CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE I

09ART402
 EVOLUTION OF MODERN
ARCHITECTURE & INFLUENCE OF NEW
MATERIALS
CONTENTS:
• Reasons for the evolution of modern architecture

• Origins of Neo Classicism - Enlightenment

• New Materials and Technologies : history of steel ,glass and

Concrete

• Industrial revolution and its impact

• Emergence of new building typologies

• Revivalism-Works of Soane, Ledoux, Boulee & Schninkel

 MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Modern architecture is the term given to a number of building styles with
similar characteristics, primarily the simplification of form and the elimination of
ornament.
The style was conceived early in the 20th century.
Modern Architecture was adopted by many influential architects and
architectural educators, however very few "Modern buildings" were built in the first
half of the century.
It gained popularity after the Second World War and became the dominant
architectural style for institutional and corporate buildings for three decades.
Others see Modern architecture as primarily driven by technological and
engineering developments.
The availability of new building materials such as iron, steel, concrete and
glass drove the invention of new building techniques as part of the Industrial
Revolution.
 Such construction greatly strengthened the structure of mills, which
enabled them to accommodate much bigger machines.
Due to poor knowledge of iron's properties as a construction material, a
number of early mills collapsed.
It was not until the early 1830s that Eaton Hodgkinson introduced the
section beam, leading to widespread use of iron construction.
The Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton at the Great Exhibition of 1851 was
an early example of iron and glass construction.
The best example is the development of the tall steel skyscraper in
Chicago around 1890 by William Le Baron Jenney and Louis Sullivan.
 By the 1920s the most important figures in Modern architecture had
established their reputations. The big three are commonly recognized as Le
Corbusier in France, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius in
Germany.
Mies van der Rohe and Gropius were both directors of the Bauhaus, one of
a number of European schools and associations concerned with reconciling craft
tradition and industrial technology.
Since the early 1980s many architects have deliberately sought to move
away from rectilinear designs, towards more eclectic styles.
During the middle of the century, some architects began experimenting in
organic forms that they felt were more human and accessible.
Mid-century modernism, or organic modernism, was very popular, due to
its democratic and playful nature.
 Alvar Aalto and Eero Saarinen were two of the most prolific architects and
designers in this movement, which has influenced contemporary modernism.
By the 1980s, postmodern architecture appeared triumphant over
modernism, including the temple of the Light of the World, a futuristic design for its
time.
Another important figure in this development, and the first great modern
architect, was the American Louis Sullivan, who coined the phrase “Form Follows
Function.”
For Sullivan, functionalism meant the elimination of ornament so the
building plainly expressed its purpose, and the principle led to the idea of designing
buildings from the inside outwards, letting the essential structure dictate the form
and therefore its external appearance
 Although relatively young, great works of Modern architecture may be lost
because of demolition, neglect, or insensitive alterations.
Modern architecture is usually characterized by:
• a rejection of historical styles as a source of architectural form (historicism)
• an adoption of the principle that the materials and functional requirements
determine the result
• an adoption of the machine aesthetic
• a rejection of ornament
• a simplification of form and elimination of "unnecessary detail"
• an adoption of expressed structure
• Form follows function
.
 A new world of machines and cities forced artists to think a new about
their environment, and soon revolutionized the way we perceive, portray, and
participate in the world.
Modernist ideas have pervaded every form of design, from graphics to
architecture
NEO CLASSICIUM:
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the
neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, both as a reaction against
the Rococo style of anti-tectonic naturalistic ornament, and an outgrowth of some
classicizing features of Late Baroque.
In Baroque architecture, new emphasis was placed on bold massing,
colonnades, domes, light-and-shade (chiaroscuro), 'painterly' color effects, and the
bold play of volume and void.
Rococo is a style of 18th century French art and interior design. Rococo
style rooms were designed as total works of art with elegant and ornate furniture,
small sculptures, ornamental mirrors, and tapestry complementing architecture,
reliefs, and wall paintings.
 In its purest form it is a style
principally derived from the architecture of
Classical Greece.
Towards the end of Colonial
period, Architectural Styles based on more
precise study of ancient Rome and Greek
buildings were beginning to appear in
Europe.
This shift in taste coincided with
American Revolution, and the Neo-
Classicism became popular around the Catherine palace, Russia
world.
 Neoclassicism is the name given to quite distinct movements in the
decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw upon
Western classical art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome
These movements were dominant at various times between the 18th and
20th centuries
In architecture, neoclassicism was the dominant style in Europe during
1750s-1850s, marked by the imitation of Greco-Roman forms.
Classical architectural models were adapted or referenced in a range of
architectural forms, including churches, arches, temple, house, terraces, garden
monuments and interior designs.
Later, neoclassical architecture became an international style, each
country held some distinct characteristic in their style.
  Palladio’s Villa Rotonda 1550  Burligton’s Chiswick House of 1725:
 Dominant element: Grand cubic  No sense of central cube.
central block. Into it is set as a  Floating above the chimney cluttered
cylindrical core, appearing on the roof is a octagonal dome with Roman
exterior as a pantheon-like, thermae windows.
stepped, hemispherical dome.  Only one side receives temple
entrance set above a complicated
stair arrangement and a distracting
row of openings into basement.
To the Eighteenth century admirers, the restraint, simplicity and
discipline of the classical masters were the building’s strong point.
Chiswick house stood forth as the first manifesto of a new, rationalist
architectural order.
 In France, Laugier laid the rational and geometrical groundwork for
architecture.
In England, neoclassical architecture interweaved with the picturesque
tradition.
In Germany, under the influence from France and England, developed a
national style with cultural significance.
In France, Paris, J.-G. Soufflot attempted and very nearly achieved
Laager's ideal of a classical building in Pantheon (1757-90).
Its design exemplified the Neoclassical return to a strictly logical use of
classical architectural elements.
.
CLASSICAL BUILDING – PANTHEON, ROME
NEOCLASSICAL BUILDING – PANTHEON, PARIS
 The facade, like that of the
Roman Pantheon, is formed by a porch of
Corinthian columns and triangular
pediment attached to the ends of the
eastern arm.
The vaulted hall of Pantheon,
referenced to the Roman baths, (Baths of
Diocletian, Rome,) whose grandiose
planning and vaulted halls and chambers
became leading inspirations on certain
occasions

