HISTORY OF

ARCHITECTURE B.SAI NIHARIKA

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 TIMELINE :

Le Corbusier
CONTRIBUTION TO ARCHITECTURE BY LE CORBUSIER
 IN BETWEEN WORLD WARS : ​

1925 1929
Pavillon de L'Esprit Nouveau Villa Savoye

LC4 - Chaise longue Unité d'Habitation

1928 1945
PAVILLION :
The Esprit Nouveau pavilion functioned as a
manifesto of Le Corbusier's ideas on modern
architecture at the 1925. It illustrated his belief
that industry, through the
standardization required for mass-production,
could create the buildings necessary for
modern living. He aimed to show "the
radical transformations and structural liberties
reinforced concrete and steel allow us to
envisage in urban housing" as well as
to demonstrate that the "comfortable and
elegant units of habitation, these practical
machines for living in, could be agglomerated
in long, lofty blocks of villa-flats." These
would form the primary housing units in his
urban schemes, including the Contemporary
City for Three Million Inhabitants and his Plan
Voisin for Paris .
 CHAISE LONGUE :  It is described by Le Corbusier as a "relaxing
machine," this chaise longue embodies his
approach of placing the human body in the
center of design. Indeed, Le Corbusier
reportedly quipped that the design was
inspired by images of American cowboys
reclining with their feet propped up on a table.
The chair combines geometric purity with
ergonomic needs, making use of the then
innovative tubular steel frame,  The strong H-
shaped base and the elegant curvature of the
thin tubular frame support the padded surface
bent twice in order to better accommodate
one's body. A cylindrical cushion is placed on
one side serving as a head support. The
independence between the base and the
tubular steel frame allows for multiple
degrees of reclining, emphasizing the chair's
multifunctionality and thus its ideal degree of
utility. The chaise became an icon of 20th-
century design. .
 Villa Savoye :
The Villa Savoye was commissioned by an
upper-class Parisian couple as a weekend
house in Poissy, PARIS . Recognized as
"one of the icons of modern European
architecture," the house influenced the
coinage of the term "The International
Style" and was prominently displayed in
1932. The pilotis, or thin point-support
columns, are arranged in a near-perfect
grid that provides the architect almost
complete freedom in the designs of both
the floor plan and the facades -
underscored by the fact that each of the
four facades is different. The second floor,
the main living space, is characterized by
the ribbon windows that provide
unencumbered views of the landscape -
fostering the strong connection between
nature and the constructed structure -
and it is crowned by a roof terrace. Built
entirely out of the industrial materials of
steel, concrete, and glass.
Unité d'Habitation :

The Unité represents the most complete realization we have of Le

Corbusier's idea of communal housing, often described as a "city
within a city." The 337 apartment units in the building are divided into
23 types in order to accommodate different family arrangements -
from a bachelor to a family with eight children. Most of the
apartments are duplex and include a living room with a double-height
ceiling and large windows that allow for a full view of the surrounding
landscape. Halfway up the building, along the interior road of floors
seven and eight, essential services are provided such as a bakery,
butcher, dairy, seafood shop, fruit and vegetable shop, liquor store,
drugstore, laundry and cleaning service, barbershop, post office,
as well as a hotel and a restaurant. In addition, on the 17th floor
inhabitants can find a kindergarten and a nursery. There, a ramp leads
to the rooftop, which contains a swimming pool, indoor and
outdoor athletic facilities, and a snack bar.
 Frank Lloyd Wright :

TIMELINE :
 Wright's philosophy of organic architecture
sought to integrate buildings within the
landscape, and indeed Fallingwater
accomplishes this masterfully, with a central
vertical core of local stone that anchors the
house on the outcropping above Bear Run,

PHILOSOPHY :
whose waterfall cascades below. Wright
built the house around the Kaufmanns'
favorite sitting spot above the falls, allowing
its rock to poke through the living room
floor to preserve it. From a distance, the
house appears as a series of abstract
rectilinear trays of terraces floating in the
trees above Bear Run (the name of the
stream that runs under the house), such
that one can nearly always hear, but never
see, the stream from within the house.
CONTRIBUTION TO ARCHITECTURE BY FRANK
LLOYD WRIGHT
 IN BETWEEN WORLD WARS : ​​

