History Architecture Part 3

Brutalism Ideology

• Honesty in material and function

• Expression of realities of life and materials 

• ‘Modernism with a human face’

Anne Tyng

• Chinese born American architect and professor

• First woman licensed architect in pennsylvania

• Pioneer of space frames and interlocking geometric

• Collaborated with Louis Kahn

platonic solids

a regular convex polyhedron (a three dimensional shape that has flat faces and straight edges

What building is this?

Salk Institute for Biological Studies

San Diego, CA,

Louis I. Kahn and Anne Tyng, 1959-1965

Who built the Salk Institute and when?

Louis I. Kahn and Anne Tyng, 1959-1965

What building is this?

• Originally conceived as a pair of towers separated by a garden 

• One foot wide canal 

• Two symmetric buildings with a stream of water flowing in the middle of a courtyard that separates them 

• Primary materials: concrete, wood, marble, and water 

• Concrete with exposed joints and formwork markings

• The diagonal walls allow scientists to study…

• Buildings designed to promote collaboration

• Labs are “Served spaces” in the institute

• Attics above lab floors 

• Scientists offices singed as contemplative spaces removed from the labs

Salk Institute

what are servant spaces?

“attic” that contains chemicals, refrigerators, and other equipment and mechanical systems

what are served spaces

lab floors

Who is this?

• Italian-born Brazilian architect 

• Majority of work in Brazil 

• Known for her ability to blend architecture, politics and popular culture

Lina Bo Bardi

What building is this?

Sao Paulo Museum of Art (MASP),

Sao Paolo, Brazil 

Lina Bo Bardi, 1960-1969

Who and when was the Sao Paulo Museum built?

Lina Bo Bardi, 1960-1969

postmodernism

• An architectural movement of the 1960-1990s as a reaction to/against the austerity, formality, and lack of variety of International Style Modern architecture 

  • Extracted elements from all architectural styles and eras and integrated them together

  • Often eclectic and/or deconstructivist

  • Celebrated the complexity of life and aimed to demonstrate it in architecture 

  • Postmodern theory was skeptical of ‘definitive’ cultural categories and rules 

  • Postmodernism took historical elements and fractured them using them in new ways

what ideology is this?

• Takes the position that there is no absolute truth or objective reality

• Radical reexamination of canonical modern assumptions about culture, identity, history or language

• A reaction to scientific efforts to explain reality objectively

• International style sought to create new rules for a new universal style 

• Reaction against canonical modernism/the international style-seeking no ‘rules’

postmodernism ideology

who is this?

• American architect, theorist

• Pritzker Prize recipient in 1991

• Coined the phrase ‘less is a bore’

• Primarily postmodern work 

• Author of complexity and contradiction in architecture

Robert Venturi

Who is this?

• South african raised, american architect, urban planner, and theorist

• Influential partner at Venturi Scott Brown and Associates architects 

• Co-Dean of UCLA Urban Planning, professor

Denise Scott Brown

Who wrote Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture

Robert Venturi, 1966

What building is this?

Vanna Venturi (Mothers) House 

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown 

Chestnut Hill, PA, 1962-1964

What building is this?

• Early example of postmodern architecture 

• Demonstration of theories on complexity and contradiction

• Broken gable roof, broken arch, lacking symmetry

• Conflicting forms and elements 

• Unconventional symmetry

• Deceptive entry in the facade

• Play with “the rules” and historical elements 

• Angled walls

• Uses space between the walls like ancient creek and roman temples  

• “Nowhere stair”

Vanna Venturi (Mother’s) House

What could ornamentation be in architecture?

It is intrinsically symbolic

What could architecture be?

a space and a symbol

semiotics

the study of signs. It is both theory and analysis of signs and signifying practices. It plays a crucial role in postmodern architecture

signifier

the form which the sign takes

signified

• the concept the sign represents 

  • Ex. the rose signies LOVE

duck

• refers to building that are designed as symbolic objects 

  • Explicitly and literally representing their function through their unique shape and design

decorated shed

• a functional box with ornament or signage applied independently of what is going on inside

  • Where systems of space and structure are directly at the service of program, and ornaments is applied independently

who is this?

