Midterm: Text

Vers Une Architecture "Towards Architecture"— ca. 1920, Le Corbusier

SIGNIFICANCE: A book on the topic of "Architecture or revolution?" meaning that a revolution in architecture was needed in order to avoid a bloody revolution. DESIGN: This architect's writing sounds like italian futurism, translated into French language and sensibility. Writes about speed, power, urbanism. ARCHITECT: Educated in an arts and craft way, to be a watch engraver. His buildings were always intended to fit into an idealized city. His designed cities and buildings are integrated. "The house is a machine for living." The Einstein of architecture, affecting everyone who worked in architecture at that time. Body of work is varied, large number of sites, wrote and published extensively, was also involved in designing decorative arts and furniture. Synthesized unlikely things into genuinely remarkable new ways of building. His work is often subtle, and loaded with referential ideas, coded meaning. Rationalist, and yet also romanticist. Wrote "Towards Architecture." Founded CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne), gathering of international designers. Designing cities for speed, success, industry. Formed from art + the machine, inspired by beauty of functional machines, beauty of functional expression. He was one of those artist who led a return to order, post-WWI intended to be nationalistic.

Maison de Peuple— Brussels, Belgium, ca 1880, Victor Horta

SIGNIFICANCE: A large project for the architect, and expressive of the Art Nouveau. It synthesizes structuralism and was inspired by functional buildings. It elevated the working class people of Brussels; a palace that wasn't to be a palace but a house whose luxury feature would be the light and air. DESIGN: Functioned as headquarters for the Belgian Socialist Party, of which the architect was a member. Demonstrated that he did not exclusively design for the upper classes. Not just a club house, but a multi-purpose structure; butchers, patisserie, coffee shop, game room, ticket office, theater, lecture hall, meeting rooms; all things that can be rented out to make money. It's design embraced the odd footprint of the site and chaotic mix of uses. It's asymmetry stands in opposition to traditional, beaux arts symmetry. All the unique, decorative elements were also functional. Balconies suspended from trusses, columns containing heating pipes, corrugated ceilings to reduce sound reverberations. ARCHITECT: Born in 1861, studied art and worked for an artist in Paris, enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, became a draughtsman for an neoclassicist architect. Most creative for a ten-year period, from approximately 1890-1901.

Werkbund Pavilion— Cologne, Germany, ca. 1910, Walter Gropius and Meyer

SIGNIFICANCE: A model factory for an exhibition by a German industrial design school, representative of the school itself. DESIGN: For one façade of their "modern machine factory," the architects combined massive brickwork with a long horizontal expanse of open glass sheathing, the latter most effectively used to encase the exterior spiral staircases at the corners. The pavilions at either end have flat overhanging roofs derived from Frank Lloyd Wright, whose work was known in Europe after 1910, and the entire building reveals the elegant and disciplined design that became a prototype for many subsequent modern buildings.The Werkbund became an important element in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus school of design. Its initial purpose was to establish a partnership of product manufacturers with design professionals to improve the competitiveness of German companies in global markets. ARCHITECT: 3rd director of the Bauhaus, moved the school out of Weimar to Dessau before WWII, and his partner.

Rusakov Workers' Club— Moscow, USSR, ca. 1930, Konstantin Melnikov

SIGNIFICANCE: A notable example of constructivist architecture, that elevated the role of blue collar workers. DESIGN: The club is built on a fan-shaped plan, with three cantilevered concrete seating areas rising above the base. Each of these volumes can be used as a separate auditorium, and combined they result in a capacity of over 1,000 people. At the rear of the building are more conventional offices. The only visible materials used in its construction are concrete, brick and glass. The function of the building is to some extent expressed in the exterior. ARCHITECT: Although associated with the Constructivists, he was an independent artist, not bound by the rules of a particular style or artistic group.

Contemporary City for 3 Million Inhabitants— ca. 1920, Le Corbusier

SIGNIFICANCE: A prolific architect's early design demonstrating his ideas for urban design and planned cities. He believed that his new, modern architectural forms would provide an organizational solution that would raise the quality of life for the working classes. DESIGN: a group of sixty-story cruciform skyscrapers built on steel frames and encased in curtain walls of glass. The skyscrapers housed both offices and the flats of the most wealthy inhabitants. These skyscrapers were set within large, rectangular park-like green spaces. A city that does not grow organically but is planned by a god-like figure with a bird's-eye view. Offered his design to the people. Careful zoning, attention to details. Large population brought into close contact with nature but also organized in the more practical efficient way possible. Business/industry go it the center. Better the lives of the masses. Like a watch, a machine, not for serendipity. Central airport, w/ planes among the skyscrapers. As antidote to the industrial 19th century city, a place that has clean air, natural light, and organization. ARCHITECT: Educated in an arts and craft way, to be a watch engraver. His buildings were always intended to fit into an idealized city. His designed cities and buildings are integrated. "The house is a machine for living." The Einstein of architecture, affecting everyone who worked in architecture at that time. Body of work is varied, large number of sites, wrote and published extensively, was also involved in designing decorative arts and furniture. Synthesized unlikely things into genuinely remarkable new ways of building. His work is often subtle, and loaded with referential ideas, coded meaning. Rationalist, and yet also romanticist. Wrote "Towards Architecture." Founded CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne), gathering of international designers. Designing cities for speed, success, industry. Formed from art + the machine, inspired by beauty of functional machines, beauty of functional expression. He was one of those artist who led a return to order, post-WWI intended to be nationalistic.