The vaulted hall of Pantheon

 ROMAN TRIUMPHAL ARCH ,FRANCE

The Roman triumphal arch was one of the main sources of Neo classical
expression with it tripartite division of four equal columns unequally spaced.
The Arch of Constantine, Rome (AD. 315) supplied the idea of the
'detached' column with returning entablature and the super in combat 'attic storey'.
After Napoleon became emperor in 1804, his official architects Charles
Piercier and Pierre Francois-Leonard Fontaine worked to realize his wish to
transform Paris into the foremost capital of Europe by adopting the intimidating
opulence of Roman imperial architecture.
The Empire style in architecture is epitomized by such imposing public
works as the triumphal arches at the Carrousel du Louvre, designed by Piercier and
Fontaine.
Piercier and Fontaine copied the detail of Arch of Constantine and carved
into Arc de Triumph du Carrousel Paris (1806-08).
Arch of Constantine-Rome Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel-Paris
 There are common features shared between these two arches, this can be
evident from several parts of the structure.
First, the massive rectangular slab of masonry with three holes in it-the
center hole is the main arch; the other two are lower and narrower subsidiary arches.
Secondly there are four columns, dividing the arches, that stand on
pedestals and rising to an entablature, which breaks out over each separate column
and at each of those points of breaking out carries a carved standing figure.
Lastly, there is an 'attic' storey above the entablature that makes the
background for the figures and is carved in relief and lettered.
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is directly based on the triumphal arch
scheme.
 Another source was the
temple architecture; these were used
widely as an antique model for
architecture.
The best preserved of all
Roman temples is the Corinthian
Maison Carree at Nimes (c. AD 130).
Maison Carree is a typical
temple - a rectangular building with an
open portico and pediment in front
with columns all round - was used as a
model for churches widely in the
eighteenth century.
 In Paris, the Madeleine by
Alexander-Pierre Vignon, begun as a
church, was continued by Napoleon as
a Temple of Glory but was completed
as a church in 1842.
It has direct reference to the
Maison Carree, resulting a lifeless
paraphrase of an antique Roman
temple.

The Madeleine
TYPES OF NEO-CLASSICISM

• ARCHEOLOGICAL NEO-CLASSICISM

• THE HIGH PICTURESQUE STYLE

• STRUCTURAL NEO-CLASSICISM

• RADICAL NEO-CLASSICISM
 ARCHEOLOGICAL NEO-CLASSICISM

The style was too severe and restricted, too airless and bookish.
An aura of clarity and simplicity was still desired.
English architects were the first to evolve neoclassical style that evoked
the richness of antiquity.
One of the other cause was the discovery of Herculaneum and Pompeii
(ancient roman town) buried by the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 A.D.
Rome was the material and emotional center were Paris also a cerebral
counterpart.
English were the first to survey scientifically the acropolis, Palmyra,
Baalbek .
Thus the Archeological publications played an important role in the Neo-
classical movement by bringing the splendor of distant ruins into architectural reach.
Boat houses where skeletons were found An aerial photo of Vesuvius

The Forum seen from inside the basilica

Giambattista Piranesi, Baths of Diocletian (Etching)
 THE HIGH PICTURESQUE STYLE:
Most important aesthetic ideals to emerge in 18 th century England.
It has more literary ideas , images and values.
E.g.. John Nash - The Royal Pavilion, Brighton , England
In 1815 he has used gothic ,Chinese and Indian forms.
He has used cast iron onion domes and minarets .
 STRUCTURAL NEO-CLASSICISM
Architect Jacques German soufflot poured Most of his talent in single great
structures
The floor plan shows a Greek-cross layout, 110m long and 85m wide (361 x 279
ft).
The large dome reaches a height of 83m (279ft).
The portico, with large Corinthian columns was modeled after the 2nd century
Pantheon in Rome.
The dome features three superimposed shells, similar to the St. Paul's Cathedral in
London. Iron reinforcements were added to strengthen the structure even more .
Inside panoramic view of the Panthéon, Paris.

