Theory and Philosophy of Modern Architecture The Roots of Modern Architecture.

Theory and Philosophy of Modern Architecture

The Roots of Modern Architecture

The Roots of Modern Architecture

• Defining Modern Architecture• The Beginning of Modern Architecture • Transformations of 3 contexts:

– Cultural Transformations: Neo Classical Architecture (1750-1900)

– Territorial Transformations: Urban Development (1800-1909)

– Technical Transformations: Structural Engineering (1775-1939)

Defining Modern Architecture“modern” architecture• General meaning– new, non-traditional, current,

contemporary“Modern Architecture”• Specific meaning– a particular period, ideology or

styles (formalism, functionalism, international style, etc.)

“Modern Architecture was the expression of a variety of new social visions challenging the status quo and suggesting alternative possibilities for a way of life” (Curtis, 1987).

The Beginning of Modern Architecture

“The historical process which led to the creation of the modern movement in architecture …had no clear beginning which can be pinpointed with precision.” (Curtis, 1987)

• Described differently by different historians (themes, styles, years, periods)

• Started with the beliefs and ideas long before the forms and styles

• Started as early as late 17th- century (the challenge to the Vitruvian proportion and the split between engineering and architecture) (Frampton, 1987)

The Roots of Modern Architecture

• The Changing [Social] Contexts

• Ideology and Philosophy

• Technology

• Markets

• Clients

Cultural Transformations: Neo Classical Architecture (1750-1900)

• The loss of confidence in Renaissance tradition and the supporting theories

• Development of history and archeology disciplines leading to the view of equal value among epochs, traditions and styles

• The [new] belief: architecture should express their times

New Ideology

“Suppose that an architect of the twelfth or thirteenth century were to return among us, and that he were to be initiated into our modern ideas; if one put at his disposal the perfections of modern industry, he would not build an edifice of the time of Philip Augustus or St. Louis, because this would be to falsify the first law of art, which is to conform the needs and customs of the times”. (Violet-le-Duc, 1863)

The New Paradigm:Primitive Hut

• A shift of taste from the Rococo

• A Return to basic and natural rationale

“All the splendors of architectural process ever conceived have been modeled on the little rustic hut… It is by approaching the simplicity of this first model that fundamental mistakes are avoided and true perfection is achieved”.

Laugier, 1977

The New Ideology: Newton’s Cenotaph (Boullee, 1784)

Pure geometry with emotions (space with light)

Cultural Transformations: Neo Classical Architecture (1750-1900)

• The increase in man’s capacity to exercise control over nature

• Fundamental shift in the nature of human consciousness (reason over belief)

• The search for the “new true form”

• [Some] Revival of the past styles (Greek, Roman, Gothic)

Cultural Transformations: Neo Classical Architecture (1750-1900)

• Disrupted the world of craft

• Collapsed vernacular traditions

• Created new economic structures and center of power

• New clients (the middle class)

• Belief in a just and rational society

• Utopian concept

Utopian Concept: The Architect’s Dream (Cole, 1840)

Territorial Transformations: Urban Development (1800-1909)

• Advanced industry • Population increase (longer life expectancy)• Mass production/ higher efficiency • Concentration of production in the city core • High density residential close to production (no

public transportation; need to stay close)• Slum and the substandard neighborhood (higher

density on the old infrastructure)

Territorial Transformations: Urban Development (1800-1909)

• Upgraded working-class housing • New housing scheme (stacking apartments in pairs

around a common staircase) • Improved infrastructure and living conditions

(legal acts) • New industrial prototypes• The open spaces and parks • English picturesque landscape and neo-classical

country houses

City Living Condition:Over London by Rail (1872)

Territorial Transformations: Urban Development (1800-1909)

• Mass transportation (railway, underground, streetcars)

• Metropolitan region

• New town concept – Linear city concept (dependent on mass transit)– English garden city concept (complete

functions and avoid transportation)

Riverside, Chicago (Olmsted, 1869)

Early suburbanization

Riverside, Chicago (Olmsted, 1869)

Natural neighborhood outside the city

New Town Concept: The Garden City (Howard,1898)

An economically self sufficient community

Technical Transformations: Structural Engineering (1775-1939)

• Industrial revolution• Changed production based, modes and locations• The production of new materials (cast iron, reinforced

concrete, glass) • Iron construction in railways, bridge and industrial

buildings • The split of architecture and engineering• The importance of the role of engineer• New and unprecedented buildings (exhibition halls,

offices, factories)

Crystal Palace Under Construction, London (Paxton, 1851)

Brooklyn Bridge Under Construction (1877)

Tin Mine Winding Engine at East Pool Mine, England (1887)

Conclusions

• Three major transformations led to new contexts new world

• Enlightenment: new view toward history and styles

• The search for new form• Rationalism • Industrial revolution • Technology: Engineering• New materials• New clients

References

Curtis, W. (1987). Modern Architecture Since 1900. 2nd Ed. New Jersey: Prentice-Hall.

Frampton, K. (1987). Modern Architecture: A Critical History. London: Thames and Hudson.

Kruft, H. W. (1994). A History of Architectural Theory: from Vitruvious to the Present. New York: Princeton Architectural Press.