Garage at 51 rue de Ponthieu— Paris, France, ca. 1900, Auguste Perret

SIGNIFICANCE: A radical experiment with concrete construction, with a simplified cubic structure expressing the interior, large bays of windows and a lack of decoration, which resembled the later International Style. DESIGN: Elevated automobiles to the level of french cathedrals like Notre Dame. Exposed concrete treated with white paint. Despite the simple open plan and function (parking garage), the architect brought elegance to the outside by working with the windows and concrete structure in rhythmic patterns. The architect seems to have concluded that the best form for concrete is rectangular, since it is the easiest to cast. His works resemble timber frame because the structural systems are rectangular. ARCHITECT: Sought a formal discipline in the constraints and potential of new construction systems such as reinforced concrete, in search of lasting quality. His ideas stemmed from Viollet-le-Duc; both were inspired by the 'language' and traditions of architectural, naval, mechanical engineers who designed for function, without historical influence. 'Truth to structure and truth to the program' would be the best antidote to academic revivalism and personal whimsy.

Dodge House— Hollywood, California, ca. 1910, Irving Gill

SIGNIFICANCE: A rare example of the early manifestations of the International Style, and also one of the great monuments of the early experimental architecture of reinforced concrete. DESIGN: It is without ornament, only natural vines. The designer believed beauty should be organic and that no amount of ornament can redeem a badly designed structure. There is not even an overhanging roof to break the severity of the exterior. ARCHITECT: A contemporary of Loos and Frank Lloyd Wright. Born in NYC ca. 1870, worked in San Diego and Los Angeles. Son of a builder. Went into architecture on a path like Wright's. Both worked for Silsby, briefly, then worked with Adler and Sullivan. May have overlapped. Moved out to CA for a climate that could support his poor health. Thought to be on the fringe at that time, progressive, free of tradition. Easterners would go out to CA to start their lives over. Advocated for intelligent, modern use of the machine, design reform, simplicity. His houses had built-in vacuum systems, an example of reigning in the machine for better living. An early adopter of reinforced concrete that came into use at the end of the 1800s and is used in CA early on. His tilt-slab system is still in use today.

Citta Nuova— ca 1910, Antonio Sant Elia

SIGNIFICANCE: A series of designs that were conceived as symbolic of a new age; part of the only exhibition put on by the Italian Futurists. Influneced many modern designers that followed. DESIGN: No specs, no materials, no plans, just inspiring conceptual drawings. Power stations, train stations, soaring transport systems, colossal city as machine, powerful/raw industrial city. No reference to history or nature (no trees or clouds or even people). His extremely influential designs featured vast monolithic skyscraper buildings with terraces, bridges and aerial walkways that embodied the sheer excitement of modern architecture and technology. Even in this excitement for technology and modernity, Looks like a crazy project that never came to be, but also it is the world we now live in. Austere, tall buildings with no reference to history. ARCHITECT: Inspired by sources such as King's Dream of New York. A key member of the futurists.

Brick Villa— ca. 1920, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

SIGNIFICANCE: Although it was never built, this design reflects aesthetic interests of the time, Cubist ideas about space, and is a work of art in its own right, reminiscent of De Stijl paintings.The drawings circulated widely throughout Europe at modernist exhibitions and, later, in the United States. DESIGN: A flowing asymmetrical architecture of freestanding planes, pinwheeling out, cubic forms, glass walls, open planning, free plan to an extreme, play of solids and voids. In the architect's words: it abandoned the usual concept of enclosed rooms and striven for a series of spatial effects rather than a row of individual rooms. The wall loses its enclosing character and serves only to articulate the house organism. ARCHITECT: Son of stone mason, worked for Peter Behrens, the opened his own practice. Adopted a Dutch term to change his name: "of Rohe." 3rd leader of the Bauhaus. His drawings are quite abstract, suggesting architecture but almost no form.

Wainwright Building— St. Louis, Missouri, ca. 1900, Adler and Sullivan

SIGNIFICANCE: Among the first skyscrapers in the world, and a a highly influential prototype of the modern office building. Shows the architect's search to identify how qualities abstracted from tradition might best serve the the forms suggested inherently by new construction techniques. DESIGN: Built on spec to be rented out by the "----" Company. Modeled on classical architecture, especially the imitation of a tripartite column. The base contained retail stores that required wide glazed openings; applied, leafy ornament made the supporting piers read as pillars. Above it the semi-public nature of offices up a single flight of stairs are expressed as broad windows in the curtain wall. A cornice separates the second floor from the grid of identical windows of the screen wall. The building's windows and horizontals were inset slightly behind columns and piers, as part of a vertical emphasis. Applied ornament includes the formalized yet naturalistic celery-leaf foliage typical of the designer. ARCHITECT: (two partners). The main designer was influenced by the ideas of Viollet-le-Duc, and encountered the same challenges that Viollet-le-Duc found in trying to apply those ideas in practice. he tried to apply Viollet-le-Duc's concept of function producing the form, but ran up against the reality that functions could take many different forms, especially in a large building where the functional spaces could have many different arrangements. Sullivan mastered the skyscraper: he mimicked tripartite classical columns by creating tall buildings that had three parts; base, shaft, and capital. He found that "function and structure could not on their won generate an adequate form, without intervention of highly abstracted historical or natural examples. All these engineer/architects (Roebling, Viollet-le-Duc, Sullivan) learned that "form follows function" is too simple. Function can take many forms, so it is still up to the designer to complete the historical and poetic elements or architecture. Instead of saying that there would be no abstraction from history, they began to decide which abstracted forms work well, e.g. tripartite skyscrapers.

Larkin Building— Buffalo, New York, ca. 1900, Frank Lloyd Wright

SIGNIFICANCE: An architect known for residential work transferred his ideas to a large commercial project. DESIGN: The five story dark red brick building used pink tinted mortar and utilized steel frame construction. It was noted for many innovations, including air conditioning, stained glass windows, built-in desk furniture, and suspended toilet bowls. Though this was an office building, it still caught the essence of Frank Lloyd Wright's type of architecture. In space the building was conceived of as facing inward, with a glass-roofed central hall rising the entire height and with horizontal office floors woven around it. The exterior is challenging and rather forbidding, but it tells us that something is contained inside. Entrance to it must be sought. ARCHITECT: Leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States. His creative period spanned more than 70 years. His work includes original and innovative examples of many building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. He designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wrote 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe.

