans Scharoun and Erich Mendelsohn, the latter chiefly for his early drawings and the iconic Einstein Tower.

Characteristics Artistic style in which the artist seeks to depict not objective reality but rather the subjective emotions and responses that objects and events arouse in him.

He accomplishes his aim through distortion, exaggeration, primitivism, and fantasy and through the vivid, jarring, violent, or dynamic application of formal elements.

Conception of architecture as a work of art

Distortion of form for an emotional effect

An underlying effort at achieving the new, original visionary.

Profusion of works on paper, and models, with discovery and representations of concepts more important than pragmatic finished products.

Often hybrid solutions, irreducible to a single concept

Themes of natural romantic phenomena, such as caves, mountains, lightning, crystal and rock formations.

Utilizes creative potential of artisan craftsmanship.

Tendency more towards the gothic than the classical. Expressionist architecture also tends more towards the Romanesque and the rococo than the classical.

Though a movement in Europe, expressionism is as eastern as western. It draws as much from Moorish, Islamic, Egyptian, and Indian art and architecture as from Roman or GreekElastic Forms

Form played a defining role in setting apart expressionist architecture from its immediate predecessor, art nouveau

While art nouveau had an organic freedom with ornament, expressionist architecture strove to free the form of the whole building instead of just its parts

Einstein tower an example of Expressionism

An example of a built expressionist project that is inventive formally is Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein Tower.

This sculpted building shows a relativistic and shifting view of geometry.

Devoid of applied ornament,

Form and space are shaped in fluid concrete to express concepts of the architect and the building's namesake.

SHAPE \* MERGEFORMAT

Materials in Expressionism

A recurring concern of expressionist architects is materials.

There was often an intention to unify the materials in a building so as to make it monolithic.

Bruno Taut and Paul Scheerbart's doctrine of glass architecture

Mendelson was familiar for concrete architecture

Futurism Futurist architecture (or Futurism) began as an early-20th century

Form of architecture characterized by anti-historicism and long horizontal lines suggesting speed, motion and urgency.

This artistic movement started in Italy and lasted from 1909 to 1944.

Futurist forms suggest speed, dynamism and strong expressivity, in an effort to make architecture belonging to modern times.

Characteristics of Futurism

Futurism is not a style but an open approach to architecture, so it has been reinterpreted by different generations of architects across several decades, but is usually marked by striking shapes, dynamic lines, strong contrasts and use of advanced materials.Architects influential in futurist architecture

Virgilio Marchi

Louis Armet

Welton Becket

Arthur Erickson

Wayne McAllister

Oscar Niemeyer

William Pereira

Zaha Hadid

Frank Gehry

Manifestos of futurism for future city

Manifesto of Futurist Architecture published in Lacerba 11 July 1914

Architecture must be impermanent we must invent and remake the Futurist city to be like a huge tumultuous shipyard, agile, mobile, dynamic in all its parts; and the Futurist house to be like a gigantic machine in the manifesto.

Elevators would be on the outside of the buildings, buildings would be proportioned in accordance with their needs, and

Streets would be on street levels joined by escalators. Built of concrete, glass, and steel they would proudly display their structure and mechanical functions

Santa Elias concept of New City Antonio Sant Elia, in a way, already had anti establishment tendencies in architecture, he had been part of the group New Tendencies which like Futurism criticised Italys architects for adopting the styles of the past. Sant Elias visions were not materialised and we only have his sketches to refer to.

The city would resemble a complex that linked domestic and industrial habitats - at the centre would be the power station (the new cathedral).

Santa Elia New City represents multi levels, built from new materials and technology; reinforced concrete, glass, and steel. There would be no decorative elements.

