- History of Architecture V-

-Devansh Khare (160BARCHI074)-

Module 1/ Question 1
Bauhaus is considered as the pioneer of modern architectural education. By mentioning the
intentions or values that underlay its founding as well as its teaching methods, explain why
this is the case.

Answer 1

Throughout the 20th century, various art styles of avant-garde art aided in shaping modern art.
Whereas many of these genres, including subconscious-focused surrealism and energetic-
abstract expressionism primarily favoured paintings, the Bauhaus movement covered a wide
array of mediums, materials and disciplines.
The term ‘Bauhaus’ was invented by inverting the German word ‘Hausbau’- meaning
“building of a house”, which consequently gives the term ‘Bauhaus’ the meaning; “house of
building”. It originated as a German school of the arts known as ‘Staatliches Bauhaus’ in
1919, by the German architect Walter Gropius. The school eventually morphed into its own
modern art movement characterized by its unique approach to design and architecture.
The style of Bauhaus is predominantly characterized as a combination of arts and crafts
movement with modernism. Which can be seen through its emphasis on function and the
aim to bring art back into everyday life. Thus, most Bauhaus designs; whether in painting,
architecture and interior design, feature little to no ornamentation and majorly focus on
balanced forms and abstract shapes.

In art, the emphasis on function is apparent in the balanced composition of abstract paintings
by Bauhaus artists like Wassily Kandinsky and Paul Klee. Undoubtedly inspired by
architecture, the paintings typically pair flat planes with overlapping shapes to depict
dimensionality. Similarly, Bauhaus architecture utilized harmoniously balanced
geometric shapes and an emphasis on function. Comprising of open plans and lots of
glass, it is inspired by the simple yet polished look of the American Arts & Crafts
movement. The interiors are also renowned for its simplicity and openness; minimally
adorned with iconic furniture.
It was a utopic dream for the future. Gropius’ ideas came at a time when he and others were
coping with the rise of industrialization. And for him, bonding art and functional design
would result in better design for mass production, bringing beauty to everyday objects.
His school became a laboratory, where students could experiment with several media,
methods and forms, all with a vision toward building the future. They studied all forms of
media—painting, sculpture, weaving, furniture design, typography, bookbinding, carpentry,
and metalwork—although architecture wasn’t added to the curriculum until 1927. The
education of the Bauhaus school accentuated form and materials. Each element of a design
was to serve a purpose. There should be nothing superfluous, nothing unnecessary, no
ornamentation. Just the bare essentials. “An object is defined by its nature,” Gropius once
said. The resulting aesthetic was one that was simple, serious, efficient. The style became
synonymous with modernity.
Bauhaus served as the catalyst for modern architecture, painting, sculpture and furniture
designs and served as a pioneer of modern architectural education.

Module 2/ Question 2
The pioneers of Modernism, the first generation of Modern Architects dealt with form, space,
structure and materials in novel ways. Provide a glimpse of this through discussion regarding
the philosophies and work of ANY TWO prominent members of this group- Peter Behrens,
August Perret, Otto Wagner or Adolf Loos.
Answer 2
 Peter Behrens, being Germany’s one of the greatest architects during the first decade
of the 20th century, was a pioneer of corporate design as well as modernist
architecture. Behrens was born and educated in Hamburg and studied painting in
Dusseldorf and Karlsruhe, from 1886 to 1889, before marrying and moving to Munich
in 1890, where he began working as a painter, illustrator and book binder. In 1899,
along with the Viennese architect Joseph Maria Olbrich and others, Behrens joined
the utopian Darmstadt artist colony. He designed and built his own house while being
a member of the colony. This feat convinced him to pursue architecture as a career
and in this process, he turned away from the fashionable Art Nouveau style
towards a more austere style of design.
During the year of 1903, Behrens was appointed the director of the art school in Dusseldorf,
where he introduced a series of teaching reforms, and in 1907 he founded the ‘German
Werkbund’. Inspired by the ideas of the Arts and Crafts leader William Morris,
members of Werkbund were dedicated to improving the design of everyday objects. This
highly practical and efficient approach drew the interests of several industrialists, as
well as other influential designers and academics. Consequently, in the same year, Behrens
was appointed artistic consultant to AEG.