Secession Building— Vienna, Austria, ca 1900, Josef Maria Olbrich

SIGNIFICANCE: An architectural manifesto for a group of rebel artists from the long-established fine art institution in Vienna, who created a regional expression of the Art Nouveau. This regional interpretation generally did not include structural rationalism. DESIGN: An exhibition hall with the motto of the artist' movement written above the entrance of the pavilion "Ver Sacrum" written on the facade, also "the time of our art, the art of our era." Think of "zeitgeist," meaning "spirit of the times." Gold, leafy sphere on top. Large masonry walls trimmed with carved stone reliefs and gold. No references to classical. Design shares styles with Mackintosh, but is less concerned with structural rationalism. Unlike French and Belgian, Austrian Art Nouveau was more interested in ornamentation, symmetry. ARCHITECT: A Viennese desginer who established the regional Art Nouveau expression along with Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann. He designed pottery, furniture, book bindings, and musical instruments.

Fagus Factory— Alfeld, Germany, ca. 1910, Walter Gropius and Meyer

SIGNIFICANCE: An influential example of modern industrial architecture. Inspired the design of Behrens' AEG Turbine Factory. DESIGN: An industrial building that can be seen as an inversion of the Turbine factory. Both have corners free of supports, and glass surfaces between piers that cover the whole height of the building.Corners are left open and the piers are recessed leaving the glass surface to the front. Takes into account of the way the speed of modern transportation affects the way architecture is perceived. Although the architects only designed the facade, its glass curtain walls demonstrated both the modernist principle that form reflects function and their concern with providing healthful conditions for the working class. ARCHITECT: 3rd director of the Bauhaus, moved the school out of Weimar to Dessau before WWII, and his partner.

AEG Turbine Factory— Berlin, Germany, ca. 1910, Peter Behrens

SIGNIFICANCE: An influential example of modern industrial architecture. Inspired the design of Gropius' Fagus Factory DESIGN: The building mainly consists of steel components and glass. It resembles Greek and Egyptian temples. Corners are covered by heavy elements that slant inside. The glass surfaces also slant inside and are recessed in relation to the piers. The load-bearing elements are attenuated and the building has an image of stability and monumentality. Takes into account of the way the speed of modern transportation affects the way architecture is perceived. ARCHITECT: Resorted to classical principles for a new form, revolting against Art Nouveau. Initially influenced by the developing Art Nouveau, the architect turned soon to the Werkbund, which in turn was influenced by the British Arts and Crafts.

Weissenhofsiedlung [wise-and-half-seed-lung]— Stuttgart, Germany, ca. 1930, planning by Mies van der Rohe, buildings by Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, J.J.P. Oud, others

SIGNIFICANCE: An international showcase of what later became known as the International style of modern architecture. DESIGN: Housing development, a modernized version of a medieval hill-town. One architect served as planner but several modern architects contributed by designing blocks, or specific houses. Twenty-one buildings comprising sixty dwellings. Common among them all was cubic boxes with ribbon windows, roof terraces. What they have in common are their simplified facades, flat roofs used as terraces, window bands, open plan interiors, and the high level of prefabrication which permitted their erection in just five months. All but two of the entries were white. ARCHITECT: Collaboration of seventeen European architects, most of them German-speaking.

Proun— ca. 1920, El Lissitzk

SIGNIFICANCE: Association with a graphic designer, 'task oriented creation,' and use of graphic design to promote social change. DESIGN: A series of surreal, abstract, geometric paintings which show a change from painting to architecture. His series spanned over a half a decade and evolved from straightforward paintings and lithographs into fully three-dimensional installations. In these works, the basic elements of architecture - volume, mass, color, space and rhythm - were subjected to a fresh formulation in relation to the new suprematist ideals. Through his Prouns, utopian models for a new and better world were developed. This approach, in which the artist creates art with socially defined purpose, ARCHITECT: His work greatly influenced the Bauhaus and constructivist movements, and he experimented with production techniques and stylistic devices that would go on to dominate 20th-century graphic design.

Austrian Postal Savings Bank— Vienna, Austria, ca. 1900, Otto Wagner

SIGNIFICANCE: Breaking away from the early Art Nouveau and headed toward the pre-WWI era. Unique among the architecture of the Vienna Secession in that it does show structural rationalism. A bank for the common people, gft of the imperial state, not exclusively aristocratic. Aristocrats may not have been partial to the stark, modern style. But the industrial, high tech environment was deemed appropriate for the modern, common people. DESIGN: Classical tripartite exterior; subdued grey masonry; metal crown of ornament, statues offering crowns of victory; rectilinear windows in heavy masonry. Interior is starkly modern and futuristic, space age-y. Sconces, like glowing pillars rising out of the floor. Resembles a train station, which is an iconic type of the modern age. High, open, arching ceiling of small panes in thin metal, rectangular lattice. Evokes the crystal palace and indicates the direction that modern architecture would take. ARCHITECT: Inspired by Charles Rennie Mackintosh's work. Believed architecture needed to orient itself to modern life, recommended simplicity and almost military uniformity.

Ward Willits House— Highland Park, Illinois, ca. 1900, Frank Lloyd Wright

SIGNIFICANCE: Considered to be the first of the great Prairie houses. Combine architecture with nature. DESIGN: Bands of windows, carport, horizontal emphasis, simple (but not simplistic). Landscaping included small trees that would grow up to create a natural experience around the edges of the house. Casements windows. Cruciform plan. Breaking up boxy Victorian floor plans to use open planning, a democratic use of space. Shows Japanese influences: unpainted and exposed structural wood frame, strong orthogonal lines (very different from the Art Nouveau), open plan but lines in the structure indicate separate spaces, no applied ornament of mouldings and chair rails, limited furniture. The plan is a cruciate with four wings extending out from a central fireplace. In addition to stained-glass windows and wooden screens that divide rooms, Wright also designed most of the furniture in the house. ARCHITECT: Leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States. His creative period spanned more than 70 years. His work includes original and innovative examples of many building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. He designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wrote 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe.

