Architecture Exam 2

Chicago 1923 Zoning Law

1. 260' height limit 2. no set back for street front towers, provided they took up less than 50% of its lots linear footage 3. towers may rise to 400'

Chicago Tribune Tower Competition

1. A groundbreaking skyscraper was the highest ambition of Colonel Robert R. McCormick, the powerful publisher of the Chicago Tribune and a man who dominated local politics before the First World War. Hoping to project an aura of international prestige for his burgeoning media empire, the competition brief he compiled asked architects to create "the most beautiful office building in the world." 2. More than 260 architects from 23 countries 3. The winners, Raymond Hood and John Mead Howells, proposed the Gothic tower that now graces the corner of Michigan Avenue north of the Chicago River. Their design balanced the vertical spirit of US commerce with Gothic flourishes from French tradition - including a dramatically buttressed crown borrowed from the 13th Century Cathedral in Rouen 4. While major international competitions may be a familiar sight in the architectural sphere today, the Tribune Tower competition was unique for its global influence on the future of the field. Audiences could compare and evaluate starkly contrasting ideas from the world's foremost architects at a glance; the results—published widely—produced a ripple effect which influenced different schools of thought competing to define the look of the "Modern Age 5. Eliel Saarinen's design, a runner up, heavily influenced several North American skyscrapers built as late as the 1990s. 6. gothic, historicist style, built with steel frame was the winning design, structurally rational.

Mies Van Der Rohe, Reichsbank

1. An attempt to synthesize both monumental and modernist rhetoric 2. There is both a monumental classicist front façade with classical hierarchy: entrance in the center, imposing facade proportions, and overall symmetry. The elevation resembles the hierarchical insistence and imposing frontality of the Palazzo Farnese 3. Functionalist modernist office façade on the backside 4. Mies' agenda to advance modernism by creating a classical and a modernist façade

Lovell House Rudolf Schindler Newport Beach 1922-1926

1. California International Style 2. The Lovell House was designed for the active, health conscious Lovell family in the hills of Los Angeles. The house is an early example of the International Style in the United States that evokes principles that were developed by Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright 3. The house consists of a series of overlapping planes that do not stick to Wright's proportionality; rather they are a hybrid of Wright's planar devices combined with Le Corbusier's stark, streamlined aesthetic 4. The Lovell House is reminiscent of Le Corbusier's style and aesthetic. The stark while walls stand out among the wooded terrain; the ribbon windows offer expansive views and a significant amount of light to enter the interior spaces 5. The Lovell House is claimed to be the first house in the United States to use a steel structure that is typically found in skyscraper construction - Neutra learned these new techniques when he was working in New York and with Holabird & Roche in Chicago 6. However, the steel construction is not just supported by steel columns, beams, and pilotis, but it is only part of the structural system of the house. Because the house is suspended on the side of a cliff, it is tethered to the cliff by a tension cable that is tied into the rocky terrain.

Frank Llyod Wright: The Robie House (1907-1909)

1. Culmination of Wright's Prairie style 2. Robie wanted to be seen but not seen: "Wright specifically approached this request with an enormous cantilever over the porch facing west" 3. Horizontally elongated, roman bricks and cantilevers 4. Sloping roofs and low proportions 5. Hearth at the center 6. Distances itself from the street through a series of horizontal planes 7. As is seen in many of Wright's project, the entrance of the house is not clearly distinguishable at first glance due to the fact that Wright believed the procession towards the house should involve a journey 8. Bedrooms concentrated at the central of the house 9. Plan allows for fluid movement 10. light screens in lieu of windows

Mies van der Rohe, Barcelona Pavilion, 1929

1. Display of architecture's modern movement to the world 2. Originally named the German Pavilion, the pavilion was the face of Germany after WWI, emulating the nation's progressively modern culture that was still rooted in its classical history 3. place of tranquility and escape rather than inhabitable structure 4. Structure uses materials such as travertine, onyx and other precious stones to create an atmospheric and psychological environment 5. Formulated on grid system developed by Mies 6. Low horizontal orientation with low flat roof supported on eight cruciform columns allows for floating appearance, forming a canopy effect 7. Marble and travertine pavers = all work to manipulate the line of sight/direction of movement 8. Space juxtaposed by two reflecting pools 9. The pavilion meshes the man-made and the natural employing four types of marble, steel, chrome, and glass 10. The marble originates from the Swiss Alps and the Mediterranean. Mies' implementation of the marble is created through a process of splitting, called broaching, that creates a symmetrical patternization that's found in the marble. 10. Free standing colonnade "The travertine's inherent luminous qualities as well as Mies' seamless employment of the material over the plinth adds to the dissolution of spatial demarcation transforming the pavilion into one continuous volume rather than two separate entities"