Interior Dome
of the Panthéon
RADICAL NEO-CLASSICISM

Louis Boullee Claude Nicolas Ledoux

Project for the ideal city of Chaux:

House of supervisors of the source of the
Loue.
 AR.ETIENNE LOUIS BOULLEE
Boulee said that the first principals of architecture are to be discerned in
Symmetrical solids such as cubes, pyramids and most of all spheres
For Boullée symmetry and variety were the golden rules of architecture.
Boullée promoted the idea of making architecture expressive of its purpose, a
doctrine that his detractors termed architecture parlante ("talking architecture"), which
was an essential element in Beaux-Arts architectural training in the later 19th century.
His style was most notably exemplified in his proposal for a cenotaph for the
English scientist Isaac Newton.
Designed in 1784, for all its apparent originality, it actually derives from
contemporary archaeology.
The small sarcophagus for Newton is placed at the lower pole of the sphere.
The design of the memorial creates the effect of day and night.
•The cenotaph have taken the form of a sphere 150 m
(500 ft) high embedded in a circular base topped with
cypress trees. – 1784.
•Though the structure was never built, its design was
engraved and circulated widely in professional circles.
•There was a preconceived form of the sphere and there
was little or no concern given to the function and little
concern for the technique.
•The effect by night, when the sarcophagus is
illuminated by the starlight coming through the holes in
the vaulting. The effect by day is an armillary sphere
hanging in the center that gives off a mysterious glow.
AR.CLAUDE NICHOLAS LEDOUX

Claude Nicholas Ledoux was a revolutionary French architect, especially in

his approach to the architectural ideal made through geometry.
Ledoux was no mere copyist even when he applied conventional details.
He designed a number of buildings between 1765 and 1780 in which he
attempted to reconcile the traditional elements of French classicism with the new spirit
of the antique.
Among these were the Chateau de Benouville, Calvados (1768-75) and the
Hotel de Montmoreney, Paris (c. 1770-72), both of which feature Ionic colonnades
with straight entablatures.
In 1766 Ledoux's design of The Hotel d'Hallwyll, in Le Marais, Paris
received widespread praise.
The Hotel d'Hallwyll, paris
• The project's patrons were anxious
to ensure work was executed
economically.
• Therefore Ledoux had to reuse
portions of the existing buildings.
• He had envisaged two colonnades
in the Doric order leading to a
nymphaeum decorated with urns at
the foot of the garden.
• However, the limitations of the site
made this impossible, so Ledoux
resorted to painting a colonnade on
the blind wall of the neighboring
convent, thus extending the
perspective.
 The recognition given to the relatively modest Hotel d'Hallwyll led in 1767
to a more prestigious commission.
There too, Ledoux preserved the structure of an earlier building.
Ledoux designed the Château de Bénouville in Calvados (1768-1769) for
the Marquis de Livry.
With its simple, almost severe, facade of four stories, broken by a vast
prostyle portico, the Château de Bénouville is the most important of Ledoux’s early
works.
Ledoux travelled to England in the years 1769-1771.
There he became familiar with Palladianism, and its various motifs. From
this point he worked often in the Palladian style, usually employing a cubic design
broken by a prostyle portico which gave an air of importance even to a small
structure.
Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the
designs of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580).
THE ROYAL SALTWORKS AT ARC-ET-SENANS (1774-1779)
 The megalomaniac design, which received royal approval, of the Royal
Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, or Salines de Chaux, is considered Ledoux's masterpiece.
The initial building work was conceived as the first phase of a large and
grandiose scheme for a new ideal city. The first stage of building was constructed
between 1774 and 1779.
Entrance is through a massive Doric portico, inspired by the temples at
Paestum. The alliance of the columns is an archetypal motif of neoclassicism.
Inside, a cavernous hall gives the impression of entering an actual salt mine,
decorated with concrete ornamentation representing the elementary forces of nature.
The entrance building opens into a vast semicircular open air space that is
surrounded by ten buildings, which are arranged on the arc of a semicircle.
The Royal Salt works at Arc-et-Senans: House of the director
 On the straight diameter are the workshops for the extraction of salt
alternating with administrative buildings.
At the centre is the house of the director which originally also contained a
chapel.
The significance of this plan is twofold: the circle, a perfect figure, evokes
the harmony of the ideal city and theoretically encloses a place of harmony for
common work.
It recalls also contemporary theories of organization and of official
surveillance.
It closed indefinitely in 1790 during the national instability caused by the
French Revolution. Thus the dream of success for a factory, conceived at the same
time as a royal residence and a new city, ended.
 THEATER AT BESANCON , BESANCON, FRANCE
In 1784 Ledoux was the architect selected to design a theatre at Besancon,
Franche-Comté.The exterior of the building was designed as a severe Palladian cube,
adorned only by an almost Grecian neoclassical portico of six Doric columns.
However, if the neoclassical hints to the exterior was regarded as modern
then the interior was a revolution - venues for public entertainment were rare in the
French provinces and where they did exist it was traditional that only the nobles had
seating, while those of less exulted rank had stood.
Ledoux, realizing this was not only inconvenient but limitedly planned the
theatre at Besancon on more egalitarian lines with seating for all but in some quarters
such a plan was seen as radical.
It was decided that the social classes would still be segregated thus while the
theatre of was the first to have a ground floor amphitheatre furnished with seats for the
ordinary paying public.
Theater de Besancon, 1784
 Above them was a raised terrace or balcony for state employers. Directly
above was the first tier of boxes reserved for the aristocracy, and above this a tier of
smaller boxes occupied by the middle-class the second.
Thus Ledoux achieved his ambition that the theatre could at the same time be
a place of social communion and shared entertainment while still maintaining a strict
hierarchy of the classes.
The seating was not the only innovation at the theatre,Ledoux expanded the
wings and back stage scenery apparatus, giving it greater depth than was customary,
and many other modern improvements. Besancon was the first theatre to screen the
musicians in an orchestra pit.
The building was widely acclaimed on its opening in 1784 but when Ledoux
submitted plans for the proposed new theatre in Marseilles but they was not accepted.
Rotunda de la Villette at Place de Stalingrad,
old station of the Wall of the Farmers-General 1784 and 1791
 The notorious Wall of the Farmers-General was to have six towers (one
every 4 kilometers) and to comprise sixty tax-collecting offices.
Ledoux was charged to design these buildings to which he wanted to give a
character of solemnity and magnificence while putting into practice his ideas on the
necessary links between form and function.
To cut short the protests of the Parisian population, the operation was carried
out rapidly: fifty barriers to access were built between 1785 and 1788.
Most were destroyed in the nineteenth century and very few remain today of
which those of La Villette still remains.
 Hotel de Thélusson, 1778