Unity Temple— Oak Park, Illinois, ca. 1910, Frank Lloyd Wright

SIGNIFICANCE: Consolidation of aesthetic intent and structure through use of a single material, reinforced concrete. A remarkable leap for the architect in that he focused on space instead of mass or walls. DESIGN: Integration of space, experience and materials. To reduce noise from the street, it has no street level windows. Instead, natural light comes from stained glass windows in the roof and clerestories along the upper walls. Stained glass was designed with green, yellow, and brown tones in order to evoke the colors of nature. ARCHITECT: Leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States. His creative period spanned more than 70 years. His work includes original and innovative examples of many building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. He designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wrote 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe.

Barnsdall "Hollyhock" House— Los Angeles, California, ca. 1920, Frank Lloyd Wright

SIGNIFICANCE: Distinct from this architect's work in the mid-west and his typical Prairie style. DESIGN: As with many of the designer's residences, it has an introverted exterior with small windows, and is not easy to decode from the outside. The house is arranged around a central courtyard with one side open to form a kind of theatrical stage (never used as such), and a complex system of split levels, steps and roof terraces around that courtyard. The design features exterior walls that are tilted back at 85 degrees, leaded art glass in the windows, a grand fireplace with a large abstract bas-relief, and a moat. ARCHITECT: Leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States. His creative period spanned more than 70 years. His work includes original and innovative examples of many building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. He designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wrote 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe.

Project for Cite Industrielle— ca. 1920, Tony Garnier

SIGNIFICANCE: Early concept that used zoning and expressed four main principles: functionalism, space, greenery and natural light. DESIGN: Conceptual drawings of a utopian city, something that could be built. Inc. manufacturing hub (of no specific industry), hydroelectric power, warehouses, manufacturing plant-- Low lying structures and buildings, sprawling, intended to allow air and light which would prevent plagues, etc. Multi-story units for single adults-- four stories high. Clock tower and railway station-- clocks are important because railroads caused a need for standardized time ca. 1890-1900. Library, assembly halls, cinemas, gymnasiums, beautified streets. No fences--- the utopian society shares property. No military, police, law courts, or jails--- everyone is happy, no basis for crime. No churches--- churches are hierarchical systems that oppress the working class. Modern industrial utopia, rooted in classical forms (for Beaux Arts and travels in Rome). Trained in Beaux Arts, to some extent. Published his design for an idyllic modern city, and implemented some aspects of the project in Lyons, France with patronage by the mayor. Based on the notion of distinct zoning for residential, industrial, etc. Houses were small boxes with flat roof, all alike. Railway station used cantilevers for lightly floating roofs. ARCHITECT: French architect. After extensive study of sociological and architectural problems, he began to formulate an elaborate solution to the perceived issues concerning urban design. His basic idea included the separation of spaces by function through zoning into several categories: industrial, civic, residential, health related, and entertainment.

Einstein Tower— Potsdam, Germany, ca. 1920, Erich Mendelsohn

SIGNIFICANCE: Example of expressionism, and early work of an architect who later led Art Deco. DESIGN: An astrophysical observatory. The exterior was originally conceived in concrete, but due to construction difficulties with the complex design and shortages from the war, much of the building was actually realized in brick, covered with stucco. ARCHITECT: a Jewish German architect, known for his expressionist architecture.

Reliance Building— Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1900, Burnham, Root, Charles Atwood.

SIGNIFICANCE: It is the first skyscraper to have large plate glass windows make up the majority of its surface area, foreshadowing a design feature that would become dominant in the 20th century. It was one of the first skyscrapers to offer electricity and phone service in all of its offices. DESIGN: plan for the Reliance Building was consistent with the growing concept of the Chicago school of architecture, which emphasized the importance of form following function. Light internal metal structure allows open interiors that can be remodeled according to need. Used of white glazed architectural terra-cotta cladding, a feature that would later become strongly associated with the architect following his works for the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893. Its stacks of projecting bay windows and terra-cotta cladding create an effect of extraordinary lightness. Its steel frame construction is physically light as well, being one-third the weight of an equivalent stone structure. It was a direct precursor of the all-glass Friedrichstrasse skyscraper proposed by Mies van der Rohe in 1921. ARCHITECT: One of Chicago's most famous architectural companies of the nineteenth century. Known for new techniques to engineer large skyscrapers. As commissions multiplied, they had the opportunity to experiment and refine their style to create an entirely new aesthetic that was free of historical or European influences. Participated in the World's Fair.

Palais Stoclet— Brussels, Belgium, ca. 1910, Joseph Hoffman

SIGNIFICANCE: It is unique, not representative of a type, but does show the revolt that followed Art Nouveau. Demonstrates a privileged, cultured quality of life that would be devastated during WWII. DESIGN: A mansion for a Belgian financier who had lived in Vienna; suburban palace of the arts; a museum and luxurious modern house in one. Each functional space had its own volume visible from the exterior, emphasis on transitions between spaces. Exterior composition was asymmetrical but successfully balanced. Decorated with stone-slab veneers trimmed by linear, horizontal moulds to emphasize the low mass of the building. Interior had polished marble and rich wood finishes. Still continuing the theme of delicate iron ornaments on more massive masonry walls. ARCHITECT: Along with Hoffmann and Loos, this designer led new architecture after Art Nouveau which began in Vienna, then Berlin and Paris and Belgium. A revolt against Art Nouveau, fed in part by the Arts and Crafts ideals of simplicity and integrity; an abstract expression of classicism (symmetry and proportion); and the idea that architects must give voice to the modern world by finding frank solutions to architectural problems. Engineering influences increase, and ornamentation decreases.

