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THEORY AND HISTORY

Introduction to

Architecture

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What is “theory”?

What is “history”?1.

what is the difference?

Theory

istoria (grk) :learning with asking chronological/causal questions

aristoteles : systematic analysis about some natural phenomenon

1: the analysis of a set of facts in their relation to one another

2 : abstract thought

3 : the general or abstract principles of a body of fact, a science, or an art

Source: Meriam Webster Dictionary Online

History

+What is “the aim” of

learning history and theory ?2.

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what has happenedwhat is happening

what should happen

SCIENTIFICALLY

KNOWING

Man learn about his(her)-self for the better process of being and to be..

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Studying architectural history relates to our need to understand the present. … for it is only by studying the past that we can hope to understand how we have arrived

at today.

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as an Closed Text

as an Open Text ? or

History always taking sides, depend on

the writers / theoritician

History is always freehave to be re-

interprete

How to look at history ???

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Milestone of Architectural History

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ModernA

rchitect..as a Milestone

After Modern

Before Modern

cut off from historyback to history

depend on history

cut off from history

500 AD 1000 AD 1500 AD 2000 AD

Belanda (1800-1942)

Sriwijaya (abad ke-7 – ke-13)

Mataram (1500-1700)Majapahit (1293-1500)

Portugis (1512-1800)VOC (1600 -1800)

Jepang (1942-1945)

Tarumanegara (358-669)

Small Tribal Groups (10.000 BC- 200 AD)Tradingslink India – China (200-600)

Independence (1945-…)

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ARCHITECTURE

Autobiography of the

human race

+ Pre Historic

architecture

2500 B.C.

1500 B.C.

+ PyramidsPERMANENCE and IMMORTALITY

+ 800 AD

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Parthenon, Greece, Post & Lintel

Function as temple for the Gods, Sculptural Form, Rectangular

Vitruvius

Architecture is…

Utilitas

Firmitas

Venustas

Vitruvius : TEN BOOKS on ARCHITECTURE

Pantheon, Rome, Arc, Vault, Dome.

+ PantheonGreek Philosophy

Gladiator, Rome

+1140-1500

+500 AD 1000 AD 1500 AD 2000 AD

Belanda (1800-1942)

Sriwijaya (abad ke-7 – ke-13)

Mataram (1500-1700)

Majapahit (1293-1500)

Portugis (1512-1800)

VOC (1600 -1800)

Jepang (1942-1945)

Tarumanegara (358-669)

Small Tribal Groups (10.000 BC- 200 AD)Tradingslink India – China (200-600)

Independence (1945-…)

500 AD 1000 AD 1500 AD 2000 AD

+Leon Battista Alberti

1443 De re aedificatoria(English: On the Art of Building)

a concise version of sociology of architecture and tells architect how buildings should be built, not how they were built.

De Re Aedificatoria remained the classic treatise on architecture from the 16th until the 18th century.

Pazzi Chapel

Golden Section

Leonardo da Vinci

Brunelleschi, Santa Maria Del Fiore, Florence

RENAISSANCE (1420-1600)

Louis XIV

Jean Nicolas Louis Durand

Ecole des Beaux-Arts

1. Ecole des Beaux Arts (1666) is the final period of Before Modern

era, as well as the beginning of Modern era.

2. Ecole des Beaux Arts is the first school that elevated architecture

into an atonomous discipline

3. Ecole des Beaux Arts is the oldest architectural school who spread

the school’s pedagogical system and arch. style to places around the

globe

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Condition for

Modern[philosophy]

Cogito Ergo Sum

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created 1816 as a

merger of :

academie de peinture et de sculpture [1648]

academie de musique [1699]

academie d’architecture [1671]

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back to main

Under supervision of The Great

Jean-Pierre Colbert, France

reached prosperity so did

education.

At 1840, he established de

sociale centrale des architect:

organization that make

architecture similar to

profession, law and medicine. So

E de BA elevatred architecture

into autonomous discipline.

The early stage of E des BA

Claude Nicolas Ledoux

+ atelierEcole de Beaux-Arts

+Learning from precedent

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principles

God is in the detail

Architecture need sculpture

Eclecticism

Hierarchy of space

symmetric

Henry Labrouste

details

sculpture

eclectic

hie

rach

cy o

f sp

aces

sym

met

ri

Rational

Effective Efficient

Standard

Mass Production

Viollet Le Duc

Arc de Triomphe (1806-1836) . Napoleon I has the ambition to make his capital the most beautiful city in the world.

