Modern Architecture

Home , Daniel Burnham, High modernism, Monadnock Building, William Le Baron Jenney

By: Henry Russell

Table of Contents

Introduction…………………………………………………………………Page 3 Chapter 1…...…...…...…...…...…...…...…...…...…...…...…...…...……….Page 4 Chapter 2...... Page 10 Chapter 3...... Page 15 Chapter 4...... Page 18 Conclusion………………………………………………………………....Page 22 Works Cited...... Page 23 Images Cited……………………………………………………………….Page 24

Introduction

My interest in architecture started in about fourth grade. I was always interested in the awesome modern buildings that I saw around my neighborhood and the area I live in. Even when I was little, I had a small interest in architecture. I mainly liked floor plans, but it wasn’t until I grew up that I started to appreciate modern architecture more and more. When I started expert project I had many questions about modern architecture. Some big questions I had were: ‘What is the future of modern architecture?’ ‘What is the evolution of modern architecture?’ and ‘Has modern architecture affected world culture?’ My research has definitely answered those questions. My stance on modern architecture is that modern architecture has challenged cultural norms by focusing on the future instead of the past. Unlike buildings in the past, modern architects believed that a building’s function was more important than its design. New technology, shapes, and materials were used to defy old ideas about architectural design.

Chapter 1 The Beginning of Modern Architecture

After the Great Fire of Chicago destroyed much of the city in 1871, Chicago would become the center of modern architecture. This movement was centered around the Chicago School, a group of architects inspired to break with the past. This was the first time America made an international impact in architecture. This association of architects was the great beginning of modern architecture. The Chicago School was known for a new type of building that came to be known as the skyscraper. Chicago School skyscrapers had the following elements: all steel, fire-proof framework, internal wind-bracing, and curtain-wall facades. William Le Baron Jenney was the first to use curtain wall structures to fire-proof a building’s iron frame. A curtain wall is an external masonry or metal screen built on a series of shelves to protect an iron building frame. The first metal framed skyscraper was the Home Insurance Building in downtown Chicago. It was designed by William Le Baron Jenney and was 10-stories tall. Another major building from the Chicago School was the Monadnock Building, built from 1889 to 1891. The Monadnock Building was sixteen stories tall and made of brick. It had no external ornamentation, and was the last of its kind to have internal iron framing, “with exterior walls of solid, load-bearing masonry.” Chicago School skyscrapers used new technology, materials and building techniques. The Chicago School included a substantial number of architects, however, none of the architects who were part of the Chicago School were from Chicago. William Le Baron Jenney founded the Chicago School. Jenney trained many architects, including Louis Sullivan and Daniel Burnham. Frank Lloyd Wright was

the youngest member of the Chicago School. Six leading architects of the Chicago School tended to work in three teams: Daniel Burnham and John Root, William Holabird and Martin Roche, and Darkmar Adler and Louis Sullivan. Many accomplished architects were part of the Chicago School. One of the talented and the youngest of the Chicago School architects was Frank Lloyd Wright. Frank Lloyd Wright was considered the most futuristic of the Modern Architects. Most of his designs were houses. His homes were severely geometric and had square plate glass windows. He wanted his materials to emphasize natural appearance. Wright believed that, “houses should open toward and conform to the lines of the landscape.” He was one of the first architects to use the open concept. His use of the open concept influenced a large number of European Architects. Wright regularly used concrete in his buildings. His use of concrete helped popularize it as a building material in Modern Architecture. He went on to build some great buildings. Frank Lloyd Wright received an enormous amount of attention for his Prairie Style homes from 1900 to 1910. Prairie Style houses used limited decorations inside and out, were made out of low, horizontal shapes, had open floor plans and cross-shaped design, and most had massive fireplaces. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style houses also had long, low hip roofs that draw the eye to the surrounding landscape. The Ward Willits House is one of the first of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie Style houses. The Ward Willits House had a cross-shaped

