MODULE 4

Chapter 10
Modern Architecture VI

Ar. Sowmya R
Associate Professor
Nitte - SOA
 MODULE 5 – Assignment to be submitted on Nov 14
10) Modern Movement-VI:

• New Ideas – Archigram Britain-Walking City, Floating City etc.

• Kenzo Tange- Japan-Floating City and Shimbon Office Building.

• Moshe Safdie- Housing in Israel.

• Sir Buck Minster Fuller-US Pavilion in Expo-67, Dymaxion Car, Bucki Dome
- Public and private Building and spaces.
ARCHIGRAM
Archigram
• Archigram was an Avant-grade group that existed
between 1961 and 1974.

• Archigram was an avant-garde architectural group

formed in the 1960s that was neo futuristic, anti-
heroic and pro-consumerist, drawing inspiration from
technology in order to create a new reality that was
solely expressed through hypothetical projects.

• The architects that made up Archigram were Warren

Chalk, Peter Cook, Dennis Crompton, David Greene,
Ron Herron and Michael Webb, these architects
created many collages showcasing their three main WARREN CHALK, PETER COOK, DENNIS CROMPTON,
ideas. DAVID GREENE, RON HERRON, MICHAEL WEBB

• Although they focused on the technology of the

machine and the advancement of the world, they
dismissed social and environmental issues.

• They thought that change was integral to how a city

works and if there was no ability to change then the
city would destroy itself.

• Noted Examples : Britain-Walking City, Plug-in city , Archigram “ To look at the future of the built
Instant City etc. environment”
https://www.citylab.com/design/2018/12/archigram-the-book-interview-darran-anderson-postmodernism/578389/
• In 1961, Archigram (an eponymous publication whose name was derived from the combination of the words
“architecture” + “telegram”) was born as a single sheet magazine filled with poems and sketches.

• As David Greene wrote in the first issue, it was meant as a platform for the voices of a young generation of
architects and artists:

“A new generation of architecture must arise with forms and spaces which seem to reject the precepts of
‘Modern’ yet in fact retains those precepts. We have chosen to bypass the decaying Bauhaus image which is an
insult to functionalism.”
PURPOSE

Dispose of the stoic, cerebral, and colorless forms of

modernist architecture.

They saw architecture as self-serving, not original, and

repetitive. It just wasn’t fun or creative anymore. So they
made it fun and creative!
VISION

• Archigram (Architecture Telegram) put its efforts into creating incredible structures defined by imagination
and possibility, even to the point of designing cities that could never exist given technology of the time.

• It was optimistic about technological growth, inventive in its eye toward the future, imaginatively whimsical,
and the most delightfully fun avant-garde movement architecture had ever seen.
https://medium.com/@emilyrowlings/a-walking-city-archigram-and-ron-herron-7dbf2c8fae99
THE WALKING CITY, Ron Herron ,1964
One of the great attractions of urban living is the notion of being able to access all the services and goods you
need easily. But what if those services came to you?

That possibility was explored in the Walking City, developed by Ron Herron in 1964.

ABOUT WALKING CITY

• This model, designed for a post-apocalyptic future, building massive mobile robotic structures, with their own
intelligence, that could freely roam the world.

• These structures would go wherever their resources or manufacturing abilities were required.

• Various walking cities could interconnect with each other to form larger 'walking metropolises' when needed,
and then disperse when their concentrated power was no longer necessary.

• Individual homes and buildings were also mobile (taking the residents wherever they needed to go).

• Herron envisioned a nomadic society that was still (seemingly paradoxically) urbanized.

•City sized pod with legs.

•Crawler Town
THE PLUG-IN CITY , Peter Cook , 1964

• A hypothetical fantasy city, containing modular residential units that “plug in” to a central
infrastructural mega machine.

• The Plug-in City is in fact not a city, but a constantly evolving megastructure that incorporates
residences, transportation and other essential services--all movable by giant cranes.

• 'Plug-in' thinking: the rentable office floor.

