THEORY OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE

5th Semester

Teachers: Ar. Tahira Shaukat

Date: 22 August 2023
 INTRODUCTION

Modern architecture or modernist architecture was a movement or architectural

style based on new and innovative building technologies, in particular the use
of glass, steel and reinforced concrete; the idea that “ form must follow
function" (functionalism); minimalism; and a rejection of ornamention.1

1
“What is Modern architecture?”. Royal Institute of British Architects. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
CONTEXT
Enlightenment theories

The Enlightenment, a philosophical move-

ment that dominated in Europe during the
18th century, was centered around the
idea that reason is the primary source of
authority and legitimacy, and advocated
such ideals as liberty, progress, tolerance,
fraternity, constitutional government, and
separation of church and state.2 “

John Locke was the first modern 2 Lumen Boundless world history, see in there website:
https://courses. lumenlearning.com/boundless-worldhistory/chapter/the-
thinker. “no man knowledge can enlightenment/

go beyound his experience”

Man is born free but everywhere
is in chains.”
Jean-Jacques Rousseau,

French Revolution, revolutionary

movement that shook France be-
tween 1787 and 1799

Source: Art through Ages

ROMANTICISM

A movement in the arts and literature that originated in the late 18th
century, emphasizing inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the
individual. Romanticism in general was a reaction against the scientific
rationalization of Nature during the Age of Reason, which left little room
for the freedom and creativity of the human spirit, and it stressed strong
emotion as a source of aesthetic experience. It was embodied most
strongly in the visual arts, music, and literature, but it also had a
counterpart in philosophical thought.
ARCHITECTURE

“Gothic Architecture” as Medieval Modernism.

ECLECTIC ARCHITECTURE

Eclecticism is a conceptual approach that does not hold

rigidly to a single paradigm or set of assumptions, but instead
draws upon multiple theories, styles, or ideas to gain
complementary insights into a subject, or applies different
theories in particular cases.
ECLECTIC ARCHITECTURE

Eclecticism is a nineteenth and twentieth-century

architectural style in which a single piece of work
incorporates a mixture of elements from previous
historical styles to create something that is new and
original.1
Beaux-Arts architecture was the academic architec- tural style
taught at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, particularly of
1830s to the end of the 19th century. It was inspired by the
principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated
elements of the Renaissance and Baroque and used modern
Pagoda House Tel AVIV. Source: Arch daily.
materials, such as iron and glass. It was an important style in
France until the end of the 19th century. 1134 Jean-Pierre Épron, Comprendre l’éclectisme
(Éditions Norma, 1997).
 INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Exhibitions

Britian Great exhibition 1851

Crystal Palace Glass structure

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

Exhibitions

Exposition Universelle 1889

(Paris)

Crystal Palace Glass structure

 HERITAGE CONSERVATION

Viollet-le-
Duc John
Ruskin

William
Art nouveau
Morris SPAB
society
Reaction to industrial system

Pagoda House Tel AVIV. Source: Arch

daily.
PIONEERS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE AND
THEIR PHILOSOPHY.

Henry Hobson Richardson

Richardson was interested in reviving the motifs
of the medieval Romanesque, using solid stone
walls and arches to create imposing, grounded
structures. However, he was also innovative in
his use of space, bringing natural light and air
into these buildings, something uncommon in the
original Romanesque.

Trinity Church, Boston

LOUIS SULLIVAN
Sullivan’s work was guided by that “form follows function,” a
phrase for which he became known. He believed in looking at the
purpose of a building before devising an architectural form for it
and in ensuring that usage was reflected in both the structure
and the decoration.

Louis Sullivan endeavoured to define an architectural style

unique to America. He disrupted the imitation of the
architecture styles like Romanesque, Gothic, Renaissance,
Baroque, or Neo-classicism. According to him, the identity of
any building resided in ornaments, yet Sullivan emphasized on the
structure.

Elevators urbanization
Needs of modern time1

Wainwright building. Adler and Sulluvan

1 The Long(ish) Read: Louis Sullivan Discusses the Tall Office, “Artistically Considered” https://w
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT
The Prairie style emerged in Chicago around 1900 from
the work of a group of young archi- tects, including
Frank Lloyd Wright. These ar- chitects melded the
ideals of the Arts and Crafts movement, with its
emphasis on nature, crafts- manship and simplicity, and
the work and writings of architect Louis Sullivan.1

The designation Prairie is due to the dominant

horizontality of the majority of Prairie style build- ings,
which echoes the wide, flat, treeless ex- panses of
the mid-Western United States.

Reaction to John Ruskin and William moris

indigenous North American style
Inspired by the great plains of the midwest, the
Organic architecture Frederick C. Robie House in Chicago
Simplicity (constructed 1910) is renowned as the
the greatest example of the Prairie School
Functions architectural style and the most famous of
Wright’s Prairie Houses.
ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE
Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which
promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural
world. This is achieved through design approaches that aim
to be sympathetic and well-inte- grated with a site, so
buildings, furnishings, and sur- roundings become part of a
unified, interrelated compo- sition.