footprint and open floor plan. The Robie House is Wright’s best known Prairie Style house. The Robie House used a three-dimensional block design and cantilevered roofs resting on short, narrow piers. The Prairie Style was another tremendous style of Early Modern Architecture. A unique element of Early Modern Architecture was the design style developed by a group that would become known as Art Nouveau architects. Art Nouveau was more influential in its detail than its design. It wanted a break from the past, just like Modern Architecture in the U.S. The style was reminiscent of the natural world. Many believed that Art Nouveau had little impact on architecture and was a purely decorative style. Art Nouveau architects believed that there are no straight lines in nature, which meant that they should not put many straight lines in their building’s, as they wanted their buildings to be based on nature. Art Nouveau was unpopular in most of Europe by the end of the 1900’s, except in Barcelona, Spain, Brussels, Belgium, and Paris, France. Art Nouveau was not an influential style compared to the Chicago School, though it still had a unique and interesting style. Antonio Gaudi was a great Art Nouveau architect. One excellent building designed by Antonio Gaudi was the Cassa Mila in Barcelona, Spain, which was made of wrought iron and stone. The Cassa Mila resembled waves on the sea as well as cliffs and mountains. The balconies of the Cassa Mila look like seaweed. Antonio Gaudi also made the Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. The

Sagrada Familia has not been finished, because when Gaudi died in 1926, the building was not even close to halfway done. The Sagrada Familia has few straight lines and spires that look like they are melting. Gaudi was an excellent architect who believed in having a minimum amount of straight lines. Victor Horta was another excellent architect that worked in the Art Nouveau Style. Victor Horta worked in Brussels, Belgium. Horta mainly used wrought iron in his buildings to express Art Nouveau details and because it could be shaped into long curves. Horta’s most important work is considered the Tassel House. Horta’s Tassel House used curving walls, stairs, and ceilings. In the Tassel House even the wall and floor mosaics are full of curves. When Horta used a material or a design concept, he would use it a lot. Another design style, Expressionism, was influenced by a limited number of elements. Expressionists designed buildings off three motifs. One motif was crystal, another was mountains, and the last motif was animals. Expressionism’s motifs were usually from nature. Like other styles, Expressionism had excellent architects and theorists. One great Expressionist is Hans Poelzig, who designed the Schauspielhaus in 1919. The Schauspielhaus was a theater that looked like a cave and had piers that resemble stalactites. In 1919 an Expressionism theorist called Bruno Taut wrote a book called “Alpine Architecture,” in which he described an earth with glass and precious stones.

Bruno Taut said “Architecture consists exclusively of powerful emotions and addresses itself exclusively to the emotions.” Expressionism architects and theorists emphasized nature and emotions in their work. Josef Hoffmann was an example of an extreme Viennese modern architect. He used cube-like materials in his buildings. He used so many quadrilaterals in his buildings he was nicknamed Quadratl-Hoffmann. Hoffmann’s Purkersdorf Sanitarium is an example of his use of cubes in design. Hoffmann also designed the Palais Stoclet in Brussels, Belgium for a rich, private client. The Palais Stoclet used rectangular shapes and minimal decoration. Vienna is home to some of the most extreme modern architects when it comes to shapes. Adolf Loos was the most extreme Viennese Modern Architect. Adolf Loos believed in a pure use of Geometric figures in design. Loos based his design of his Steiner House on Hoffmann’s Sanitarium’s design. The Steiner House had a curved roof but a strictly geometric shape. The Steiner Houses’ windows were functional and not decorative. Loos believed that all building ornamentation should be eliminated. Loos stated, “The evolution of culture marches with the elimination of ornament from useful objects.” Vienna is also home to the most extreme modern architect when it comes to ornamentation. One of early Modern Architecture’s most extreme schools of thought was futurism. The Futurists radically focused on the future instead of the past. Futurists believed the future of architecture was about the machine. Buildings should not resemble anything from the past but be inspired by modern machines, according to futurists. Futurists also believe that all architecture should be considered temporary and able to be destroyed. They believe that monuments should be blown up and

they were against preserving old buildings. The futurists thought that anything that was not modern should be destroyed. Although the futurists did not produce a building based on their beliefs, they spread their ideas through drawings and papers. Antonio Sant’Elia made a series of drawings from 1912-1914 showing futurists ideas. Sant'Elia’s plans never included monuments or decorative urban elements. The futurist’s ideas died out in 1916, but their anti-historical view-points would continue to be associated with Modern Architecture. The Futurists really only talked about their plans and did not build anything that reflected their beliefs.