• Japanese architect and professor

• Well known for his use of wood

• Projects in more than 30 countries

Kengo Kuma

what building is this?

M2 building 

Tokyo Japan

Kengo Kuma, 1991

what building is this?

• Example of postmodernism 

• Mix of fragments made using various architectural styles, materials…

• Designed for Mazda for showroom and research

• Iconic columns

• Influences of russian constructivism -radion antenna

• Massive ionic column at the dominant center

• Glass curtain wall topped by acoustical panels 

• Illusion of masonry construction 

• Built of reinforced concrete

M2 Building

who is this?

• American architect, professor

• He's from Colorado

• Known for postmodern work 

• Product design for target: wheelchair specific design and hospital design 

• Designed over 400 buildings worldwide

Michael Graves

what building is this?

Denver Public Library Addition

Denver, CO
Michael Graves, 1995

what building is this?

• Native American basket weaving

• Cubical facades inspired by classical 3-part division with the base, shaft, and cornice

• Concept of a village of different colors and shapes 

• Abstracted colonnades colorful exterior

• Distinctive drum

Denver Public Library

Who and when built the Denver Public Library?

Michael Graves, 1995

Who and when built the M2 Building?

Kengo Kuma, 1991

Who and when built the Vanna Venturi?

Robert Venturi and Denise Scott Brown, 1962-1964

high tech

• an architectural style popularized in the late 1960s and 1970s in Britain 

  • Merged as a response to the rapid advancements in technology and materials

  • Often glorified it technological systems and emphasized the functional purpose

What do these characteristics represent?

• Exposed structural elements 

• Integration of technology

• Lightweight, high strength materials 

• Machine like appearance

High tech

What building is this?

Pompidou Centre

Paris France

Renzo Paino and Richard Rogers 1971-1977

What building is this?

• Piano & Rogers won in competition and designed the building together 

• Example of High-Tech Architecture

• Building intended as a giant climbing frame 

• Designed to be non-elitist a classless building 

• Antithesis of existing cultural monuments 

• Museum and cultural center in paris 

• Exterior structure permits expanded of uninterrupted space on open floors 

• The designed to show the public how a building functions and color coded the different areas 

• Themes of skin and structure, technology, flexibility, movement

Pompidou Centre

Who and when was the Pompidou built?

Renzo Paino and Richard Rogers 1971-1977

Gerberette-

cast steel cantilever beams that act as a pivoting point

archigram

• an avant-garde architectural group formed in 1961 in London, England

  • Drew inspiration from technology created hypothetical, visionary + futuristic projects

  • Archigram produced drawings, collages, and prospective architectural visions

  • Developed prospective pneumatic, helium floating and walking structures

  • Convergence of technology and humans

  • Utopian + opportunistic futures with technology…

  • …

  • Archigram explored nomadic architecture and embryonic dwellings for 1-2 individuals

cushicle

• designed as a fully serviced nomad unit 

  • Enables a person to carry a complete environment on his back 

  • Carries food, water supply, radio, miniature projection television and heating apparatus

  • “Armature” or “spinal” systems forms the chassis and support for the appliances and other apparatus

what is this?

Cushicle

Mike Webb, Archigram 

Prospective Project 1967

what building is this?

Walking city

Prospective Project Archigram

Ron Herron, 1964

what building is this?

• A city that can move anywhere in the world 

• Forty-story anthropomorphic buildings with telescoping legs to move across the landscape

• Proposed a nomadic lifestyle over fixed cities

• Pushed the idea of mobility in architecture, buildings that could move

Walking City

megastructure

a large structure, often envisioned as a city or urban form within a single or interconnected network

what building is this?

Plug-In-City 

Archigram , 1964

what building is this?

• Sprawling megastructures

• Giantskeletla frames with prefabricated removable dwelling units

• Futuristic cities based on infrastructure with plug-in modules 

• ….

• ….

Plug-In City

Who is this?

• British italian architect

• Pritzker prize winner 2007

• Partner at Rogers Stirk Harbour + partners

Richard Rogers

Who is this?

• Italian architect 

• Pritzker Prize winner in 1998

• Renzo Piano Building Workshop

Renzo Piano