Chicago pt. 2

·       The Skeleton System

·        Many of the inventions were introduced not by architects but engineers:

·        James Bogardus was a sort of inventor who travelled a lot, had experience of the Crystal Palace and came back to the USA starting to work on a SKELETON SYSTEM based on the idea of using cast iron to realize a skeleton frame. This invention would be the core of the transformation of American architecture and economy.

·        Accidental Fires and flames were often a problem in American cities. The solution was to build partially fireproof buildings employing iron, that resists the fire for a while before losing permanently its technological properties. The benefit is that the building doesn't immediately collapse, so it is considered “partially fireproof”.

·        The early typologies employing the skeleton frame had solved some recurring problems in the building production of the time, mainly fireproofing and fabrication on site.

·        The structures were rapidly assembled on site starting from pre-casted elements. On the inside, the consequence of the new constructive method is that the floors are open: they are isotropic spaces hosting different activities without any change in the actual architectural form.

·        However, the industrial production of buildings gave rise to some other problems, linked to the distinction and hierarchization of the spaces.

·        In such a repetitive scheme, is it possible to distinguish a piano Nobile?

·        The upper floors are automatically better in quality according to the insulation from the crowded ground floor.

·        Then, how to hierarchize such a construction?

·        Harper & Brother Building – J. Bogardus 1854

·        It is a multifunctional building having within the same perimeter different activities.

·        From the planimetry we notice the regular skeleton structure, regardless the position of the tables.

·        - The facade is in cast iron: the relationship windows/columns reduces to the minimum with the masonry almost disappearing.

·        - The inside hosts different activities related to the production of newspapers.

·        - The frame is visible, it is much skinnier and decorated and helps sustaining the outer bold structure.

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·        The internal columns and spans can be different, but they are always recognisable, never hidden by walls in order to create open floors.

·        The structural mechanism is made of columns, capitals and horizontal beams holding a secondary beam attached to the ceiling.

·        The invention of the iron frame triggered the architects.

·        The skeleton structure changes the idea of frame structure of the Crystal palace, as it is meant to be permanent and host industrial activities. It is a whole new language of frame structure, with a new characterization.

·        The iron structure is often paired with elements from the baroque or renaissance with decorative purpose on the facade, repeated on each floor respecting the span of the frame.

·       The Elevator

·        Another element of innovation introduced in these years is the elevator. Its inventor, Elisha Otis, thought about a platform that could quickly connect different floors. This idea opened to new possibilities in terms of dimensions of the building and quality of the interiors: in such agglomerations of spaces, developing more in height than in width, the quality of the upper floors is strategical. These are indeed the most valuable spaces.

·        The elevator radically changed the proportions of architecture and transformed the urban economy in sellable value. The buildings can now reach higher levels, exploiting the vertical dimension.

·        Before the introduction of the lift system, the skeleton system was already providing the solution to any kind of technical and statical problems in tall buildings: the only limitation was given by the impossibility of reaching the higher levels, not by static issues.

·        The idea of the new dimensions for modern architecture was happily welcomed by engineers and owners, but not by architects. Indeed, the engineers could easily accommodate many function inside a single building made of a simple and repetitive structure, and the owner was happy too, as he had more useful space inside the property.

·        However, the architect needed to deal with a huge number of floors, struggling with the question of how to control the new vertical dimension. The attempts were numerous, but the architects mainly ended up reproducing the same module on the different floors.

·        Tribune Building – Richard Morris Hunt, New York, 1875

·        The tower in the middle shows some Venetian/Turkish influences, but it doesn't serve just for aesthetic, but also to host the vertical connection.

·        However, the façade appears as a sort of architectural pastiche.

·        The American architects start to reflect on the new dimension and on the new image of the building, that is also the image of the new economy. Therefore, architecture needs a justification also from the aesthetical point of view.

·        A very influential figure in this sense was Henry Hobson Richardson, who started to work on the new dimension and on the idea of giving a theme to the palaces of urban economy.

·        Marshall Field Store - Henry Hobson Richardson, Chicago 1885-87

·        The Marshall Field Store is 6 storeys high, and it is covered in Rustico Stone without any decorative element. He was inspired by the military architectures of the eastern coast that were made of stone, covering the entire construction without any further stylistic message but material.

·        Another influence was the tradition of the palaces in Florence and Rome from the Renaissance (Strozzi, Medici…).

·        Richardson transformed the idea of the standardized architecture in a series of horizontal and vertical segments. In general, the architecture doesn't explicitly show the structure.

·        Inside there was an enormous commercial area with open floors, meant to be a continuity of the urban space, with shops, inside.

·       The urban development of Chicago: the Chicago Great Fire and the Reinforced Concrete

·        Another fundamental element to understand the development of the city is the Chicago Great fire, happened in 1871. The cataclysm destroyed all the balloon frames of the city, that had to be reconstructed in a short amount of time.

·        The fire forbidden the use of timber during the reconstruction.

·        The central part of Chicago is called Loop: it faces the Michigan from one side, it is closed on other two by a river and on the fourth has other constructions.

·        The new skyscrapers arose in this central area and took advantage of a new technological invention: the modular architecture reached further perfectionism as a result of the invention of reinforced concrete.

·        The fundamental invention was promoted by Le Baron Jenney, who thought about a construction method in which the steel structure is completely covered in concrete.

·        The whole building develops from the steel structure that doesn't have walls: it is the first time talking about free façade, where outer walls and the windows are not structural, they don't have any function but closing and decorating. It sets the roots for the modern architecture, based on these principles.

·       The matter of the ornament

·        First Leiter Building – William Le Baron Jenney, Chicago, 1879

·        The First Leiter Building reflects the big shift of the Chicago school: the windows are inserted into a frame and are tripartite just to make the window easier to be opened.

·        There are small decorative columns and the architecture proceeds in the same way floor after floor.

·        It is a flexible architecture that can reach new dimensions in vertical, rather than horizontal. Everything is played on repetition.

·        The modular solution is anyways allowing heterogeneity among the architectural production.

·        The light was a crucial topic: the windows become a fundamental element to be considered in the design.

·        When talking about architecture, the perception of a building and its details changes depending on the speed we walk the city. This topic became the new focus of the architects, and the new criterion to use in order to determine where to place decoration.

·        We are in 1870s, when the discussion about decoration has been already abandoned both in USA and Europe: the secular architectural tradition based on decoration doesn't really affect the idea that with the new techniques what we build can be radically different from the past.

·        However, the matter of the ornament soon became the most largely debated during this period of revolution in the history of architecture. What is the meaning of decorating such constructions? Does the new dimension have to cause a complete break from the past?

·        Architecture doesn't exist without ornament. Therefore, even in the process of elimination, decoration continues to be an important topic. The architecture of Mies Van Der Rohe is representative in this sense. He reduces decoration to the minimum, however there is an enormous quantity of decoration in his production and the modern architecture in general, of course translated into modern terms.