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Modern and Post Modern Architecture
Modern and Post Modern Architecture
Architecture
IV
Assignment
Mayank Dubey
123521050021
ITM SAAD
Assignment History of Architecture IV
A. Discuss
a) Modern:
One of the overarching principles of modernism was that ‘form follows function’,
meaning that design should derive directly from purpose. Another was that building
form should have a simplicity and clarity, with the elimination of unnecessary detail.
There was also the concept of ‘Truth to materials’, which held that rather than
concealing or altering the natural appearance of a material, it ought to be visible and
celebrated.
Relationship between interior spaces and sites: Use of large expanses of glass in effect
brings the building’s site into the building, taking advantage of dramatic views and
natural landscaping.
Emphasis on open, flowing interior spaces: Living spaces are no longer defined by
walls, doors and hallways. Living, dining and kitchen spaces tend to flow together as
part of one contiguous interior space, reflecting a more casual and relaxed way of
life.
Generous use of glass and natural light: Windows are no longer portholes to the
outside, but large expanses of floor to ceiling glass providing dramatic views and
introducing natural light deep into the interior of homes.
Use of sun and shading to enhance human comfort: The best modern homes are
efficient. They are oriented to take advantage of nature’s forces to provide passive
solar heating in the winter, while long overhangs and recessed openings provide
shading to keep homes cool in the summer.
Stylistic Features:
b) Post Modern:
Postmodernism’s emergence and proliferation was a direct response to the rise of art
movements like modernism, a style that discouraged the use of historical reference in
architecture. Postmodern architecture focused on free-thinking design with conceptual
consideration to the surrounding environment. These considerations included
integrating the design of adjacent buildings into new, postmodern structures, so that
they had an element of cohesiveness while still making an impact.
Characteristics:
By mixing a variety of architectural motifs and elements from the Arts and Crafts
movement, classicism, neoclassicism, and many other architectural styles, postmodern
architecture looked to create buildings that not only honored their local history, but had
a unique visual appeal as well.
Asymmetry
Asymmetry was a pillar of the postmodern movement because of its ability to capture attention
and create unique buildings that stood out. Sloping pillars, walls, and contrasting structures were
commonplace in postmodern works and offered new perspective on what it meant to be a
functional building. The juxtaposition of these angles and lines captivated audiences and
helped establish postmodernism as a movement to watch. The Groninger Museum showcases
this asymmetry through its use of varying shapes, colors, and mediums throughout each of its
three main pavilions.
Humour
Both humor and camp, an ironic movement of gaudy art that was perceived as
beautiful, were used interchangeably throughout the postmodern era, particularly in the
United States. And while the postmodern movement began as a rebellion against the
rigidity of modernism, camp postmodern work took rebellion to new levels. Theatrical
buildings, like Hotel Dolphin (1987) in the Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida,
were famous for their use of humor and overindulgence. By reaching the extremes of
what a building could look like, camp architects challenged formality and encouraged
creativity in new construction and design.
Fragmentation
Postmodern architects were known for creating fragmented buildings that, while still
connected as one building, took on the appearance of several different buildings that
served various functions.
This is epitomized by the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao, as titanium, the medium used to
create this work, changes color depending on the surrounding light. This helped bring
new life to the building depending on the time of day that the structure is viewed,
offering a totally different aesthetic in daylight than in the evening.
Complexity
Complexity can be used to describe all postmodern works, as the integration of a variety
of colors, textures, shapes, and themes construct the framework of these unique buildings.
Complexity was used to pivot away from the uniformity of modernism and establish a new
style of design.
Colours
Color helps transform traditional buildings into artwork and brings ordinary facades to life.
Typically, colored glass, ceramic tiles and stones are used on exterior surfaces, while bold
primary colors and metallics are common for interior Postmodern design
Textures
Texture plays a key role in making Postmodern architectural structures unique. Architects
specializing in this area tend to break up large commercial buildings into different, smaller
structures to represent their meaning and function.
Modern Indian structures didn't even start coming around until after India gained
independence from the British in 1947. Post 1947, Indian architecture was at a standstill in
terms of progression; there was no unique identity being formed. However, when the Indian
Punjab government took on world famous architect Le Corbusier to design the city of
Chandigarh.
Architects working in India began to draw inspiration in the years following Le Corbusier's
work, and thus began a more rapid evolution of modern architecture. Today we see
traditional character in Indian architecture, but with modern form and style. Building is less
Chandigarh, the stridently modern and progressive new capital city that was being built
from scratch for the Indian state of Punjab, had been boldly projected by the prime minister
of the new-born Indian republic as an architectural and urban ‘symbol of the nation’s faith
in the future’.
Characteristics:
Clean, minimal lines. These lines lack additional ornamentation and are
generally consistent, smooth texture.
Walls of glass and large windows. You will find a very generous use of glass,
which allows a significant amount of natural light into the interior.
One of the best examples of modern architecture retaining its traditional roots is the Lotus
temple in New Delhi. The architect Fariborz Sahba took the traditional lotus symbol and
gave it a modern touch.
Modern architecture often features bold, clean lines, and simple functionality, from mid-
century modern to Scandinavian minimalism. You can trace all of these design trends back
to a school of architecture that began in early twentieth-century Germany: the Bauhaus
school.
Characteristics:
1. Functional Shapes.
Bauhaus design features little to no embellishment or ornamentation, instead drawing
attention to the streamlined design. For example, many Bauhaus buildings have flat roofs
to create a simple, geometric look. Tubular chairs—simple chairs held up by an angular
length of steel tubing—are another quintessential example of Bauhaus interior design’s
beautiful functionality: functional and straightforward, with geometric shapes and few
extraneous details. Another popular characteristic of Bauhaus design is abstract shapes,
used sparingly in decoration, and a functional option for mass production.
3. Industrial Materials.
Since the Bauhaus movement focuses on simplicity and industrialism, it most often tries to
incorporate the fewest different materials possible, all of which are considered industrial,
modern materials. These materials include glass (especially in ribbon windows or glass
curtain walls), concrete (especially in building design, and steel (especially in appliances
and objects like lamps and chairs).
4. Balanced Asymmetry.
Bauhaus architecture and design aimed for visual balance through asymmetry. (Symmetry
was considered too industrial without any artistic heart.) As a result, Bauhaus designers
worked to unite and balance buildings and rooms by incorporating the same elements
throughout (for instance, the same materials and shapes, or repeating colors) without
making both sides the same. A landmark example of this is the Bauhaus building in Dessau,
which includes several different shapes and angles while remaining cohesive with white
paint and extensive window designs.
5. Holistic Design.
Among the essential tenets of Bauhaus design is integrating the school’s techniques into
every element of life, including city design, street corners, building architecture, furniture
design, appliances, eating utensils, and typography. This holistic, integrated approach
requires the designer to keep the school’s tenets at the forefront of every choice they make
when designing a room or building look in the Bauhaus style.
Principles
1. No border between artist and craftsman. In a pamphlet for an April 1919 exhibition,
Gropius stated that his goal was to create a new guild of craftsmen, without the class
distinctions which raise an arrogant barrier between craftsman and artist. It is said in
the manifesto,that architects, sculptors, painters, we must all turn to the crafts!
3. Form follows function. According to this idea, simple but elegant geometric shapes
were designed based on the intended function or purpose of a building or an
object. Though the functionality needn’t be boring as we can see from the Bauhaus
buildings.
4. The ‘complete work of art’. Gesamtkunstwerk means a synthesis of multiple art forms
such as fine and decorative arts. A building and its architecture was only one part
of the concept. The other part is design.
