Discussion on Aircraft Technology and It's Impact on Architecture in The
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Journal of Architectural Research and Development Research in Context Discussion on Aircraft Technology and It's Impact on Architecture in the Architectural History of 1903-1940 Nedime Tuba Yusufoğlu Ph.D Architectural History and Theory, Yıldız Technical University, Turkey Abstract: Having been invented at the beginning of the father and his son to this Labyrinth. Daedalus 20th century, aircraft is the concrete success of human glued bird wings to himself and his son with wax. being related to flying fantasy, which has been existing The father passed over the Aegean Sea by flying but for centuries. The centuries-old studies accelerated in Icarus died rising as sunlight melted the wax[1]. The the 19th century and it has been finally succeeded to historians believed that this story goes back to 1400 take off under Wright Brothers in 1903 together with B.C. European historians give a particular importance scientific and technologic processes. A creative energy to this story about which various drawings were made. boosted at the beginning of 20th century and a new age, Although, it has not known whether this myth is real “age of aviation and aircraft” emerged. The political or not, they are neither the first nor the last ones atmosphere in the world was considerably tense at the attempting to fly with wings in the history. beginning of 20th century. World War I and World In the 16th century, Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) War II were experienced. War Effort was directly made the first scientific and technical research on effective in the development of aircraft and aviation bird flight and depicted the possibilities of imitating architecture. In terms of aviation architecture, aircraft flight with mechanical tools in his works. While the hangars, aircraft factories, wind tunnels, runways and 17th and 18th centuries passed with flight trials with airports can be considered. Birth and development of “lighter-than-air crafts” (balloons and directed aircraft industry are in parallel with birth and balloons/airships); in the last part of the 19th century, development of modern architecture (and organic referred to “Age of Steam”, there were several architecture). The period between 1918-1939 is improvements in the airships with the successes in characterized as “Golden Age” of aviation in the West the steam machine. (particularly in the U.S). The literature and archive Along with the centuries-old developments, finally, resources have been reviewed in the Republic of in the beginning of 20th century, it was reported that Turkey simultaneously. In this article, interactions Wilbur and Orville Wright Brothers revealed "age of between aircraft technology and aviation architecture aviation and aircraft" by succeeding to take off with a are discussed. heavier-than-air motor vehicle in 1903. Many rapid and busy developments were triggered with the Keywords: aircraft, technology, aviation, aircraft invention. As the 20th century began with the architecture, nature, air-minded architects wars, it was discussed to use recently invented Published Date: March 2018 aircraft as a tool of discovery-surveillance and Published Online: 31st March 2018 immediately after, as a bombardment/combat vehicle. th Corresponding Athour: Tuba Yusufoğlu, In the first half of 20 century and the period [email protected] specified under this article, the world experienced two significant world wars. Aircrafts were rapidly 0 Introduction developed during War Effort (effort/struggle made to win the war), inter-war and post-war periods[2]. A human being has been dreaming of flying and Aircrafts were used for civil-commercial (post, cargo gliding through the sky throughout the century. The and passenger transportation) and sportive purposes desire and passion of flying were referred in the fairy as well as military purposes. Construction of several tales and myths of old China, Egypt and India. new structures for these purposes, namely aircraft, Having been well-known in Greek mythology, the aircraft industry and passenger need, etc. have myth of Daedalus and Icarus is based on the become obligatory. construction of a passage with a very complicated In this article, the course of time from the invention exit after the entrance in order to imprison the father of aircraft (1903) to the years of the 1940s was and his son which was built to imprison a bull called reviewed along with literature and archive review Minotauros and named Labyrintyh. King imprisoned because during these time, particularly in 1920s and Distributed under creative commons license 4.0 Volume 2; Issue 2 1 1930s, busy and creative developments had been without colonnade credited to the developments in successively experienced. This period has been called manufacturing technologies and scientific manage- as “Golden Age” of the aviation in Europe and ment (Taylorism). The developments in manufac- particularly in the U.S.