High-Tech Architecture, Also Known As Late Modernism or Structural Expressionism

High-tech architecture
The HSBC Hong Kong headquarters is one example of high-tech architecture

High-tech architecture, also known as Late Modernism or Structural Expressionism,
is an architectural style that emerged in the 1970s, incorporating elements of high-tech
industry and technology into building design. High-tech architecture appeared as a
revamped modernism, an extension of those previous ideas aided by even more advances
in technological achievements. This category serves as a bridge between modernism and
post-modernism, however there remain gray areas as to where one category ends and the
other begins. In the 1980s, high-tech architecture became more difficult to distinguish
from post-modern architecture. Many of its themes and ideas were absorbed into the
language of the post-modern architectural schools.
Like Brutalism, Structural Expressionist buildings reveal their structure on the outside as
well as the inside, but with visual emphasis placed on the internal steel and/or concrete
skeletal structure as opposed to exterior concrete walls.
The style's premier practitioners include the British architect Norman Foster, whose work
has since earned him knighthood, and Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, known for
his organic, skeleton-like designs.
Buildings designed in this style usually consist of a clear glass facade, with the building's
network of support beams exposed behind it. Perhaps the most famous and easily
recognized building built in this style is I.M. Pei's Bank of China Tower in Hong Kong.
The World Trade Center in New York City, although generally considered to be an
International Style building, was technically a Structural Expressionist design due to its
load-bearing steel exoskeleton.
Origins
Background
John Hancock Center.
Lloyd's Building.
Buildings in this architectural style were constructed mainly in Europe and North
America. After the destruction of many historic buildings in Europe during World War II,
repairing them was a difficult matter. Architects had to decide between replicating the
historic elements or replacing it with new modern materials and aesthetics.
The scientific and technological advances had a big impact on societies in the 1970s. The
Space Race climaxed in 1969 with Neil Armstrongs landing on the moon, and came
along with excessive military developments. These advances set peoples minds thinking
that much more can be achieved with advancing technology. Technological instruments
became a common sight for people at the time because of the use of ramps, video screens,
headphones, and bare scaffolds. These high-tech constructions became more visible
everyday to the average person.
Name
The style got its name from the book High Tech: The Industrial Style and Source Book
for The Home, written by design journalists Joan Kron and Suzanne Slesin and published
in November 1978 by Clarkson N. Potter, New York. The book, illustrated with hundreds
of photos, showed how designers, architects, and home owners were appropriating classic
industrial objectslibrary shelving, chemical glass, metal deck plate, restaurant supply,
factory and airport runway light fixtures, movers' quilts, industrial carpeting etc.found
in industrial catalogues and putting these to use in residential settings. The foreword to
the book by architect Emilio Ambasz, former curator of design at the Museum of Modern
Art, put the trend in historical context.
As a result of the publicity and popularity of the book, the decorating style became
known as "High-Tech", and accelerated the entry of the still-obscure term "high-tech"
into everyday language. In 1979, the term high-tech appeared for the first time in a New
Yorker magazine cartoon showing a woman berating her husband for not being high-tech
enough: "You're middle-, middle-, middle-tech." After Esquire excerpted Kron and
Slesin's book in six installments, mainstream retailers across the United States, beginning
with Macy's New York, started featuring high-tech decor in windows and in furniture
departments. But credit should go to a shop on 64th Street and Lexington Avenue in New
York, Ad Hoc Housewares, which opened in 1977, for marketing these objects to a
residential audience before anyone else. The book went on to be reprinted in England,
France, and Japan, and like the original, each edition included a directory of local sources
for the objects.
Aims
High-tech architecture was, in some ways, a response to growing disillusionment with
modern architecture. The realization of Le Corbusiers urban development plans led to
cities with monotonous and standardized buildings. Enthusiasm for economic building
led to extremely low-quality finishes, with subsequent degradation countering a nowwaning aesthetic novelty. High-tech architecture created a new aesthetic in contrast with
standard modern architecture. In High Tech: The Industrial Style and Source Book for
The Home, when discussing the high-tech aesthetic, the authors emphasized using
elements "your parents might find insulting". This humour so aptly demonstrates the
rebellious attitude.
Kron and Slesin further explain the term "high-tech" as one being used in architectural
circles to describe an increasing number of residences and public buildings with a "nutsand-bolts, exposed-pipes, technological look". There is no need to look further than
Rogers Pompidou Centre for an example of this. This highlights the 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 building's aesthetic.
For interior design there was a trend of using formerly industrial appliances as household
objects, e.g. chemical beakers as vases for flowers. This was because of an aim to use an
industrial aesthetic. This was assisted by the conversion of former industrial spaces into
residential spaces. High-tech architecture aimed to give everything an industrial