Emphasis was given to the vertical line. Spherical shapes were also an element. It resembles in part the new cities that are depicted in science fiction films

Drawings of Santa elia showing the proposal for the future cityProclaim of Futurist architecture

That Futurist architecture is the architecture of calculation, of simplicity; the architecture of reinforced concrete, of steel, glass, cardboard, textile fiber, and of all those substitutes for wood, stone and brick that enable us to obtain maximum elasticity and lightness;

That Futurist architecture is not because of this an arid combination of practicality and usefulness, but remains art, i.e. synthesis and expression;

That oblique and elliptic lines are dynamic, and by their very nature possess an emotive power a thousand times stronger than perpendiculars and horizontals,

That decoration as an element superimposed on architecture is absurd, and that the decorative value of Futurist architecture depends solely on the use and original arrangement of raw or bare or violently colored materials

Monolithic skyscraper buildings with terraces, bridges and aerial walkways that embodied the sheer excitement of modern architecture and technology

That by the term architecture is meant the endeavor to harmonize the environment with Man with freedom and great audacity, that is to transform the world of things into a direct projection of the world of the spirit;

From architecture conceived in this way no formal or linear habit can grow, since the fundamental characteristics of Futurist architecture will be its impermanence and transience.

Things will endure less than us. Every generation must build its own city. This constant renewal of the architectonic environment will contribute to the victory of Futurism which has already been affirmed by words-in-freedom, plastic dynamism. Cubism

Cubism was an early 20th century avant-garde art

HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Art_movement" \o "Art movement" \t "_parent" movement that revolutionized European painting and sculpture, and inspired related movements in music and literature.

In cubist artworks, objects are broken up, analyzed, and re-assembled in an abstracted form

The Cubists had technology on their side. Reinforced concrete was making its way into construction, and enabled them to design open floor plans without needing pillars

revolt against the excessively decorative style

Cubism can be divided into two phases Analytical cubism, the earlier phase, continued until 1912. It was followed by synthetic cubism, which lasted through 1915.

Analytical cubism fragments the physical world into intersecting geometric planes and interpenetrating volumes.

Synthetic cubism, by contrast, synthesizes (combines) abstract shapes to represent objects in a new way.

Cubist house in Prague, Czech RepublicArchitect: Josef Chochol

Constructivist architecture Constructivist architecture was a form of modern

HYPERLINK "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modern_architecture" \o "Modern architecture" \t "_parent" architecture that flourished in the Soviet Union in the 1920s and early 1930s.

It combined advanced technology and engineering with an avowedly Communist social purpose

a form that is technically efficient in engineering terms, a space organized by means of an open structure, rather than enclosed volumes, a combination of frame and glazing rather than solid walls, all these devices being aimed at preserving the visual impression of undivided space. Constructivist (Constructivism) is a term used to define a type of totally abstract (non-representational) relief construction

The principles of constructivism theory are derived from three main movements that evolved in the early part of the 20th century: Suprematism in Russia, De Stijl (Neo Plasticism) in Holland and the Bauhaus in Germany.

The first Constructivist architectural project was the 1919 proposal for the headquarters of the Communist International in St Petersburg by the Futurist Vladimir Tatlin, often called Tatlin's Tower. Tatlins Tower by Vladimir Tatlin

Example of Constructivism

The Rusakov Workers' Club in Moscow is a notable example of constructivist architecture. Designed by Konstantin Melnikov, it was constructed from 1927 to 1928.

In plan, the club resembles a fan; in elevation, it is divided into a base and three cantilevered concrete seating areas. Each of these can be used as a separate auditorium, while if combined, the building seats over 1,000 people. At the rear of the building are more conventional offices. The only visible materials used in its construction are concrete, brick and glass.

The function of the building is to some extent expressed in the exterior, which Melnikov described as a "tensed muscle".

De stijl

Dutch nonfigurative art movement, also called neoplasticism. In 1917 a group of artists, architects, and poets was organized under the name de Stijl, and a journal of the same name was initiated.

The leaders of the movement were the artists Theo van Doesburg and Piet Mondrian.

They advocated a purification of art, eliminating subject matter in favor of vertical and horizontal elements, and the use of primary colors and noncolors.

Their austerity of expression influenced architects, principally J.J.P.Oud and Gerrit Rietveld. The movement lasted until 1931; in architecture a few de Stijl principles are still applied.

