European Modernism, Le Corbusier

rietveld's thoughts when designing the red-blue chair

he believed there was a greater goal for the furniture designer than just physical comfort - the well-being and comfort of the spirit; rietveld and his colleagues in the de stijl art and architecture movement sought to create a utopia based on harmonic human-made order; new forms were essential to this rebuilding

villa de monzie, place and architect and time

garches, le corbusier, 1927

unite d'habitation and "city of three million people" concepts

"city of three million people" (1927) concept came to fruition with unite d'habitation (1952); incorporating all the things you need for accommodating a large number of people; doing so in a way that was rationally satisfying; when he talks about designing a machine for living, he talks about living space that functions as properly for human use as a good tool

"house tool" concept

"eradicate from your mind any hard and fast concepts in regard to the dwelling house and look at the question from an objective and critical angle, and you will arrive inevitably at the "house tool," the mass production house, available for everyone, incomparably healthier than the old kind (any morally too) and beautiful in the same sense that the working tools, familiar to us in our present existence, are beautiful."

why villa savoye (type 4) was the best of the villas

"the fourth type has simple external form of the second type, but interior has the advantage and qualities of the first and third. a clear and very generous type..." "it is helpful to study one's work constantly. an awareness of one's evolution is the springboard of progress."

red-blue chair, time and architect

1923, gerrit rietveld

broad acre city, architect and time

FLW, 1932-1958

interets of de stijl

acted as a forum for discussion of new ideas for abstraction and the visual arts; interested in pure geometry; rationality that was part of the modern movement; advocated pure abstraction and universality by a reduction tot he essentials of form and color; simplified visual compositions to vertical and horizontal, using only black, white, and primary colors

piet mondrian's studios in paris, concept

an artist can be fully satisfied only when his conception of the beautiful is reflected in the world around him; sense of purity of space; sublime planarity of the surface

shape of villa de monzie

arbitrary square - challenge of the architect to figure out the dimensions within; challenge was to create a simple and legible form; opposite of fitting the functions and rooms, regardless of what happens on the outside

la roche house (type 1), time, place, architect

auteuil, 1923, le corbusier

what was the foundation of most of le corbusier's architecture

concentrated on theoretical architectural studies using modern techniques; dissociation of the structure from the walls - freedom of plans and facades became the foundation of most of his architecture; juxtiposable system of construction according to an infinite number of combinations of plans."

parthenon in nashville, time and reason

constructed for TN 1897 centennial exposition; designed by confederate veteran william crawford smith; centerpiece of centennial park; replica serves as a monument to what is considered the pinnacle of classical architecture

design of unite d'habitation

constructed in rough-cast concrete; natural instinct when designing for a significant number of inhabitants is to design horizontally and spread out over the landscape; this design require an innovative approach toward spatial organization to accommodate the living spaces, as well as public, communal spaces; le corbusier usually used stark, white facades; massive volume appears to be floating, ribbon windows resembling the cabin windows running along the hull

de stijl, time place

dutch art movement founded in 1917, "the style"

concepts behind broadacre city

high rises, but not for people to live in; appropriate spaces for office buildings and government agencies; people live a significant distance from their workplace on one acre of land; significant emphasis on transportation; was interested in what automobiles could provide to individuals in terms of freedom

floor plan of villa baizeau

incredibly open, allows us to find it rooms of various shapes and sizes as needed, with a different layout on each floor; "flexible and full of possibilities"

structure of la roche villa

larger blobs in the basic structure; made up of grid elements that suggest a steel-framed structure; more of an expression of space and freedom

what is the unite d'habitation

le corbusier was commissioned to design a multi-family residential housing project for the people of marseilles that were dislocated after the bombings in france; concept formed the basis of several housing developments designed by him throughout europe with this name

domino house, time and architect

le corbusier, 1914

city of three million people, time and architect

le corbusier, 1927

purpose of the domino house

looks like a frame, simple slabs held together with poles; a diagram: a simple form to suggest something about the space; proposed an open floor plan consisting of concrete slabs supposed by a minimal number of reinforced concrete columns; the structure of the house did not have to appear on the outside, but could be hidden behind a glass wall and the interior could be arranged in any way the architect likes; design called for the dissociation of the structure from the walls

