SLICT TECH ARCHITECTUE

THE HIGH TECH ARCHITECTURE

HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE

LECTURE 10
SEMESTER 6
An architecture style developed in the 1970s, High Tech
Architecture got its name from High Tech: The Industrial
Style and Source Book for The Home, a book published in

INTRODUCTION
1978 by Joan Kron and Suzanne Slesin. The book as well
as the style made heavy use of industrial materials
In architecture, high-tech design involves the use of the
materials associated with high tech industries of the
1980s and 1990s, such as space frames, metal cladding
and composite fabrics and materials. High tech
buildings often have extensive glazing to show to the
outside world the activity going on inside. Generally
their overall appearance is light, typically with a
combination of dramatic curves and straight lines. In
many ways high tech architecture is a reaction against
Brutalist architecture, without the features of post-
modernism.
One of the aims of High Tech
Architecture:
To boast the technical elements of the
building by externalizing them. Thus, the
technical aspects create the buildings’

AIM
aesthetic.

High Tech Architecture aimed to achieve a

new industrial aesthetic, spurred on by the
renewed faith in the progression of
technology.
The function of the building was also
aimed as not to be set. This dynamic
property means the building should be
a “catalyst” the “technical services are
provided but do not become set” .

AIM
Another aspect of the High Tech
Architecture’s aim was that of a
renewed belief in the power of
technology to improve the world.
Characteristics of High Tech Architecture varied

CHARACTERISTICS
somewhat. They included the prominent display of the
building's technical and functional components, an orderly
arrangement of and the use of pre fabricated elements. Glass
walls and steel frames were immensely popular. These traits
combined created the industrial aesthetic.
To boast technical features they would be externalized, often
along with the load bearing structures on outside.

The orderly and logical fashion in which High Tech buildings

are designed to keep to their functional essence is
demonstrated .

High Tech architecture developed a technical language, free

of historicist ornaments likes it predecessor, Modern
Architecture.
1.INSIDE OUT

CHARACTERISTICS
2.CELEBRATION OF PROCESS
3.TRANSPERANCY,LAYERING, &
MOVEMENT
4.BRIGHT FLAT COLOURING
5.A LIGHT WEIGHT FILIGREE OF
TENSILE MEMBERS
6.OPMISTIC CONFIDENCE IN A
SCIENTIFIC CULTURE
1.INSIDE OUT :-
The services &structure of a building are almost always exposed

CHARACTERISTICS
on the exterior as a form of ornament or sculpture.

2.CELEBRATION OF PROCESS:-
With the emphasis on construction logic, the’ how, why,& what
"of the building its joists, rivets ,flanges & ducts, there is an
intellectual clarity which is pleasing for the very soul.
The celebration of process often extends to things that are seen to
work & in high tech the mechanical plant and travelling crane are
as omnipresent as the pediment & as the key stone are in classical
architecture.
3.TRANSPERANCY,LAYERING, & MOVEMENT:-
These three aesthetic qualities almost without exception,
extensive use of translucent & transparent glass, a layering of
ducts, stairs and structure and the accentuation of moving
escalators and elevators characterize the high-tech building.
4.BRIGHT FLAT COLOURING:-
Bright colors are in much the same way used as the eng. Do to
distinguish different kinds of structures and services and allowed

CHARACTERISTICS
them to be easily understood and effectively used.

5.A LIGHT WEIGHT FILIGREE OF TENSILE MEMBERS:-

Light weight material used for the ornamentation of the building like
the glass cover, with steel frame.

6.OPMISTIC CONFIDENCE IN A SCIENTIFIC CULTURE:-

Underlying high tech building is the futurist promise of an unknown
world waiting to be discovered. This result more in a method of
working an attitude towards material, colors, and inventions than a
compositional principle. However, this often leads to open, in
terminate space and picturesque fragmentation or ,at worst a chaotic
massing and confusion of cues. When high-tech falls as architecture
it does because too many inventions are attempted at the same
time & multiple options & flexibility are taken to extreme.
Further most the emphasis on teamwork and the simultaneous
creation of separate parts of the building means that sub-assemblies
tend to dominate over consideration of the building as a whole.
 RICHARD ROGERS
3D MODEL
OF 88 WOOD
STREET
RICHARD ROGERS
 RICHARD ROGERS
INTERIOR OF CENTER POMPEDUE
 POMPEDUE CENTER
HIGHLIGHTED MECHANICAL ELEVATORS.
POMPEDUE CENTER
 RICHARD ROGERS
HONGKONG AND SHANGAI BANK CORPORATION
HEADQUATERS
 HONGKONG AND SHANGAI
BANK
VIEW OF THE ATRIUM SHOWING THE DOUBLE HEIGHT
BANKING HALL AND THE 4TH, 5TH ,6TH FLOORS.
 RICHARD ROGERS
BANK OF CHINA TOWER
BANK OF CHINA TOWER
 BANK OF CHINA TOWER
DETAILS OF STRUCTURE
CHEP LAP KOK AIRPORT,
HONGKONG
WATRLOO ONTERNATIONAL
TERMINAL
 WATRLOO ONTERNATIONAL
END VIEW
AN
ELEGANT

TERMINAL
AND
DRAMATIC
EXPRESSION
IN GLASS
AND STEEL.
LLOYD’S BUILDING
LE GRAND LOUVRE
LE GRAND LOUVRE