Chapter 2 Styles of Modern Architecture

The International Style dominated architecture until the 1950’s. It was known for reinforced concrete, featured geometric shapes, white walls, a flat roof, and little or no ornamentation. Abstract art influenced the International Style, and involved people and groups throughout Europe. International Style was anti-ornamentation. Charles-Edouard Le Corbusier was one of the highest regarded architects to work in the International Style. Le Corbusier believed that architecture should produce an emotional response. He was interested in the interaction of light with cubes, cones, cylinders, and pyramids. He said that, “a house is a machine for living in” and was fascinated by ships, cars, and planes. Most of his buildings were box-like structures. In 1926 Le Corbusier published “Five Points of a New Architecture”. He suggested no ground floor walls, flat roofs used as gardens, partition walls between supports,“free composition of external curtain walls”, and use of ribbon windows. Le Corbuiser created a significant body of work in the International Style. Walter Gropius was an architect in the High Modern and International Style. He had a colossal influence in Modern Architecture. Walter Gropius founded the

Bauhaus School, a school of design, in 1919 in Germany. The School united art and architecture with modern industrial technology. Walter Gropius emigrated to the United States in 1937. A year later he became the chairman of the department of architecture at Harvard University. During his career, Gropius directed many schools of architecture, like the Bauhaus and the department of architecture at Harvard University. Mies van der Rohe was an extremely good architect. He was the leader of the Berlin School, a center of architectural innovation in the 1920’s. He used materials like travertine, marble, tinted glass, bronze, and water in his buildings. Early buildings that show van der Rohe’s style were the German Pavilion for the Barcelona Exhibition of 1929 and the Weissenhof Siedlung in Stuttgart, Germany. Mies van der Rohe made two famous statements: “I don’t want to be interesting. I want to be good,” and, “Less is more.” Late Modernism was similar to High Modernism. Much of the Late Modern Style was a refinement of High Modernism. Although the Late Modern style was a blend of European and American influences, America dominated Late Modernism because of the country’s post-war power and wealth. Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright dominated architecture from the 1950’s to the 1960’s. Late Modernism blended with both High Modernism and the International Style. Two important buildings by Frank Lloyd Wright in the Late Modern Style are Fallingwater House in Bear Run, Pennsylvania, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Fallingwater is considered one of the most admired works of Frank Lloyd Wright. The House is built on a stream that runs under and along the house. The building’s piers and chimneys seem to grow out of the rocks under

streams. Its terraces were made out of ferroconcrete that reached out to the trees and the sky. Fallingwater was one of the most famous houses in the Late Modern Style. The Guggenheim Museum is another of Wright’s major works. The Guggenheim looks like a spaceship on Fifth Avenue in NYC. The museum’s exhibition space is a spiral ramp built on thin piers. The other side of the Guggenheim contains square and circular forms. The museum is full of natural light because of a giant skylight, or oculus, at the top of the spiral ramp. The Guggenheim was criticized for not looking like most museums at that time. Le Corbusier was embarrassed by his early works. His later works are radically different from his early buildings. His Late Style and that of similar architects is sometimes called Brutalism. Brutalism is known for “roughly finished forms made of concrete. Le Corbuiser’s style changed in the following ways: thin piers to thick concrete legs, ribbon windows and thin walls to concrete sun breaks, roof-top gardens to raw concrete chimneys that look like smokestack funnels. He later added balconies and colors to his buildings. His late work was anti-technology and noted for raw textures. In his later career, Le Corbusier designed buildings in America, Europe, and Asia. One of Corbusier’s most influential works was Unite d’ Habitation. The most notable external feature of the Unite d’Habitation was deep balconies. Unite d’Habitation offered 23 floor plans to accommodate 1-10 people in a single apartment. Another building in Le Corbusier’s later style is Norte-Dame-du-Haut. Norte-Dame-du-Haut is made of rough, masonry walls and a roof of raw concrete. The front of Notre-Dame-du-Haut has an angular roof reaching for the sky. In his later works Le Corbusier still had his old touch.