unite d'habitation, time, place, architect

marseilles, 1946-1958, le corbusier

similarities in FLW and le corbusier

modernist; concerned with new spatial freedom; freeing humans from enclosures that don't function well; experimenting with space on the horizontal; le corbusier built villas for the upper middle class, but was thinking theoretically about the working class; FLW particularly interested in the middle class

why abstraction was so important to piet mondrian

mondrian and other modernist wanted to move painting beyond naturalistic depiction to focus instead on the material properties of paint and its unique ability to express ideas abstractly using formal elements such as lines and color; mandarin believed his abstraction could serve as universal pectoral language representing the dynamic, evolutionary forces that govern nature and human experience; believed abstraction provides a truer picture of reality than illusionistic depictions of objects int he visible world

piet mondrian's change in style

most famous artist of de stijl; began his work as an impressionist; over a short amount of time, his work started to dramatically change; analysis gets more complex, subtle, and geometric; purity of form, most perfect expression of human artistic vision (landscape vs. grey tree)

frame/structure of villa baizeau

no load bearing walls which allows for more space for manipulation; rigid box as its broader frame

interior of villa de monzie

on the interior, the plan is free; each floor has a disposition totally independent from the others

composition, time and painter

piet mondrian, 1922

villa savoye (type 4), time place architect

poissy sur seine, le corbusier, 1928-1930

le corbusier's villas

produced a series of of villas that experimented with the use of space and floor plans

artistic components of red-blue chair

purity of form; abstract geometries of the structure match with the purity of color (three primary); restriction of palette; manipulated rectilinear forms and examined the interaction of vertical and horizontal planes; color scheme is closely associated with de Stijl and its most famous theorist and practitioner, piet mondrian

composition of "composition"

reduced to the simplest of rectilinear forms, free of naturalistic appearances; his use of the word "composition" (the organization of forms on the canvas) signals his experimentation with abstract arrangements

floor plan of mrs. truus house

she wanted an open floor plan where people would come for parties; top floor has withdrawn/sliding walls to make the space completely open; looking for a flexible space that would still serve a function; experiments with internal (inside) windows to open the space further; rietveld designed most of the furniture as well (moveable/expandable); drawings for the project were consistent with the ideas that are being expressed - abstract, primary colors

what composition reveals about mondrian

shows the dramatic transition of his art work; an expression like van gogh's work with an understanding of abstracting as the most perfect understanding of expressing the nature of life

architectural features of la roche house

simplicity of facade, white stucco, no elements of structure in the wall and no ornaments; windows are ongoing - like black ribbons stretched along a white package

le corbusier fast facts

swiss-french architect, designer, painter, urban planner, pioneer of modern architecture; dedicated to providing better living conditions to the residents in crowded cities

exterior of villa de monzie

the facades are considered carriers of light; none of them touch the ground, covers neither the floors nor the roof, are nothing more than a veil of glass or masonry enclosing the house

impact of mrs. truus house

the most complete expression of de stijl - early 20th century art movement; in architecture and design, characterized by primary colors, geometric planar forms, and an unconventional open plan

villa baizeau (type 3), time place architect

tunis, le corbusier, 1929

what is city of three million people

unrealized utopian planned community intended to house 3 mil people; centerpiece of plan was a group of 66 skyscrapers built on steel frames and encased in curtain walls and glass; also transportation hub housing depots for buses/trains; rather than urban sprawl, was interested in the bringing together of populations and modern high rise structures

house for mrs. truus, time, place, architect

utrecht, gerrit rietveld, 1924

architectural features of exterior mrs. truus house

very vernacular form of house; like a 3D version of mondrian's painting; great use of primary colors; emphasis on geometry, though not geometry that is familiar; incredibly asymmetrical; feels like it is made of a series of disconnected planes; masks the space's functionality; feels very free, light, and anti-structural/not solid; plays with notion of structure

interior of mondrian's studios in paris

walls and furnitures were washed in stark white; rectangles of cardboard painted in primary colors were gridded on all four walls; "the interior of the home must no longer be an accumulation fo rooms formed by four walls with nothing but holes instead of doors and windows, be a construction of colored and colorless planes, combined with furniture and equipment, which must be nothing in themselves but constituent elements of the whole."

interior of villa savoye

you can see many aspects of le corbusier's understanding of spatial relations; repeated emphasis on the building appearing light - seems to be floating; indoors spaces open to outdoor spaces; structure is not load-bearing walls so open spaces are everywhere; freedom of relationship between the different levels