The architect :Jean-Francois-Therese Chalgrin, Jean-Arnaud Raymond, Louis-Robert Goust, Jean-Nicolas Huyot, Guillaume-Abel Blouet. The design was a Neoclassical version of ancient Roman architecture.

The InfluenceBaron van Haussmann

interpenetrating paths to the city

of Paris

back to main

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Ecole de Beaux -

Arts

All of these young architects carried intopractice the Ecole’s method of both a‘preesquisse’ to find an appropriateparti, and the esquisse, which expressedthe essence of the organization. Alongwith skills in design theory andrendering, these factors affectedarchitects’ process for many years tocome.

Drawing techniques such as eliminatingbackground conveyed a specificmessage, free of unnecessary details.Ledoux’s fantasy architecture consistedof simple geometry and primarilydisplayed function.

The sketch by Henri

Labrouste, who was trained

at the Ecole, reveals early

sketch diagram techniques

to find compositional

direction.

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Adolf Loos : ornament and crime

•Exemplifies the contrasts and contradictions

of the years leading toward modernism and

the international style.

•Respected traditional architecture but

experimented with sleek volumes.

•Actually better known for his writing.

•Beginning the sketch with ruled lines may

have reflected his interest to study simple

geometries, but he may have also seen the

definitive lines as a base for subsequent

evaluation practiced in verbal criticism and

irony, he may have purposefully put forth a

visual hypothesis, expecting it to be altered

through critical dialogue.

+ The Amsterdam schoolThe architects of the Amsterdam School rejected classicism, concentrating instead on relationshipsbetween ‘functionalism and beauty’ (Bock, Johannisse and Stissi, 1997, p. 9). Beginning in the early 1900s,this movement stemmed from the common belief system of architects such as H. P. Berlage, J. M. van derMay, M.de Klerk, and Piet Kramer. Fueled by political policy governing city expansion and mandates forworkers’ housing, these architects searched for sculptural forms that could be economically efficient and,thus, respond to social needs (Bock, Johannisse and Stissi, 1997; Casciato, 1996). Concerned with materialsand construction methods, the architects of the Amsterdam School used sketches and drawings to envisionbuilding systems and massing.

de Klerk, Michel(1884–1923)Sketch of

design for a water tower with service

buildings in reinforced concrete, Pencil on

tracing paper

+ De StijlDe Stijl architects also built with masonry and explored

massive geometric forms made from concrete.

In contrast to the Amsterdam School, however, they

eliminated decoration and most color, and

assembled rectangular forms (de Wit, 1983).

Naturally, their drawings and sketches had a minimal,

abstract expression.

Rietveld, Gerrit Thomas(1888–1964)Rough draft variation

of zigzag child’s chair, Crayon, ink on paper. Originally a

furniture builder, GerritRietveld was partially responsible

for the architectural ideals of the De Stijl movement of the

early 1920s. His Schröder House epitomized many of the

movement’s beliefs, including simplicity of form, verticals

and horizontals that intersect and penetrate each other,

primary colors, asymmetrical balance, and elements

separated by space (Brown, 1958).

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Le Corbusier

Considering the briefness of the sketch, it is clear that Le Corbusier

depended upon additional written messages to later recall his design

intention. The sketchbooks were for him a discussion about design and

also represented memory devices.

Plate #322, Sketchbook

18, Volume 2, sketch of

Notre-Dame-du-Haut,

Ronchamp,

February1951, Ink on

sketchbook paper

Five Points of Architecture:

PilotisFree FaçadeOpen Floor PlanUn-disturbed ViewsRoof Garden

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Modern Architecture

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BauhausGropius was transforming the former art school Staatliches

Bauhaus in Weimar. Based on the theory of the ‘artist as

exalted craftsman,’ the Bauhaus attempted to unify the

building and a whole, integrating its various elements

(Conrads,1970). Gropius advocated bringing together

sculpture, painting, and crafts into the design of the built

environment.