• The axonometric shows a pylon that contains lifts and services with a 'tray’ hanging off each
side. One tray is the 'front' office, the other the 'backroom’ office. Each part would be
exchangeable.
PLUG-IN CITY
•Consisted of a mega structure with
removable units.
•The city not only allowed units to
plug into the city, but also allowed
linking between entire cities.
•The capsule home tower had a
central structure and circulation
system with individually owned
capsules hung around it.
•The tower formed an apartment
building, with fully functional units for
living in small, efficient packages.
 PLUG IN CITY

Instant city
•Involves a networking system that links metropolises together.
•The idea is that a travelling system of vehicles stops at multiple locations, sharing information.
•The system, would consist of transport vehicles, a system of audio visual components, collapsible
structures and entertainment facilities
https://www.bmiaa.com/instant-city-travelling-exhibition-now-at-college-maximilien-de-sully/
KENZO TANGE
Kenzo Tange
Japanese architect

Pritzker-Prize winning architect Kenzo Tange (4 September 1913–22 March 2005) helped define Japan’s post-
WWII emergence into Modernism. Though he was trained as an architect, Tange was equally as influential as an
urban planner giving him significant influence in Japan and around the world at both large and small scales.

DESIGN THEORY

• Pioneer of movement known as ‘METABOLISM

• ‘Metabolism’ arose in Japan after WW2 and much of this work produces by the movement is concerned with
housing issues.

• In his view, traditional laws of fixed forms and functions were obsolete

• His vision for cities of the future inhabited by a mass

society were characterized by a large scale, flexible and
expandable structures that evoked the process of organic
growth.

Noted works : Japan-Floating City and Shimbon Office Building.

PHILOSOPHY
• Believed in fusion of traditional and modern architecture
• Took inspiration from nature (tree)
• Justification of function
• Justification of design
• Fundamentally rational and functional
• Appealing to emotions and senses
• Need of symbolism
• Cities should be able to be born, to grow, decay and die

3 elements that can be used to express a new style of architecture which is match better consistently.
Those are HUMAN, EMOTION, AND SENSUAL ELEMENTS which are smart tech and space structure.

The 6 golden rules an architect must follow according to Tange:

1. Simplicity in plan and form. Unnecessary undulations and geometrical shapes are not required.
2. Typification - One must interpret technical and engineering solutions through the eyes of an artist before
implementation.
3. Strength. - Architecture should insist, it should be bold rather than weak.
4. Ornament - This is useful when it holds 1) a symbolic meaning and 2) can be understood by most people.
5. Honesty to materials - Why hide it behind gypsum wall boards and ceilings if the original craftsmanship is
beautiful?
6. Elimination of Furyu* - Eliminate the meaningless prettiness. Let’s not spend 56 hours carving that wooden
door.
Japanese Traditional Architecture’s Characteristics

The main characteristics of this architecture style are following :

- The base principle is simplicity.

- The closeness with nature

- Uses woods

- Line composition, same direction and balance of parallel horizontal planes.

- Pure efficiency of use of material.

- Structure of post and beam grid allowed buildings to be flexible and to withstand earthquakes.

- Space inside and outside is multifunctional

- All elements in the building must be movable.

Metabolist Movement - Floating City, Japan:

Metabolism was the most important urban architectural, artistic and philosophical movement, that Japan
produced in the twentieth century. Its influence went beyond the utopian concepts of a society that was
experiencing rapid economic growth in the early 60s.

In 1960 a manifesto was presented called "Metabolism : Proposals for a New Urbanism“ during the World
Design Congress that year was held at Mori Museum, in the events of World Congress of Architecture in
Tokyo.

Book released- "KenzoTange and the Metabolist Movement Urban Utopias of Modern Japan", by Lin
Zhongjie, 2010.

1. This movement was started by Kenzo Tange with group of 7 architects he mentored, in 1960 who soon
became to known as ‘the Metabolists’. The name, taken from the biological concept, came from an
image of architecture and cities that shared the ability of living organisms to keep growing,
reproducing, and transforming in response to their environments, through the addition and
replacement of parts, allowing for a flexibility that was thought to be missing in many modernist city
plans.