By the late-1960’s Modern Architecture had become a more predictable and less innovative style. Architecture, in general, had been evolving into a style that would be identified as postmodern architecture. Postmodern architecture did what modern architecture had been avoiding, namely looking back to history to enrich its designs. Postmodern architects utilized classical elements such as columns and pediments and employed extensive use of color. Postmodernism is known for irregular forms, zig-zag windows, flipping inside elements outside (an elevator on the outside of the building,) and tent-like roofs. If a postmodern building was tall enough, it would be used as a communications tower. Most postmodern architects treated their buildings as sculptures. In Postmodernism, skyscrapers were more common and in the 1970’s, efforts were made to make skyscrapers more architecturally pleasing to the public. Skyscrapers in the post-war years gradually grew taller and taller, quickly beating the record the Empire State Building held for years. Post-war skyscrapers were heavy and overwhelming. An example of making skyscrapers more publicly pleasing was to create lobbies with low balconies, pools, and green-filled spaces. In postmodernism, skyscrapers became more pleasing. The Lloyds Building is a Postmodern building in London, England. It was built in 1986 and designed by Richard Rogers. It functions as a commercial building and resembles an oil refinery. The Lloyds Building has a format that allows the building to be added to outward and upward. It is an excellent example of Postmodern architecture. Phillip Johnson designed a building for the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). He designed the new AT&T headquarters in the late 1970’s. It is rumored that the building cost more than $200 million dollars. The

building combined an unusual material, which was pink granite, with a reference to a historical past. The building was designed to look like an early 18th century cabinet. The AT&T building fully integrated the Postmodern style.

Chapter 3 Prefab Architecture

The term “prefab” stands for prefabricated. Prefab buildings are fabricated away from the building site. Houses were usually made as semi permanent homes. Prefab uses a variety of materials. The materials for the early houses were timber, corrugated and cast iron. Later iron, steel, and reinforced concrete were used in prefab houses. The materials for the first prefab house were shipped in 1624 to house a fishing fleet in Colonial America. The first cast-iron house was made in England in 1830. By the early 20th century prefab houses could be ordered from companies. Many companies sold prefab houses, such as Aladdin, Gorden Van Tine, Hodgson Company, and Sears. The first company to sell houses was Aladdin in 1906. Aladdin has sold 65,000 prefab homes in 450 models. In the 20th century many middle-class Americans could order an inexpensive house through a catalogue. Prefab was successful mainly because you could order an affordable house through a catalogue. When people think of mail-order homes, they think of Sears. Sears has sold the most Prefab houses and their products are best known. The company sold more

than 100,000 prefab homes starting in 1908 and ending in 1940. Their mail-order homes would cost $600-$2,500. The homes would arrive in up to 30,000 pieces. Each house from Sears came with a 75-page book on how to build it. They said that an average man could build a mail-order house. Le Corbusier was a tremendous prefab architect in the early 20th century. His ideas on mass-produced homes inspired the International Style. He thought that a new era of mass-produced homes would get rid of, “dead concepts in regard to the house.” The Domino House was designed by Le Corbusier in 1914. The floating roof of the house was supported by six columns. It used reinforced concrete in a new framework to delete the need to have load-bearing walls. The cantilevered staircases of the Domino House connected the floors. Le Corbusier’s work in prefab housing inspired the style he worked in for the beginning of his career. In 1929 one of the leading German expressionists, Konrad Wachsmann, was asked to make a house for Albert Einstein. Wachsmann quit his day job because he was so excited about building a house for Einstein. All the walls and ceilings of the house were made with timber slabs or boards. Einstein abandoned the house when he migrated to the US in 1933 because of the Nazi’s persecution of the Jews. When he was in the United States he helped Wachsmann move to the United States of America. There Wachsmann would work with Walter Gropius on post-WW2 prefab houses. Who started as a normal expressionist turned into a famous architect. Frank Lloyd Wright also dabbled into Prefab housing. Wright considered it a challenge to design an affordable, modern home. His design for an affordable modern house was called the Usonian House. The Usonian Houses were designed