Auguste Perret, 25bis rue Franklin, Paris, 1902. France/Early Modernism

1. Early use of reinforced concrete 2. Canonical works of 20th-century architecture, not only for its explicit and brilliant use of the reinforced concrete frame (the Hennebique system) 3. Internal organization was to anticipate Le Corbusier's later development of the free plan. Perret deliberately made the apartment partition walls nonstructural throughout and their partial removal would have yielded an open space, punctuated only by a series of free-standing columns

MVDR Weissenhof Siedlung Stuttgart 1927

1. House 1-4 of Weissenhof Estate . It is a four-storey residential block of four row houses. 2. Geometric skeleton structure enabled Mies to achieve his objective (and declared principle) of designing flexible ground plans for his apartments 2. Fixed points in his design (as determined by the service installations) were the kitchen, the bathroom and the toilet. The remaining areas had adjustable walls, allowing residents to subdivide them as they saw fit. Mies said that he had chosen this design to accommodate people's changing needs, their expectations concerning apartments and their related desire for maximum freedom in designing their own interiors.

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine (France), 1929

1. International style, made of reinforced concrete: 2. The system demanded pilotis (slender columns) to raise the building off the ground and allow air to circulate beneath; roof terraces, to bring nature into an urban setting; a free plan that allowed interior space to be distributed at will; a free façade whose smooth plane could be used for formal experimentation; and ribbon windows, which let in light but also reinforced the planarity of the wall. 3. the driveway passes through the undercroft 4. Building is understood through a promenade/processional experience "promenade architecturale" Ceremonial entrance on driveway then viewer walks through a series of ramps 5. Wasbasin situated in the entrance 6. Typically, the living spaces of a house are relatively private, closed off, and rather secluded. Le Corbusier situates the living spaces around a communal, outdoor terraced that is separated from the living area by a sliding glass wall 7. Both the lower level and the upper living quarters are based off an open plan idea that provokes the inhabitant to continuously meander between spaces 8. The Villa Savoye at Poissy, designed by Le Corbusier in 1929, represents the culmination of a decade during which the architect worked to articulate the essence of modern architecture. " The stark white exterior wall, with its strips of ribbon windows, has a remarkably smooth, planar quality. This stands in contrast to the fluidity of the interior, which is organized by a multistory ramp that leads the viewer on a gently curving path through a building that is nearly square"

Speer, Zeppelinfeld

1. Nazi rally grounds, commissioned by Hitler, was the party's chief architect 2. Meant to hold thousands of people 3. spectacle of the masses for the new regime 4. Cathedral of light intended to be central 5. Buildings on site are classical administrative and honorary structures for the Nazi's

Speer, Berlin City Plan

1. New plan for Berlin in Post-Nazi era

Kaufmann House, Neutra

1. One of Neutra's several iconic projects is the Kaufmann House in Palm Springs, California. Completed between 1946-1947, the Kaufmann House was a vacation home for Edgar J. Kaufmann Sr. and his family to escape the harsh winters of the northeast 2. Neutra employed a more modernist and international style approach using glass, steel, and some stone in the design 3. Simple floor plan: living room and dining room at the center 4. The rest of the house branches out like a pinwheel in each of the cardinal directions. From the center of the house each wing that branches out has its own specific function; however, the most important aspects of the house are oriented east/west while the supporting features are oriented north/south 5. Addition of the swimming pool adds harmony to the overall plan 6. Pinwheel design

Bon Marche, Pomone/Galeries Lafayette/La Maitrise

1. Ornamental nature = exposition were not those of architects or countries, but of French businesses and decorative artists. Several notable Parisian department stores—including the Galeries Lafayette, Le Bon Marché, and Le Printemps—set up elaborate pavilions intended to lure attendees in to admire rooms furnished and decorated with consumer products. The exterior façades of these pavilions utilized several common Art Deco motifs, including stylized floral elements, stepped forms, sunbursts, and zigzags.