The AEG Turbine Factory, built in Berlin 1909, demonstrates early 20th century
architecture, as Behrens managed to unite elegance and functionality, employing the use of
modern materials and building techniques to classical proportions. Its construction was
prompted due to an increased demand for the large-scale production of turbines. Working
with the engineer Karl Bernard, Behrens designed a space adequate for the entire assembly
process, including the usage of cranes to lift and move component parts during assembly. The
design of the windows ensured that the interior was fully illuminated by natural light.
Behrens’ also incorporated a number of classical features reminiscent of features used in
Greek architecture in the construction of temples. For instance, the façade of the iron and
glass is provided with extra solidarity via the additions of masonry pylons, steel columns and
a polygonal tympanum, all of which contribute to the classical touch that the building
provides. Via this juxtaposition, Behrens succeeds in demonstrating that a purely functional
modern industrial building can still have a relationship with the architecture of the past.

 Adolf Loos was born in Brno, Moravia to a stone mason who taught his son the
importance of the value of design and helped Adolf appreciate the time and energy
that was taken in design. Loos went to college in Austria and served in the Austrian
army in 1889. He temporarily moved to the US in 1893, where he studied American
industry and architecture for three years while establishing his philosophy of design.
He moved back to Austria in 1896 and worked for the architectural firm of Carl
Mayreder and published articles about social life in the newspapers
Adolf Loos was one of the most significant and influential Austrian and Czechoslovakian
architects of European Modern architecture. In his essay "Ornament and Crime" he
renounced the florid style of the Vienna Secession, the Austrian version of Art Nouveau. In
many of his essays he contributed to the theory and criticism of Modernism in architecture.
Loos viewed the use of intricate and complex designs in Art Nouveau as childish and
immature and claimed that the progress in history was toward a time when ornament was no
longer an essential part of design. Loos held a belief that humans would evolve to be able to
appreciate architecture and utensils for their intrinsic beauty as functional objects.

The Looshaus in Vienna (also known as the Goldman & Salatsch Building) is regarded as
one of the most vital structures built in the Viennese Modern Age. The building denotes the
rejection of historicism, as well as the ornaments used by the Wiener Secession. Its
appearance stunned Vienna's citizens, since their overall taste was still very much historically
oriented. Due of the lack of ornaments on the façade, people called it the 'house without
eyebrows'.

Module 2/ Question 3
Name the Early American Modernists. Discuss the contribution of ANY ONE of them in
detail through appropriate sketches and diagrams.
Answer 3
The first American modernists majorly include Louis Sullivan and his disciple Frank Lloyd
Wright.
Frank Lloyd Wright was a highly original and independent architect who renounced the
idea of being categorized in any one architectural movement. He is also regarded as the father
of American Domestic Architecture, mainly due to his contribution of the Prairie Style of
architecture.
Wright’s signature Prairie style originated from his inspiration from the American
Midwest, and in particular, its flat expansive plains. Prairie style homes differentiate
themselves via the usage of strong exterior horizontal lines, low pitched roofs, long bands
of windows, and natural materials. Particularly, the structures incorporate brick and wood
into their design. Another well known feature of these kind of homes is their usage of art
glass windows, which blend interior and exterior spaces through their soft filtration of light.
The whole idea revolved around the agenda of these built structures blending in with the flat
landscape around them, paying homage to the wide flat spaces of the American prairie.
Robie House is one such example of the many prairie houses designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright. Finished in 1910, the house Wright designed for Frederick C. Robie is the supreme
expression of his Prairie style. The house is perceived as an integral whole; site and
structure, interior and exterior, furniture, ornament and architecture, each element is united.
Insistently horizontal in its elevation and a dynamic arrangement of sliding planes in its
plan, the Robie House is the most innovative and forward thinking of all Frank Lloyd
Wright’s Prairie houses.

On the exterior, bands of brick and limestone hold the building to the earth, while
overhanging eaves and dramatic cantilevered roofs shelter the residence. The
horizontality of the house is reinforced at each level of design; from the iconic roofline, to the
very bricks and mortar of the building. Through the use of materials, Wright strikes a
remarkable balance of tone and colour, as iron-flecked brick complements the lustrous
leaded glass of the windows that encircle the building. Vast balconies and terraces cause
interior and exterior space to flow together, while urns and planters at every level were
intended to bloom with the seasons.

Fig: GF Plan of Robie House

 Fig: Perspective View of Robie House

Module 3/ Question 4
The post-rational architecture developed as a reaction to Modernism, replacing the
regimented aesthetic approach of white boxes, plain smooth walls and universal material
palate with mysticism, ideas of democracy, particulate space, region, myth, place, tradition
and ritual. Using any of the works of prominent practitioners of the period (Le Corbusier’s
later works OR Louis I Kahn) provide an insight into post-rational thought.