5. True materials. Materials should reflect the true nature of objects and buildings.
Bauhaus architects didn’t hide even brutal and rough materials.
6. Minimalism. Bauhaus artists favored linear and geometric forms, avoiding floral or
curvilinear shapes.
10. Constant development. Bauhaus is all about new techniques, new materials, new
ways of construction, new attitude – all the time. Architects, designers, and artists
have to invent something new all the time. Thus Bauhaus influenced the new forms
of arts like graphic design which emerged 100 years ago. Bauhaus also led to the
emergence of new forms of interior design
a) Constructivism
The fundamental tension of Constructivist architecture was the need to reconcile the
economic reality of the USSR with its ambition for using the built environment to engineer
societal changes and instill the avant-garde in everyday life.
Architects hoped that through constructivism, the spaces and monuments of the new
socialist utopia, the ideal of which the Bolshevik revolution had waged, could be realised.
As such, constructivist architecture was used to build utilitarian projects for the workers, as
well as more creative projects such as Flying City, that was intended as a prototype for
airborne housing.
The main characteristic of constructivism was the application of 3D cubism to abstract and
non-objective elements. The style incorporated straight lines, cylinders, cubes and
rectangles; and merged elements of the modern age such as radio antennae, tension
cables, concrete frames and steel girders.
The possibilities of modern materials were also explored, such as steel frames that supported
large areas of glazing, exposed rather than concealed building joints, balconies and sun
decks.
The style aimed to explore the opposition between different forms as well as the contrast
between different surfaces, predominately between solid walls and windows, which often
gave the structures their characteristic sense of scale and presence.
The first and perhaps most famous project was one an unrealised proposal for Tatlin’s Tower,
the headquarters of the Comintern in St. Petersburg. Many subsequent, ambitious projects
were not actually built, but Russia’s fourth-largest city Yekaterinburg is regarded as a
‘Constructivist museum’ including 140 built examples of the form. Another famous surviving
example is the social housing project Dom Narkomfin in Moscow.
b) Deconstructivism
Besides fragmentation, deconstructivism often manipulates the structure's surface skin and
deploys non-rectilinear shapes which appear to distort and dislocate established elements
of architecture. The finished visual appearance is characterized by unpredictability and
controlled chaos.
It attempts to move away from the conventions of modernism that can be viewed as
‘constricting rules’, such as the notions that ‘form follows function’, ‘purity of form’, and
‘truth to materials’.
Deconstructivism developed out of the postmodern style and first gained widespread
attention in 1988 with an exhibition entitled ‘Deconstructivist Architecture’ in New York’s
Museum of Modern Art. The exhibition featured the work of architects such as Frank
Gehry, Rem Koolhaas and Zaha Hadid. Where deconstructivism deviates from the
postmodernist style in its rejection of ornament as decoration.
Two strains of modern art, minimalism and cubism, have had an influence on
deconstructivism. Analytical cubism had a sure effect on deconstructivism, as forms and
content are dissected and viewed from different perspectives simultaneously. A
synchronicity of disjoined space is evident in many of the works of Frank Gehry and
Bernard Tschumi. Synthetic cubism, with its application of found object art, is not as great
an influence on deconstructivism as Analytical cubism, but is still found in the earlier and
more vernacular works of Frank Gehry. Deconstructivism also shares with minimalism a
disconnection from cultural references.
Characteristics
▪ Unrelated forms.
▪ Abstract nature.
▪ Smooth exterior surfaces.
▪ Contrast of shapes and forms.
▪ Large expanses of a single material (glass, metals, masonry, etc.).
▪ Window frames often hidden in the walls.
▪ Simple metal frame doors.
▪ Exposed materials
Despite seeking to distance himself from the label, one of the most prominent architects
associated with the style is Frank Gehry, whose Santa Monica residence – the building for
which he first received critical acclaim – is regarded as the prototypical deconstructivist
building, as well as his later buildings the Guggenheim Museum and Walt Disney Concert
Hall.
Other architects who have been identified with the style are Zaha Hadid, Peter Eisenman,
Rem Koolhaas, and Daniel Libeskind.
The Industrial Revolution, began in England about 1760 to sometime between 1820 and
1840. This transition included going from hand production methods to machines,
new chemical manufacturing and iron production processes, the increasing use of steam
power, the development of machine tools and the rise of the factory system, which led to
radical changes at every level of civilization throughout the world.
Prior to the late 19th century, the weight of a multistory building had to be supported
principally by the strength of its walls. The taller the building, the more strain this placed on
the lower sections. Since there were clear engineering limits to the weight such load-
bearing walls could sustain, large designs meant massively thick walls on the ground floors,
and definite limits on the building's height.
The biggest impact of the Industrial Revolution on 19th century architecture was the mass-
production of iron and later steel in quantities where it became an economically plausible
building material (as opposed a limited material for weapons and tools).
The nineteenth century brought an age of uncertainty, confidence apparent in the elegant
architecture of the 18th C had diminished, rejecting irregularity and polychrome, and was
subjected to a period of architectural eclecticism. The birth of this sought after style would
allow elements to be retained from previous historic precedents, returning to the style of
Michelangelo etc., whilst creating something that is new andoriginal, forming styles of Neo-
Classical and Neo-Gothic. This ability to create a fusion of styles allowed for expression
devised through creation, notreminiscence; usually elected based on its aptness to the
project and overall aesthetic value, seeking to restore order and restraint to architecture.
The expansion of mass industry brought the potential of new building technologies such as
cast iron, steel, and glass, with which architects and engineers devised structures previously
un-reached in both function, size, and form.
Consequently, materials could be mass produced rapidly and inexpensively, not only being
applied to things like bricks, but also iron columns, glass panels etc., meaning structures of
all types could be constructed quicker and cheaper than ever before. This generated a
new potential of standardised designs, created from identical factory components, which
could be mass produced improving the efficiency of construction time but not necessarily
the quality.
Apart from architectural designs flourishing with respect to housing and commercial
buildings, architecture also saw a boom with respect to other forms of infrastructure such
as canals, tunnels, bridges and the likes.
The Industrial Revolution brought about a number of changes in the way architecture was
perceived post 18th century. Architectural design took a major turn. Access to better
resources, more material, better techniques; all were contributing factors to architecture
becoming a full-blown and still flourishing industry today.
In America, the development of cheap, versatile steel in the second half of the 19th
century helped change the urban landscape. The country was in the midst of rapid social
and economic growth that made for great opportunities in architectural design. A much
more urbanized society was forming and the society called out for new, larger buildings.
By the middle of the 19th century downtown areas in big cities began to transform
themselves with new roads and buildings to accommodate the growth. The mass
production of steel was the main driving force behind the ability to build skyscrapers
during the mid 1880s.
Steel framing was set into foundations of reinforced concrete, concrete poured around a
grid of steel rods (re-bar) or other matrices to increase tensile strength in foundations,
columns and vertical slabs.
However, this new architecture lacked in imagination and style as the focus was cast
towards functionality. An example of this new technology was The Crystal Palace 1851. It
was a glass and iron showpiece, with pre-fabricated parts that could be mass-produced
and erected rapidly. This dazzled the millions of visitors passing through its doors as it stood
in blatant disparity to previous massive stone construction. Crystal Palace became the
foundation for modern architecture, its transparency signified a sense of ‘no boundaries’.
The movement was pioneered by Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque, and joined by Jean
Metzinger, Albert Gleizes, Robert Delaunay, Henri Le Fauconnier, Juan Gris, and Fernand
Léger. One primary influence that led to Cubism was the representation of three-
dimensional form in the late works of Paul Cézanne. A retrospective of Cézanne's paintings
had been held at the Salon d'Automne of 1904, current works were displayed at the 1905
and 1906 Salon d'Automne, followed by two commemorative retrospectives after his death
in 1907.