Barcelona Pavilion (aka German)— Barcelona, Spain, ca. 1930, Mies van der Rohe

SIGNIFICANCE: Known for its simple extravagance in all aspects of the design. DESIGN: An exhibition pavilion that demonstrated the work of one German designer. No function other than to be walked through by the crowds, and exhibit the best of german culture and design. A universal space. Radically modern and spare, elegant, rare marble panels, water reflecting pools, chrome columns, expensive glass, big walk-through sculpture, luxurious leather chairs. ARCHITECT: Son of stone mason, worked for Peter Behrens, the opened his own practice. Adopted a Dutch term to change his name: "of Rohe." 3rd leader of the Bauhaus. His drawings are quite abstract, suggesting architecture but almost no form.

Glasgow Art School— Glasgow, Scotland, ca. 1900, Charles Rennie Mackintosh

SIGNIFICANCE: One of the city's most famous buildings and a masterful work of the Arts and Crafts movement. Encapsulated the path beyond Art Nouveau onto more sober used of structural rationalism, simple massing. An early glimpse of what modern architecture would become. Made the designer internationally famous and spread the Arts and Crafts. DESIGN: Masculine palate and weight to the masonry. Light metal work and window details. Almost, but not quite, symmetrical. Japanese influence. Dark interiors. A tricky project that Mackintosh won by competition. Sited on a steep slope suggesting that the main entrance should be on the uphill side. Also had a demanding program: studios, lecture theaters, library, galleries, storage, director's room and studio. Design influenced by regional baronial halls and farmhouses. A 'total work of art' but not expressed with whimsical applied ornament-- tight structured discipline instead. Light structural iron in heavy masonry is consistent with Art Nouveau, but ironwork is mostly rectangular. ARCHITECT: Art Nouveau was not popular in England, but it did thrive in Scotland, largely due to this designer. His style emerged separately from Horta but from similar concerns. Inspired other, lesser-known architects in Vienna, where he became prolific.

Casa Mila— Barcelona, Spain, ca. 1910, Antoni Gaudi

SIGNIFICANCE: Radical change from traditional construction methods and appearance. Blending structural rationalism with applied ornament. DESIGN: Heavy masonry forms, but sculpted to resemble a living, breathing thing. Fills up an entire city block. Elaborate ironwork. Like a rock wall eroded by the tides, with sealife and seaweed snarled, washed up, in the curves of stone. Interior made up of structural gothic-inspired arches. Structural innovations include a self-supporting stone front and columns, and floors free of load bearing walls. ARCHITECT: Only loosely or vaguely affiliated with the Art Nouveau, very much himself. Natural images, plant-life expressed in iron, undulating masonry. Born 1852 - died 1926. Early works date from 1870s and indicate a rejection of Second Empire and Neo-gothic architecture. His work is still an abstraction of medieval forms, especially because of his ecclesiastical ambitions. Designs based on the optimization of structural forces (the parabolic arch). Therefore, he was actually a structural rationalist as well as being known for his bizarre ornamentation. His work was adopted by surrealists in the 1920s, around the time of his death.

Sagrada Familia— Barcelona, Spain, ca. 1880-now, Antoni Gaudi

SIGNIFICANCE: Radical change from traditional construction methods and appearance. Blending structural rationalism with applied ornament. DESIGN: Originally constructed on the outskirts of the city, but now at the heart of it as Barcelona, this building has been expanded over 150+ years and is still under construction. The architect designed the structure using wire, dangling upside-down, to create parabolic arches. Its roots in Gothic-revival are clear. Rich with encoded Catholic symbolism as well as natural motifs in the plan, interior, and exterior. Exterior is filled with sculptures that illustrate biblical scenes. ARCHITECT: Only loosely or vaguely affiliated with the Art Nouveau, very much himself. Natural images, plant-life expressed in iron, undulating masonry. Born 1852 - died 1926. Early works date from 1870s and indicate a rejection of Second Empire and Neo-gothic architecture. His work is still an abstraction of medieval forms, especially because of his ecclesiastical ambitions. Designs based on the optimization of structural forces (the parabolic arch). Therefore, he was actually a structural rationalist as well as being known for his bizarre ornamentation. His work was adopted by surrealists in the 1920s, around the time of his death.

Apartments at 25 bis rue Franklin— Paris, France, ca. 1900, Auguste Perret

SIGNIFICANCE: Ranks a one of the seminal works of the early modern movement, not only for its explicit and brilliant use of the reinforced concrete frame but also for the way in which its internal organization was to anticipate Le Corbusier's later development of the free plan. DESIGN: The concrete structure, instead of being concealed, was clearly visible and was a part of the exterior design. An interesting example because it fit neatly between neighboring flats, so the change in technology and style is interesting. Keeps many conventions the same but has a thinner structure that allowed for larger interior spaces, and large windows for more natural light. Different levels had different purposes, and this was expressed in slight variations of form on the outside (ie, lowest story taller, apartment stories stepped). Light grey colors matched the neighboring buildings, but a texture was applied to the concrete walls-- swirly and floral. ARCHITECT: Sought a formal discipline in the constraints and potential of new construction systems such as reinforced concrete, in search of lasting quality. His ideas stemmed from Viollet-le-Duc; both were inspired by the 'language' and traditions of architectural, naval, mechanical engineers who designed for function, without historical influence. 'Truth to structure and truth to the program' would be the best antidote to academic revivalism and personal whimsy.

Robie House— Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1910, Frank Lloyd Wright

SIGNIFICANCE: Renowned as the greatest example of the Prairie School style, the first architectural style that was uniquely American. DESIGN: Typical of the architect, he designed not only the house, but all of the interiors, the windows, lighting, rugs, furniture and textiles. The projecting cantilevered roof eaves, continuous bands of windows, and the use of brick emphasize the horizontal, a line of repose and shelter, appropriate for a house. To further emphasize the horizontal of the bricks, the horizontal joints were filled with a cream-colored mortar and the small vertical joints were filled with brick-colored mortar. The design of the art glass windows is an abstract pattern of colored and clear glass. Similar designs appear in tapestries inside the house and for gates surrounding the outdoor spaces and enclosing the garage courtyard. The steel beams in the ceilings and floors carry most of the building's weight to piers at the east and west ends. As a result, the exterior walls have little structural function, and thus are filled with doors and windows containing art glass panels. It also eliminates the need for internal structural columns and walls, accenting the open plan. The architect's 9 points: Reduce the number of parts, The building must be associated with its site, break the box, remove the basement (and attic), harmonize the openings (human proportions, walls as screen), use mono materials (limited variety, and only natural materials and treatments), systems must be incorporated into the design (furnishings too), Eliminate the decorator, Truth in materials. ARCHITECT: Leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States. His creative period spanned more than 70 years. His work includes original and innovative examples of many building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. He designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wrote 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe.