appearance.
Another aspect to the aims of high-tech architecture was that of a renewed belief in the
power of technology to improve the world. This is especially evident in Kenzo Tanges
plans for technically sophisticated buildings in Japan's post-war boom in the 1960s, but
few of these plans actually became buildings. High-tech architecture aimed to achieve a
new industrial aesthetic, spurred on by the renewed faith in the progression of
technology.
But however prominent the industrial look appeared, the functional element of modern
architecture was very much retained. The pieces still served a purpose in the buildings
function. The function of the building was also aimed as not being set. This dynamic
property means that a building should be a "catalyst", the "technical services are provided
but do not become set."
Characteristics
Pompidou Centre.
Characteristics of high-tech architecture have varied somewhat, yet all have accentuated
technical elements. They included the prominent display of the building's technical and
functional components, and an orderly arrangement and use of pre-fabricated elements.
Glass walls and steel frames were also immensely popular.
To boast technical features, they were externalized, often along with load-bearing
structures. There can be no more illustrious example than Pompidou Centre. The
ventilation ducts are all prominently shown on the outside. This was a radical design, as
previous ventilation ducts would have been a component hidden on the inside of the
building. The means of access to the building is also on the outside, with the large tube
allowing visitors to enter the building.
The orderly and logical fashion in which buildings in the high-tech architectural style are
designed to keep to their functional essence is demonstrated in Norman Fosters Hong
Kong and Shanghai Bank HQ. Besides the technology being the overriding feature of the
building, its design is very much functionally orientated. The large interior open space
and the easy access to all floors very much enhance the function of being a bank. Also,
the elements of the buildings are very neatly composed to achieve optimal orderliness in
order to logically solve the problem of the needs of a bank. This can be seen in the levels'
structure and in the escalators.
The high-tech buildings make persistent use of glass curtain walls and steel structure. It is
greatly indebted to modern architecture for this, and influenced by Mies van der Rohes
corporate buildings. The SOM Sears Tower demonstrates that with glass walls and
skeleton pipe structure of steel, a very tall building can be built. Many high-tech
buildings meant their purposes to be dynamic. This could best be explained by Gnther
Behnisch and Frei Ottos Munich Olympic Stadium. This structure made sport in the
open possible and is meant to be used for many purposes. Originally an abandoned
airfield, it is now a sport stadium, used for various disciplines.
Examples
ikov TV Tower - Prague

Lord's cricket ground - London
Irvine Company headquarters, Newport Beach, California, United States (William
Pereira, 1968)
John Hancock Center, Chicago, Illinois, United States (Fazlur Khan, 1969)
World Trade Center, New York City, United States (Minoru Yamasaki, 1971)
(destroyed 2001)
One US Bank Plaza, St. Louis, Missouri, United States (Thompson, Ventulett,
Stainback & Associates), 1976
Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France (Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers,
1977)
BNZ Centre, Wellington, New Zealand (Stephenson & Turner, 1983)
HSBC Hong Kong headquarters building, Hong Kong (Norman Foster, 1985)
Lloyd's Building, London, United Kingdom (Richard Rogers, 1986)
Bank of China Tower, Hong Kong (I.M. Pei, 1989)
Hotel Arts, Barcelona, Spain (Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, 1992)
30 St. Mary Axe, London, United Kingdom (Norman Foster, 2003)
Hearst Tower, New York City, United States (Norman Foster, 2004)
Marquette Plaza, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States (Gunnar Birkerts, 1973)

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High-tech architecture

The HSBC Hong Kong headquarters is one example of high-tech architecture

John Hancock Center.

residential spaces. High-tech architecture aimed to give everything an industrial

ikov TV Tower - Prague

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