In France, offshoots of Cubism developed, including Orphism, Abstract art and later Purism.
The impact of Cubism was far-reaching and wide-ranging. In France and other countries
Futurism, Suprematism, Dada, Constructivism, Vorticism, De Stijl and Art Deco developed in
response to Cubism. Early Futurist paintings hold in common with Cubism the fusing of the
past and the present, the representation of different views of the subject pictured at the
same time, also called multiple perspective, simultaneity or multiplicity, while Constructivism
was influenced by Picasso's technique of constructing sculpture from separate elements.
Other common threads between these disparate movements include the faceting or
simplification of geometric forms, and the association of mechanization and modern life.
Historians have divided the history of Cubism into phases. In one scheme, the first phase of
Cubism, known as Analytic Cubism, a phrase coined by Juan Gris a posteriori, was both
radical and influential as a short but highly significant art movement between 1910 and
1912 in France. A second phase, Synthetic Cubism, remained vital until around 1919, when
the Surrealist movement gained popularity.
Analytic Cubism
Analytical Cubism is the second period of the Cubism art movement that ran from 1910 to
1912. It was led by the "Gallery Cubists" Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque.
This form of Cubism analyzed the use of rudimentary shapes and overlapping planes to
depict the separate forms of the subjects in a painting. It refers to real objects in terms of
Synthetic Cubism
Synthetic Cubism is a period in the Cubism art movement that lasted from 1912 until 1914.
Led by two famous Cubist painters, it became a popular style of artwork that includes
characteristics like simple shapes, bright colors, and little to no depth. It was also the birth
of collage art in which real objects were incorporated into the paintings.
Synthetic Cubism grew out of Analytic Cubism. It was developed by Pablo Picasso and
Georges Braque and then copied by the Salon Cubists. Many art historians
consider Picasso's "Guitar" series to be the ideal example of the transition between the
two periods of Cubism.
Picasso and Braque discovered that through the repetition of "analytic" signs their work
became more generalized, geometrically simplified, and flatter. This took what they were
doing in the Analytic Cubism period to a new level because it discarded the idea of three
dimensions in their work.
At first glance, the most noticeable change from Analytic Cubism is the color palette. In
the previous period, the colors were very muted, and many earth tones dominated the
paintings. In Synthetic Cubism, bold colors ruled. Lively reds, greens, blues, and yellows
gave great emphasis to this newer work.
From 1912, Cubism had become an influential factor in terms of architecture and the
architects of the movement borrowed heavily from cubist art regarding geometric forms
and shapes, diverse elements could be superimposed, made transparent, or penetrate
one another. The common characteristics of the buildings of this movement were
transparency, spatial ambiguity, form-faceting, and multiplicity. It also brought out
conceptions like abstraction, geometrization, symbolism, distortion, fragmentation, and
illusion.
De Stijl was also linked by Gino Severini to Cubist theory through the writings of Albert
Gleizes. However, the linking of basic geometric forms with inherent beauty and ease of
industrial application—which had been prefigured by Marcel Duchamp from 1914—was
left to the founders of Purism
The buildings were distinct with their sharp, clear lines for perspective viewing while the
windows have cubic or rectangular and did not necessarily line up with each other and
thus creating a revolutionary appearance. It was no historical comparison so it became
revolutionary and faced opposition from others who wanted a steady and structured
change.
Early cubist buildings were made up of bricks which were difficult to cut into geometric
shapes making their construction costly and demanding, later concrete became their
material of choice as it could be poured into any flexible geometric form. The use of
reinforced concrete structure gave cubism an edge in the building industry.
The initial challenges faced also involved the interiors as with Cubism, the shape of the
structure was so dynamic it could perform an ornamental function and there was a
challenge of finding furniture that could blend in with the unique interior of the buildings.
This was later addressed with the advent of cubist furniture.
The pioneering architect of this movement was Le Corbusier and one can find traits and
characterizes of the movement in his designs such as the Assembly building, Chandigarh
and Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp which had distinctive details from Pablo Picassos’
1930s masterpiece ‘Guernica’. Some of the other interesting buildings of the movement
include the cube houses in Rotterdam and Helmond by Piet Blom and Holman House,
Sydney By Durbach Block Jaggers.
Cubism also served as the fundamental for the birth of the deconstructivism movement,
the similar can be seen in most of the structures such as The Crystal at Royal Ontario
Museum, Toronto by Daniel Libeskind, and Walt Disney Concert hall by Frank Gehry.
END OF SECTION A
1. Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto, in full Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto, (born Feb. 3, 1898, Kuortane, Fin., Russian
Empire—died May 11, 1976, Helsinki, Fin.), Finnish architect, city planner, and furniture
designer whose international reputation rests on a distinctive blend of modernist
refinement, indigenous materials, and personal expression in form and detail. His mature
style is epitomized by the Säynätsalo, Fin., town hall group (1950–52).
The years 1927 and 1928 were significant in Aalto’s career. He received commissions for
three important buildings that established him as the most advanced architect in Finland
and brought him worldwide recognition as well.
These were the Turun Sanomat Building (newspaper office) in Turku, The tuberculosis
Sanatorium at Paimio, and The Municipal Library at Viipuri (now Vyborg, Russia). His plans
for the last two were chosen in a competition, a common practice with public buildings in
Finland. Both the office building and the sanatorium emphasize functional, straightforward
design and are without historical stylistic references.
They go beyond the simplified classicism common in Finnish architecture of the 1920s,
resembling somewhat the building designed by Walter Gropius for the Bauhaus school of
design in Dessau, Ger. (1925–26). Like Gropius, Aalto used smooth white surfaces, ribbon
windows, flat roofs, and terraces and balconies.
The third commission, The Viipuri Municipal Library, although exhibiting a similar
dependence on European prototypes by Gropius and others, is a significant departure
marking Aalto’s personal style. Its spatially complex interior is arranged on various levels. For
the auditorium portion of the library Aalto devised an undulating acoustic ceiling of
wooden strips, a fascinating detail that, together with his use of curved laminated wood
furniture of his own design, appealed both to the public and to those professionals who
had held reservations about the clinical severity of modern architecture.
The warm textures of wood provided a welcome contrast to the general whiteness of the
building. It was Aalto’s particular success here that identified him with the so-called organic
approach, or regional interpretation, of modern design. He continued in this vein, with
manipulation of floor levels and use of natural materials, skylights, and irregular forms.
Aalto was one of the first to depart from the stiffly geometric designs common to the early
period of the modern movement and to stress informality and personal expression. His style
is regarded as both romantic and regional.
He used complex forms and varied materials, acknowledged the character of the site, and
gave attention to every detail of building. Aalto achieved an international reputation
through his more than 200 buildings and projects, ranging from factories to churches, a
number of them built outside Finland.
Works
1. 1927–1935: Municipal library, Viipuri, Finland (now Vyborg, Russia)
2. 1928–1929, 1930: Turun Sanomat newspaper offices, Turku, Finland
3. 1928–1933: Paimio Sanatorium, Tuberculosis sanatorium and staff housing, Paimio,
Finland
4. 1931: Toppila paper mill in Oulu, Finland
5. 1931: Central University Hospital, Zagreb, Croatia (former Yugoslavia)
Unlike the flat hallways often typified by functionalist projects, movement corridors
through the building deviate upward as they progress inward, culminating at a central
administrative desk at the path's symbolic summit.