Answer 4
Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban, is the National Assembly Building of Bangladesh, located in its
capital Dhaka. It was designed by architect Louis I. Kahn and is one of the biggest
legislative complexes in the world. Kahn assimilated both the monumental and vernacular
archetypes of the region, and using those, abstracted lasting architectural ideas from
many eras and civilisations.
Modernist architecture is conventionally understood to be practical, sleek, and most of all
without context, such that it can be placed in any context and still stay true to aesthetic
principles and its functional requirements. Nevertheless, Louis Kahn’s Jatiyo Sangsad
Bhaban in Dhaka is an extraordinary example of modern architecture being transliterated as
a part of Bangla vernacular architecture. The National Assembly building, finished in
1982, stands as one of Kahn’s most significant works, but also as a symbolic monument to
the government of Bangladesh.
Initially, Kahn had intended to design a building of monumental presence, but after
Bangladesh had officially declared independence from Pakistan’s rule in December of 1971
the project became much more of a symbol of democracy and pride for the Bangla people.
The Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban is unique in the sense that it is modernist in principle, but it is
a project firmly rooted in its context, the citizens, and Bangla vernacular. When it
comes to most modern buildings, they can be placed almost anywhere in the world without
much hassle, which does not exactly work with the National Assembly. Kahn’s design
required unsophisticated vernacular materials that were readily available and could be
employed in noticeably similar ways.

The Jatiyo Sangsad Bhaban appears as a huge structure in the Bangladeshi desert; eight halls
are present that are arranged in a concentric manner around the parliamentary grand chamber,
which is not only a metaphor for placing the new democratic government at the heart of the
building, but also a part of Kahn’s design objectives to enhance spatial configurations
where the supporting programs project out of the centre. The entire structure is built out
of poured in place concrete with integrated white marble, which not only being a modernist
statement of presence and power, is more of a testament to the local materials and values
of Bangladesh. The entire mass of the monumentally built National Assembly Building and
the artificially built lake encompassing the building act as a natural insulator and cooling
system that also create interesting lighting and spatial conditions.

The geometric shapes located on the various faces of the façade add a dramatic impact to the
overall composition of the building. The geometric shapes are actually the abstracted
forms found in traditional Bangladeshi culture that are aimed to create a union of old and
new cultural identities, as well as, serve as light sources and a natural climate control system
for the interior of the building. For Kahn, light was an integral aspect in the design of a
building, not just as a way to illuminate a space, but rather conceptualizing light as a
creator of space itself.

Module 4/ Question 5
Critical Regionalism has played a major role, when it comes to the ‘search for Indian-ness’,
along with the movement being a strong resentment to earlier Modern practices and the
contemporary postmodern style. Elaborate on this fact by discussing the values established by
the Critical Regionalist Movement and ideas of Kenneth Frampton.

Answer
The term Critical Regionalism was coined by Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre in the
early 1980s, and was later elaborated by architectural critic and historian Kenneth Frampton
in his essay ‘Towards a Critical Regionalism: Six Points for an Architecture of
Resistance’, published in 1983. Critical regionalism can be defined as an architectural
approach that strives to counter the homogeneity inherent in modernist architecture.
Via the use of contextual forces, critical regionalism imparts a sense of place and
meaning to architecture. Critical regionalist designs are sensitive to the local climate as well
as the technological constraints of the local building industry. The architects of critical
regionalism seek to integrate global architectural and technological developments with
regional sensibilities derived from spatial, cultural and historical contexts.
Critical regionalism distinguishes itself from regionalism in a way that it does not resort to
blind use of vernacular. By being critical of a region's building traditions, a practitioner is
able to extract only the essence of these traditions rather than literal references.
Moreover, critical regionalists despise post-modern architecture for applying heterogenous
historical references to contemporary works without considerations of their appropriateness.

Assessment Criteria for Critical Regionalism

 Context Specific Architecture: Does the design adhere to the character of the
surroundings in which it is situated?
 Historical Knowledge: Does the architecture take into consideration the building
traditions of the region? The design should only incorporate historical knowledge in
its essence and not resort to literal references.
 Climatic Responsiveness: Does the architecture of the building respond self-
evidently to the climatic conditions of the site where it is situated? They should
benefit from best solar orientation and minimize their dependence on mechanical
means such as air-conditioning and artificial lighting for the functioning of the
building
 Materiality: Does the building use locally available materials predominantly for
construction?
 Ecology and Landscape: Does the project minimize the impact of its construction on
the ecology of the site and its surroundings?
 Social and Cultural Appropriateness: Does the building cater to the social needs
and lifestyle choices of its intended users?
  Technology: Does the building adapt modern technology in a sustainable way that is
beneficial to the building?

Design Values based on Critical Regionalism

 The structural, functional and material honesty design value

 The simplicity and minimalism design value
 The classic, traditional and vernacular aesthetics design value
 The regionalism design value
 Green and sustainability design value.