Hotel de Mlle Guimard - Elevation

 AR.SIR JOHN SOANE

Sir John Soane (10 September 1753 – 20 January 1837) was an English
architect who specialized in the Neo-Classical tradition.
He was born at Goring-On-Thames near Reading, the son of a bricklayer.
He trained as an architect, first under George, and then Henry Holland.
His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of
simple form, decisive detailing, and careful proportions and skilful use of light
sources.
The influence of his work, coming at the end of the Georgian era, was
swamped by the revival styles of the 19th century.
It was not until the late 19th century that the influence of Sir John's
architecture was widely felt.
 His best-known work was the Bank of England, a building which had
widespread effect on commercial architecture.
Soane displays an originality and control that places him among a small group
of architectural innovators. In his work he concentrates on the detailing of internal spaces
and lighting.
He frequently incorporated shallow domes, segmental arches, and clerestories
which he emphasized with linear ornamentation and color.
In 1788, he succeeded Sir Robert Taylor as architect and surveyor to the Bank
of England, the exterior of the Bank being his most famous work.
Sir Herbert Baker's rebuilding of the Bank, demolishing most of Soane's earlier
building was described the greatest architectural crime, in the City of London, of the
twentieth century.
He was made Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy in 1806 a post
which he held until his death.
 Among Soane's most notable works are the dining rooms of 10 and 11
Downing Street for the Prime Minister and Chancellor of Britain, the Dulwich Picture
Gallery which is the archetype for most modern art galleries.
In 1792, Soane bought a house at 12 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London.
He used the house as his home and library, but also entertained potential
clients in the drawing room.
Between 1794 and 1824, Soane remodeled and extended the house into two
neighboring properties — partly to experiment with architectural ideas, and partly to
house his growing collection of antiquities and architectural salvage.
It is now Sir John Soane's Museum and is open to the public.
DULWICH PICTURE GALLERY
 SIR JOHN SOANE'S MUSEUM, LONDON
Soane demolished and rebuilt three houses in succession on the north side of
Lincoln's Inn Fields.
He began with No. 12 (between 1792 and 1794), which is externally a
conventional plain brick house typical of the period.
After becoming Professor of Architecture at the Royal Academy in 1806,
Soane purchased No. 13, the house next door, today the Museum, and rebuilt it in two
phases in 1808-09 and 1812.
In 1808-09 he constructed his drawing office and "museum" on the site of the
former stable block at the back, using primarily top lighting.
In 1812 he rebuilt the front part of the site, adding a projecting Portland Stone
facade to the basement, ground and first floor levels and the centre bay of the second
floor.
Originally this formed three open loggias, but Soane glazed the arches during
his lifetime.
 After completing No.13, Soane set about treating the building as an
architectural laboratory, continually remodeling the interiors.
In 1823, when he was over 70, he purchased a third house, No. 14, which he
rebuilt in 1823-24.
This project allowed him to construct a picture gallery, linked to No.13, on
the former stable block of No.14.
The front main part of this third house was treated as a separate dwelling - it
was not internally connected to the other buildings.
The most famous spaces in the house are those in the Museum at the rear.
The ingeniously designed Picture Gallery has walls composed of large
folding panels that allow it to house three times as many items as a space of this size
could normally accommodate.
 This basement level
plan of No. 13, including the
extension behind No.14, shows
the conventional domestic offices
to the front and the unique
museum at the back .
No.12, Soane's first
house, which is to the left, and
where the Museum's temporary
exhibition space is today located,
is not shown.
SIR JOHN SOANE'S - WIMPOLE HALL