Reinhard and Hofmeister, Corbett, Hood, Fouilhoux, and others, Rockefeller Center, New York City, begun 1929

1. Rockefeller Center is a complex of skyscrapers and theaters in New York City developed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in the 1930s and designed by a talented committee of architects and planners. It superbly demonstrates how tall buildings can be seamlessly integrated into the horizontal tangle of the city below 2. New high-speed elevators 3. Lee Lawrie's rich Art Deco panels on the RCA building depicted allegorical figures of light and sound; Hildreth Meiere's panels on Radio City Music Hall rendered stylized theatrical muses in bold colors. Lawrie collaborated with sculptor Rene Chambellan on the figure of Atlas in front of the International Building, and Paul Manship's golden Prometheus lounges in the sunken plaza at the base of the RCA building.

Rockefeller Center, New York City, begun 1929

1. Rockefeller Center is a complex of skyscrapers and theaters in New York City developed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. in the 1930s and designed by a talented committee of architects and planners. It superbly demonstrates how tall buildings can be seamlessly integrated into the horizontal tangle of the city below 2. New high-speed elevators 3. Radio City Music Hall with art deco interior 5. limestone, set backs, art deco design (murals inside), underground delivery system, originally: going to be bridges on top that linked buildings (didn't have tech for this), an attempt at sensitizing the spaces around the base of a skyscraper. ART: Lee Lawrie's rich Art Deco panels on the RCA building depicted allegorical figures of light and sound; Hildreth Meiere's panels on Radio City Music Hall rendered stylized theatrical muses in bold colors. Lawrie collaborated with sculptor Rene Chambellan on the figure of Atlas in front of the International Building, and Paul Manship's golden Prometheus lounges in the sunken plaza at the base of the RCA building.

Gropius, Dessau Bauhaus, 1925-28

1. Similarities of neo-classical and international style 2. Futuristic for the time 3. Incorporated elements of the Bauhaus teaching principles: a). Office situated on a bridge that connects the school and workshop spaces b). Students were responsible for interior design, metalworking and the print on the outside of the buildings 4. Use of modern materials: steel, glass 5. Huge glass windows wrap around the building 6. Aerial view: forms airplane propellers 7. Skeleton: reinforced concrete 8. Asymmetrical, gridded spatial conception deriving from De Stijl: Van Doesburg, Rietveld, Lissitizky, 9. Architecture adapted to the world of machines, minimal/industrial ornamentation of the exterior iron grid/rails

Feininger, Cathedral, 1919 (Bauhaus)

1. Starting image for the Bauhaus 2. Graphic work that was intended to be in poster format as announcement for the opening of the Bauhaus 3. Woodcut: historical medium that can be reproduced easily 4. Evokes the spiritual side of the early Bauhaus, time of postwar chaos and reformation. Bauhaus becomes a beacon of how the spiritual transforms itself into the technological /industrial.

Kaufmann House (Falling Water). Bear Run, PA. Frank Lloyd Wright

1. Wright's admiration for Japanese architecture was important in his inspiration for this house. Just like in Japanese architecture, Wright wanted to create harmony between man and nature, and his integration of the house with the waterfall was successful in doing so 2. reinforced concrete 3. open living room plan 4. compressed/enclosed hallways, Wright known for compression of space juxtaposed with openings 5. Horizontal orientation of bricks + cantilevers

1925 International Exposition of Modern Industrial and Decorative Arts

1. landmark exhibition which both gave rise to Art Deco 2. no design could be based on historical styles - everything was required to be exclusively modern. 3. Art Deco not founded upon principles of rationalist engineering or scientific efficiency, instead using motifs and symbols of modernity as a decorative statement 4. This differentiated it not only from foreign schools like Constructivism and the Bauhaus, but even from the International Style supported by France's own Le Corbusier happening at the time 5. French pavilions were the central part of the exhibition 6. Art Deco motifs: stylized floral elements, stepped forms, sunbursts, and zigzags. 6. During its six month run attracted sixteen million visitors + massive international demand for art deco architecture 7. Exposition also established France as the arbiter of taste and fashion in the interwar era; Paris itself was put on display as the world's most fashionable city

Johnson Wax Building

1. most important statements about the nature of office buildings 2. dendriform columns inspired by cacti that resemble lily pads as a way to incorporate the organic into administration buildings 3. The circular lily pads of concrete are woven together by a membrane of Pyrex glass tubing that illuminate spaces with natural light. The use of Pyrex glass tubing allowed for a lot of diffused light to enter the interior of the Johnson Wax Building. The large workspace is well lit with indirect light and very little glare, resulting in a work environment conducive for creativity 4. Wright provided almost utopian workspace, self-sufficient and a bit futuristic. The modern streamlined atmosphere was communicated through a consistent circular language; curved corner profiles, rounded shapes in furniture pieces, and use of Pyrex glass tubing extending beyond roofing materials for wall dividers and replacing conventional windows.