2. Their ideas were magnificent and surprising, with concepts such as marine cities that spanned Tokyo Bay,
and cities connected by highways in the sky where automobiles pass between clusters of high-rise buildings.
3. Metabolism emerged at a time when KishoKurokawa’sNakaginCapsuleTower,

Japan had recovered from the devastation

of war and entered a period of rapid
economic growth. People felt that creating
ideal cities would be a way to build better
communities. This exhibition is the very
first to make a comprehensive examination
of Metabolism.

4.This movement is characterized by

diverse design and social ideas, the utopian
mega structural visions of the avant-grade
Metabolists initially appear to suggest a
new urbanism primarily driven by the
employment of futuristic technology. Skyhouse

5.They believed that a revolution in

architecture and city design can lead to
new order for modern society. Some
smaller, individual buildings that employed
the principles of Metabolism were built
and these included Tange’s reconstruction
plan, Master Plan for Hiroshima and
Hiroshima Peace Center Complex, Kisho
Kurokawa’s (student of Kenzo tange)-
Nakagin Capsule Tower and Kikutake’s Sky
House.
Kenzo Tange’s Floating city –Tokyo bay, Japan:

• Kenzo Tange ‘s plan for Tokyo was proposed at a time when many cities in the industrial world were
experiencing the height of urban sprawl. With a unique insight into the emerging characteristics of the
contemporary city and an optimistic faith in the power of design, Tange attempted to impose a new physical
order on Tokyo, which would accommodate the city’s continued expansion and internal regeneration.

• On 1 January 1961 Kenzo Tange presented his new plan for Tokyo Bay(1960) in a 45-minute television
programme on Japanese national television programme.

• The design was a radical plan for the reorganization and expansion of the capital in order to cater for a
population beyond 10 million. The design was for a linear city that used a series of nine-kilometre modules
that stretched 80km across Tokyo Bay.

• The perimeter of each of the modules was organised into three levels of looping highways, as Tange was
adamant that an efficient communication system would be the key to modern living.

• The Tokyo Plan was a linear extension of the existing city across Tokyo Bay –Built on 50m high stilts above
sea and connected with multi-lane suspension-bridge motorways, this new city was to provide residential,
commercial and leisure space for two million people on enormous multi-level platforms towering above the
water.

• The modules themselves were organised into building zones and transport hubs and included office,
government administration and retail districts as well as a new Tokyo train station and highway links to other
parts of Tokyo. Residential areas were to be accommodated on parallel streets that ran perpendicular to the
main linear axis and like the Boston Bay project, people would build their own houses within giant A-frame
structures.
Kenzo Tange’s plan for Tokyo Bay
The plan proposed a linear organized matrix for
Tokyo Bay, which was to be an extension of the
uncontrolled expansion of the city proper. This
urban matrix was an adaptation of KenzoTange’s
architectural notions of structural order,
expression, and urban “communication space.”
The huge monumental axis built across the
Tokyo Bay was designed for cars, keeping
pedestrians away in separate areas through
a hierarchy of expressways. The proposal
was in favour of "urban centers“ and
proposed "civic areas“ instead.
• Tange received interest and support from a number of government agencies but the project was never
built. Tange went on to expand the idea of the linear city in 1964 with the Tokaido Megalopolis Plan. This
was an ambitious proposal to extend Tokyo’s linear city across the whole of the Tokaido region of Japan in
order to re-distribute the population.

• Although the scheme’s more convincing graphics were presented as part of a film the project was not
built. With Japan’s property boom in the 1980s, both Tange and Kurokawa revisited their earlier ideas:
Tange with his Tokyo’s Plan 1986 and Kurokawa with his New Tokyo Plan 2025. Both projects used land
that had been reclaimed from the sea since the 1960s in combination with floating structures.