“So here I stand before you preaching organic architec- ture:

declaring organic architecture to be the modern ideal and the
teaching so much needed if we are to see the whole of life
and to now serve the whole of life, holding no traditions
essential to the great TRADITION. Nor cherishing any
preconceived form fixing upon us either past, present, or
future, but instead exalting the simple laws of common sense
or of super-sense if you prefer determining form by way of
the nature of materi- als.”1 Built partly over a waterfall in southwestern Pennsylvania,
Fallingwater (constructed 1936-1939) is considered one of
Wright’s greatest masterpieces. The building is a National
Historic Landmark and has wel- comed over five million
Japan visit visitors since the site was opened to the public in 1964.
“Human Nature Harmony” Lao tze philosophy
Inside outside effects, best examples of organic architecture.
LE CORBUSIER
Vers une Architecture
The architectural historian Reyner Banham wrote that
its influence was “beyond that of any other
architectural work published in this [20th] century to
date” 1

Toward an Architecture but commonly known as To-

wards a New Architecture after the 1927 translation by
Frederick Etchells, is a collection of essays written by
Le Corbusier (Charles-Edouard Jeanneret), advocating
for and exploring the concept of modern architecture.

1. Banham, Reyner (1960). Theory and Design in the First

The cover of the 2007 Getty translation
Machine Age. New York: Praeger. p. 246.
Towards new Architecture.
Le Corbusier.
LE CORBUSIER
Le Corbusier and the Five Points of a New Architecture.
Le Corbusier adopted what he considered to be the most
important five architectural points in his architecture:
pilotis, freeplan, horizontal windows, a free façade and
roof top gardens.

The Five Points of a New Architecture’ (1927)

Pilotis.

1. Replacement of ground floor supporting walls by a

grid of reinforced concrete columns that bear the
structural load is the basis of the new aesthetic.
Le Corbusier’s Dom-ino frame
2. The free design of the ground plan. (open floor plan)
3. The free design of the façade.
4. Horizontal windows.
5. Roof garden.
MODERN ARCHITECTURE: INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION
FEB 9–MAR 23, 1932 MOMA

The International Style or internationalism[1] is a

major architectural style that was devel- oped in
the 1920s and 1930s and was closely related to
modernism and modern architec- ture. It was
first defined by Museum of Mod- ern Art
curators Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip
Johnson in 1932, based on works of architecture
from the 1920s. The terms ra- tionalist
architecture and modern movement are often
used interchangeably with Interna- tional Style1

1 Turner, Jane (1996). The Dictionary of Art. 26 Raphon to Rome,

ancient, §II: Architecture. London: Grove. p. 14. ISBN 1-884446-00-0.
MINIMALISM
Minimalism emerged in New York in the early 1960s among artists who were self-con-
sciously renouncing recent art they thought had become stale and academic. A wave of new
influences and rediscovered styles led younger artists to question conventional boundaries
between various media. The new art favored the cool over the “dramatic”: their sculptures were
frequently fabricated from industrial materials and emphasized anonymity over the expressive
excess of Abstract Expressionism. Painters and sculptors avoided overt symbolism and emotional
content, but instead called attention to the materiality of the works. By the end of the 1970s,
Minimalism had triumphed in America and Europe through a combination of forces including
museum curators, art dealers, and publications, plus new systems of private and government
patronage and members of a new movement, Post-Minimalism, were already challenging its au-
thority and were thus a testament to how important Minimalism itself became.
MINIMALISM
Key Ideas & Accomplishments
Minimalists distanced themselves from the Abstract Expressionists by removing suggestions of
biography from their art or, indeed, metaphors of any kind. This denial of expression coupled
with an interest in making objects that avoided the appearance of fine art led to the
creation of sleek, geometric works that purposefully and radically conventional es thetic
appeal.

The post-Sputnik era revived active interest in Russian Constructivism. The Constructivist
approach led to the use of modular fabrication and industrial materials in preference to the craft
techniques of traditional sculpture. The readymades of Marcel Duchamp were also inspirational
examples of the employment of prefabricated materials.
Based on these sources, Minimalists created works that
resembled factory-built commodities and upended
traditional definitions of art whose meaning was tied
to a narrative or to the artist.

The use of prefabricated industrial materials and simple,

often repeated geometric forms together with the emphasis
placed on the physical space occupied by the artwork led
to some works that forced the viewer to confront the
arrangement and scale of the forms. Viewers also were led
to experience qualities of weight, height, gravity, agility or
even the appearance of light as a material presence. They
were often faced with artworks that demanded a physical
as well as a visual response. Frank Stella Die Fahne Hoch! (1959)
 Minimalists sought to break down traditional notions of sculpture and to erase distinctions
between painting and sculpture. In par- ticular, they rejected the formalist dogma espoused by
the critic Clement Greenberg that placed limitations on the art of painting and privileged
artists who seemed to paint under his direction.