Wimpole Hall is a
country house located within the
Parish of Wimpole, England,
about 8½ miles (14 km)
southwest of Cambridge.
The house, begun in
1640, and its 3,000 acres.
The parkland as it
exists today is an overlay of the
work of the landscape designers
 Wimpole is the largest
house in Cambridgeshire.
Over the centuries, many
notable architects have worked on it,
including its first owner, Thomas
Chicheley (between 1640 and 1670),
James Gibbs (between 1713 and
1730), James Thornhill (1721),
Henry Flitcroft (around 1749), John
Soane (1790s), and H. E. Kendall
(1840s).
AR. KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect and painter.
Schinkel was the most prominent architect of neoclassicism in Prussia and
designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings.
Schinkel, however, is noted as much for his theoretical work and his
architectural drafts as for the relatively few buildings that were actually executed to
his designs.
Some of his merits are best shown in his unexecuted plans for the
transformation of the Athenian Acropolis into a royal palace for the new Kingdom of
Greece .
His most famous buildings are found in and around Berlin. These include
Neue Wache (1816–1818), the Schauspielhaus (1819–1821) at the Gendarmenmarkt,
which replaced the earlier theater that was destroyed by fire in 1817, and the Altes
Museum on Museum Island (1823–1830).
 ALTES MUSEUM, BERLIN, GERMANY

It’s the antique collection of the Berlin State Museums. The neoclassical
style to house the Prussian Royal family's art collection. Until 1845 it was called the
Royal Museum.
The Altes Museum takes the Greek Stoa in Athens as a model, borrowing
heavily from Greek antiquity and classical architecture.

The museum employs the Ionic

order to articulate the 87 m (285 ft.) face of
the building, which is the only part of the
exterior with any visual sign of the Orders;
the other three remaining facades are of
brick and stone banding
 The body of the building is raised on a plinth, giving the building a greater
stature as well as preventing the risk of damage to the artwork from damp or flooding.
The original dome was an exact hemisphere, modeled on the Roman
Pantheon.
It was made invisible to the exterior observer because of the museum's
proximity to the Berlin Cathedral; the museum was not meant to compete with the
cathedral's dome.
 TRANSFORMATION………

Chiswick house , London Andreo Palladio's villa rotunda

 IDEAL ARCHITECTURE AGE REPRESENTED BY
MODERN AGE
Large ,
multistoried
building of pure
geometric
massing ,
constructed of a
steel frame and
glass envelope ,
devoid of
ornament ….

the Parthenon – Greece Housing development in

Denmark
 ARCHITECTURE & INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:
Historical events occurred after industrial revolution compared to the agrarian revolution
of Neolithic period.
BEFORE………
•Same sources of energy,
•Same simple materials
•Means of transportation
•Production in the same primitive way.
 AFTER………
•Astonishing series of technological break through…
•Human and animal power was replaced by machine power. It gave good quality
of work.
•Steam engines was introduced by James Watt-resulting in railway stations , Air
Port etc.
•In place of natural materials , iron , steel , many other materials were used…
•Factories started to grow
•In crease in population resulted in the concept of – town and cities
•Improvement in agricultural productivity
 Spain hotel

BEFORE… AFTER…
Few restricted forms

The church
Factories
The palace Ware house
The fortress Rail roads station
Banks
Villa Exchanges
Town hall Markets
Office building
Hospitals
Theaters
Mass housing etc…
Japan office building
 BEFORE………
Iron and glass used sparingly
Stamford bridge