• The 1970 International Exposition in Osaka, Japan was the last collective effort of Metabolist architects.
Kenzo Tange is credited with the master plan for the exhibitions at Expo‘70. After that, individual architects
from the movement became self-driven and more independent in their careers.
Details of the model, This huge fleet of units upto
300m wide, with roofs like Japanese temples that
seemed to be floating in the water, contained the
residences.
System piles and nuclei, Influenced by the ideas of
LeCorbusier, Tange proposes that "Pilotis areas constitute
spatial links between public and private areas. They are the
areas in which the flow of traffic meets with stable
architectural space. Core systems, on the other hand, link
urban arteries with the buildings. "Both cores and piles were
integrated into a single system. The ideas evolved into urban
utopias that envisioned mega –cities through the generation
of giant geometric shapes. In the exhibition, 3D
reconstructions show images of what these huge futuristic
structures would have been, but in my personal opinion, they
lack human scale and people were considered little more
than ants in a huge mechanical assembly.
Kenzo Tange’s Floating City
MOSHE SAFDIE
Moshe Safdie
Israeli – Canadian Architect

Born in Haifa, Israel, in 1938, Safdiemoved to Canada with his family at the age of 15. He graduated from McGill
University in 1961 with a degree in architecture. After apprenticing with Louis I. Kahn in Philadelphia,
Safdiereturned to Montreal to oversee the master plan for the 1967 World Exhibition. In 1964 he established his
own firm to realize Habitat „67, an adaptation of his thesis at McGill, which was the central feature of the
World‟sFair and a groundbreaking design in the history of architecture.

"Architecture affects the lives of people directly. It comes with an extraordinary responsibility. I think one
needs to take that responsibility very seriously. It's the quality of life it gives to its inhabitant." — Moshe
Safdie.

The architect and urban planner, Moshe Safdie is the world renowned for his head turning designs.
Wide range of projects including:

• Cultural , Educational, and civic institutions

• Neighbourhoods and public parks

• Mixed-use urban centers and airports

• Master plans for existing communities and entirely new cities around the world
"I think you need to, as an architect, understand the essence of a place and create a building that
feels like it resonates with the culture of a place. So my buildings in India or in Kansas City or in Arkansas or in
Singapore, they come out different because the places are so different." —Moshe Safdie

PRINCIPLES OF MOSHE

• Shaping the public realm

Create meaningful, vital and inclusive social spaces. We are responsible for shaping not only a project’s
program but also its large civil role of enabling and enriching the community.

• Architecture with purpose

Architecture is not about building an impossible structure but about building what makes sense for a
specific program and for a particular setting.

• Responding to the essence of place

Architecture as a natural extension of its surroundings—urban or rural, northern or southern, ancient or
entirely new—and recognizes its responsibility to contribute richly to its setting and enduringly to its
community.
• Architecture that is buildable
Architecture grows out of a vision of the way it can affect the lives of the individuals for whom buildings
and public spaces are created.

• Building responsibly
Sustainability as a guiding principle. As architects, we have a responsibility to respond to the issues of
energy conservation, of ecology and of renewable materials. We have to use resources efficiently while
we advance our clients goals.

• Humanizing the mega scale

Every element of each design must be an expression of the life intended in a building. Work in
geographical and cultural diversity.
Habitat 67 by Moshe Safdie

HISTORY

Safdie’s design for Habitat 67 began as a thesis project for his architecture program at McGill University. It was
"highly recognized" at the institution. After leaving to work with Louis Kahn in Philadelphia, Safdie was
approached by Sandy van Ginkel, his former thesis advisor, to develop the master plan for Expo 67, the world's
fair that was set to take place in Montreal during 1967. Safdie decided to propose his thesis as one of the
pavilions and began developing his plan.
CONCEPT AND DESIGN

The development was designed to integrate the benefits of suburban homes, namely gardens, fresh air,
privacy, and multileveled environments, with the economics and density of a modern urban apartment
building. It was believed to illustrate the new lifestyle people would live in increasingly crowded cities around
the world.
• Habitat 67 comprises 354 identical,
prefabricated concrete forms arranged
in various combinations, reaching up
to 12 storeys in height.

