Lecture #25: Post-World War II Modern Architecture: Global Patterns and Masters

The Global Spread and Institutionalization of Post-War Modernism

• After World War II, modernism spread worldwide, effectively sweeping away older traditions.

• While modernism emerged as a radical movement in the $1920s$ and $1930s$, it became the "establishment" after the war and was effectively institutionalized.

• Modernist ideas were adapted to local circumstances, a trend that had already begun in the $1930s$.

• Although the Bauhaus no longer existed as a physical school, its educational methods became the definitive model for architecture schools across the United States for at least $30$, $35$, or $40$ years.

• The post-war period was not characterized by a wealth of new theories; instead, it was a time of working out variations and adaptations of established theoretical approaches to new programs.

Le Corbusier: Evolution and the Transition to Materiality

• Le Corbusier’s work began to change in the $1930s$, moving away from the "International Style" characterized by white-painted concrete and smooth surfaces (as seen at the Wiesenhof Siedling in Stuttgart).

• The Pavilion Suisse ($1930s$) at the City University in Paris serves as an early example of this shift:

  • It is a residence hall for Swiss students.

  • It features metal infill windows and cast-in-place concrete construction raised on supports.

  • It incorporates stone and other materials that provide texture, signaling a departure from the smooth, "timeless" look of his earlier houses.

The Unit d'Habitation in Marseille ($1947$ – $1952$)

• This project marked Le Corbusier's first opportunity to design a large-scale housing estate, a program he had not been able to realize in France during the $1920s$ or $1930s$.

• Characteristics of the building:

  • It is a massive, rectangular block raised off the ground on large concrete piers.

  • The roof serves as a usable terrace, including a children's playground.

  • The building is not air-conditioned, despite being located in the warm South of France. To compensate, Le Corbusier developed a specific cross-section for the units.

• The Interior Section and Skip-Stop System:

  • A central corridor runs down the middle of the building.

  • Large apartment units wrap over or under this corridor to allow for through-ventilation, enabling wind to blow from one side of the building to the other.

  • Many units are double-height near the exterior wall.

  • The "skip-stop" elevator system stops only on floors with corridors, rather than every floor.

  • Some smaller, one-sided flats exist approximately halfway up the building.

• Materiality and "Beton Brut":

  • The building is made of cast-in-place concrete that is left rough intentionally.

  • The "board forms" used to cast the concrete leave a pattern of lines and textures on the surface.

  • This approach is known as "Beton Brut" ($\text{ brut}$, meaning raw or rough-formed concrete).

  • This style became a major influence on the movement known as Brutalism, characterized by heavy, substantial concrete forms.

Religious and Academic Works by Le Corbusier

• Chapel of Notre Dame du Haut (Ronchamp):

  • Located near Belfort in Central France, this is a pilgrimage chapel dedicated to Our Lady (Mary).

  • It is an intuitive, sculptural design that departs from rational, functionalist systems.

  • Le Corbusier viewed religion as a mystery accepted by faith rather than a rational construct, making mystical design sources appropriate.

  • The building features a small interior chapel and an outdoor pulpit and altar for large feast-day crowds on the hillside.

  • A statue of Mary is placed in a window that is visible from both the interior and the exterior.

  • The walls are thick and white with a textured finish, while the roof is a sculptural, gray concrete mass that appears to float above the walls.

  • Stained glass windows of varying depths capture light in a manner influenced by French medieval traditions (such as Chartres).

• Monastery of La Tourette (Eveux, near Lyon):

  • Le Corbusier utilized a historical building type but executed it in a modern way.

  • The building is U-shaped, wrapping around a central courtyard, with the church block forming the final side.

  • It includes individual monk cells (designed for the vow of poverty with just a bed, table, and lamp) on the top two floors, decorated with small openings.

  • The lower levels house shared facilities, a chapter house, and a refectory.

  • It features multiple altars for priests to perform daily mass separately from the main public church.

• Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts (Harvard University):

  • This is Le Corbusier’s only building in the United States.

  • It features cast-in-place concrete with rectilinear forms on top of curved elements.

  • A distinctive ramp passes through the center of the building, connecting two streets across the block.

Hans Scharoun and the Berlin Philharmonic ($1956$ – $1963$)

• Hans Scharoun was a member of an expressionist group around $1920$ and maintained an interest in sculptural forms throughout his career.

• The Berlin Philharmonic concert hall features a dynamic, metal-clad (yellow-orange) sculptural design.

• Political Context:

  • Situated in West Berlin during the Cold War, the building was intended to represent creative freedom in the West compared to the perceived authoritarianism of East Berlin.

