Module 1

Origin of Architecture, Etymology of the Word ‘Architecture’. Architecture as Identification of Place,

Natural form, Manmade form, Architectural arte-fact, Fundamentals of Architecture, Architecture and
culture.

1) Architecture by subtraction.
 Creating spaces by subtracting from the main mass.eg by carving out a rock or digging under
ground.

GOREME: Goreme cones sizes varies

from a tent to a minor sky scraper as
high as 16 floors. Volcanic rock
formation sculpted by erosion.

The Church of St. George is one of

eleven monolithic
churches in Lalibela, a city in
the Amhara
Region of Ethiopia. The church was
carved from a type of volcanic tuff.
2) Nature as an architect. Explain.

Enchanted city: About 120 miles east

of Madrid is a formation of cretaceous
deposits covering 500 acres. It has
fantastic shapes and bold cantilevers.

The baobab tree of tropical Africa

sometimes reaches a diameter of 30
feet. Its wood being soft live trees are
often carved out and used for
dwellings.

3) How has culture and life style played its part in evolving architecture of a specific place.

Amphitheatres of Muyu-uray.

In Peru halfway between Cuzco and Machu

Pichu , lies an ancient theatre centre made by
Inca tribes. It comprises four theatres in round
and one in the form of horse shoe. The lowest
circular platform varies in diameter from 80 to
134 feet. These theatres were formed in order
to conduct events like boxing, racing, animal
baiting etc and later these places got converted
to pasture lands and agricultural farm lands.
Troglodytic town of Pantalica

The Necropolis of Pantalica in southeast Sicily,

Italy, is a collection of cemeteries with rock-cut
chamber tombs. There are over 5000 tombs.
Pantalica is located on a limestone promontory. It
consists mainly of numerous prehistoric burial
chambers cut into the limestone rock, sometimes
provided with a porch or short entrance corridor
in front of the burial chamber, originally sealed
with stones or a slab.

Underground dwellings near Loyang in Northern China

Under ground villages in Loess silt belt in China as

radical solutions as shelter. Loess is silt transported
and deposited by wind and because of the high
porosity and softness it can be easily carved out.

The dark squares in the flat landscape are pits an eighth of an acre in area or about size of a
tennis court. Their vertical sides are 25 to 30 feet high. L shaped staircases lead to the
apartments below whose rooms are about 30 feet deep and 15 feet wide and measure about 15
feet to the top of the vaulted ceiling. They are lighted and aired by openings that give onto the
courtyard.
 Italian hill town : Positano

Positano was an important fishing town and harbor some five hundred years ago. Legend says that
the town was founded by Poseiden, the Greek God of the Sea. It is believed that Greek vessels
began to visit the town around 500 B.C. and used the town and environs as a resting place between
missions. During the 16th and 17th centuries, the ships of Positano enjoyed profitable trade with the
Middle East. With its independence, the 18th century was marked as a period of economic
independence. During this period many of the Baroque houses with their spectacular terraces
overlooking the sea were constructed. This era could well be considered the golden era for Positano
and much of the construction still survives today.

Shanghai’s Suzhou creek – Aquatic architecture

The proximity of a water body a lake, river or sea has always been of great consideration in the
choice of a community. In the orient millions of people lives much like waterfowl, more or less
permanently on the water. The advantages of the site are evident, the waterways never need be
torn up for costly repairs, drains suffer no stoppage, a bath is ready at all hours and expanse of
water functions as a cooling plant during the hot season.

Granaries in Spanish province of Galicia

The inhabitants of the region descend from the Celts who invaded the continent around 500 BC.
Their huts are rude, circular stones, built for eternity and resembles chapels in pilotis. Most peasants
had religious respect for bread and stuff that goes into its making. They are fire and vermin proof
and the pillars topped by circular stones acts as rat guards. Interstice in the walls serve for
ventilation.

Arcades

An arcade is a succession of arches, each counter-thrusting the next, supported by columns, piers, or
a covered walkway enclosed by a line of such arches on one or both sides. In warmer or wet
climates, exterior arcades provide shelter for pedestrians.
Fundamentals of architecture

The basic elements of architectural design described by Vitruvius is utility, firmness and beauty
which was later paraphrased by Sir Henry Wotten as commodity ,firmness and delight.

By Utility,Vitruvius meant the functional arrangement of rooms and spaces so that there is no
hindrance to use and so that a building is perfectly adjusted to its site. Firmness referred to
foundations that were solid and to building materials being used wisely to do their required work.
Beauty meant”the appearance of the work is pleasing and in good tasteand its members are in due
proportion according to correct principles of symmetry”
Module 2

Architecture as idea, Elements that influence the architectural space, Rules of architectural
geometry, Basic elements of Architecture, Modifying Elements of Architecture, Geometry in
Architecture, Principles of composition.

Architecture : The art of shaping space.

Physical space
Imagined as the volume of air bounded by the walls, floors and ceiling of a room.
Easily computed or expressed as cubic feet or cubic meters.

Lloyd lewis house in Liberty Ville,Illinois

Perceptual space
That can be perceived or seen.
Example: Building with walls of glass – perceptual space may extend well beyond the boundary of
the glass and may be impossible to quantify.

Conceptual space
Mental map we carry around in our head, the plans stored in our memory.

Behavioral space
Space we actually move through or use.
Enclosed space

Piazza di Sanmarco,Venice Italy

Interwoven space

Kauffman’s House,Falling Water

1) Basic elements of architecture.

The primary elements of architecture are the conditions within which it operates. Principally
these include: the ground, which is the datum to which most products of architecture relate;
the space above that surface, which is the medium that architecture moulds into places;
gravity, light and time.
Modifying elements of architecture

The basic elements is the primary way in which a designing mind conceptually organizes spaces into
places, modifying elements contribute a great deal to the experience of those places.
 Light – Ronchamp Cathedral

Colour – Casa Eduardo Prieto Lopez

Temperature

Temperature plays a part in the identification of place too.

Temperature: Houses of Cordoba,Spain

Ventilation:Santorini,
Greece

Imperial House,Kyoto
Monastery of La
Tourette -sound
Golden Ratio

Definitions of Golden Ratio

The golden ratio (also called the golden rectangle) is a proportioning system that governs the
relationship of smaller parts to the whole. It has long been believed to produce some of the most
aesthetically pleasing shapes in nature, and as such has been used in many works of art and
architecture.

'Fibonacci series' is 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, 55, 89, 144, ..

If we take the ratio of two successive numbers in this series and divide each by the number before it, we
will find the following series of numbers.
1/1 = 1
2/1 = 2
3/2 = 1.5
5/3 = 1.6666...
8/5 = 1.6
13/8 = 1.625
21/13 = 1.61538...
34/21 = 1.61904...
The ratio seems to be settling down to a particular value, which we call the golden ratio(Phi=1.618..).

Two quantities a and b are said to be in the golden ratio φ if

a + b = a = 1.618
a b

The Golden Rectangle

A Golden Rectangle is a rectangle with proportions that are two consecutive numbers from the
Fibonacci sequence. The Golden Rectangle has been said to be one of the most visually satisfying of all
geometric forms. We can find many examples in art masterpieces such as in edifices of ancient Greece.

The Parthenon's façade as well as elements of its façade and elsewhere are said by some to be
circumscribed by golden rectangles.
The Golden Spiral

A golden spiral is a logarithmic spiral whose growth factor is φ, the golden ratio. That is, a golden spiral
gets wider (or further from its origin) by a factor of φ for every quarter turn it makes.

The Golden Spiral above is created by making adjacent squares of Fibonacci dimensions and is based on
the pattern of squares that can be constructed with the golden rectangle.

Proportion

Proportion is the term used to describe the relationship between two things of different sizes.

Vitruvius’ has formulated three conditions of a good building to be commodity (usefulness), firmness
(solidity or strength) and delight (beauty). Proportion plays an important role in all three, as it provides
guidelines for laying out useful spaces, for designing structural systems, and for creating an aesthetically
pleasing environment. The proportions of a space can dramatically change how visitors feel in it, and the
proportions of a facade design can affect whether a building appears welcoming threatening, or
impressive.
Analysis of the Temple of Neptune, Paestum, Italy.

The temple was generated from Golden ratio AB:BC=AC:BC Façade in Golden Ratio

• The principles of the Golden Ratio are visible in the façades of ancient Greek temples

• Because of the Golden Ratio’s relationship to nature, it was used in building temples as a sign of
appreciation to gods.

• Strength - The height of the pediment (top triangular component) is proportional to the height of the
column so as to maintain structural stability.

• Beauty - Entablature (roof slab) is carefully subdivided into structural element (lintel) and decorative
element (frieze). Marcus Vitruvius Pollio, a Roman architect, wrote in his Ten Books on Architecture on
the importance of symmetry and proportion. In his language, symmetry means harmony in architectural
design, while proportion is the relationship of different parts of building.

Vitruvius further suggested that buildings should scale down to dimensions humans can relate to, and
all buildings should be developed from a standard module (i.e. dimensions in the building should be
proportional to the set module). Without symmetry and proportion there can be no principles in the
design of any temple; that is, if there is no precise relation between its members, as in the case of those
of a well-shaped man.

Proportion in Architecture

The Greek Orders - standard module proportional to ideal human forms

• Every building element follows an ‘order’, and each order is meant to mimic ideal human forms.
• The Greek orders are proportionally related to Golden ratio and the proportion of an ideal human
form.
• In Vitruvius’s book, the classic orders (Doric, Ionic and Corinthian), have their own proportioning
systems.
• Each element of ancient Greek temples is proportional to a module.

In the classical order, the diameter of the column shaft at the base is often set as a module. An Ionic
column is a representation of an ideal female proportion while the Doric order is a representation of an
ideal male proportion.

In the diagram, the two columns are illustrated with the same module.

The Modulor system by Le Corbusier

The Modulor system is the most famous standard of proportions used in architecture. It is a scale of
measurements and proportions of the human body devised by Swiss architect Le Corbusier (1887–
1965). Le Corbusier bridged the relationship between the Imperial System (e.g. inch and feet) and the
Metric System (e.g. millimeter and meter) by providing a system which takes the heights and
proportions of the human form as a universal standard. The system is based on the human body in
different gestures. Le Corbusier applied the system in his drawings, furniture design and architecture.
The free façade of Unite d´Habitation is formed by a carefully orchestrated pattern of single-and double
height balconies generated from 15 different types of living spaces and public, communal spaces, in
which dimensions are determined by the Modulor system. The Unite d´Habitation in Marseille was
meant to provide a prototype for other urban housing projects. The building had a standard module of
2.26 m (Modulor man’s dimension).

The Modulor system provides:

• usefulness by proportioning the plan, section and elevations of the building (e.g. corridor width, storey
height and bay distance), the brise-soleil (sun-shading device) and furniture units to human activities;
• strength by spacing the supporting columns in order
• beauty in the façade by introducing rhythm.

Principles of composition
- balance
- contrast
- Emphasis
- Movement
- pattern
- rhythm
- unity

Balance
- Symmetrical
- Asymmetrical
- Radial
Designs that have a radial balance have a center point.

Asymmetrical balance creates a feeling of equal weight on both sides, even though the sides do
not look the same.

Asymmetrical
 Designs also are called informal designs because they suggest movement and spontaneity.
Asymmetrical balance is the hardest type of balance to achieve and often takes experimenting
or moving elements around until balance is achieved.

Movement

Hierarchy
Unity
When things look right together, you have created unity or harmony. Lines and shapes that repeat each
other show unity (curved lines with curved shapes). Colors that have a common hue are harmonious.
Textures that have a similar feel add to unity. But too much uniformity sometimes can be boring. At the
same time, too much variety destroys unity.

Scale
 Monumental scale
Human scale
Miniature scale

Gestalt theory

Gestalt is a psychology term which means "unified whole". These theories attempt to describe how
people tend to organize visual elements into groups or unified wholes when certain principles are
applied. These principles are:

Similarity

Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or
pattern.

The example above (containing 11 distinct objects) appears as as single unit because all of the shapes
have similarity.

Unity occurs because the triangular shapes at the bottom of the eagle symbol look similar to the shapes
that form the sunburst.

When similarity occurs, an object can be emphasised if it isdissimilar to the others. This is
called anomally.

The figure on the far right becomes a focal point because it is dissimilar to the other shapes.

Continuation

Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another
object.
Continuation occurs in the example above, because the viewer's eye will naturally follow a line or
curve. The smooth flowing crossbar of the "H" leads the eye directly to the maple leaf.

Module 4
Structure

The most apparent part of the building is the structure or what it makes to stand up
Since the mid 20th century the architects are trying to reduce material and make structure work.
The basic idea was to defy gravity.
A column maybe much larger than required just to reassure us that its big enough to do the job.
Example :temple of Poseidon

In comparison between lever house and New York racquet club there is a contrast between the way
structural members are treated
Lever house: wall of glass hiding the structural system, there is no visible clue to it.
Racquet and tennis club: walls are made stronger than it is actually required and reassure us through
structural excess.

Leaning tower of Pisa due to uneven settling of soil the pisa leaned and it happened once secnd floor
was reached and the architect tried to correct it by making the floors above it slanted to make it look
straight.

We as humans over time develop and empathy about how gravity works and when we see places of
structures like pyramid we inherently feel that is stable and when we see inverted pyramid like structure
n Shapero Hall of pharmacy at Wayne University in Detroit.

Basic aspiration of the humans was to achieve the buildings that suggest ascent, lift weightlessness and
visual denial of the tremendous force being developed in the roof and the structures

Initially architecture was made out of wood leaf thatch grass animal hides and other organic materials,
which lasted for 10-20 years. Eg:- monte varda, Chili. Terra Amata.
European settlers, rounded wigwams and u shaped hoops covered with sheets of elves or brick bark.
Adobe
● Earth with clay content mixed with water and admixture of hay or grass as binder.
● Suited mainly for the dry hot desert climate the outer plaster needed maintenance for smooth
outer finishing

Lithic
● Post and lintel / trebated
● This is a support the top of the openings. Initially was wood but the stone later on by the means
of the arch.
● The lintel and post was made of finely polished square lintel beams of red granite in the square
column of same material.
● Valley temple at east of pyramid of Giza, Egypt
Cantilever
● Extending the beam over the end of column result in a cantilever
● The perception of weightlessness and strong emphasis on horizontal lines was characteristics
greatly favoured by F L Wright in his falling water

● Wood being fiver resist the tension stress relatively well as do wrought iron and rolled modern
steel.
● Spanning large distance by the stone structure was a big issue and early romans and modern day
builders solved this issue by placing the iron or steel rod in the form work into which the
concrete is poured
 ● Greeks acropolis opening 18 ft was made in this manner.

Structural frames
● 2 dimensional planar structure of beam and lintel in 3 dimensions
● Initially hey nailed the lumber and in earlier stages when nail was not used they used the
mortise and tenon joints.
● Mid 19th century the riveted and welded steel members in commercial constructions

The arch
● Alternative to post and lintel to span the openings

Advantage
● Small parts are used for the construction i.e. Vousoirs are used so no more requirement of the
large span blocks of rock to span the distance
● Because of physics involved the arch can span larger distance

Drawback
● During construction all the vousoirs must be supported by frame work called centring.until the
keystone is kept.
● Semi circular arch the lateral forces push the arch in base if not restrained properly.

Arcade
● Several arches are kept end to end to create arcades
● Romans used it extensively in their construction
Pont du guard

Vault
● An arch acts structurally along a flat plane but if pushed though the space the form that is
resultant is vault.
● Semi circular arch is called barrel vault / tunnel.
● Since this is heavy they case the wall to spread out at top. Restrict the top of the wall by
buttressing along the wall.This resulted in creating dark interiors

Eg: saint seemin Toulouse France

Groin vault
● Romans added vault in the perpendicular direction and intersected resulting in the groin vault
● This result in the forces being channeled along the groins (where the vault intersect)
● 3 section or 3 bay groin vault used by the romans in public buildings like baths and basilicas
 Eg: basilica of maxentius Rome

Domes
An arch rotates about its central vertical axis to generate a dome

Pantheon Rome
● 142ft Thickness of 4ft is near the oculus and the shell thickness at the base of 21ft
● The total weight is reduced by the deep recesses Called coffers
● The cement is used for the construction of the dome
● Top most part of the dome was having cementa aggregate has light volcanic pumice filled with
gas bubble
● The base has cement with basalt which is the heaviest

The domes always made with the circular floor plan and adding on the further rooms difficult.
The solution developed was called pendentives
The dome is 107 ft in diameter and the base of the dome was 132 ft from the ground the free spanning
distance is 250ft

Trusses
● This is helpful for spanning large distances straight wooden timbers are arranged in triangular
shapes or cells
● Wooden trusses are used for wide variety of forms for roof construction in roman times

Eg Westminster hall in London

● During the 19th century diff types of trusses was developed that helped span large distances
● Palais des machines, Paris international exhibition that spanned 114.9m
Space frame and geodesic dome
● Similar to the post and lintel or arch that can be extended in 3D helps in creating new forms
truss can be also converted to 3D to form space frames
● The space frames have been used from 1945.
● If designed properly the frame can be supported virtually from any junction of its members

Mcconnick place Chicago

● Similar to arch being rotated to get the dome the bent truss can be rotated in 3D to get
geodesic dome
● Us pavilion for the international exhibition in Montreal Canada Designed by buckminster fuller

Shell structure
This can be either thick or thin shell structure

Eero Saarinen
He was a proponent of using different technologies to make the structure the example of the thick shell
structure are

Kresge auditorium au MIT TWA terminal building

Felix candela
He had explored the shell structure that was las thin as 10cms and the shell was made by applying
cement by hand over the iron mesh that was made of the required form

xochimilco restaurant in Mexico

Suspension structure
● Rope suspension bridges was made by incas in Peru long back, eg qeswachaka bridge
● Early 19th century iron chain was used and then bundled the iron and steel cables eg Brooklyn
bridge
● The structure is efficient because entire cable is in tension where as most other structure has
mixed stress

Brooklyn bridge
 Eero Saarinen Dallas airport terminal

Tent structure

Tipi
● The circular base’s diameter was about 15 feet. There were also adjustable smoke flaps at the
top of the tee pee so they could make a fire inside.
● In the wintertime, they added grass at the bottom for insulation.
● Another main structure are the wigwams. They were used to store teepees (which are foldable)
to keep them from rotting. Another thing that wigwams stored were the Plains Indian’s food.
These are 2 of the main structures of the Plains Indian’s.

Frei Otto
German pavilion Montreal 1967, Mast carrying interwoven cables structure to tie downs anchored to
the earth
Pneumatic structure
A pneumatic shell structure single membrane sealed to te ground or floor deck and the space within the
structure is pressured by fans hence inflating the structure.
Tubes are fastened together so that the inflated tubes are having structural integrity and the space
inside need not be pressured

Fuji pavallion at international exhibition at Osaka Japan

Module 5
Kerala vernacular architecture

● The ridged roof pitched between 30-40 degree.

● Walls are made of timber or earth and the roof is made of the coconut leafs.
● Roof frame is supported on pillars on walls erected on a plinth raised from ground for
protection against the dampness and insects.
● Flooring is beaten earth finished with cow dung at regular intervals.
● Clay was used to in many forms for walling, infilling the timber floors
● The house types are of cheri, kudi, chala,variyam which is based on the occupation.
● The common orientation is a verandah which is followed by the inner sleeping place.
● The low eaves protect the wall from rain and hence dampness and also the sun directly warming
up the wall and hence the room temperature.

Toda huts
 ● The Todas live in small hamlets called munds.
● The Toda huts, which are of an oval, pent-shaped construction, are usually 10 feet (3 m) high, 18
feet (5.5 m) long and 9 feet (2.7 m) wide.
● The front and back of the hut are usually made of dressed stones (mostly granite). The hut has a
tiny entrance at the front – about 3 feet (90 cm) wide, 3 feet (90 cm) tall.
● This unusually small entrance is a means of protection from wild animals.
● Thicker bamboo canes are arched to give the hut its basic pent shape.
● Thinner bamboo canes are tied close and parallel to each other over this frame. Dried grass is
stacked over this as thatch.

Mud houses Rann of Kutch (BHUNGA)

● Practiced in gujarat, which is having high chances of earthquake.
● This has a single cylindrical room with conical roof
● The walls are not shared wth adjacent buildings and the separation is approximately 3m
between.
● Typically this has 3 openings 1 door and 2 small windows
Naga houses

● Buildings of this construction type can be found in northeastern parts of India covering the
states of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and
Tripura
● Typically these houses are built with lightweight locally available material like bamboo, wooden
planks, thatch etc.
● These housing types have traditional system of bamboo/wooden posts. Bamboo posts are
inserted into the ground to act as compression members and are tied with horizontal
bamboo/wooden girders with the help of bamboo ropes (cane) to give a proper shape and
framing action.
● The three types of houses that are there are
■ Earth floor
■ Earth and raised floor
■ Only raised floor

● The typical plan dimensions of these buildings are: lengths between 10 and 15 meters, and
widths between 4 and 5 meters. The building is 1 storey high. The typical span of the
roofing/flooring system is 4-5 meters. The typical storey height in such buildings is 3-4 meters.

● The house had minimum openings and the occupants relied on the heat from the hearth for
maintaining the temperature in the house.
● The rooms are usually smaller making only small amount of heat will only be required to
maintain temperature inside the building.
Foundation detail used in the naga houses.

● The tradition in the region is to have a kitchen, with a hearth, in the middle of the master room
of the house. This room is always pitch dark due to accumulation of smoke.
● Over the hearth, a bamboo/wooden platform is suspended for drying and storage of meat,
vegetables, grains, firewood, tools etc
● The lowest portion of the loft is used for storing firewood for immediate use; the middle portion
is used to store meat and grains to be dried and seasoned, while the top portion is used for
storing other daily-use items.
● The hearth is a prominent feature of the living space/ house as it provides necessary light and
heat to the inhabitants. The hearth remains lit continuously

Tipi (also spelled as teepee/tepee) North America

● The Plains Indians were nomadic, so most of their structures that they could easily travel with or
re-make easily.
● They were tent like structures made of poles covered with hides of animals. They used 13 to 20
poles; 3 to 4 main poles were leaning inward tied together at the top
● The teepee was covered with about 14 to 20 buffalo hides. The hides were sewn together with
sinew, not thread.
 ● The circular base’s diameter was about 15 feet. There were also adjustable smoke flaps at the
top of the tee pee so they could make a fire inside.
● In the wintertime, they added grass at the bottom for insulation.
● Another main structure are the wigwams. They were used to store teepees (which are foldable)
to keep them from rotting. Another thing that wigwams stored were the Plains Indian’s food.
These are 2 of the main structures of the Plains Indian’s.
● The tepee had many purposes, one of which was mobility and agility as the Plains Indians
needed to move quickly when the herds of bison were on the move.Tepees were quickly put up
and taken down so the Indians were never far behind the herd.
● The tipis were built by two women rather than men. The door would always face to the east.
They would often decorate the outside of a tipi with paintings of animals, stars, and other Indian
symbols.
● They were the hunters and warriors. Six people would usually sleep in one tepee. One side was
for the men and the other side was for the women. All weapons were stored on the men’s side
and the cooking pots were stored on the women’s side.
● The Tipi is a cone shape because that makes it very hard for the tipi to blow over in the wind
because there are no place to catch the wind or water so it cannot hold any water.

Massai huts (Tanzania)

● The Maasai are one of the tribes in Tanzania. By nature, they are nomadic livestock herders and
move to greener pastures as need be.
● Cows play an extremely vital role in their day to day lives and the Maasai believe that God gave
the them all the cattle in the world and that cattle represents a sacred bond between man and
God.
● Men are not responsible for building the houses but it’s the women who take charge of this
duty. Only the pregnant and elderly women are excused from building duties. All materials used
for building are natural and collected from nearby areas. The huts are usually circular or oval
shaped.
● The first step is to build the frame which is done by fixing gathered timber poles into the ground.

● Thereafter, the poles are interlaced with a lattice of smaller branches which are then plastered
with a mixture of water, mud, cow dung and even human urine. Finishing touches are done with
a mix of cow dung and water.
● The next step is the roof, which is also plastered with cow dung and then covered with grass
that is collected in the bush. The cow dung is what makes the roof waterproof.
● Roughly 3 x 5 m in size and with a height of approx. 1.5 m the houses are generally quite small.
But they serve their purpose and families cook, sleep, eat, socialises and store reserves, fuel and
even small livestock in there. It is very dark inside as apart from a few tiny round holes in the
walls,
● There are usually 2 beds – one for the parents and the other for the children. Each woman is
responsible for her own hut and she is also in charge of renovations.
● The building process can take anything from a few days to a few weeks and depends on how
many helpers there are and if all the material is available.
● All houses together make up a boma that is usually surrounded by a large thorn fence. In
addition, a much smaller thorn fence is built in the midst of the huts where the livestock can
safely rest at night.
Module 6

F L Wright
- American architect
- Believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and environment.
- Concept of organic architecture.
- Belonged to Prairie school of thought
- Open plan concept
- Horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad over hanging eaves, windows grouped in
horizontal bands.
- Buildings integrated with landscape.
- Solid construction and discipline in the use of ornaments.

Falling water or Kaufman’s house

- Constructed over a 30 ' waterfall in south west Pennsylvania.

- Harmonious with nature.
- Cantilevered living room with a stairway leading directly down to the stream below and a
connecting space which connects the main house with the guest and servants quarters.
- Bedrooms are small with low ceilings to encourage people outward towards the open social
areas, decks and outdoors.
- Broad expanses of windows and balconies.
- Above the main house stands a four bay carport,servants quarters and guest house.
- Guest quarters has a spring fed swimming pool which overflows and drains to the river below.
- Only two colours used light ochre for concrete and Cherokee red for steel.

Section
 Guggenheim Museum

- Art Museum in New York.

- Collection of Impressionist, Post impressionist, Early modern and contemporary art.
- Cylindrical building, wider at top than bottom and was conceived as “temple of the spirit”.
- Ramp gallery extends up from ground level in a long, continuous spiral along the outer edges of
the building to end just under the ceiling sky light.
- Visitors are taken to the top floor through the elevator shaft and then made to come down seeing
exhibits.
- Spiral design recalled nautilus shell with continuous spaces flowing freely to one another.
- Surface treatment with concrete.
- Small rotunda next to the main building became offices and storage spaces.
Le Corbusier

- Swiss French architect.

-” A house is a machine to live in”
- Purist style and cubist approach.
- Coined Modulor Man.

Villa Savoye

- located in Poissy.
- Elegant white box poised on rows of slender columns.
- Horizontal bands of windows.
- The service areas (parking, servants room and laundry) are located on ground floor.
- Visitors enter a vestibule from which a gentle ramp leads to the house.
- The bedrooms and salons are distributed around a suspended garden.
- The rooms are open to the landscape to provide additional light and air.
- Another ramp lead upto the roof and stairway leads down to the cellar under the pillars.

Five points on which Villa Savoye is based.

- Pilotis
- Free facade
- Open floor plan
- Ribbon windows
- Roof garden

Notre Dame du Haut- Ronchamp Cathedral

- Located in Belfort , Eastern France.
- Previous chapel of Virgin Mary was destroyed in Second World War.
- Departs from his principles of standardisation and machine aesthetics.
- More site specific.
- Le Corbusier sensed a sacred relationship of the hill with its surroundings.
- Concept similar to Acropolis where it starts from bottom and ends at chapel.
- Structure is made mostly of concrete and is comparatively small, enclosed by thick walls.
- Upturn roof supported on columns embedded in the wall, similar to a sail billowing in the windy
current.
- Spaces left between the walls and roof, clerestory windows as well as the asymmetrical light
from the wall openings serve to further reinforce the sacred nature of the space.
- The lighting in the interior is soft and indirect from the clerestory windows and reflecting off the
white washed walls.
- The floor of the chapel follows the natural slope of the hill down towards the altar.
- Towers are constructed of stone masonry and are capped by cement domes.
- The opening at south walls slant towards their centres at varying degrees thus letting in light at
different angles.
- Windows with different sizes are scattered in an irregular pattern.
- Use of stained glass which creates a magical effect.

Walter Gropius

- German architect
- Key founders of Bauhaus
- Functionalist approach

Fagus Factory

- In Germany
- Shoe factory
- Done by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer
- Experimentation with glass facade.
- Interior mainly consisted of offices and other two buildings which are production unit and ware
house.
- Production hall is a single storeyed building.
- Warehouse is a 4 storeyed building with fewer openings.
- The main building is erected on top of a structurally stable basement with flat caps.
- Compressed concrete mixed with pebble dashing is used for basement walls.
- It has plain brick work and wooden floors.
- The corners are left without any support to provide a sense of openness and continuity.
- Even though the three buildings were designed and developed by different architects at different
time period this looks like a unified whole.
- To enhance the feeling of lightness,series of optical refinement like greater horizontal than
vertical element were on windows.

Gropius House
- Family house of Walter Gropius
- In Massachusetts
- Every aspect of house is planned for
maximum efficiency and simplicity.
- Gropius wanted the house to
compliment its New England habitat.

- Gropius wanted the house to compliment its New England habitat.

- He wanted the outdoor spaces of the house to be an equally civilized area and created a lawn
that extended 20' around the entire house.
- Flat land well maintained woodlands to retain broad views
- Screened porch helps to divide land into multiple zones comparable to rooms inside.
- Organic landscape to accentuate a relationship between the structure and site.
- Wood ,brick, field stone ,glass blocks, acoustic plaster and welded steel were used.
- Open plan consists of living room, dining room, kitchen, office, sewing room,3 bed rooms and 4
bathrooms.
- Flat roof with slight tilt to the centre.
- No artificial symmetry.
- Time saving passages

Louis Sullivan
- American architects
- Father of skyscrapers
- Father of Modernism
- Coined “Form follows function”
- Use of terracotta instead of stone masonry.
- Massive semi circular arches.

Wain wright building

-Located in Missouri

- 10 storeyed red brick office building.

- Among the first sky scraper

- Palazzo style constructions.

- Considered as the very first human expression of tall steel

building.

- 3 part structure( base – shaft -attic)

- Classical columns

- Base contained retail stores which required wide glazed

openings.

- Ornamentation include wide frieze below deep cornice.

- Embellishments with terracotta.

- Top part had elevator machinery and water tank.

Prudential building
- It is situated in Buffalo,New york.
- Basement plus 3 zones.
- Features include large open windows of the ground zone, the thin vertical elements of the office zone
and arches and curves of the terminating zones.

- Basement had mechanical utility area.

- Ground zone-public areas for street facing shops, public entrances and lobbies.
- Above that office floors with identical office cells clustered around the central elevator.
- Terminating zone consists of elevator equipments, utilities and few offices.
- Supporting steel structure has terracotta embellishments.
- U shaped plan
- Space between U for skylights to lobby below
- Ceiling covered with stained glass.
- Plan had single vertical circulation core.

Mies Van der Rohe

- german architect
- Modernist
- Extreme clarity and simplicity
- Used industrial steel and plate glass for construction.
- Minimal frame work of structural order for unobstructed free flowing open space.
- skin and bone architecture.
- Famous quotes “ Less is More”
- “God is in detail”
Farnsworth house,Illinois

-one room weeekend retreat

- 60 acre estate site.
- steel and glass house
- Clear floor to ceiling glass opens the interior to its natural surroundings.
- Two distinctly expressed horizontal slabs from the roof and floor which sandwich an open space for
living.
- Slab edges are defined by exposed steel structural members painted pure white.
- House is elevated by 1.6m above ground by steel columns and slab extend beyond the column support
creating cantilevers.
- Unobstructed interior spaces flexible for use by people.
- Interior is one single open room with two blocks, a wardrobe cabinet and kitchen toilet and fire place
block.
Barcelona Pavilion

- In Spain
- Modernism/Minimalism
- Steel frame with glass and polished stone.
- Pavilion was constructed for the 1929 International exposition in Barcelona.
- Simple form with extravagant materials such as marble,red onyx and travertine.
- Barcelona chair is specially designed for this pavilion.
- Concept was free plan and floating roof.
- Continuous space blurring inside and outside.
- The entire building rests on a plinth of travertine.
- A service annex and water basin also there.
- Roof plates rest on chrome clad cruciform columns.
- Pavilion lacked exhibition space and acted itself as an exhibit.
- Visitors were forced to take continuous turn about with placement of walls.
- Torn down in 1930
- Rebuilt in 1983-1986.
Geoffrey Bawa

- Tropical Modernism
- Inspirations from traditional typologies and technologies.

Ena De Silva House

- Conceived as a series of pavilions and verandas ,contained within a high surrounding boundary
wall and arranged to form a major central courtyard and 5 subsidiary courtyards.
- Spatial qualities were enhanced by choice of materials, walls of plastered bricks, roofs of half
round Portuguese tiles, columns of satin wood, windows of timber lattice, floor rough granite.
- Inspired from ancient Kandyan manor houses.
- Open plan and continuous flow of space.
Heritance Kandalama
- Near the banks of a reservoir.
- Flat roof
- 430 m long.
- Blended with nature.
- Building divided into 3 sections.
- Consists of lobbies restaurant ,pools and terraces
- East and west ends have all the guest rooms with east side have a view towards Sigiriya rock.
- Heavily camouflaged with creepers and plants.
- Neutral color tones are used to blend with surroundings.
 Charles Correa
- Credited for the creation of modern architecture in post independence India.
- Sensitivity to the needs of the urban poor and for his use of traditional methods and materials.

Kanchanjunga apartments

- 32 luxury apartments
- Direct response to the present culture and escalating urbanization and the climatic conditions
for the region.
- Interlock of 4 different apartment typology varying from 3 to 6 bedrooms each.
- Smaller displacement of levels between external earth filled terraces and internal elevated living
volumes.
- Effective shielding from the effects of both sun and monsoon rains.
- Relatively deep garden verandhas suspended in air.
- 6.3 m cantilever open spaces.
- Central core with lifts and main structural element for lateral loads.
-

Laurie Baker

Loyola chapel, Trivandrum

 Filler slab

- British Indian architect

- Mission was to create shelter for as many as possible.
- “Low cost techniques should not be considered only for the poor, our aim should be to design only
the simplest of building for all.
- Cost effectiveness, locally available materials, respect for nature, avoidance of energy intensive
material and wastage minimisation for maximum efficiency.
- Concept of eco-friendly and sustainable architecture.

Main features include:

- Jali works
- Irregular pyramid like structures on roofs with one side left open and tilting into the wind.
- Curved walls.
- Exposed bricks
-Rat trap bond for construction.
-Cob, rammed earth, adobe, pressed bricks, wattle and daub etc
- Arches to avoid lintels
- Frameless doors and windows
- Filler slab for roof
Rat trap bond