Project for a Monument to the 3rd International, aka Tatlin's Tower— Soviet Union, ca. 1920, Vladimir Tatlin

SIGNIFICANCE: Represent the aspirations of the Soviet Union, made of 'glass, steel, and revolution' DESIGN: A a design for a grand monumental building that was never built. Spiralling metal frame, revolving glass orbs, sited above a major city. Impossible to build at the time, lack of money and tech. Even if the gigantic amount of required steel had been available in bankrupt post-revolutionary Russia, in the context of housing shortages and political turmoil, there are serious doubts about its structural practicality. ARCHITECT: one of the two most important figures in the Soviet avant-garde art movement and later became an important artist in the Constructivist movement.

Competition for Leningrad Pravda Building— Moscow, USSR, ca. 1920, Vesnin Bros

SIGNIFICANCE: Represent the work of USSR Constructivists who embraced avant-garde concepts and developed their own vision of modern architecture that emphasized functionality of buildings and modern construction technology. DESIGN: A lean, six-story tower housing two-story public area (newsstand and reading room) and four-story editorial office. It embraced various engineering and avant-garde novelties; However, the building was completely devoid of graphic art or sculpture of any kind. The designer's rejected the concept of synthesis of the arts: for them, architectural form itself synthesized past experience in graphic art and spatial installations, and need no embellishments besides the inevitable advertising. ARCHITECT: Three brothers who were leaders of Constructivist architecture.

Villa Savoye— Poissy, France, ca 1930, Le Corbusier

SIGNIFICANCE: Representative of the bases of modern architecture, and is one of the most easily recognizable and renowned examples of the International style. Like the Parthenon, it sits above the natural world, looking out at that world and yet a separate thing that rises above it all. Exemplifies the architect's 5 points. DESIGN: Elevated above the ground in a large open field, regular columns surround it. Motion and hygiene. Pastels. Furniture like machines. Support of ground-level pilotis, elevating the building from the earth and allowed an extended continuity of the garden beneath.Functional roof, serving as a garden and terrace, reclaiming for nature the land occupied by the building. Free floor plan, relieved of load-bearing walls, allowing walls to be placed freely and only where aesthetically needed. Long horizontal windows, providing illumination and ventilation. Freely-designed facades, serving only as a skin of the wall and windows and unconstrained by load-bearing considerations. ARCHITECT: Educated in an arts and craft way, to be a watch engraver. His buildings were always intended to fit into an idealized city. His designed cities and buildings are integrated. "The house is a machine for living." The Einstein of architecture, affecting everyone who worked in architecture at that time. Body of work is varied, large number of sites, wrote and published extensively, was also involved in designing decorative arts and furniture. Synthesized unlikely things into genuinely remarkable new ways of building. His work is often subtle, and loaded with referential ideas, coded meaning. Rationalist, and yet also romanticist. Wrote "Towards Architecture." Founded CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne), gathering of international designers. Designing cities for speed, success, industry. Formed from art + the machine, inspired by beauty of functional machines, beauty of functional expression. He was one of those artist who led a return to order, post-WWI intended to be nationalistic.

A Home for a Prairie Town— Ladies' Home Journal, ca. 1900, Frank Lloyd Wright

SIGNIFICANCE: The architect gave his new ideas for the American house widespread awareness through two magazine publications. Although neither of the affordable house plans were ever constructed, Wright received increased requests for similar designs in following years DESIGN: Wright's residential designs were known as "prairie houses" because the designs complemented the land around Chicago. These houses featured extended low buildings with shallow, sloping roofs, clean sky lines, suppressed chimneys, overhangs and terraces all using unfinished materials. The houses are credited with being the first examples of the "open plan". Windows whenever possible are long, and low, allowing a connection between the interior and nature, outside, that was new to western architecture and reflected the influence of Japanese architecture on the architect. The manipulation of interior space in residential and public buildings are hallmarks of his style. His earliest publications were in women's magazines, advertised as economic homes. American bungalows represented a break from Victorian houses and the theatrics that went with them, especially for women (cooking, parties, cleaning, home ec). A simple home is a hygienic home, easier to care for. Fresh air, important during an era struck by influenza and cholera. None of the ideas were invented by the architect, but he absorbed them and expressed them. ARCHITECT: Leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States. His creative period spanned more than 70 years. His work includes original and innovative examples of many building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. He designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass. Wrote 20 books and many articles and was a popular lecturer in the United States and in Europe.

Glass Pavilion— Cologne, Germany, ca. 1910, Bruno Taut

SIGNIFICANCE: The first building of importance made of glass bricks. One of the first exhibition building designed as a mechanism to create vivid experiences, where people would be able to feel, touch and primarily see. Universal, not functional, design. DESIGN: A brightly colored landmark. A pineapple-shaped multi-faceted polygonal designed rhombic structure. Constructed of thick glass bricks used for the exterior walls devoid of rectangles. Each part of the cupola was designed to recall the complex geometry of nature. ARCHITECT: prolific German architect active before WWI

Schroder House— Utrecht, Holland, ca, 1920, Gerrit Rietveld

SIGNIFICANCE: The most important De Stijl structure and a dramatic break from tradition-- without context and without walls. DESIGN: Boxy house, light white, trimmed in bright primary colors. Deliberately breaks with traditionalist ideas that Wright did retain-- inspired by Wright and yet more dramatic. Floating quality, open planes in different orientations. A total work of art, with furniture and furnishings. No diagonals, but all built with three dimensions, like plotted points. Flexible spaces that can be closed off or opened up; well light; flow between interior spaces and exterior spaces. 2nd story "community space" for the family. ARCHITECT: A principal member of the Dutch artistic movement called De Stijl. The female client exemplifies how women were involved in modern design. She commissioned the house that would foster an exchange of ideas, discussions, cognizant of the effect that this odd house would have on visitors.