While the Viipuri Library irrefutably belongs to the budding modernist tradition, it
consistently displays a calculated tendency to depart from pure functionalism. Rich
details that are neither rational nor purely ornamental, such as his diagonal entrance
door bracings or the sensuous banisters of the stairwells, add an expressive and
distinctly personal flare to modern forms. The formal organization of the building and
its "tendency to highlight particular design elements" is likewise aberrant in its
composition and complexity.
Ever sensitive to the environment and traditions of his country, Aalto enriched the
formal purities of Viipuri’s modern design with a material palette more typical of
Finnish architecture. The white stucco, concrete, and glass of the façade finds
delightful contrast with the warm wood finishes of the interiors, including a
spectacular rolling wooden ceiling in the lecture hall. Aalto’s concern over natural
lighting, a timeless hallmark of Scandinavian design, alludes to distinctly local
construction methods.
2. Tadao Ando
Andō Tadao, (born September 13, 1941, Osaka, Japan), one of Japan’s leading
contemporary architects. He is best known for his minimalist concrete buildings.\
Ando was raised in Japan where the religion and style of life strongly influenced his
architecture and design. Ando's architectural style is said to create a "haiku" effect,
emphasizing nothingness and empty space to represent the beauty of simplicity. He favours
designing complex spatial circulation while maintaining the appearance of simplicity.
The simplicity of his architecture emphasizes the concept of sensation and physical
experiences, mainly influenced by Japanese culture. The religious term Zen, focuses on the
concept of simplicity and concentrates on inner feeling rather than outward appearance.
Zen influences vividly show in Ando's work and became its distinguishing mark.
In order to practice the idea of simplicity, Ando's architecture is mostly constructed with
concrete, providing a sense of cleanliness and weightlessness (even though concrete is a
heavy material) at the same time.
Besides speaking of the spirit of architecture, Ando also emphasises the association
between nature and architecture. He intends for people to easily experience the spirit and
beauty of nature through architecture.
He believes architecture is responsible for performing the attitude of the site and makes it
visible. This not only represents his theory of the role of architecture in society but also shows
why he spends so much time studying architecture from physical experience.
Andō had various careers, including professional boxer, before he became a self-taught
architect and opened his own practice in Osaka in 1969. In the 1970s and ’80s, he executed
a series of mostly small-scale, often residential buildings in Japan such as the Azuma House
(1975–76) in Osaka and the Koshino House (1979–81) in Ashiya.
In these early commissions, he used beautifully detailed reinforced concrete walls, a form
that gave his buildings a massive, minimalist appearance and simple, contemplative
interior spaces.
These works established the aesthetic Andō would continue throughout his career:
essentially Modernist, coming out of the tradition of Le Corbusier’s experiments with
concrete, his work is also rooted in the spirituality of Japanese architectural space.
Andō’s structures were often in harmony with their natural environments, taking advantage
of natural light in a dramatically expressive way. In his Church of Light (1989–90) in the Ōsaka
suburb of Ibaraki, for example, a cruciform shape is cut out of the concrete wall behind the
altar; when daylight hits the outside of this wall, a cross of light is generated within the
interior.
Andō’s consistent aesthetic has won him numerous international awards, including the
Carlsberg Architectural Prize (1992), the Pritzker Prize (1995), and gold medals from both the
Royal Institute of British Architects (1997) and the American Institute of Architects (2002). In
1996 he also received the Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture, one of the six
categories of global arts prizes awarded annually by the Japan Arts Association.
Works
01 Church of light
Tadao Ando‘s principal focus on simplicity and minimalist aesthetics in the Church of the
Light is silencing. The church is located in a typical Japanese suburb, a cram of tradition
and modernism on the outskirts of Osaka.
Its load bearing walls are very simple and traditional, contrary to the modern architecture
that has encroached the city of Osaka.
Tadao Ando takes an ancient approach with this, especially when compared to Le
Corbusier‘s insistence that a wall would no longer be a structural element but a mere
membrane on the outer shell.
The Chapel consists of a rectangular volume of three cubes that are punctured by a wall
at a fifteen degree angle that never actually touches the other walls or ceiling of the
chapel.
The geometry is nothing more than six walls and a roof, a minimalist end point that
requires a thoughtful process that is able to eliminate anything else that is not relevant.
This church of the light is a simple building that makes the most of what it can, a testament
to the phrase “less is more”.
Right from the exterior one is able to appreciate the honesty and authenticity of material.
The purity that is found in the details is astounding. The reinforced concrete is void of any
and all ornament that is not part of the construction process.
The seams and joints of the concrete are built with precision and care by master
Japanese carpenters, along with Ando, that have worked to create an immaculately
smooth surface and accurately aligned joints. So much so, that the seams of the
concrete form work align perfectly with the crosses extrusion on the east side of the
church.
It appears as a symbolic sieve, the narrow path, for the people who enter the church
of the light. A tall threshold is cut into the wall allowing a right turn into the main
chapel space.
The purpose of the manipulation of the circulation sequence is realized as one passes
through the wall. At this particular point one pivots around as they become totally
aligned with the crucifix of light at the opposite end of the chapel. By keeping the
amount of openings to a minimum, the power of the light emanating from the crucifix
is intensified.
3. David Chipperfield
December 18, 1953, London, England), British architect who was known for his modern
minimal designs.
Chipperfield graduated (1977) from the Architectural Association in London and worked
with such award-winning architects as Richard Rogers and Norman Foster before
establishing (1985) David Chipperfield Architects.
Many of his early commissions were in Japan, where his desire to blend modern design with
site-specific demands were a perfect match for traditional Japanese aesthetics. He also
worked often in Germany and maintained offices in Berlin as well as in London, Milan, and
Shanghai.
Chipperfield’s work earned numerous accolades over the years. Most notably, in a 15-year
span (1998–2013), seven buildings designed by his firm were nominated for the Royal
Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Stirling Prize, with the Marbach (Germany) Museum of
Modern Literature awarded the prize in 2007.
\Other notable works include the East Building (2013) of the Saint Louis (Missouri) Art
Museum, a light-filled structure featuring skylights, floor-to-ceiling windows on the front, and
a concrete facade that was composed of locally sourced river aggregates.
Chipperfield also built a number of private homes, apartment buildings (One Kensington
Gardens [2015], London), and mixed-income housing (Hoxton Press [2018], London). His
designs for retail spaces included the Valentino flagship stores in New York (2014) and
London (2016) and a new entrance to Selfridge’s department store (2018), London.
Chipperfield’s long-awaited restoration of Berlin’s Neue National galerie—designed by
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1968—was completed in 2021.
In addition to buildings, Chipperfield also designed furniture, lighting, tableware, and other
objects. In 2020 he was the guest editor for Domus, the Italian architecture magazine. He
was granted the RIBA Gold Medal for lifetime achievement in 2011, the same year that he
was awarded the EU Prize for Contemporary Architecture–Mies van der Rohe Award.
His other awards include the Heinrich Tessenow Medal (1999), election to the Royal
Academy (2008), Germany’s Order of Merit (2009), and the Japan Art Association’s
Praemium Imperiale (2013). David Chipperfield Architects was one of four U.K.-based firms
chosen to contribute to the British pavilion, “City Visionaries,” at the 2000 Venice Biennale.
A dozen years later Chipperfield served as the Biennale’s first British curator for the 13th
International Architecture Exhibition (2012), which h titled “Common Ground.”
After having been made Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2004,
Chipperfield was knighted in the 2010 New Year Honours. Eleven years later he was added
to the exclusive Ordeer of the Companions of Honour.
Works
On the north-western edge of the Greenwich Village Historic District, Jane Street is
characterised by a mix of red brick townhouses and larger apartment blocks, mainly
dating from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries respectively.