on a grid system. To be affordable the houses did not have a visible roof, gutters, basements, garage, radiators, light fixtures, paint, or plaster. About 24 homes were built in the mid 1930’s-1940’s. Wright designed the houses for Marshell Erdman, a builder in Wisconsin. Wright tried to solve a challenge that he gave himself, and he did it in an extreme way. General Panel was an unsuccessful mass-produced housing company. Walter Gropius and Konrad Wachsmann designed post-world war two prefab homes for the General Panel Corporation. General Panel Corporation Houses had interchangeable parts and used new building materials such as enamel and aluminum. The company’s houses were not popular and they went out of business in 1951. The General Panel Corporation was a huge flop. A more successful display of prefab architecture and modern architecture was the case study houses. Case Study Homes were made from 1945 to 1962. The houses were made based on studies of clients’ specific needs. The Koenig House was built on steel frames and gave the feeling of hanging over a cliff. Koenig was known for intersecting large plates of glass with steel. The Eames house was made mostly of prefabricated steel parts. The house used large panels of glass to let in light and nature. The Case Study Homes were actually successful, unlike General Panel Corporation homes.

Chapter 4 21st Century Architecture

Modern Architecture appeared in many areas in Asia after World War l. It was the beginning of modernism in East Asia, especially in Korea. It came to Japan in the 1920’s. The style began in Korea and China during the 1930’s. When modern architecture began in Korea it was focused in Seoul. In China modern architecture first appeared in Shanghai and Beijing. Traditional Asian elements made modern architecture in China, Korea, and Japan different from American modern architecture. An example of a contemporary skyscraper is the Merdeka PNB118. It is going to be 2,133 feet tall when completed. The building is developed by the Australian firm Fender Katsalidis Architects. It is estimated that it will be finished in 2021. The skyscraper has a lot of triangular glass panels. The establishment is in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The building is designed by a firm that operates on a different continent than where it will be built. In Bangkok, Thailand another contemporary skyscraper is being built, the Grand Rama 9 Tower. Completion is scheduled for 2021. The building will be 2,018 feet tall and it will be the tallest building in Southeast Asia. The building is named after a Thai king, King Rama IX. It is a symbol of Bangkok’s economic growth. The Wuhan Greenland Center is my final example of a contemporary Asian skyscraper. It is in Wuhan, China. The building was originally designed to be 2,087 feet tall. Construction stopped on the Wuhan Greenland Center in August 2017 due to airspace regulations. The building will reach 1,560 feet high if ever

completed. It has a curved, tripod shape with a dome at the top to reduce wind resistance. This building has had its height changed for safety reasons. Feng Shui, which means “wind and water,” is an important feature in Asian modern architecture. Building orientation is very important in Asian architecture. Feng Shui might consider a building's orientation important, like a need to face south. If an architect believes in Feng Shui, their buildings have to be leaning on mountains and facing rivers. Feng Shui was important in Asian architecture, but not in American architecture. The King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center is a contemporary building in the middle east. The KAPSARC is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The building has a gray, cellular outer shell. It has covered courtyards underneath its steel covers. The Burj Khalifa is one of the world’s best known skyscrapers. It is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. This skyscraper is the world’s tallest at 830 meters high. It is designed to look like desert flowers. The building has enough glass to cover 17 soccer fields. Every architect dreams of building a structure more well known than the Burj Khalifa. The Cayan Tower is the highest spiraling tower in the world, standing at 306 meters. It is in Dubai, United Arab Emirates(UAE). The building is eighty-stories tall. In it there are no pillars anywhere. The skyscraper is tall and a