Steiner House— Vienna, Austria, ca. 1910, Adolf Loos

SIGNIFICANCE: The most outstanding example of this architect's mature style. Resembles the International style but occurred a decade before. Opposed to the total work of art-- demonstrated that architects were not in the business of controlling occupants and their activities and that houses should be a personal expression of the individuals. DESIGN: a refined and intricate interior with a simple and nonthreatening exterior. The stucco façade is functional and creates a smooth, unornamented, and white surface.Curving roof demonstrate certainty of form and economy of space, proving that traditions can be manipulated or rid of completely, for a functional and non-aesthetic purpose. Few classical details, no applied ornamentation. Tripartite facade, emphasises front. Monumental, but a reasonable sized house. Windows to let in light at strategic places. Windows do not have a remarkable composition on the exterior (at least by classical tradition). More concerned with how the interior serves people. Architecture of space eclipses architecture of mass, in modern architecture. Flowing, democratic space with a thick skin enclosing the functional, dynamic interior. ARCHITECT: Son of a stone mason, had a technical education. Worked in Chicago at the same time as Wright, Adler, and Sullivan. Attended the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Lived in Chicago for 3 years. Published a magazine "Das Andere." Interested in clothing as well are architecture. Influenced by vernacular, "village," "peasant" architecture because it was not corrupted by academic "establishment" traditions. Opposed to the total work of art-- believed that architects were not in the business of controlling occupants and their activities. Should be a personal expression of the individuals. Architects simply build a sturdy, well constructed dwelling. Dwelling v. Building. Raumplan "room plan," Concept for organizing a variety of spaces. Close attention to the psychological aspects of housing. Ornament and Crime, essay collection, hyperbolic description of ornament as a primitive form of expression-- childish and tribal. In a matured society tattoos and other forms of decoration express degeneracy and criminality.

Villa Stein/de Monzie— Garches, France ca. 1930, Le Corbusier

SIGNIFICANCE: The work of a prolific architect, demonstrative of his interest in machines as inspiration. DESIGN: Encoded the streamline design of cruise ships, cars, airplanes-- clean lines, smooth planes, white, no ornament ('a decorated airplane would not be able to fly). ARCHITECT: Educated in an arts and craft way, to be a watch engraver. His buildings were always intended to fit into an idealized city. His designed cities and buildings are integrated. "The house is a machine for living." The Einstein of architecture, affecting everyone who worked in architecture at that time. Body of work is varied, large number of sites, wrote and published extensively, was also involved in designing decorative arts and furniture. Synthesized unlikely things into genuinely remarkable new ways of building. His work is often subtle, and loaded with referential ideas, coded meaning. Rationalist, and yet also romanticist. Wrote "Towards Architecture." Founded CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne), gathering of international designers. Designing cities for speed, success, industry. Formed from art + the machine, inspired by beauty of functional machines, beauty of functional expression. He was one of those artist who led a return to order, post-WWI intended to be nationalistic.

Metro stations— Paris, France, ca. 1900, Hector Guimard

SIGNIFICANCE: They introduce the underground world of speed and modernity. They were industrially manufactured with artful details. DESIGN: Surface elements of the underground railway system that was under construction in the late 1800s; urban centers were becoming enormous and dense. These were produced in two types, with and without glass roofs. Built in cast iron, they make heavy reference to the symbolism of plants.The new system opened just in time for an Exposition. The architect proposed an efficient design made from replicable parts, modular system, factory produced. Pre-cast forms, cut glass plates, look elaborate, but cheap to build. ARCHITECT: One of the most significant Art Nouveau designers. A French architect who studied at the Ecole de Beaux Arts, was influenced by the theories of Viollet-le-duc. He was curious, inventive and a proponent of industrial standardization, intending to diffuse art on a large scale.

Dom-ino House project— ca. 1920, Le Corbusier

SIGNIFICANCE: This design became the foundation for most of this architect's work for the next ten years. DESIGN: A boiled down house, essentialized, expression of function for the modern age, utopian solution to all architecture of the machine age. Simple, efficient, low cost structures that can serve to rebuild after WWII. Not just house-- essentially construction for all building types including civic and industrial. Interior is not the architect's concern (an idea from Adolf Loos). 5 points: pilotis (pencil-thin posts), free plan, free facade, horizontal windows (ribbon), roof garden (to utilize space and give access to light, air, nature). Structure: three smooth slabs on blocks and pillars, edges cantilevered; this design freed the curtain wall exterior envelope, no need for structural supports. Could even have glass corners. Parts of slabs could be removed to create x2 or x3 height volumes. Interior could be partitioned in any fashion, without aligning with s. Radical, but also uninspiring in their simple, cuboid form; Critical, in that they hint at things to come and represent one of first attempts to establish modern vernacular architecture. ARCHITECT: Educated in an arts and craft way, to be a watch engraver. His buildings were always intended to fit into an idealized city. His designed cities and buildings are integrated. "The house is a machine for living." The Einstein of architecture, affecting everyone who worked in architecture at that time. Body of work is varied, large number of sites, wrote and published extensively, was also involved in designing decorative arts and furniture. Synthesized unlikely things into genuinely remarkable new ways of building. His work is often subtle, and loaded with referential ideas, coded meaning. Rationalist, and yet also romanticist. Wrote "Towards Architecture." Founded CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne), gathering of international designers. Designing cities for speed, success, industry. Formed from art + the machine, inspired by beauty of functional machines, beauty of functional expression. He was one of those artist who led a return to order, post-WWI intended to be nationalistic.