• Acoustic and Spatial Design:

  • The audience is arranged "in the round," surrounding the orchestra rather than sitting in front of a proscenium stage.

  • The foyer/lobby area is underneath the sloping floor of the auditorium, making visitors feel the mass of the hall above them.

Juan O'Gorman and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM)

• Juan O'Gorman transition from International Style (like the houses for Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo) to a style that blended modernism with Mexican identity.

• The University Library at UNAM (Mexico City):

  • It features a low horizontal volume for reading rooms and services and a massive vertical tower for books.

  • The book tower has almost no windows to protect paper from ultraviolet ($\text{UV}$) light.

  • The entire surface of the tower is covered in mosaics made of ceramic tiles that will not fade.

  • The mosaics depict Mexican history, the Mexican revolution, and the future (including representations of atomic power).

  • The base of the building uses stonework and sculpture that abstractly reflects the pre-Columbian and Aztec past.

Frank Lloyd Wright: The Guggenheim Museum ($1959$)

• Wright designed nearly $40\%$ of his total career output in the last $14$ years of his life.

• The Guggenheim in New York City was commissioned to house a specific collection of "non-objective art" (including works by Kandinsky).

• Architectural Form:

  • The building is an idiosyncratic, spiral cone (tapered, not a cylinder).

  • Because the radius changes at every foot of ascent, construction was incredibly difficult and required custom formwork.

  • Wright had experimented with spiral forms as early as the late $1920s$ for parking garage projects in Maryland.

• Visitor Experience:

  • The intent was for visitors to take an elevator to the top and walk down the continuous spiral ramp while viewing the art.

  • The interior creates a controlled "interior landscape" with a large central atrium topped by a glass dome, focusing the visitor solely on the art and the space rather than the city outside.

Eero Saarinen: Structural Expressionism

• Eero Saarinen (son of Eliel Saarinen) was educated at Cranbrook and Yale before starting his own practice.

• Gateway Arch (Saint Louis, $1947$ competition):

  • A memorial for the Louisiana Purchase under Thomas Jefferson, serving as a symbolic gateway to the West.

  • It is a stainless steel parabola with an elevator system inside that takes visitors to a viewing area at the top.

• Dulles International Airport (Virginia):

  • Designed as the international gateway to Washington D.C.

  • The structure features large concrete "hooks" or pylons that lean outward to resist the inward forces of the roof.

  • The roof is a massive concrete sheet slung between these hooks using heavy steel cables, functioning like a suspension bridge.

  • This design provided a clear-span interior, originally intended to accommodate "lounges on wheels" that met airplanes on the tarmac.

Alvar Aalto: Later Works and Human-Centric Design

• Baker House (MIT, Cambridge):

  • A dormitory featuring a curved form that allows all rooms to view the Charles River.

  • It uses textured brick and features a highly expressive exterior staircase on the backside.

• Syntsalo Town Hall (Finland):

  • A small-town center wrapping around an elevated interior courtyard (patio).

  • It includes shops at the street level, a library, city offices, and council chambers.

  • Aalto emphasized tactile materials; for example, handrails are made of wood because metal is cold to the touch.

  • The council chamber features expressive wooden roof trusses that resemble hands with fingers.

• Mount Angel Abbey Library (Oregon):

  • Located about one hour south of Portland, this library is built into a hillside.

  • From the campus green, the building appears as a single story to respect the existing collegiate hierarchy and the central chapel.

  • Structurally, it steps down two additional levels on the hill.

  • The interior features a fan-shaped arrangement of book stacks.

  • The librarian’s desk is a central, lozenge-shaped station allowing for horizontal and diagonal views of the book levels and students below.

  • Skylights provide natural light that filters down through a central opening in the floor.

Jrn Utzon and the Sydney Opera House

• The project began with an international competition in $1955$ with $233$ entries from $32$ countries; Utzon was announced as the winner in $1957$.

• The building is located on a prominent point in Sydney Harbor with water on three sides.

• Design and Construction:

  • The roof consists of pre-cast concrete sections (often called "shells" or "sails"), all derived from the geometry of the same sphere.

  • The shells are supported by concrete ribs and were one of the first structures to rely on sophisticated computer analysis for realization.

  • The engineering firm Arup ($\text{AARP}$) was responsible for the structural solutions.

• Internal Organization:

  • The two largest shell groups house the Concert Hall and the Opera Theater.

  • Lobbies are located on the water side, while stages and service areas are on the land side.

  • Utzon eventually resigned from the project following disagreements with the government sponsoring agency over the interior finishing.