Schindler-Chase House ( Southern California modernism)

1. the first home ever built in the Modernist style: Southern California modernism 2.the architect's use of tilt-slab concrete construction (highly innovative at the time) and an informal studio layout, set it apart from its contemporaries: integrating indoors and out 3. Schindler was particularly fascinated by Gill's work in tilt-slab construction, in which concrete walls were poured into molds and tilted into place on site after curing 4. Schindler's scheme for the Kings Road House was a mixture of individual studios and communal living spaces (was supposed to be shared with Marian and Clyde Chace: characterized the design as a "cooperative dwelling for two young couples:" a private studio for each adult inhabitant, an entrance hall, an enclosed patio and a bathroom for each couple, two open terraces on the roof for sleeping, a single communal kitchen, and a guest apartment comprised the spaces within the house 5.The three-bladed pinwheel plan of the building also created several distinct garden spaces at both ends of the lot, carrying the private atmosphere of the interior into the gardens 6. Interior: redwood beam was supported by the concrete wall slabs 7. Nonstructural lumber, along with glass and canvas, was also used to create interior partitions and patio doorways. The resulting effect was that of heavy opacity and remarkable openness on opposite sides of each studio, with the garden foliage visible from almost every room in the house. "The Schindler House has the inevitability of a masterpiece. Incorporating both architectural and social theory, it unfolds formally, spatially and intellectually with a coherence unparalleled in early modern architecture. It was the shared vision of Schindler and his wife Pauline: he gave brilliant architectural form to her interest in a revisionist lifestyle. The house was conceived as an experiment in communal living to be shared with another couple, Clyde and Marian Chace. There were four rooms, one for each person to "express his or her individuality." The communal gathering areas were patios in the garden, one for each family. There was a shared kitchen and outdoor sleeping porches were provided on the roof. A guest apartment with its own kitchen and bath extended from the rear of the house"

A. Sant'Elia, Citta Nuova (The New City), 1914

1.Between 1912 and 1914 he made many highly imaginative drawings and plans for cities of the future. A group of these drawings called Città Nuova ("New City") was displayed in May 1914 at an exhibition of the Nuove Tendenze group, of which he was a member. Although Sant'Elia's ideas were Futuristic 3. He was a socialist who felt that a complete break with architectural styles of the past and historic solutions to urban design was needed. 3. Skyscrapers and multilevel traffic circulation. 4. "we can see a shift from the limited understanding of architecture as the design of discrete structures, to an expanded notion that architecture and urbanism can embody a form of cultural critique, or venture even more decisively into the realm of social and political action"

Le Corbusier Weissenhof Siedlung Stuttgart 1927

1.Modern housing prototype 2. reinforced concrete 5.Utilized five principles of design: pilotis, roof garden, free plan, long windows, free facade 3. transformable open living space that could be subdivided into multiple sleeping units through sliding partitions, for the exhibition one was set up for daytime use and the other for nighttime 4. pragmatic use of space, was criticized for being impractical 5. Entry level: cloakroom, furnace room, cloakroom, furnace room, coal cellar, laundry room, maid's room, and storage 6. Second level: the primary living story with eating space behind the stairs, and a kitchen and bathroom at the far edge Majority of the plan is a flexible living and sleeping space 7. Polychrome interior

MVDR, Tungendhat House (1930)

1.Use of glass, steel and concrete + functionalist concept of iron framework, doing away with load-bearing interior walls and allowing for more open and light spaces. 2. The villa was composed of three levels (including the basement), with different floor plans and forms, each relating differently to the sloping site 3.Rich materiality: chrome coated columns onyx, rare tropical woods 4. Lilly reich: interiors, furniture, and fabric design 5. Steel frame construction was unusual for homes at that time, but brought with it many advantages that Mies was very occupied with and had already used in his famed Barcelona Pavilion - thinner walls, a free plan that could differ from floor to floor, large walls of glazing to open up rooms and connect them to the garden, etc. Over all the minimal and stable design became a hallmark in Mies' residential accomplishments.