Villa Schwob— La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, ca 1920, Le Corbusier

SIGNIFICANCE: This is the best known and most remarkable of this prolific architect's early creations before leaving Paris. DESIGN: A villa built in Oriental style, used the Regulating Lines design principle. Rich in symbols, and with elaborate technical and aesthetic aspects. Ochre brick and concrete. ARCHITECT: Educated in an arts and craft way, to be a watch engraver. His buildings were always intended to fit into an idealized city. His designed cities and buildings are integrated. "The house is a machine for living." The Einstein of architecture, affecting everyone who worked in architecture at that time. Body of work is varied, large number of sites, wrote and published extensively, was also involved in designing decorative arts and furniture. Synthesized unlikely things into genuinely remarkable new ways of building. His work is often subtle, and loaded with referential ideas, coded meaning. Rationalist, and yet also romanticist. Wrote "Towards Architecture." Founded CIAM (Congres Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne), gathering of international designers. Designing cities for speed, success, industry. Formed from art + the machine, inspired by beauty of functional machines, beauty of functional expression. He was one of those artist who led a return to order, post-WWI intended to be nationalistic.

Tassel House— Brussels, Belgium, ca. 1890, Victor Horta

SIGNIFICANCE: Thought to be the first mature example of art nouveau. It synthesizes structuralism, natural motifs, and decorative arts. Broke from traditional floor plans for flowing spaces. The architect succeeded in integrating the lavish decoration without masking the general architectural structures. DESIGN: It broke from traditional residential floor plans, with a large central courtyard that gathers and directs the flow of movement throughout the building. It brings in natural light. Tight floor expressing an underlying formal order in contrast with the wild fluctuations expressed through decoration. Functioned as a townhouse for wealthy clients. Simple on the outside, expressive on the inside. Suggesting an inward-looking world. Frank expression of the metal skeleton. Fine twirling lines that seem to connect throughout the house in all areas; from wallpaper to banister, to lamp fixture, to floor. The architect designed every single detail; doorhandles, woodwork, panels and windows in stained glass, mosaic flooring and furnishings. Ornate and elaborate designs and natural lighting were concealed behind a stone façade to harmonize the building with the more rigid houses next door. ARCHITECT: Born in 1861, studied art and worked for an artist in Paris, enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts, became a draughtsman for an neoclassicist architect. Most creative for a ten-year period, from approximately 1890-1901.

Monadnock Building— Chicago, Illinois, ca. 1900, Burnham, Root.

SIGNIFICANCE: Was once the world's largest office building, designed with remarkable power and simplicity. [Don Peting worked there]. The tallest load-bearing brick building ever constructed. Lack of ornamentation expressed its commercial purpose and conditions of modern business life. DESIGN: An unornamented vertical mass of purple-brown brick, flaring gently out at the base and top, with vertically continuous bay windows projecting out. The south half is vertically divided by brickwork at the base and rises to a large copper cornice at the roof. Projecting window bays in both halves allow large exposures of glass, giving the building an open appearance despite its mass. Internal metal frames would replace traditional load-bearing walls and allow walls to be made of any material, quite thin. This building had both an internal metal structure and thick, load-bearing walls that flared, thickened at the base. Unornamented, minimalistic, no historical references. Roman arches on the ground floors, despite their legacy as all modern and unprecedented, ARCHITECT: One of Chicago's most famous architectural companies of the nineteenth century. Known for new techniques to engineer large skyscrapers. As commissions multiplied, they had the opportunity to experiment and refine their style to create an entirely new aesthetic that was free of historical or European influences. Participated in the World's Fair.

Glass Skyscraper projects— ca. 1920, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe

SIGNIFICANCE: brought the architect fame for creating forms that were in harmony with the spirit of the emerging modern society, after WWI. DESIGN: Tall, light, without ornament, seemingly capable of growing infinitely into the sky, all-glass. There were two designs, neither were built. ARCHITECT: Son of stone mason, worked for Peter Behrens, the opened his own practice. Adopted a Dutch term to change his name: "of Rohe." 3rd leader of the Bauhaus. His drawings are quite abstract, suggesting architecture but almost no form.

Project for Lenin Institute of Librarianship— ca. 1930, Ivan Leonidov

SIGNIFICANCE: brought the architect international recognition, remarkable expression of USSR constructivism. DESIGN: Designed to answer the needs of contemporary life through maximum use of the possibilities of technology. A building for the collective knowledge center of the USSR. Glass, steel, reinforced concrete. Mechanization to move books around. ARCHITECT: a Russian constructivist architect whose work was imbued with the spirit of the progressive artistic culture and a love of bold technical conceptions

Bauhaus Buildings— Dessau, Germany, ca. 1930, Walter Gropius

SIGNIFICANCE: shows the architect's refined architectonic ideas, Cubist influences, and light glass curtain walls revealing the structure underneath. DESIGN: Flat-roofed, cubic masses, thin skins of glass to reveal the structure underneath, cantilevered balconies, no ornament applied, no historical reference, super-graphic title of the school. Glass as two things at once-- transparent and reflective, like cubist paintings. Cubist painting show the image and reflect the viewer. ARCHITECT: 3rd director of the Bauhaus, moved the school out of Weimar to Dessau before WWII.

Workers' Housing— Hook of Holland, ca. 1920, J.J.P Oud and Project for a Factory— ca. 1920, J.J.P. Oud

The architect was an original members of De Stijl and later on was a pioneer of Dutch Functionalist architecture. As a young socialist, he stimulated an international and regional trend toward functionalism. He wrote magazine articles, acted as a correspondent for Soviet architectural journals, and contributed a book on Dutch architecture to the Bauhausbucher series. His best known works are for housing schemes in expanding areas. During and after World War II he became involved in larger commercial projects, but these never achieved the clarity of his early housing.