The masters of the Bauhaus were concerned with teaching

craftsmanship in a workshop setting; besides craft,

science, and theory, the school also provided instruction

in drawing, painting, life drawing, composition, technical

and perspective drawing, and ornament and industrial

design (Conrads, 1970).

These studios taught the techniques of sketching from

memory and imagination (Conrads, 1970). They also

employed axonometric drawings. These two-dimensional

projections showed three sides of the object or building

equally, and were comprised of parallel lines which could

be constructed with straight edges. They suggested the

preciseness of the machine and reveled in the abstraction

(Naylor,1968)

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Walter Gropius

Obviously concerned about the material thickness of walls, he also differentiated the floor surfaces by

shading certain areas and crosshatching others. These visual indicators help to emphasize that the

house was to be built using local materials, fieldstone, and wood. The careful control of proportion and

the consideration for spatial relationships indicate that Gropius used this sketch for concentrated and

deliberate thinking.

+ Gropius’ reputation for efficiency would support a theory that he was concerned with the

economical delivery of food and the distances of travel through the space.

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+ Mies van de Rohe

At the Bauhaus, Mies encouraged his students to develop theirprojects with vast numbers of sketches before committing tofinal drawings (Cohen, 1996). Mies’ sketches show mostly plansaccompanied by interior perspectives and elaborateconstruction details that show connections (Drexler, 1986). Anunusual technique Mies employed was that of collage. Theymay be considered sketches since they present a basic outline,pertain to conceptual thinking and provide little pictorialorientation. Pieces of cut paper were pasted in juxtaposition soas to make a semblance of a parti. He used bright yellow paperdrawn over with a grid, resembling fenestration or an abstractpattern. In the center has been placed a very dark rectanglesurrounded with light gray, tan, and white pieces. This collagedsketch is really about precise and imprecise. This collage from1909, early in his career as an architect, reveals Mies’ penchantfor the De Stijl-like juxtaposition of horizontals and verticals

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‘less is more’The forms reflect Mies’ bold and simple

rectangles which act as planes slicing through

space. In contrast, the composition of pieces is

simultaneously imprecise.

Karl Marx

Three Mucisians, 1912

Walter Gropius, “March of the DEAD”

Schroder House: Gerrit Rietveld

+ VITRUVIAN MANLeonardo Da Vinci

+Congres Internationaux dí Architecture

Moderne(Deklarasi CIAM, 1928)

1. Gagasan arsitektur modern menyertakan hub. fenomena arsitektur& sistem ekonomi umum.

2. Gagasan efisiensi ekonomi tidaklah berarti produksi yang menghasilkan keuntungan komersial maksimum, tapi produksi yang menuntut upaya kerjaminimum.

3. Kebutuhan akan efisiensi ekonomi max. adalah hasil dari keadaan ekonomi umum yg termiskin.

4. Metoda produksi yang paling efisien adalah yang timbul dari rasionalisasi dan standardisasi, yang berakibat langsung pada metoda kerja dalam arsitekturmodern (konsepsi) dan industri gedung (realisasi).

5. Rasionalisasi dan standardisasi bereaksi dalam cara berlapis:

tuntutan konsep arsitektur yg menyederhanakan metoda kerja di situs dan di pabrik.

bagi perusahaan bangunan, hal ini berarti mengurangi angkatan kerja terampil, menambah buruh yang kurang terampil di bawah arahan teknisi yangsangat terampil.

harapan akan konsumer yang memesan rumah di mana ia tinggal; suatu penyesuaian kembali pada kondisi kehidupan sosial yang baru.

From artistic point of view, the new method of building has to be accepted. Standardization of the building elements will result in new housing units and sections of cities having a uniform character. There is no danger in monotony, for if the basic requirement is fulfilled that only the building units are standardized, the structures built thereof will vary.

Their “beauty” will be assured by properly used material and clear, simple construction. It will largely depend on the creative ability of the architect to what extent the arrangement of the “giant building blocks” will form well-designed space in these structures.… There is enough scope for individual and national characteristics to express themselves and yet everything bears the mark of our time.

Walter Gropius.From the language of modern architecture: Bruno Zevi

… creative freedom was the climate which permeated everything and was imparted to all masters and students. Intimate contact with the present, service to mankind and society, in a word, humanism is what gave bauhaus its vital impetus.

1933

to be continued