Imperial Hotel Broadacre City Fallingwater Guggenheim Museum

1916 1932 1934 1943

IMPERIAL HOTEL : The Imperial Hotel was arguably Wright's first
significant commission where his prowess as an
engineer was prominently and dramatically
revealed. He fought vigorously to get the job, for
which he was asked by the Japanese
government to design a Western-style lodging
complex that would appeal to foreigners. His
response consisted of a brick structure that
would become one of the last great hand-
constructed buildings of the 20th century, done
in a kind of Mayan Revival style that, ironically,
must have seemed about as exotic to Europeans
and Americans as it did to the Japanese. The
hotel represented a  total work of art, as Wright
designed virtually everything associated with it,
down to the dining room china and tableware.
These qualities, combined with Wright's use of
new technology such as reinforced concrete,
reflect how his architecture of the middle of his
career reflected both the traditions of the Arts &
Crafts movement and the advances of the
modern age.
BROADACRE CITY :
Broadacre City consists of a decentralized
metropolis, spread out over several acres of
countryside, such that by default the automobile
has become the primary means of circulation.
The acreage is broken up roughly along a
gridded road plan into various zones for different
purposes, segregating residential, commercial,
industrial, and governmental or institutional
buildings, and interspersing them with farmland.
Broadacre City was produced during the Great
Depression at roughly the same time as
various other large-scale theoretical urban
planning projects, like Le Corbusier's Radiant
City, which also sought to establish a strict
zoning method and circulation based on the
automobile. As ways that many architects like
Wright kept busy when commissions were few
and far between, these schemes represent the
faith in the car to fully reshape Western society
once the economy improved again
Fallingwater was a masterpiece of Wright’s
theories on organic architecture which sought
F
to integrate humans, architecture, and nature together
so that each one would be improved by the relationship.
A
Wright believed that architecture must not only sit
comfortably within its natural landscape, replicate its
L
forms, and use its materials, but must also cultivate and
reveal the dormant qualities hidden within its setting.
L
Fallingwater accordingly grows from the site’s rocky
landscape. Its concrete terraces float above the
I
falls, drawing attention to the water while respecting its
space. Their horizontal forms and ochre colour recall and
N
highlight the boulders below. Although the terraces
appear to hover, they are in fact anchored to the house’s
G
central stone chimney using cantilevers . Wright’s houses
typically expand from a central fireplace , which he
W
believed was the focal point of any home. Wright
intended the circulation of the building to have a sense
A
of compression when indoors and of expansion when
approaching the outdoors.The building draws nature
T
inside its three floors: natural cliffs protrude from the
central fireplace, southern light enters
E
through expansive corner windows, and the sound of
rushing water is
R
The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum was the last major project designed and G
built by Frank Lloyd Wright between 1943 until it opened to the public in 1959,
 making it one of his longest works in creation along with one of his most U
popular projects. Completely contrasting the strict Manhattan city grid, the G
organic curves of the museum are a familiar landmark for both
 art lovers, visitors, and pedestrians alike. The exterior
G
 of the Guggenheim Museum is a stacked white cylinder of  E
 reinforced concrete swirling towards the sky. The N
museum's dramatic curves of the exterior, however,
 had an even more stunning effect on the interior.  H
Inside Wright proposed "one great space on E
a continuous floor, "and his concept was a
 success. The design of the museum as 
I
one continuous floor with the M M
 levels of ramps overlooking U
 the open atrium also
 allowed for the S
interaction of  E
people .
U
M
 WALTER  GROPIUS
ACCOMPLISHMENT : 
Gropius is credited with the introduction of modernist
architecture to the United States through his design of the
Gropius House and his teaching at Harvard University. Gropius's
buildings were in stark contrast to previous architectural styles
and were characterized by their cubic design, flat roofs and
expanses of glass that allowed for a merging of interior and
exterior spaces.

