ART DECO MOVEMENT
• Art Deco or Deco OR STYLE
MODERNE, is an influential
visual arts design style which
first appeared in France after
World War I, flourishing
internationally in the 1925s
and 1940s before its popularity
waned after World War II
• The style is often characterized
by rich colors, bold geometric
shapes, and lavish
ornamentation.
• Art Deco represented luxury,
glamour,exuberance, and faith
in social and technological
progress.
• Art deco, also called style moderne.
• Art Deco design represented
modernism turned into fashion.
• Art Deco was first applied to public
and commercial buildings in
the1920s.
• Although individual homes were
rarely designed in the Art Deco style,
architects and developers, especially
in Greater Washington,DC, found that
the style adapted quite well to
apartment buildings.
• Most of these buildings are still in
use, a testament to the city’s richly
varied architectural history.
• The Art Deco movement even
influenced the design and
• layout of posters, cars, trains,
etc.
• The poster shown opposite has
typical Art Deco colours and
displays the fashion and
architecture of the 1930s.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ART DECO
Rounded Corners
• Technology allowed for
construction to be built with
rounded corners.
• In the 1930' s and 1940's, the
design of airplanes, ships,trains,
and automobiles influenced
architecture.
• Rounded corners made buildings
appear aerodynamic, fast and
sleek.
Threes
• In Art deco,everything seems to
come in threes;three windows, or
three bandings or three steps up.
etc
Banding Or Racing Stripes
• Horizontal banding on the
facades of buildings, which can be
incised or applied in decorative
materials such as tile.
• Banding usually comes in groups
of "threes".
• This simplified ornamentation
reinforces aerodynamic concepts
of streamline moderne.
• A great way to accent the
architectural elements of an art
deco building is to paint the
banding in a contrasting color.
Columns
• Many art deco buildings feature either whole columns, which
stand away from the building or sliced columns attached to the
front doorway facade acting as an archway.
Glass Block
• Cool, translucent squares of
glass used instead of brick.
allows for light penetration.
• Glass block easily creates a
ziggurat "step“ design.
• Glass block has made a
tremendous come-back in
contemporary design.
Ziggurat or Stepped Pediment
• Profiled like a staircase - up
down, up down also known as
"zig-zag" or "lightning bolt.“
• Ziggurats are seen on the
roofline of buildings recreating
egyptian motifs.
Materials
• Art Deco materials
included stucco,
concrete, smooth-faced
stone, and Terracotta.
• Steel and aluminum
were often used along
with glass blocks and
decorative opaque
plate glass (vitrolite).
Windows
• Windows usually appear as punctured
openings,either square or round.
• To maintain a streamlined appearance
for the building, they were often
arranged in continuous horizontal bands
of glass.
• Wall openings are sometimes filled with
decorative glass or with glass blocks,
creating a contrast of solid and void
forms while admitting daylight.
• Many large apartment buildings found
aesthetic success with decorative
embossed spandrel panels placed below
windows.
Art Deco buildings have many of these features
• Cubic forms
• Ziggurat shapes: Terraced pyramid with each story
smaller than the one below it
• Complex groupings of rectangles or trapezoids
• Bands of color
• Zigzag designs
• Strong sense of line
• Illusion of pillars
EMPIRE STATE BUILDING
BUILT:1931, New York
STOREY:102 (Art Deco Skyscraper)
TALL: 1250 FEET
Architect: Shreve Lamb & Harmon
•Architectural designs rely heavily
on vertical elements that
emphasize height, creating the
impression that this modern
building is racing towards the sky.
• 2 million square feet of office
space, and covers two acres of land
•It was the most ambitious use of
steel-frame architecture at the
time, a modern demonstration of
the power of industrial technology.
•. The exterior is covered in
limestone and granite, accented
with aluminum for extra luster.
•. This combination of materials
was very common in Art
Deco,and promoted an aesthetic
that was industrial and modern
•Tallest building in New York
MATERAIAL USED:
• 60,000 Tons of steel
• 10 Million Bricks
• Marble of Different types
• Foundation: 16.7 m below
ground
•The Structure of the tower is
braced steel frame with semi-rigid
connections.
• It remains stiffest
of the tower for its
height, largely due to
heavy cladding that
•Single core system
is designed to stiffen
The system structure of a tall
the frame. building with a centre single core
(single core) and within short
•Shear Walls: To columns (mullion) which bear the
resist the lateral load floor with the core of the building.
caused by wind and
•The core of the building except
Earthquake bears the vertical load is also
•The Assembly of burdened with a horizontal force
shear wall is known due to the earthquake and wind.
as “Coupled Shear
Wall” •There are windows on four sides
providing excellent light and views