This new apartment building is located on a site previously occupied by a 1920s, two-
storey parking garage. The six-storey building comprises basement parking, duplex
townhouses, lateral apartments, and a penthouse with its own roof garden.
Mediating between the different sizes of the surrounding structures, the inserted volume
both respects the scale of the street and reflects its architectural context.
The five storeys that can be seen from street level offer a contemporary interpretation of
the surrounding brick townhouses, with a distinct articulation of base, middle and crown.
The scale of the entrances as well as the rhythm of the windows, combined with the use
of mullions and string courses, reference the rich domestic architecture of the West
Village.
Local context is also referenced through the colours and materials of the facades. The
building has a symmetrical composition, with the townhouse entrances recessed at either
end of the ground floor.
In the centre is the larger double entrance for the apartments and the garage. The windows
differ in design for each element of the residential scheme. The two-storey townhouses, for
example, have balconied French windows, while the lateral apartments on the two storeys
above have broader openings divided by concrete mullions.
The penthouse at the top, with its higher ceilings, is set back from the street. It can be read
as a simple post and beam structure, framing large windows that overlook a private garden.
Red pigmented concrete is used for the ground floor giving it a strong sculptural presence.
The upper storeys are clad in Roman brick, with string courses, lintels and mullions in the
same red concrete, providing subtle colour variations throughout.
The street front is crowned by a projecting cornice, which echoes the projecting string
course between ground and first floors and gives extra shadow and articulation to the
facade.
The structure of the penthouse also uses red concrete. Restrained but solid materials are
used throughout, with bronze railings and window and door frames outside and terrazzo
floors in the communal areas.
The townhouses and apartments feature Carrara marble and natural oak floors. The roof
terrace and a rear garden are designed by Belgian landscape architect Peter Wirtz
ensuring that all apartments have a connection to nature.
4. Steven Holl
Steven Holl, (born December 9, 1947, Bremerton, Washington, U.S.), American architect
and artist whose built work draws on contemporary theories of phenomenology. Instead of
imposing a style on a site, he argued, the site itself should generate the “architectural idea”
applied to it. After attending the University of Washington (B.A., 1971), Holl continued his
architectural studies in Rome and London. On returning to the United States, he established
a practice in New York City, where he also served on the faculty of Columbia University
from 1981.
He became a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 2000. Holl’s work
includes large buildings in many cities around the world, among them the Museum of
Contemporary Art Kiasma in Helsinki, the Nanjing Sifang Art Museum in Nanjing, China, an
addition to and renovation of the Amerika-Gedenkbibliothek (American Memorial Library)
in Berlin, and an annex to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington,
D.C.
His later work concentrated on urban-scale mixed residential and commercial projects in
China, notably the Linked Hybrid, a building complex containing apartments, hotels,
schools, and restaurants in Beijing, and the Vanke Centre, a “horizontal skyscraper” in
Shenzhen.
Among his many honours are the Alvar Aalto Medal (1998), the Cooper Hewitt National
Design Award for architecture (2002), the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal
(2012), and the Japan Art Association’s Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture (2014).
In designing the Chapel of St. Ignatius (built 1994-1997), Jesuit chapel at Seattle University,
Holl addressed the campus's need for green space by siting the chapel in the centre of a
former street and elongating the building plan. New green campus quadrangles were
formed to the north, west, and south, and a future quadrangle is planned to the east.
The plan of the chapel won a design award in the American Institute of Architects of New
York. Holl designed the Chapel around St. Ignatius's vision of the inner spiritual life, "seven
bottles of light in a stone box", by creating seven volumes of different light.
Each volume represents a different part of Jesuit Catholic worship, and has differently
colored glass so that various parts of the building are marked out by colored light. Light
sources are tinted both in this way and by indirect reflection from painted surfaces, and
each is paired with its complementary colour.
Works
01. Hybrid Building
02. Void Space Housing, Nexus World
03. Storefront for Art and Architecture
04. Chapel of St. Ignatius at Seattle University
05. Kiasma, Museum of Contemporary Art
Visitors enter the museum through a spacious lobby with a glazed ceiling. This lobby serves
as the starting point for stairways, ramp, and corridors that curve off to lead into the rest of
the building.
The gallery spaces are characterized by the architect as “almost rectangular,” each
containing one curved wall. This irregularity differentiates each successive space, creating
a complex visual and spatial experience as visitors pass through the museum galleries.
The initial impression is that of the typical closed-in, placeless museum interior; however, it is
only by moving through each space that one discovers various unexpected views to the
outside.
This choreographed outward focus, combined with the irregular forms of the interior, creates
what Holl called “a variety of spatial experiences. “This variety was, in Holl’s reckoning,
essential to the function of Kiasma.
Contemporary artists produce an endless stream of unique works, and so a museum that
showcases them must be able to anticipate and provide for anything ranging from the
subtle and restrained to the grandiose and unpredictable. The irregular, subtly differentiated
spaces of the museum serve as exhibition halls that Holl describes as a “silent, yet dramatic
backdrop” for the display of equally variegated art.
Holl worked with more than pure massing and windows to give each space its own unique
character. Natural light was an important consideration – Holl was fascinated by the
constantly changing character of Finland’s daylight.
Many of the windows in Kiasma are composed of translucent glazing, which diffuses the
Scandinavian sunlight as it enters the interior. The staccato rhythm of city views is achieved
by the occasional inclusion of fully transparent glass – both as a narrow crescent that allows
a view to Helsinki Station and as full curtain-wall facades at the north and south ends of the
building’s volumes.
5. Zaha Hadid
Zaha Hadid, in full Dame Zaha Hadid, (born October 31, 1950, Baghdad, Iraq—died March
31, 2016, Miami, Florida, U.S.), Iraqi-born British architect known for her radical
deconstructivist designs. In 2004 she became the first woman to be awarded the Pritzker
Architecture Prize.
Hadid began her studies at the American University in Beirut, Lebanon, receiving a
bachelor’s degree in mathematics. In 1972 she traveled to London to study at the
Architectural Association, a major centre of progressive architectural thought during the
1970s.
There she met the architects Elia Zenghelis and Rem Koolhaas, with whom she would
collaborate as a partner at the Office of Metropolitan Architecture. Hadid established her
own London-based firm, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA), in 1979.
In 1983 Hadid gained international recognition with her competition-winning entry for The
Peak, a leisure and recreational centre in Hong Kong. This design, a “horizontal skyscraper”
that moved at a dynamic diagonal down the hillside site, established her aesthetic: inspired
by Kazimir Malevich and the Suprematists, her aggressive geometric designs are
characterized by a sense of fragmentation, instability, and movement.
This fragmented style led her to be grouped with architects known as “deconstructivists,” a
classification made popular by the 1988 landmark exhibition “Deconstructivist
Architecture” held at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.
Hadid’s first major built project was the Vitra Fire Station (1989–93) in Weil am Rhein,
Germany. Composed of a series of sharply angled planes, the structure resembles a bird in
flight. Her other built works from this period included a housing project for IBA Housing (1989–
93) in Berlin, the Mind Zone exhibition space (1999) at the Millennium Dome in Greenwich,
London, and the Land Formation One exhibition space (1997–99) in Weil am Rhein. In all
these projects, Hadid further explored her interest in creating interconnecting spaces and
a dynamic sculptural form of architecture.
Hadid solidified her reputation as an architect of built works in 2000, when work began on
her design for a new Lois & Richard Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati,
Ohio. The 85,000-square-foot (7,900-square-metre) centre, which opened in 2003, was the
first American museum designed by a woman.