pillarless building, which is perhaps the future of architecture. The Jeddah Tower is going to be the first skyscraper to reach the one kilometer mark. It is in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. The tower is estimated to reach completion in 2021. People say that the Jeddah Tower is, “the next,” Burj Khalifa. The skyscraper will be a record breaker. People have begun to build green buildings. Since the late 1980’s architects have been trying to design “green,” buildings more and more. Architects built buildings that were as energy-efficient as possible. Green buildings in the 1980’s were based off of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings, but they were not popular. With climate change starting architects need to build green buildings that are as energy efficient as possible. BedZED is a green community. It is designed by Bill Dunster. The community is located on the outskirts of London, England. It is made up of 100 homes and work spaces. The buildings capture rain and recycle domestic water to lower water usage. BedZED saves water, which is good for the environment. The 30 St. Mary Axe is a green building. The building is located in London and was designed by Norman Foster. It was built in 2004. It functions as a commercial building. The construction is 41 stories tall. The building is commonly referred to as a Gherkin (Pickle). The Gherkin has many unique building designs.

It has two layers, or skins. In the building the floors rotate five degrees to allow fresh air and sunlight into the center of the building.The outer skin of the Gherkin has windows that open, so that hot air that comes in on sunny days rises through the skins and out the windows; this is called a natural chimney effect. The chimney effect of the design lowers the need for air conditioning for nearly 40 percent of the year. The Gherkin has some innovative green building designs.

Conclusion

Modern architecture has changed the world so much. In East Asia, modern architecture was one of the first experiences of modernism for the Korean,

Japanese, and Chinese people. In America, it changed some people’s thoughts on buildings. After this long research project I want to study contemporary architecture more. I only talked about it in my last chapter. I have changed over these 10 months. I have become a better writer and a better student. It has changed my mindset, which, before this research project, was to finish work as fast as I can so I can have fun. Now I believe that if you work hard first, not rushing through it, is better than rushing the work to get to fun sooner.

Works Cited Bedell, Geraldine. theguardian.com, https://www.theguardian.com. Accessed Feb. 2020. Glancy, Jonathan. Architecture. DK Publishing. Accessed Sept. 2019. Hamdan, Sara. Cnn, https://www.cnn.com/travel/. Accessed Feb. 2020. Herbers, Jill. Prefab Modern. Harper Design International, 2004. Kim, Suzie. Dr. Suzie Kim, Interview. 15 Jan. 2020. Kostof, Spyro. A History of Architecture: Settings and Rituals. Oxford University Press. Accessed Feb. 2020. Kushner, Marc. The Future of Architecture: In 100 Buildings. Simon & Schuster. Accessed Dec. 2019. Michielli, Zachariah. Architecture, WorldBookOnline, https://www.worldbookonline.com. Accessed Jan. 2020. Sisson, Patrick. 10 Tallest Buildings under Construction or in Development around the World, Curbed.com, https://www.curbed.com. Accessed Jan. 2020. Trachtenberg, Marvin, and Isabelle Hyman. Architecture: From Prehistory to Postmodernity. Prentice Hall, inc., and Harry N. Abrams, inc. Accessed Feb. 2020.

Images Cited https://www.flickr.com/photos/pnwra/384451558/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/18702768@N04/2795121795 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Casa_Milà,_general_view.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chilehaus_-_Hamburg.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:VillaSavoye.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%27Prefab%27_housing._-_geograph.or g.uk_-_389577.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Burj_Khalifa.jpg https://www.flickr.com/photos/tomchance/1008213420 https://www.flickr.com/photos/locosteve/11582583755