[3]. In both Europe, the U.S., turing technology (i.e assembly line) enabled the and the Republic of Turkey, as a continuance of the structure to be internally and externally integrated Ottoman State, “aviation architecture” and even with machine aesthetics[4]. In a short while, the “aviation culture” were formed. Organizations systems developed for mass-production cars of Ford (military and civil), establishments, superstructure were also used for aircraft factories, and the factories and infrastructure (network) systems, air routes, that were able to manufacture aircraft with mass- meteorology organizations (network/network sys- production were constructed (Willow Run is one of tems), etc. were established and developed around the the extreme examples). American architect Albert world and particularly in Turkey in this course of Kahn, is specialized in the field of aircraft factories time. in this period, is a significant figure[5]. It has become possible to see the invisible world from ‘Wind tunnels’ refer to the tunnels which were above thanks to aircraft and ‘a new view’ / bird’s designed and manufactured for reviewing, resear- eye-view was used in organic urban designs. ching and commenting on the effects applied by air “Floating iron bridge on sky” can be used for on aircrafts, and in which air can be moved and its describing aircraft. Aircraft interconnected lands, speed can be arranged. The history of wind tunnels seas and continents as an aerial chain. Engineering goes back to the 18th century. Wright Brothers made advancements in the field of aviation rapidly influ- their experimental tests on aviation studies for their enced architecture. While aircraft technology was first aircraft ‘Flyer’ in a basic wind tunnel in 1901. inspiring aviation architecture, architecture gave This technology had not been common in the U.S. inspiration to aircraft technology. Aviation archi- yet. Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923) built the first open- tecture under this article is, indeed, researching avia- rotational wind tunnel in 1909. The U.S. army started tion culture. In this context, there is a need to res- to construct wind tunnels in 1916. The largest wind earch black boxes of this age and aviation architec- tunnels were constructed in Chalais-Meudon, France, ture in the context of the history of archi-tecture. which was designed to test full-scale aircrafts, near Thus, it can be expressly seen what has been done in Paris in 1932-1934 until the World War II[6]. The this course of time and what can be added to these huge wind tunnels constructed in Germany in 1930s improvements as well as what can be done in this can be given as an other example. The development regard in the future. of these structures has accompanied to the 1 Birth and development of aviation development of aircraft. Giant wind tunnels were [7] architecture constructed during the World War II . Runways were required for taking off and landing of Along with the invention of aircraft, construction of the aircrafts. Construction of runway has become a a number of aviation structures became obligatory field to which the U.S. army engineers have particu- for development of aviation industry. Basic larly given importance. The human-made runways structured (wooden) hangars were primarily cons- with superficial areas, made of asphalt, reinforced tructed to protect aircraft from external factors and concrete and/or both have become an issue being weather conditions. Aircraft hangars were rapidly focused for years to develop its design and materials. developed with different types of materials and Along with the invention of aircraft, airport, as a techniques (iron, steel, reinforced concrete etc.) new structure type, particular to the 20th century developed in the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s. Aircraft emerged. Airports were initially designed to extend hangars in the 1910s and 1940s were not identical. and develop aviation hangars at first, but gradually In parallel, aircraft sizes and weights were changing they have become a design matter required to be and developing together with architectural construc- urgently developed to meet the needs of increasing tion materials, techniques and styles of hangars. number of passengers. Engineers began to work in Aircraft factories for construction of the aircrafts the first airport designs and after that, urban were required to be rapidly manufactured under the designers were included in the process. All infras- influence of war effort. At first, narrow-spaced tructure and superstructure systems (network/net- ateliers with colonnade as a continuance of the 19th work systems/air routes/meteorology organizations, century transformed into wide-spaced structures 2 Distributed under creative commons license 4.0 Volume 2; Issue 2 etc. infrastructure services; communication of air- Lindberg in 1927 with the aircraft ‘Spirit of St. Louis’ craft with ground services, towers, runways, design triggered the development of aviation and aviation of safe flight area, electricity lighting, signal etc. architecture in the U.S. Construction of runway and systems) were mostly established in this course of airport rapidly increased after this flight. This effect time, particularly during 1918-1939 known as refers to ‘Lindbergh Effect[3][9].