• Together these units create 146

residences of varying sizes and
configurations, each formed from
between one to eight linked concrete
units.

• The complex originally contained 158

apartments, but several apartments
have since been joined to create larger
units, reducing the total number.

• Each unit is connected to at least one

private terrace, which can range from
approximately 225 to 1,000 square
feet (20.9 to 93 m2) in size.
Habitat 67
354 prefabricated individual containers are stacked in a confused order and connected by steel cables.
SIR BUCK MINSTER FULLER
Sir Buck Minster Fuller
American engineer, architect, and futurist

Buckminster Fuller, in full Richard Buckminster Fuller, (born July 12, 1895, Milton, Massachusetts, U.S.—died
July 1, 1983, Los Angeles, California), American engineer, architect, and futurist who developed the geodesic
dome—the only large dome that can be set directly on the ground as a complete structure and the only
practical kind of building that has no limiting dimensions (i.e., beyond which the structural strength must be
insufficient). Among the most noteworthy geodesic domes is the United States pavilion for Expo 67 in Montreal.
Also a poet and a philosopher, Fuller was noted for unorthodox ideas on global issues.

• To solve global problems surrounding housing, shelter, transportation, education, energy, ecological
destruction, and poverty.

• To him, architects alone were capable of understanding and navigating the complex interrelationships of
society, technology, and environment as viewed through the comprehensive paradigm of systems theory.

• Architecture, in this model, was intended to exist in close contact with both mankind and nature, playing
civilization’s most critical role in elevating the state of humanity and promoting its responsible
stewardship of the environment
• In his prolific career, Fuller held 28 patents, authored 28 books and received 47 honorary degrees.

• He developed solutions for human problems in designing technologies that - DO MORE WITH LESS

• In 1927, in the course of the development of his comprehensive strategy, he invented and demonstrated a
factory-assembled, air-deliverable house, later called the DYMAXION HOUSE

• Noted Works : US Pavilion in Expo-67, Dymaxion Car, Bucki Dome - Public and private Building and spaces.
Dymaxion • • • • • • (FYI)
The word Dymaxion is a brand name that Fuller used for several
of his inventions.

• It is a portmanteau (a combination of two or more words and

their definitions, into one new word) of the words dynamic,
maximum, and tension.

• A brand name was needed for the display of Fuller's first

architectural model, later to be known as the Dymaxion
house, at the Marshall Field's department store in Chicago.

• In order to invent a word, a wordsmith hired by Marshall

Field's spent two days listening to Fuller and trying to get a
feel for the type of language he used.

• He then played with syllables from typical Fuller words, until

he and Fuller agreed on the word "Dymaxion". Fuller was
excited about the word and used it for many of his inventions
during the decades to follow, including the Dymaxion house,
the Dymaxion car, and the Dymaxion World Map.

• He also renamed his elaborate journal, in which he sought to

document his life as an experiment with the greatest possible
detail, as the Dymaxion Chronofile.
Relatively inexpensive and easy to mass produce on a large scale.
Forward thinking: Efficiencies must be created and how we develop new technologies in order to prevent a
scarcity in resources and negative impacts on the environment.
DYMAXION HOUSE
The Dymaxion House was developed by Fuller to address
several perceived shortcomings with existing homebuilding
techniques.

• It was completed in 1929 after two years of development,

and later redesigned in 1945.

• Fuller wanted to mass produce a bathroom and a house. His

first "Dymaxion" design was based on the design of a grain bin.

• The Siberian grain-silo house was the first system in which

Fuller noted the "dome effect."

• Many installations have reported that a dome induces a local

vertical heat-driven vortex that sucks cooler air downward into
a dome if the dome is vented properly (a single overhead vent,
and peripheral vents).

• Fuller adapted the later units of the grain-silo house to use

this effect.
• The final design of the Dymaxion house used a central vertical
stainless steel strut on a single foundation.