Essentially a vertical series of cubes and voids, the museum is located in the middle of
Cincinnati’s downtown area. The side that faces the street has a translucent glass facade
that invites passers-by to look in on the workings of the museum and thereby contradicts
the notion of the museum as an uninviting or remote space.
The building’s plan gently curves upward after the visitor enters the building; Hadid said she
hoped this would create an “urban carpet” that welcomes people into the museum. Hadid
taught architecture at many places, including the Architectural Association, Harvard
University, the University of Chicago, and Yale University. She also designed furniture,
jewelry, footwear, bags, interior spaces such as restaurants, and stage sets, notably for the
2014 Los Angeles Philharmonic production of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Così fan tutte.
Works
01. Vitra Fire Station (1991–1993
02. Bergisel Ski Jump (1999–2002)
03. Contemporary Arts Center, Cincinnati (1997–2000)
04. Phaeno Science Center (2000–2005)
05. Ordrupgaard Museum extension (2001–2005)
From an initial 97 submissions, the CAC narrowed their choices to 12 semi-finalists, and
eventually to three finalists: Daniel Libeskind, Bernard Tschumi, and Zaha Hadid. Each finalist
was asked to produce a concept booklet showing not a physical design, but the
conceptual approach that they would take.
Hadid proposed organizing the museum into a number of independent gallery volumes,
all suspended from a warped concrete plane. These functional elements would inform not
only the massing of the new museum, but its exterior appearance as well. The proposal
was intriguing enough that on March 4, 1998, the CAC formally declared Zaha Hadid
victorious.
The site chosen by the CAC was a busy street corner at the heart of downtown Cincinnati.
It lay along a pedestrian route running from the nearby Fountain Square to the Aronoff
Center for the Arts across the street, ensuring a constant flow of people. It was this
pedestrian dynamism that encouraged Hadid to develop the “Urban Carpet,” one of the
Rosenthal Centre’s two defining design gestures.
The “Urban Carpet” is Hadid’s method of bringing the fabric of the city within the museum’s
walls. The ground level lobby is fully glazed and open to public egress, inviting pedestrians
to treat the space as an enclosed public square; this serves to situate the Rosenthal Center
in the existing network of public spaces and paths, allowing it to operate as a vital urban
node and effectively solving the issue of visibility faced by the former gallery facility.
The concrete floor of the lobby is connected to the rear wall of the museum by an upward
curve, transforming the two into a continuous surface that conceptually draws the urban
fabric up from the lobby and into the gallery spaces suspended above.
Hadid chose not to hide her design strategies within a simplified shell, but to display them
openly. The result is two distinct façades, each of which reveals a different aspect of the
center’s interior.
The south façade, comprising the longer faces of the gallery volumes, expresses the
building program through three material choices: glazing, concrete, and black metal
panel. The east façade relies not on material, but on massing, with its topography of
concrete faces revealing the complex arrangement of gallery volumes within the center.
6. Toyo Ito
Toyo Ito, Japanese Itō Toyo-o, (born June 1, 1941, Seoul, Korea [now in South Korea]),
Japanese architect known for his innovative designs and for taking a fresh approach to
each of his projects. Ito held that architecture should consider the senses as well as physical
needs, and his philosophy doubtless contributed to the considerable critical and popular
response his works received.
In 2013 he was awarded a Pritzker Architecture Prize. In its citation, the Pritzker jury stated
that “his architecture projects an air of optimism, lightness, and joy and is infused with both
a sense of uniqueness and universality.”
Ito was born in Japanese-occupied Korea to Japanese parents. He went to Japan with his
mother and sisters in 1943, and his father moved back there a few years later. Ito studied
architecture at the University of Tokyo.
After graduating (1965), he apprenticed with Kikutake Kiyonori, one of the leaders of the
Metabolist school, a Japanese architectural movement of the 1960s that advocated a
radically futuristic approach to design. As the Metabolist movement wound down, Ito left
Kikutake’s firm, and in 1971 he established his own practice, Urban Robot (URBOT), in Tokyo,
initially focusing on residential and other small-scale projects.
One of his most notable early designs was the White U house (1976) in Tokyo. Intended as
a place of solace and retreat for Ito’s recently widowed sister, the house—built in the shape
of a U around a central courtyard—featured no outward-facing windows. A few small
openings in the ceiling offered the only glimpses of the outside world and created dramatic
light effects within the house’s pure white interior.
As Ito moved on to larger works, his designs became more experimental. In Yokohama he
transformed an old concrete water tower into the visually stunning Tower of the Winds
(1986) by covering the structure with a perforated aluminium plate and hundreds of lights
that were configured to respond to wind speed and sound waves. By day the plate
reflected the sky, but at night the tower “came alive” as the lights produced constantly
changing colours and patterns.
By most accounts, Ito’s masterpiece was the Sendai (Japan) Mediatheque (completed
2001), a multipurpose cultural centre whose design was inspired by floating seaweed. From
the outside the approximately 22,000-square-metre (237,000-square-foot) transparent
structure resembled a gigantic aquarium; the building’s seven floors were supported by
slanting columns that looked like strands of seaweed swaying underwater. No walls divided
the building’s interior, yet the space was highly versatile, housing a great variety of art and
media collections for public use.
Ito’s other projects included the spotted concrete facade of the Mikimoto Ginza 2 flagship
store (2005), Tokyo; Tama Art University Library (2007), Tokyo; Toyo Ito Museum of
Architecture (2011), Imabari, Japan; and Museo Internacional del Barroco (2016), Puebla,
Mexico. He received numerous awards for his work, including a Golden Lion for lifetime
achievement at the 2002 Venice Biennale, the 2006 Royal Gold Medal of the Royal Institute
of British Architects, the 2008 Friedrich Kiesler Prize for Architecture and the Arts.
Works
01. 1976 – White U House (house for his sister)
02. 1984 – Silver Hut (Ito's own house, adjacent to White U)
03. 1986 – Tower of Winds, West Exit, Yokohama Station, Nishi-ku, Yokohama
04. 1991 – Yatsushiro Municipal Museum
05. 1994 – Old People's Home in Yatsushiro
It includes a passenger drop-off point for buses and cars, benches, information banners,
a large stepping bench for giving explanations to visiting groups, and an entrance
canopy which welcomes and protects the visitors waiting to enter the museum.
This facade will also receive night time projections of images related to current exhibitions,
which also illuminate the museum and make it stand out from a distance.
The building, 19.52 m maximum height, is elevated 2 m from original ground. Thus it is easily
recognizable from the two main roads, acting as a beacon. The MIB has two levels above
ground. The total floor area is approximately 18,149 m2, of which 9,855 m² correspond to
the lower floor (ground floor), 7,316 m² to the upper floor and 978 m2 to the mezzanine
level.
The exposed concrete has a bush-hammered texture, making it easy to rectify any
defects to the finishes on site. The walls function as structural load-bearing walls with a
total thickness of 36 cm. (Including the 2 precast concrete elements).
The slab is a 70 cm deep lightweight composite with recycled hollow polyethylene (PET)
spheres and semi-prefabricated precast slabs for easy and fast assembly. As part of the
structural strategy, the museum is a single rigid volume, giving the building earthquake
resistant qualities.
The foundation transmits vertical loads on the ground filler compacted soils. The
foundation was built as a strip footing with an adjusted depth according to the
requirements of outdoor spaces.
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ground filler compacted soils. The foundation was built as a strip footing with an adjusted depth according to the
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The museum offices are located on the upper floor at a privileged location overlooking
the park, allowing the curatorial staff to be at a creative work environment for fresh and
innovative exhibitions.
All internal and 'back of house' functions are organised on the eastern side of the building.