AFTER………
Provide these in larger quantities at lower cost & Burj towers ,800 m
higher quality
Made engineers to devise structures of
tremendous growth height, span and
strength……exploitation of materials…
 THE INTELLECTUAL REVOLUTION &
THE ENLIGHTENMENT

•These were the developments after 1800 century…

•What is the architecture of 18th century…
•Not only the revolution to contribute fundamentally formation of the modern world
…
•The economic transformation were the result of the earlier , concurrent
development in the intellectual sphere…
•These developments often termed as intellectual revolution originated in
renaissance Italy.
•The radical concept of the spiritual and intellectual autonomy of the individual was
introduced…
 HISTORY OF STEEL………
Iron was multipurpose material known to man from 5000 years back in
history – Mesopotamia & Egypt.
Production methods were primitive manufactured in small Quantities.
After iron has been smelted in blast furnace – 14th century technically possible
to produce large batches.
But the limited quantities of charcoal present in it did not allow it to produced
in large mass.
Abraham dolby – 1713 substituted coke made from mine coal for charcoal.
Coke processed pig iron – brittle & little practical use.
Puddling process – by Henry cort provided a usable building
material . Both charcoal and coal used.
 New materials found – cast iron , wrought iron and steel.
Wrought iron or steel – resistant to compression & tension.
Cast iron – resistant to tension.
A straight horizontal beam can never be made with stone or cast iron because
these Material are not capable enough to take the tension forces ,which happens at the
lower half of the beam upon loading.
With arrival steel as building material large distances can be spanned with
straight horizontal beam.

Iron and steel bridges were the first developments with respect to the
industrial revolution.
 SEVEN BRIDGE, ENGLAD (1775-1779)………
•1767 first iron rails were cast & 1775 they were
used for the first time to construct.

•Single arch type and semicircular rises to a height

of about 14m & made up of 5 cast iron ribs each
composed of two members

•The rings in the spandrels serve as decoration but

strengthens the frame at the same time.
Earliest works – Iron Bridge , Severn at Coalgbrookdale,
Shropshire(1779)
 THE SUNDERLAND BRIDGE,ENGLAND (1793-96)…
•The plan was given by Robert Burdon who gave no credit
to the designer.
•The concept of stone vault was transformed to iron
construction.
•It has cast iron components connected by the wrought iron
bars
BRIDGE OVER THE MENAI STRAITS,WALES………
•140 M span by Robert Stephenson.
•This is the first to have incorporated forms based on the
functionalism and not deriving Inspirations from the past.
•In the place of the arches there is pure beam construction of steel
web plate girders
•The massive piers show none of the stylistic decorations
characteristics of the later 19th century.
 CONWAY CASTLE BRIDGE,WALES (1822-26)…
THOMAS TELFORD
One of the first suspension bridges made
possible by the tensile strength of the steel.
The steel wires ropes in tension made possible
construction of extreme elegance & lightness.
In the 19th century suspension bridges was
continuously constructed to meet the demanded traffic
volumes.
The methods of construction were perfected to
meet the enormous spans.
The famous golden gate bridge – largest single
span suspension bridge which crosses san Francisco.
 ADVANTAGES OF STEEL..…

•Iron was molten metal and fluid in character and hence

obeyed none Of the traditional methods of masonry
Construction.
•It allowed wider span and larger areas of glass.
•It dissolved mass and opened up space.
•It reduced supports from columns or piers to slender
stanchions.
•It allowed girders to be made from standard flats and
small fillets welded of riveted together.
•It encouraged the invention of new structural systems in
bridges & Towers
 IRON & STEEL CONSTRUCTION..…
The cast iron column

•The cast iron column is the first structural building

material produced from the new industrial methods from
1780 on wards.

•These columns were often used in combination with

stone , brick , timber etc.

•As a new building material at that time the cast iron

column was placed by John Nash in his design of the
royal pavilion at Brighton.
 CAST IRON SKELETON CONSTRUCTION..…
Cast iron skeleton construction
James bogardus (1800-1874) was the
inventor of this method of construction. used in
Harper & Brothers building in new York.
The buildings is made of iron columns and
the arches are made in the Venetian renaissance
styles.
The cast iron as conceived by Bogardus is
like that which can satisfy the demand of engineers
and artists.
Commercial buildings with cast iron
fronts and often with the cast iron skeleton sprang
up all over USA in 1850 – 1880.( cast iron age )
 HISTORY OF CONCRETE………
Concrete is a manmade building material Pouring concrete
that looks like stone. Combining cement with
aggregate and sufficient water makes concrete.
Water allows it to set and bind the materials
together. Different mixtures are added to meet specific
requirements. Concrete is normally reinforced
with the use of rods or steel mesh before it is poured
into moulds.
Interestingly, the history of concrete finds
evidence in Rome some 2000 years back. Concrete
was essentially used in aqueducts and roadway
construction in Rome.