• Structures similar to the spokes of a bicycle-wheel hung down from

this supporting the roof, while beams radiated out supported the
floor.

• Wedge-shaped fans of sheet metal aluminum formed the roof,

ceiling and floor. Each structure was assembled at ground level and
then winched up the strut.

• It was a prototype proposed to use a packaging toilet, water

storage and a convection-driven ventilator built into the roof.

• It was designed for the stormy areas of the world: temperate

oceanic islands, and the Great Plains of North America, South
America and Eurasia.

• In most modern houses, laundry, showers and commodes are the

major water uses, with drinking, cooking and dish-washing
consuming less than 20 liters per day.
• The Dymaxion house was intended to reduce water use by a
greywater system, a packaging commode, and a "fogger" to replace
showers. The fogger was based on efficient compressed-air and
water degreasers, but with much smaller water particles to make it
comfortable.

• Two Dymaxion houses were prototyped – one indoor (the

"Barwise" house) and one outdoor (the "Danbury" house). SECTIONAL
ELEVATION

• No Dymaxion house built according to Fuller's intentions was ever

constructed and lived in. • Since there was no evidence of the crucial
internal rain-gutter system, some elements of the rain collecting
system were omitted from the restored exhibit.

• The roof was designed to wick water inside and drip into the rain
gutter and then to the cistern, rather than have a difficult-to-fit,
perfectly waterproof roof.
PLAN : DYMAXION HOUSE
• There was to be a waterless packaging toilet that deftly shrink
wrapped the waste for pickup for later composting.

• During the prototyping process, the idea for the packaging toilet
was replaced immediately by a conventional septic system because
the packaging plastic was not available.

• Other features worked as advertised, notably the heating, and the

passive air conditioning system, based on the "dome effect."
Sustainable way of thinking went on to many
other inventions like the DYMAXION CAR – a
streamlined 3 wheel vehicle that can make
extraordinary sharp turns. The car featured
highly innovative features compared with
the common car of the day including:

• a three wheel design with rear wheel

steering and front wheel drive,

• a longer body (20 feet)

• a highly aerodynamic design.

Success of the design was realized in its

performance efficiencies:

• the car could transport up to 11

passengers,

• reach speeds of up to 90 miles per hour,

• and ran 30 miles per gallon.

GEODESIC DOME
But the most significant development was the GEODESIC DOME – Lightweight cost effective and easy to
assemble structure which enclosed more space without intrusive supporting columns that other structures bare.
The geodesic dome efficiently distributes stress within the structure. Strong and able to withstand harsh
environments.

https://www.slideshare.net/vikashsaini78/r-buckminster-fuller
The basic unit is the tetrahedron (a pyramid shape with four sides, including the base), which, in combination
with octahedrons (eight-sided shapes), forms the most economic space-filling structures – Geodesic Domes, the
total strength of which increases in logarithmic ratio to its size.

https://itotd.com/articles/3770/geodesic-domes/
DOME AT U.S. PAVILION AT THE 1967 WORLD FAIR IN MONTREAL

Diameter – 66m

Volume - so spacious that it comfortably fits a 7-story exhibition building featuring the various programmatic
elements of the exhibit.

Geometry

• icosahedron, a 20-sided shape formed

by the interspersion of pentagons into a
hexagonal grid.

• Faces are fragmented - subdivided into

a series of equilateral triangles with
minor distortions.

• The aggregate composition of the dome

is substantially more spherical than
simple icosahedron

• Dazzling visual complexity through

sheer repetitiveness.
Material
This lattice-type structure is created entirely of three-inch steel tubes, welded at the joints and thinning gently
toward the top of the structure so as to optimally distribute forces throughout the system.

DOME AT U.S. PAVILION AT THE 1967 WORLD FAIR IN MONTREAL

https://www.westland.net/expo67/map-docs/architecture.htm
https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/biosphere/about/united-states-pavillion-expo-67.html