L2: Early Modern Architecture

Louis Sullivan

“Form follows function.”

Cass Gilbert

• One the first “celebrity” American Architects

• Pioneered cladding a steel frame that became a model for skyscrapers

• He believed architecture should reflect historic traditions and the established social order

• He was also well-known for his design of public and government buildings in the US

Cass Gilbert

• Most famous for Woolworth Building (1912) - Gothic skyscraper; It was the tallest building in the world from 1939 to 1929

Woolworth Building

• Cass Gilbert’s Most famous building (1912)

• Gothic skyscraper; It was the tallest building in the world from 1939 to 1929

Auguste Perret

• Was a student at École des Beaux-Arts

• Although his early work was Nationalist Romantic Style and Art Nouveau, his main interest was the structure of buildings and the use of new materials, such as concrete

Louis Sullivan

• Entered MIT at 16

• Influential architect of the Chicago School

• Worked with William Le Baron Jenney

• Rejected borrowing classical Greek and Roman Elements

• He’s known for designing building which like a Column has a Base, Shaft, Capital (Ground floor shops, Offices, Attic)

• an inspiration to the Chicago group of architects who have come to be known as the Prairie School

Louis Sullivan

• Called the “Father of Modernism”

Dankmar Adler

• Sullivan Partnered with ______

• established the firm ___ and Sullivan

Louis Sullivan

• Mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright

Guaranty Building

• made by Alder and Sullivan

• Made use of the fireproof steel frame

  • Optimum development (more vertical space)

  • Multi-Storey rentable space

Auditorium Building

• Sullivan and Adler became well-known for this work in Chicago

Louis Sullivan

“It is the nature of our task that in seeking the form we will find the function”

Louis Sullivan

• He used natural ornaments as a metaphor for a democratic society

• Strongly advocated for the development of uniquely American architectural forms

Adolf Loos

“ornament is a crime”

Adolf Loos

• Influenced by Sullivan + Chicago School

• Influential European theorist and a polemicist of modern architecture.

• Developed the “Raumplan” (lit. spatial plan) method of arranging interior spaces

Raumplan

• Developed by Adolf Loos

• (lit. spatial plan) method of arranging interior spaces

Adolf Loos

• Time + talent of craftsmen should not be wasted on making ornaments

• Objects may one day become obsolete (and thus do not need adornment)

Frank Lloyd Wright

“We have primarily the new ideal of a building as organic. A building should be as dignified as a tree in the midst of nature.”

Froebel Gifts

• Are educational play materials for young children, originally designed by Friedrich Frobel

• The blocks in the set were geometrically shaped and could be assembled in various combinations to form two- and three-dimensional compositions

Organic Architecture

• Harmony between human habitation and the natural world.

• Site-sympathetic design approaches

• Buildings, furnishings, and surroundings become part of a unified, interrelated composition.

Solomon R. Gugenheim Museum

• an organically designed piece of architecture in an urban setting.

• the museum buidling’s design was controversial when it was completed but praised later on.

• A 6 store helical ramp extends along the perimeter of the structure

• The concept was that of an inverted ziggurat.

• The helical ramp was said to be inspired by Giuseppe Momo’s helical staircase in the Vatican Museums

Alvar Aalto

• Finnish architect and designer

• Believed painting and sculpture as "branches of the tree whose trunk is architecture.”

Alvar Aalto

His career is characterized by a concern for design as Gesamtkunstwerk—a total work of art (exterior and interior have to be unified)

Gesamtkunstwerk

Alvar Alto’s career is characterized by a concern for design as ___________ —a total work of art (exterior and interior have to be unified)

Alvar Aalto

• Mid-century modern (furniture)

  • He pioneered bent plywood furniture

• He was fond of curves

Alvar Aalto

• His Design Approach: the building itself a contributor to the healing process. He liked to call the building a "medical instrument”

Finlandia Hall

• designed by Alvar Aalto

• monumental congress and event venue in Helsinki

• The interior design of the building is a tribute to the principle of the Gesamtkunstwerk, that is, the total work of art. The design of each lamp, piece of furniture, panel, flooring material and decorative board is a reflection of Aalto's maturity