Principles of Destijl

In general, De Stijl proposed ultimate simplicity and abstraction, both in architecture and painting, by using only straight (horizontal and vertical) lines and rectangular forms.

The colour palette was reduced to the primary colours red, yellow and blue. Black, white and grey were used as well.

The works avoided symmetry and attained aesthetic balance by the use of opposition.

In many of the group's three-dimensional works, vertical and horizontal lines are positioned in layers or planes that do not intersect, thereby allowing each element to exist independently and unobstructed by other elements.

This feature can be found in the Rietveld Schrder House and the Red and blue chair.

The Rietveld Schrder HouseThe Rietveld Schrder House was built in 1924 by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld for Mrs. Schrder and her children. She commissioned the house to be designed preferably without walls. The house is one of the best known examples of De Stijl-architecture and arguably the only true De Stijl building.

Rietveld Schrder House

Characteristics of the house

The Rietveld Schrder House constitutes both inside and outside a radical break with all architecture before it. The two-story house is built onto the end of a terrace, but it makes no attempt to relate to its neighbouring buildings.

Inside there is no static accumulation of rooms, but a dynamic, changeable open zone. The ground floor can still be termed traditional; ranged around a central staircase are kitchen and three sit/bedrooms. The living area upstairs, given as an attic to satisfy the planning authorities, in fact forms a large open zone except for a separate toilet and a bathroom. Rietveld wanted to leave the upper level as was. Mrs Schrder, however, felt that as living space it should be usable in either form, open or subdivided. This was achieved with a system of sliding and revolving panels. When entirely partitioned in, the living level comprises three bedrooms, bathroom and living room. In-between this and the open state is and endless series of permutations, each providing its own spatial experience. The facades are a collage of planes and lines whose components are purposely detached from, and seem to glide past, one another. This enabled the provision of several balconies. Like Rietveld's Red and Blue Chair, each component has its own form, position and color. Colors where chosen as to strengthen the plasticity of the facades; surfaces in white and shades of grey, black window and doorframes, and a number of linear elements in primary colors.Piet MondriaanPiet Mondriaan was born in the Netherlands in 1872. His painting style evolved as he discovered the new styles of painting of Europe in the early twentieth century. He and his painting became more European and international and he changed the spelling of his name from the more Dutch-sounding Mondriaan to the less Dutch (even perhaps Armenian) Mondrian. He was influenced by Cubism to the point of taking art studies in Paris at the late age of about forty. He had previously been acquainted with artists influenced by Fauvism and Pointillism. But these schools of thought in art were left behind at he developed his own doctrine of art, called Neoplasticism. This aesthetic philosophy was rooted in his interest in Theosophy. Under the guidance of theosophy painting became a devotional experience for Mondrian.

Using his doctrine of Neoplasticism as a guide Mondrian and other artists created works of art which were collectively known as De Stijl (The Style). This started at the time of the First World War.

De Stijl was not limited just to painting; it also included architecture, stage sets and furniture design. Mondrian was joined in creating De Stijl by the artists Theo van Doesburg, Bart van der Leck, Georges Vantongerloo and Gerrit Rietveld. Van Doesburg edited a periodical entitled De Stijl which gave coherence to the movement and in which Mondrian published his formulation of the movements aesthetic principles.

Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud (February 9, 1890 - April 5, 1963) was a Dutch architect. His fame began as a follower of the De Stijl movement.

Oud was born in Purmerend, the son of a tobacco and wine merchant. As a young architect, he was influenced by Berlage, and studied under Theodor Fischer in Munich for a time. He worked together with W.M. Dudok in Leiden, which is where he also met Theo van Doesburg and became involved with the movement De Stijl.

Between 1918 and 1933, Oud became Municipal Housing Architect for Rotterdam. During this period when many laborers were coming to the city, he mostly worked on socially progressive residential projects. This included projects in the areas Spangen, Kiefhoek and the Witte Dorp. Oud was one of a number of Dutch architects who attempted to reconcile strict, rational, 'scientific' cost-effective construction technique against the psychological needs and aesthetic expectations of the users. His own answer was to practice 'poetic functionalism'.