Roman aqueducts
 John Smeaton, -1793, he built the Eddystone
Eddystone Lighthouse in England with the use of Lighthouse
hydraulic cement.
1824 - Joseph Aspdin invented Portland
cement. He made concrete by burning grounded
chalk and finely crushed clay in a lime kiln till the
carbon dioxide evaporated, resulting in strong
cement.
1850 - Mr. Lambot, used reinforced his
boats with iron bars and wire mesh.
The first landmark building in reinforced House in Port Chester, NY.
concrete was built by an William E. Ward, in 1871-
1875. The house stands today in Port Chester, NY.
•The Ingalls Building, a landmark structure in Cincinnati. Designed
by the firm of Elzner and Henderson, it was the first concrete
skyscraper, reaching 16 stories.

•Notre Dame du Raincy, by Auguste Perret constructed in 1922,

represented a significant departure from anything built in concrete
before and is generally regarded as a masterpiece of architectural
design.

Eduardo Torroja, designed the first thin Ingalls Building, in

shelled roof Cincinnati. U.S

Notre Dame du Raincy , France

 PROPERTIES OF CONCRETE
It hardens vary fast. it has good bonding Properties, thus it helped engineers &
architects to develop this an effective & efficient building material.
Previously only brick and stone were used .but concrete helped to reach
greater height and span.
In reinforced concrete construction , compression was taken care by concrete
and tension by steel.

César Pelli . Petronas Twin

Towers, 1476 ft

F.L.Wright – Guggenheium
museum,New York Le Corbusier - Villa Savoye
 HISTORY OF GLASS………
With arrival steel as building material large
distances can be spanned with straight horizontal beam.
It is one of the oldest and the most versatile
material known to man.
The term glass is used to describe a particular
state of matter known as glassy or vitreous state which is
obtained when a liquid is cooled Without crystallization
taking place. Hence it is referred as super cooled
liquid
Manufactured by mixing the raw materials in
proper proportions. Raw materials are sand, soda ash,
limestone, dolomite, feldspar, Sodium Sulphate, broken
glass etc

Louvre building ,Paris

 Heating up to 1500deg centigrade melts the mixture which is cooled
to form Glass in the form of thin sheets.
Due to glass, the building industry had a tremendous development.
They sufficiently strong, chemically inert and can resist thermal
shock.
Different types - translucent, decorative and toughened glasses,
glass Blocks, mirror glasses and glass claddings.
Glass is also a good insulating material against thermal, sound and
electrical aspects.
Now with new innovations in double-glazed glass, thermal
insulating glass and solar control glass, this problem becomes less of an issue
as the glass itself helps to regulate the temperature inside
 Earlier stage it was restricted to small windows.
E.g.- gothic windows in churches .
After this , architects began to experiment with
things like conservatories and entire walls of glass that
were held together by high trussed steel arches and finger
fixings.
The Crystal Palace constructed in 1851
represents the most ambitious glass architectural projects
of its time – a construction made up of 300 000 sheets of
glass.
Glass skins became the challenge to tackle
whereby a thin steel structure literally supported
skyscrapers of full glass walls.
Transept of Crystal Palace
 The Fagus Factory in Germany was one of the first
buildings to employ this technique. This urban shoe factory was
designed by Walter Gropius in 1911
One of the greatest feats in glass architecture in this Normal glass
century is the new Hayden Planetarium in America -The steel
sphere of the planetarium is an 87-foot structure which can
accommodate 585 people.
. Tinted insulating
glass

Reflective insulating
glass
 EARLY SKELETON BUILDING IN EUROPE………
Building developed after 1750 with the use of concrete , glass & steel.

True skeleton type – Menier chocolate works Constructed in 1871 – 72 by Jules

Saulnier near Paris.
The iron skeleton is made to carry the whole weight, the walls made Of hollow bricks
which functions merely as fillings.
The diagonal iron stiffeners show clearly that saulnier derived a part of his inspiration
from methods used in wood construction.
The skeleton can be seen on the surface of the wall.
The brick work defines the pattern in multi colored tile.
The system of the construction used for the facades produced a Surface entirely plain
from top to bottom with no projections neither Horizontal nor vertical.
The flat and the unornamented surface, later contemporary Architecture appeared
simultaneously with the new structural means
Menier Chocolate Factory at Noisiel-sur-Marne by Jules Saulnier
 ARCHITECTURE OF HENRI LABROUSTE………

• He occupies a special position in the development of skeleton construction.