Loading and unloading, the transit storage and the quarantine room are located on the
lower floor; on the upper floor we find the collections storage, restoration workshop,
museography storage and other workshops.
These two levels are connected by a service elevator with the dimensions of 7 x 4 m and
4 m height and a capacity of 12 Tons. All rooms that hold works of art have strict
temperature and humidity control, separated from the public areas, to preserve the art
work at its optimal conditions. This control can be adapted individually to each room
providing maximum flexibility.
7. Le Corbusier
World War II and the German occupation of France interrupted his activity as a builder and
a traveller and his 20-year association with Pierre Jeanneret, who, unlike Le Corbusier, had
joined the French Resistance.
Although he was prepared to work with the Vichy government, there was little building
being done at the time in France, and his only activities were painting, writing, and
reflection.
The Marseille project (unité d’habitation) is a vertical community of 18 floors. The 1,800
inhabitants are housed in 23 types of duplex (i.e., split-level) apartments. Common services
include two “streets” inside the building, with shops, a school, a hotel, and, on the roof, a
nursery, a kindergarten, a gymnasium, and an open-air theatre.
The apartments are conceived as individual “villas” stacked in the concrete frame like
bottles in a rack. It was completed in 1952, and two more unítés were built at other locations
in France, at Nantes and Briey, as well as others in West Berlin.
In 1951 the government of the Punjab named him architectural advisor for the construction
of its new capital, Chandigarh. For the first time in his life, Le Corbusier was able to apply his
principles of city planning on a metropolitan scale. Totally without reference to local
tradition he designed the Palace of Justice, the Secretariat, and the Palace of Assembly.
Works
01. United Nations Headquarters, New York
02. Palace of Justice, Chandigarh
03. Palace of Assembly, Chandigarh
04. Notre Dame du Haut, Romchamp
05. Villa Savoye, Poissy
A.
Situated in Poissy, a small commune outside of Paris, is one of the most significant
contributions to modern architecture in the 20th century, Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier.
Completed in 1929, Villa Savoye is a modern take on a French country house that
celebrates and reacts to the new machine age.
The house single handedly transformed Le Corbusier’s career as well as the principles of
the International Style; becoming one of the most important architectural precedents
in the history.
Villa Savoye’s detachment from its physical context lends its design to be contextually
integrated into the mechanistic/industrial context of the early 20th century,
conceptually defining the house as a mechanized entity.
Le Corbusier is famous for stating, “The house is a machine for living.” This statement is
not simply translated into the design of a human scaled assembly line; rather the design
begins to take on innovative qualities and advances found in other fields of industry, in
the name of efficiency.
In response to his aspirations and admiration of mechanized design, Le Corbusier
established “The Five Points” of architecture, which is simply a list of prescribed elements
to be incorporated in design. The Five Points of architecture can be thought of as Le
Corbusier’s modern interpretation of Vitruvius’ Ten Books on Architecture, not literally in
the sense of an instructional manual for architects, but rather a checklist of necessary
components of design. So much so that Villa Savoye is thoroughly tailored to Corbusier’s
Five Points :
o Pilotis
o Flat Roof Terrace
o Open Plan
o Ribbon Windows
o Free Façade
However once inside, there becomes a clear understanding of the spatial interplay
between public and private spaces. Typically, the living spaces of a house are relatively
private, closed off, and rather secluded.
Yet, Le Corbusier situates the living spaces around a communal, outdoor terraced that is
separated from the living area by a sliding glass wall. Villa Savoye is a house designed
based on the architectural promenade. Its experience is in the movement through the
spaces.
It is not until one becomes familiar with the subtle peculiarities that the movement and
proportionality of the spaces evokes a sense of monumentality within the Parisian suburb.
8. Jean Nouvel
Jean Nouvel, (born August 12, 1945, Fumel, Lot-et-Garonne, France), French architect who
designed his buildings to “create a visual landscape” that fit their context—sometimes by
making them contrast with the surrounding area.
For his boldly experimental designs, which defy a general characterization, he was
awarded the 2008 Pritzker Architecture Prize, and by the early 21st century Nouvel had
earned a place in the pantheon of architectural superstars.
When Nouvel was young, his parents, both teachers, suggested that, instead of following
his dream to become an artist, he should do something more practical so that he could
earn a living, and architecture provided a perfect compromise.
In 1965 Nouvel captured the first of many prizes by winning a national competition to attend
the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. While there, he also worked for an architectural firm
formed by the Modernist architect Claude Parent and the “urbanist” and cultural theorist
Paul Virilio. Nouvel graduated in 1972 with a degree in architecture.
Nouvel first gained an international audience in 1987 when the Institute of the Arab World
(Institut du Monde Arabe [IMA]) was completed. The main, south facade of that building,
with its high-tech aperture-like panels, manages to be at once cutting-edge in its creative
response to changing levels of light and evocative of traditional Arab moucharaby
(latticework grills).
The design garnered Nouvel the 1989 Aga Khan Award for architectural excellence. Other
awards include a Golden Lion from the Venice Biennale (2000), a Royal Gold Medal from
the Royal Institute of British Architects (2001), and the Praemium Imperiale (2001), presented
by the Japan Art Association to “artists who have contributed significantly to the
development of international arts and culture.”
Nouvel’s list of completed structures includes one of the three buildings that constitute
Seoul’s Leeum Museum (2004), Barcelona’s bullet-shaped Agbar Tower (2005), the Guthrie
Theater (2006) in Minneapolis, the quirky Quai Branly Museum (2006) in Paris, and
Copenhagen’s Concert Hall (2009), with its bright blue exterior that functions at night as a
video screen.
In 2007 he won commissions to design a 75-story mixed-use tower (later known as 53 West
53, or 53W53) next to the Museum of Modern Art in New York City (construction began in
2014) and a museum for the cultural district of Abu Dhabi, lying just offshore.
Nouvel also designed the new National Museum of Qatar (2019) in Doha, which comprised
a series of interlocking discs. The building was constructed around the restored Old Amiri
Palace, the site of Qatar’s earlier national museum.
Works
01. Torre Agbar (2004)
02. Arab World Institute (1987)
03. 100 Eleventh Avenue (2010)
04. Opéra Nouvel (1993)
05. Copenhagen Concert Hall (2009)
Using 250 species of Australian flowers and plants, the buds and blooms of the
vegetation form a musical composition on the façade. Vines and leafy foliage spring
out between floors and provide the perfect frame for Sydney’s skyline. Us like Central
Park New York, the 64,000 Sq. Park is a lush tranquil meeting place where you can
unwind and relax with friends and family.
Wander or cycle through its tranquil groves or simply sit on the lawns for informal al
fresco dining. There are also chessboards and an open-air cinema, as well as
occasional markets and music festivals.
A hovering cantilever crowns the pinnacle of One Central Park. This contains the
tower’s most luxurious penthouses. Here there are a beguiling assembly of motorised
mirrors that capture sunlight, and direct the rays down onto Central Park’s gardens.
After dark the structure is a canvas for leading light artist Yann Kersalé’s LED art
installation that carves a shimmering firework of movement in the sky. This brings a new
starlit architectural shape to the One Central Park design.
9. Alvaro Siza
Álvaro Siza, in full Álvaro Joaquim de Melo Siza Vieira, (born June 25, 1933, Matosinhos,
Portugal), Portuguese architect and designer whose structures, ranging from swimming
pools to public housing developments, were characterized by a quiet clarity of form and
function, a sensitive integration into their environment, and a purposeful engagement with
both cultural and architectural traditions.
He was awarded the Pritzker Prize in 1992.He soon developed a deep affinity for the
discipline, and in 1954, a year before he graduated, he opened a private architecture
practice in Porto and designed four houses in his hometown (completed 1957).