The Minimalists’ more democratic point of view was set out in writings as well as exhibitions
by their leaders Sol LeWitt, Donald Judd, and Robert Morris. 1

1 https://www.theartstory.org/movement/minimalism/
 Tony Smith Die (1962) White Cubes Artist: Sol LeWitt 1991

Frank Stella put it on another occasion: “What you see is what you see.”
Minimalist architecture is restricted to fewer
elements to achieve the most. Here, ‘the most’ is
as important as health.
The origins of minimalist architecture can be
found in the Cubist design movements De Stijl
and Bauhaus of the 1920s. For instance, the
De Stijl movement endorsed abstraction and
simplicity by reducing art to its essential forms
and colors. Theo Van Does- burg and Gerrit
Rietveld applied DeStijl principles to
architecture by way of a design philosophy
based on functionalism, a lack of surface
decoration, and rectilinear planes as
The Rietveld Schröder House (Dutch: Rietveld Schröderhuis) (also
exemplified in Rietveld’s Schroder House. known as the Schröder House) in Utrecht (Prins Hendriklaan 50)
was built in 1924 by Dutch architect Gerrit Rietveld for Mrs. Truus
Schröder-Schräder[1] and her three children.
The Bauhaus movement originated with an
art school in Germany with the goals of
promoting mass production and uniting arts
and crafts with technology. The Bau- haus
approach had close ties to De Stijl and
shared the principles in cleanliness,
functionalism, purity, and reduced forms.

In 1947, after the Bauhaus relocated to the

United States and became known as the
International Style, its famous archi- tect
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe summa- rized its
minimalist philosophy in a trademark phrase:
‘Less is more.’ Less-is-more refers to
The Edith Farnsworth House, formerly the Farnsworth House,[6] is a histor- ical
reduction of form to the bare minimum of house designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945
elements. It’s still used to define minimalism and 1951. The house was constructed as a one-room weekend retreat in a rural
setting in Plano, Illinois, southwest of Chicago’s downtown. The steel and glass
today. house was commissioned by Edith Farnsworth.
Minimalist architecture exemplifies certain
characteristics of form, light, space, and
materials along with techniques such as
reduction, simplification, and unification.
Minimalists consider these characteristics
the ‘essence’ of architecture1

The Edith Farnsworth House, formerly the Farnsworth House,[6] is a histor- ical
house designed and constructed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe between 1945
1. https://study.com/academy/lesson/minimalist- and 1951. The house was constructed as a one-room weekend retreat in a rural
setting in Plano, Illinois, southwest of Chicago’s downtown. The steel and glass
archi- tecture-history-characteristics.html house was commissioned by Edith Farnsworth.
ASSOCIATED
WITH HIS
FONDNESS
FOR THE
APHORISMS,
“LESS IS
MORE” AND Ludwig Mies van der Rohe March 27, 1886 – August 17, 1969) was a

“GOD IS IN German-American architect

In the 1930s, Mies was the last director of the Bauhaus, a ground-
breaking school of modern art, design and architecture.
Barcelona Pavilion in Barcelona, constructed in 1929 for the world exposition
Glass Skyscraper
Architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Designed in 1922
Location Berlin, Ger many

Introduction
The second project, the “Glass Skyscraper” (1922) was designed to land in Berlin that the
details are unknown, but apparently there was a square or circular traffic center.

This building whose height exceeds third andalusia predecessor of Friedrichstrasse, is shown
in drawings and photographs of the mod- el as a slim ray of light lens.

Concept
The geometry of crystalline skyscrapers Friedrichstrasse was transformed into this project in a
biomórflca plant consisting of a core and three wings curvilinear. Like the skyscrapers of the
Friedrichstrasse, we also used the idea of plants from cantilever reinforced concrete slabs
arranged around two cylindrical concrete supports. Given the state of the art of the time the
project was unworkable.

As in the Friedrichstrasse skyscraper, the exceptional form of the plant stems from the
structure of the site and the result is due to the properties of transparent and reflective glass
facade, which the Architect admitted openly: “Tests on a model of glass showed me the way
and soon I realized that by using the crystal is not achieving an effect of light or shadow, but
rather to achieve a great game of re- flections of light. “
The Seagram Building is a skyscraper at 375
Park Avenue, between 52nd and 53rd Streets, in
the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New
York City. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Philip
Johnson, Ely Jacques Kahn, and Robert Allan
Jacobs designed the building, measuring 515
feet (157 m) tall with 38 stories and a public
plaza, in the International Style.

Completed in 1958, it initially served as the

headquarters of the Seagram Com- pany, a
Canadian distiller.

Reading list:

Art Through the Ages by Helen Gardner.