TIMELINE :
CONTRIBUTIONS
 TO SOMMERFELD MONUMENT BAUHAS GROPIUS

ARCHITECTURE HOUSE TO THE

MARCH DEAD
BUILDING HOUSE

BY WALTER
GROPIUS IN
BETWEEN 1921 1922 1925 1937
WORLD WARS : 
SOMMERFELD HOUSE :
Sommerfeld House is perhaps not instantly
recognizable as a work by the architectural
avant-garde of the period. The use of wood as
the main building material lends it a traditional,
rustic look and this reflects the early
expressionistic phase of the Bauhaus. The
plank-based design also references the owner's
occupation and the building utilized a patented
system of pre-cut interlocking timbers
developed by Sommerfeld's own construction
company called the Block bauweise
Sommerfeld . Despite Gropius's forward-
thinking designs, he saw wood as a key
material, describing it as "the building material
of the present...Wood has a wonderful
capability for artistic shaping and is by nature
so appropriate to the primitive beginning of our
newly developing life". The house was
destroyed in World War Two.
MONUMENT TO
THE MARCH DEAD :
The design is abstract and fractured in its form and is
considered part of Gropius's short Expressionist
period. The lower sections form a circulatory,
ascending path which visitors could follow to an
enclosed area for quiet reflection. The lightning bolt
rising from the main body of the monument suggests
dynamism and the continued living spirit of those
that died. The design bears similarities to
Expressionist sculptures and architectural projects
produced by Gropius's contemporaries at the
Deutsche Werkbund. Its form is particularly
reminiscent of the cathedral design by Lyonel
Feininger which featured on the cover of the 1919
Bauhaus manifesto.
The Bauhaus' relocation from Weimar
to the industrial city of Dessau
provided Gropius with a blank site on
which to build a campus that embodied
the principles of the school. In his
choice of materials and design,
Gropius developed ideas first fostered
in the Fagus Factory in Saxony and the
buildings all utilize new industrial
materials such as reinforced concrete
and are geometric in design with flat
roofs. Additionally, each space was
carefully designed to reflect its
function. The three-story workshop
wing features a glass curtain wall
sitting on a steel framework, ensuring
that workshops were well-lit,
whilst also presenting the idea of the
school as an experimental laboratory
for new technologies and ways of
creating. The interiors of the workshop
Gropius House :
As with his earlier designs for 
  factories and industrial buildings, Gropius
 planned the house to be simple and efficient 
and to fulfil the daily requirements of his family first
 and foremost. This can be seen in the links between
outdoor and indoor spaces as well as practical
adaptations such as the incorporation of built-in storage
and a separate entrance for his adopted daughter. As
well as spatial awareness within the house, Gropius
divided the land around the house into multiple zones,
creating a relationship between structure and site.
Gropius House was the best way for the architect to
establish himself and build his reputation in the United
States. It served as a showcase of his ideas for his
students at Harvard as well as for potential clients,
demonstrating his adaptability in
 linking the local vernacular with cutting-edge design.
LUDWIG MIES VAN DER ROHE:
Mies did not design buildings with a particular style
in mind. For him, the philosophy came first. How a
building looked was purely an expression of its
era and its materials. As he explained, “I am not
interested in the history of civilization. I am
interested in our civilization. We are living it.
Because I really believe, after a long time of working
and thinking and studying that architecture...can
only express this civilization we are in and nothing
else.”

TIMELINE : 
CONTRIBUTIONS TO ARCHITECTURE BY MIES
VAN DER ROHE
 IN BETWEEN WORLD WARS : ​​

192 192 192 192

2 9 9 8
Project for a
German Barcelona Tugendhat
Glass
Pavilion Chair House
Skyscraper
PROJECT FOR A GLASS SKYSCRAPER :
This was one of Mies' experimental
pieces of paper architecture - unbuilt
designs on paper - with the distinctly
modern building type, the skyscraper,
and the possibilities of industrial
materials in the early 1920s, what he
would soon dub "skin-and-bones
architecture." Mies' Glass Skyscraper
reveals the imaginative ideas of avant-
garde German architects for the
possibilities of industrial construction
during the early years of the Weimar
Republic. At that time, however, their
projects could not be realized since
hyperinflation severely restricted all
large-scale construction.
                   GERMAN PAVILION
Mies and Lilly Reich together designed
the German Pavilion for the 1929
World's Fair in Barcelona - a structure
which now ranks among the most
significant temporary structures ever
built, particularly for an international
exposition. Demolished after the fair, it
was reconstructed from 1981-86 using
the original plans, now in the collection
of the Museum of Modern Art in New
York.The minimal requirements to
define space: a handful of columns
elevated on a platform juxtaposed with
asymmetrically-arranged opaque and
transparent wall planes, supporting a
flat roof. It functioned during the fair as
simply a reception space for
dignitaries, as the Weimar government
had other space for actual exhibits.
           BARCELONA CHAIR

The chair consists of two sets - joined

by three horizontal bars - of the
intersection between two curved
pieces of steel: one arc of a circle
crossed by a graceful S-curve. The
joint between them was originally
bolted, but in 1950 it was redesigned
to be welded. Although upholstered
with two large, wide leather cushions,
the chair is not very comfortable,
unlike some of Mies' other designs,
most notably the MR chair.
TUGENDHAT Mies' structure, which is sited on the brow of the
hill, is unusually large - much larger than the
HOUSE Tugendhats intended originally - and uses a very
open interior plan, so much so that there are few
interior walls to hang items. Its reinforced-
concrete construction, supported on the interior
with only a few chromed columns, allows for the
entire back façade to be a floor-to-ceiling curtain
wall that looks out over the landscape. It could be
fully opened up to literally dissolve the boundary
between inside and outside, a strategy that is
underscored by the partially-translucent onyx
wall on the interior. Other modern highlights
included advanced air-conditioning and heating
systems, the former a real rarity at the time, and
especially in Europe, and a glass wall on the
interior of the house that could retract into the
basement like a car window.
THANK YOU