Through this association, Siza received the opportunity to design the Boa Nova teahouse
and restaurant (1963; renovated 2014), a structure on the coast at Leça da Palmeira that
won acclaim for its use of diverse materials and its subtle interaction with the rocky
landscape onto which it was built.
He received further attention for another design in that town, a public swimming pool
complex (1966) in an isolated Oceanside setting in which the pools’ edges were shaped
both by concrete walls and by the beach’s natural rock formations.
For much of his early career, Siza had designed small private houses, but he turned to mass
public housing in the early 1970s, especially after Portugal’s 1974 Revolution of the
Carnations, which provided him with a sociopolitical context for his work.
Maintaining an interest in urban development, in the 1980s he began directing a long-term
renovation plan in a district of The Hague as well as a rebuilding project in the Chiado
neighbourhood of Lisbon.
Other works include the Borges and Irmão Bank (1986) in Vila do Conde, Portugal, a building
marked by dynamic curves and distinct spatial fluidity that was honoured with the inaugural
Mies van der Rohe Award for European Architecture (1988); and a cylindrical
meteorological centre (1992) in Barcelona, created for the 1992 Olympic Games.
Some of Siza’s most notable later designs were for art museums, namely the Galician Centre
of Contemporary Art (1993) in Santiago de Compostela, Spain; the Museu Serralves (1997)
in Porto; and the Iberê Camargo Museum (2008) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. Additionally, he
occasionally collaborated on small-scale projects with his compatriot and former student
Eduardo Souto de Moura.
These projects included the wooden canopy for the 2005 Serpentine Gallery Pavilion,
London, and the renovation of the Municipal Museum Abade Pedrosa and an addition to
house the International Contemporary Sculpture Museum (2016), both in Santo Tirso,
Portugal.
Works
Both the Leça Swimming Pools and the Boa Nova Tea House were constructed and
completed around the same time in the mid 1960s. They both use concrete and have
a similar respect for the natural rocky coastline near Siza's home.
The Leça Swimming Pool complex consists of changing rooms, a café and two
swimming pools, one for adults and one for children. It is located between the Atlantic
Ocean and the access road that follows the coastline, but positioned almost
completely out of sight.
By sinking the building behind the road Siza promotes a disconnect between his pools
and the infrastructure of the city. He is also considerate of the ocean views from the
roadway.
Siza was careful to preserve a large portion of the existing rock formations when
planning his modern interventions into the landscape. The pools he created reach out
into the ocean and blend easily with the natural pool formations along the coast of the
Atlantic.
Visitors to the Leça Swimming Pools enter down a smooth concrete ramp parallel to the
road. As they walk towards the corridors to shower stalls and changing rooms, the rough
concrete walls begin to obscure the views of both the traffic behind and the ocean
ahead.
With no views, the ocean beyond becomes audible and the transition between
roadway and ocean is captured in an sensory experience within the buildingVisitors exit
the changing rooms onto a series of platforms. Looking back, a previously unseen view
of the building emerges now below the street level.
The straight walls hold their own against the surrounding stone and the building acts as
an attractive barrier from the road above. The color of the concrete walls is a shade
lighter than that of the natural stone, and this view of the juxtaposed materials
demonstrates Siza’s appreciation of the natural setting with his restraint to avoid
imitation.
Louis Sullivan, in full Louis Henry Sullivan, (born September 3, 1856, Boston, Massachusetts,
U.S.—died April 14, 1924, Chicago, Illinois), American architect, regarded as the spiritual
father of modern American architecture and identified with the aesthetics of early
skyscraper design.
His more than 100 works in collaboration (1879–95) with Dankmar Adler include the
Auditorium Building, Chicago (1887–89); the Guaranty Building, Buffalo, New York (1894–95;
now Prudential Building); and the Wainwright Building, St. Louis, Missouri (1890–91). Frank
Lloyd Wright apprenticed for six years with Sullivan at the firm. In independent practice from
1895, Sullivan designed the Schlesinger & Mayer department store (1898–1904; now the
Sullivan Center) in Chicago.
Works
The building is currently owned by the State of Missouri and houses state offices. The
Wainwright building was commissioned by Ellis Wainwright, a St. Louis brewer. Wainwright
needed office space to manage the St Louis Brewers Association.
It was the second major commission for a tall building won by the Adler & Sullivan firm,
which had grown to international prominence after the creation of the ten-story
Auditorium Building in Chicago (designed in 1886 and completed in 1889).
As designed, the first floor of the Wainwright Building was intended for street-accessible
shops, with the second floor filled with easily accessible public offices. The higher floors
were for "honeycomb" offices, while the top floor was for water tanks and building
machinery.[
Aesthetically, the Wainwright Building exemplifies Sullivan's theories about the tall
building, which included a tripartite (three-part) composition (base-shaft-attic) based
on the structure of the classical column, and his desire to emphasize the height of the
building.
He wrote: "[The skyscraper] must be tall, every inch of it tall. The force and power of
altitude must be in it the glory and pride of exaltation must be in it. It must be every inch
a proud and soaring thing, rising in sheer exultation that from bottom to top it is a unit
without a single dissenting line."
His 1896 article cited his Wainwright Building as an example. Despite the classical column
concept, the building's design was deliberately modern, featuring none of the
neoclassical style that Sullivan held in contempt.
Historian Carl W. Condit described the Wainwright as "a building with a strong, vigorously
articulated base supporting a screen that constitutes a vivid image of powerful upward
Movement." The base contained retail stores that required wide glazed openings;
Sullivan's ornament made the supporting piers read as pillars.
Above it the semi-public nature of offices up a single flight of stairs are expressed as
broad windows in the curtain wall. A cornice separates the second floor from the grid
of identical windows of the screen wall, where each window is "a cell in a honeycomb,
nothing more".
The building's windows and horizontals were inset slightly behind columns and piers, as
part of a "vertical aesthetic" to create what Sullivan called "a proud and soaring
thing."[15] This perception has since been criticized as the skyscraper was designed to
make money, not to serve as a symbol.
Louis Kahn, in full Louis Isadore Kahn, also called Louis I. Kahn, (born February 20, 1901, Osel,
Estonia, Russian Empire [now Saaremaa, Estonia]—died March 17, 1974, New York, New
York, U.S.), American architect whose buildings, characterized by powerful, massive forms,
made him one of the most discussed architects to emerge after World War II.
Kahn designed private residences and worker housing in the 1930s and ’40s. He became a
professor of architecture at Yale University in 1947. After a fellowship at the American
Academy in Rome (1950), which deepened his appreciation of Mediterranean
architecture, Kahn carried out his first important work: the Yale University Art Gallery (1952–
54) at New Haven, Connecticut, which marked a notable departure from his International
Style buildings of the previous decade.
In 1957 Kahn was named professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. His
Richards Medical Research Building (1960–65) at the university is outstanding for its
expression of the distinction between “servant” and “served” spaces.
The servant spaces (stairwells, elevators, exhaust and intake vents, and pipes) are isolated
in four towers, distinct from the served spaces (laboratories and offices). Laboratory
buildings had been designed this way for decades; Kahn elevated this practical feature
into an architectural principle.
His mature style, best exemplified by the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla,
California (1959–65), and the Yale Center for British Art, New Haven (1977), combined the
servant-served typology with inspiration from classical and medieval architecture, basic
geometric forms, and an elegant, expressive use of such familiar materials as concrete and
brick.
Works
01. Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut (1951–1953)
02. Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, in Ahmedabad, India (1961)
03. National Institute of Cardiovascular Diseases (NICVD), