Arch 211: Architecture History II Final Key Terms

Mullion

Slender vertical bars that divide windows, doors, or screens, used for structural support or aesthetic design. (eg. Lever House)

Structural expressionism

(aka "high-tech architecture") 1970s modernist architectural style that emphasizes the visibility and integration of a building's structural and mechanical systems as key design elements. (eg. TWA Flight Center)

Red-lining

The discriminatory practice in which financial services are withheld from neighborhoods with significant populations of racial and ethnic minorities.

Urban renewal

Program in which cities identify blighted inner-city neighborhoods, acquire the properties from private members (eminent domain), relocate the residents and clear the site, build new roads and utilities, and turn the land over to private developers.

Ranch house

A single-story house typically characterized by a low-pitched roof, open floor plan, and a long, horizontal profile, often with an L or U-shaped design. The style popularized among booming post-war middle class America (ca. 1940s-1970s). Stylistically it as a fusion between modernist and classical typologies. (eg. Levittown)

Atrium

A large open-air/skylit central space, often located at the heart of a building that serves as a connection point, natural lighting, and ventilation. The concept originated in Roman architecture, where it was a central courtyard in a house. (eg. Hyatt Regency Hotel)

Served and servant space

Served spaces: primary areas for habitation (eg. living rooms and bedrooms); servant spaces: secondary, utilitarian areas that support the served spaces (eg. kitchens, bathrooms, circulation).

Team 10

A group of architects founded by Jaap Bakema, Aldo van Eyck, Alison and Peter Smithson, and Georges Candilis who assembled starting in July 1953 at the 9th Congress of the International Congresses of Modern Architecture. They created a schism within CIAM by challenging its doctrinaire approach to urbanism: they aimed to create spaces that fostered individual and collective identities, rather than imposing a rigid, utopian vision.

Mat-building

By Alison Smithson; A type of low-rise, high-density building characterized by a highly interwoven structure and a focus on collective functions and adaptable space. It has two approaches: web and module.

Weathering steel (COR-TEN steel)

A high-strength, low-alloy steel that forms an oxide coating when exposed to rain or moisture in the atmosphere, which adheres firmly to the base metal and protects it from further corrosion/rust. It can be installed as demountable panels, beneficial for customization of walls and expansion. However, it is susceptible to leaks.

Tropical architecture

The building design that focuses and responds to the climatic conditions of the tropics. Based off of studies of West African building methods, it focuses on climate management by passive cooling and ventilation, translated into industrial materials (eg. concrete) and modernist style.

Brutalism

Architectural style characterized by its use of exposed concrete and raw materials, simple geometric forms, and a utilitarian aesthetic.

Bush-hammered concrete

The use of impact tools to remove mortar and fracture aggregate at an exposed concrete surface to create texture. (eg. Yale School of Architecture)

Raumplan

By Adolf Loos; designing a building in section, with an emphasis on lines of sight, through spaces, accessibility, and the overal 3D experience of the space. (eg. Yale School of Architecture)

Homesteading

Provided by the federal Homestead Act of 1862, an area of public land in the West (usually 160 acres) granted to any US citizen willing to settle on and farm the land for at least five years.

Geodesic dome

By Buckminster Fuller; a thin-shell structure approximating a spherical surface out of rigid triangular elements that distributes stress. The spherical shape has the greatest volume per surface area, minimizing the material needed and making it easy to mass produce and pre-fabricate out of light-weight materials.

Space frame

A 3D structural framework designed to behave as an integral unit and to withstand loads applied at any point. (eg. Hall of Industry & Hall of Nations)

Megastructure

Permanent, heavy-duty structures/complex of buildings that support a secondary infrastructure. (eg. A Plan for Tokyo)

Metabolism

'Regeneration' or 'renewal;' the organic process of change.

High-Tech

Buildings that expose and celebrate its structure, and incorporate elements of high tech industry and technology into its design.

Dérive

'Drift;' to wake from the 'spectacle' using an experimental technique linked to the conditions of urban society in which one hastily passes through varied environments.

Postmodernism

Post-World War II intellectual movement and cultural attitude focusing on cultural pluralism / multiplicity of narratives, and release from the confines and ideology of Western high culture by accepting that history occurred and moving forward.

Decorated shed

Venturi's term for a building where a generic, functional structure (the "shed") is adorned with signs, symbols, or other decorative elements to communicate its function or identity.

The duck

A building where the overall form or shape directly represents its function or purpose.

Bricolage

Using the available materials to create something new or build upon existing structures.

Palimpsest

A manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.

Type

A group of buildings based on similar function paired with a certain repeated shape (eg. gym, school, etc)

New Urbanism

A movement in urban planning to promote mixed use commercial and residential development and pedestrian friendly, community orientated cities. It is a reaction to the sprawling, automobile centered cities of the mid twentieth century.

Autonomous art/architecture

Art/architecture's ability to exist as a unique, self-referential art form, independent from traditional functional or social constraints.

Deconstructivism

A postmodern style (ca. 1980-1990s) characterized by a deliberate rejection of traditional architectural norms and an embrace of fragmentation, asymmetry, and complex, distorted forms. It is a combination of soviet constructivism and literary deconstruction of texts.

Bilbao effect

A phenomenon of significant economic and cultural revitalization a city can experience after undertaking a large-scale, iconic architectural project, often a museum or cultural landmark.

Topology

The study of surface geometries and their transformations.

Event

The unpredictable human interactions created by the design of certain spaces.

Program

The fundamental purpose, functions, and spatial organization of a building which can be combined to create unpredictable, delirious events.

Cordwood masonry

A natural building method in which short logs are piled crosswise to build a wall, using mortar or cob to permanently secure them.

Shotcrete

Concrete or mortar conveyed through a hose and pneumatically projected at high velocity onto a surface.