• Regarded as the forerunner of the architecture of functionalism.
• He unites the abilities of both engineer and architect.
• Educated in the Beaux arts Academy in Paris.
• At the age of 23 he was awarded as the Grand prix de Rome.
• Henri was one of the first to recognize that function had been separated from form
and this detrimental to architecture.
• He also recognized as the official architecture of France

Projects

1. Library of Sainte Genevieve , Paris , France , 1843 - 56

2. Bibliotheque Nationale , Paris ,France , 1858 - 68
 LIBRARY OF SAINTE GENEVIEVE, PARIS (1843)……

For the first time from foundation to

roof , cast iron & wrought iron bars were used
First Library building in France
designed to complete Independent unit.
Interior used with romantic revival style
and outside they used thick masonry wall.
All structural members such as columns
, beams , arches and roofing were made of with
iron.
 The library has a two-story reading room on the upper level over a lower level
entrance.
The reading room has cast iron columns & ornamental trusses supporting a
decorative painted vaulted ceiling.
There is no stress in the walls due to the Iron construction.
The building shows how the forms of traditional masonry architecture are
aesthetically transformed by the peculiarities Of the new structural material.
Henri has used the concepts of Le corbusier like free walls free façade and
open plan.
 BIBLIOTHEQUE NATIONALE, PARIS…
Regarded as a master piece of Henri labrouste.
The increase in the production of books in the 19th century made the
functional separation of reading rooms from the stack rooms.

It has 16 iron pillars to support the

structure.
The column are connected by means
of semi circular girders which come together
to form nine light domes reminiscent of the
panthenon.
INDUSTRIAL EXHIBHITION…
From 1850 , the industry started to have exhibitions .
People started to invent new machines & processes.
The exhibitions helped the purpose of bringing together the result of this
creative work , displaying the new discoveries side by side The first exhibition was
held in London in 1851.
THE GREAT EXHIBHITION IN LONDON,ENGLAND…
The great exhibition was initiated by Sir
Henry Cole and Prince consort Albert .

The crystal palace ,London ,England -

1851 (destroyed in great fire -1936 ) was the first
great official building to omit all references to the
past styles was built.
 245 plans were submitted to the competition in 1850.

None of it was accepted shortly afterwards Paxton who had not participated in the
competition was asked to work on the project and in 9 days he drew a plan for the
building 560 x 137m .

The concept of the planning of the crystal palace was that of a leaf were in the
radiating ribs of the leaf strengthen the cross ribs of the leaf.
It is based on the prefabricated parts.

This is green house with a space frame structure – nature goes hand in hand
with the built environment.

The design of the whole building was planned around the largest standard
sheet of glass. it is 1.2m long.
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION & ITS IMPACT…
It initiated the fragmentation of the
western world after the unified cultural period
(renaissance)
It made the advancement in fields like
science and technology, travel, communication,
medicine visual arts, politics etc.
A period after 1750, with the use of new
materials for construction of the buildings, defined
the way for contemporary period.
There was a change in the human
condition after the invention of the steam engine by
James watt in 1769.
 The man power of the handicraft was replaced by the machine power of the
industry.
It gave its way for the electronic revolution.
The industrial revolution gave man the extension of his muscle power, the
electronic revolution extends above all the capabilities of his brain.

Change from home industry to the factory

industry. The worker had to leave his home for work.
This entailed massive migration from the country to the
city where the factories were located.
There was a tremendous increase in population
due to industrial revolution from 1750 – 1850 from 6 to
14 million in England.
 There was a complete breakdown in the social
institutions of the traditional city.
The inhuman social conditions of the working
class gave rise to the utopian concepts . Even later it gave
rise to Marxism.

After 1750 abstraction started to influence the

modern art.
Neo classical art work by Jean Auguste Ingres
were brought to perfection by the painters Theodore
Gericault & Engene Delacroix.
The classical music of Mozart was simplified by
Beethoven .
 Elementary education has become compulsory in many
countries. state took over the prime responsibility of providing
education to the masses.
Apart from intellectual development school helps to
develop emotionally , consciously and spiritually also.

Rationalistic philosophies attacked the foundations of the faith.

The church as a social institution lost gradually its influence, activities and
the responsibilities of the church were taken over by the state.
 Theory of capitalism – every thing is lawful and useful as long as it
permits selling the produced good with profits.
On the international level capitalism leads to the conquest of new markets
and political colonialism.
Theory of economic liberation – upholds the absolute right to the private
property and maintains that there must be no interference by the state in the
exchange of goods.

After the French Revolution they started to proclaim freedom, equality

and fraternity.
The USA won their independence from England in 1776 and established
democracy as the permanent form of the government.
 There was the Rationalism proclaimed by Descartes ,
Leibnitz and Spinoza. According to it criterion for the truth is not
sensory but intellectual and deductive.
Francis Bacon announced Empiricism which maintains the source of
knowledge as experience.
Montesquieu represented Skepticism which so called
Philosophy of Enlightenment.
Idealism by Immanuel Kant was against the religious
Dogmas of the church.
Logical positivism aims to show that mathematics is
ultimately reducible to logic.
Sensism represented by David hume .Means to be A belief
that good morals are the key to a harmonious and happy life and that
the way forward in making the world a better.