Van Alen, Chrysler Building, NYC, 1930, Art Deco

EMBODIMENT OF ART DECO "In era of concentrated wealth, industrial power, and large-scale city building. It is often said that architecture is a measure of civilization. If so, there may be few better artifacts of the short-lived epoch called the Roaring Twenties than the Chrysler Building. Ironically, the Art Deco Chrysler Building also marked the end of that dizzying period." 1. The Chrysler Building is a classic example of the Art Deco style, from the street to its terraced crown 2. distinctive ornamentation based on features that were also found on Chrysler automobiles at the time 3. More noticeable connections between the exterior of the building and the Chrysler car are the sculptures modeled after radiator caps and ornaments of car wheels that decorate the lower setbacks 4. The stepping spires are made of stainless steel with a stylized sunburst motif, and sit just above a series of gargoyles that depict American eagles which stare out over the city 5. The Chrysler Building's overall shape and composition put it into a distinctive local tradition of skyscraper design. New York architects developed a particular way of handling New York City's 1916 zoning resolution known as the "setback" law: a broad base on top of which rose a slender tower, often incorporating setbacks at multiple levels, all topped by a pyramidal cap or spire 6. The Chrysler Building's style—Art Deco—was considered modern, urbane, and luxurious. The term itself originated from the Exposition internationale des Arts Décoratifs et industriels modernes (International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts), held in Paris in 1925 (above right), but the roots of the style went back further 2. Precious materials such as nickel, chrome, marble and a variety of rich materials flanked the lobby, subliminal/lavish effect.

Le Corbusier, L'Espirit Nouveau (1920-5)/Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture, 1923:

Le Corbusier had been developing his theories on modern architecture throughout the previous decade 2. celebrated science, technology, and reason, arguing that modern machines could create highly precise objects not unlike the ideal platonic forms valued by the ancient Greeks 3. Race cars, airplanes, and factories—marveling at the beauty of their efficiency 4. he also argued that beauty lay not only in the newest technology but in ancient works such as the Parthenon, whose refined forms represented, in his view, the perfection of earlier Archaic systems. Le Corbusier sought to isolate what he called type forms, which were universal elements of design that can work together in a system. He found these across time and across the globe, in the fields of architecture and engineering. The many images embedded throughout the text drew striking visual parallels and eloquently expressed his search for modern perfection through universal forms.

Le Corbusier, L'Espirit Nouveau (1920-5)/Le Corbusier, Vers une architecture, 1923:

Le Corbusier had been developing his theories on modern architecture throughout the previous decade 2. celebrated science, technology, and reason, arguing that modern machines could create highly precise objects not unlike the ideal platonic forms valued by the ancient Greeks 3. Race cars, airplanes, and factories—marveling at the beauty of their efficiency. However, he also argued that beauty lay not only in the newest technology but in ancient works such as the Parthenon, whose refined forms represented, in his view, the perfection of earlier Archaic systems. Le Corbusier sought to isolate what he called type forms, which were universal elements of design that can work together in a system. He found these across time and across the globe, in the fields of architecture and engineering. The many images embedded throughout the text drew striking visual parallels and eloquently expressed his search for modern perfection through universal forms.

Muzio, Ca'Brutta, Milan (1919-22)

Romanesque Design

Gruppo 7, Office Building/Building Project

Terragni fought to move architecture away from neo-classical and neo-baroque revivalism. In 1926 he and other progressive members of Gruppo 7 issued the manifesto that made them the leaders in the fight against revivalism. Shows structure and use of materials.

New York 1916 Zoning Law

This 1916 NYC resolution was the very first zoning law in the United States. It mandated that at a certain height a building had to set back in order to allow sunlight to reach the street below:

International Style

Today when people speak of the "architecture of the modern movement," they are usually referring to the International Style - especially the gleaming steel, glass, and concrete forms of its most famous buildings. More of a movement than a mere aesthetic, the International Style emerged in Europe partly as a response to the cataclysm of World War I and related events. Its use in postwar housing gave it renown as a symbol of social and industrial progress, and not surprisingly, the International Style often resonated with leftist political groups. In the face of opposition from totalitarian regimes in the 1930s, many of the International Style's European proponents resettled in the United States, where economic expansion after World War II allowed it to flourish, particularly in skyscraper construction.

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Vesser, Hitler Youth Hostels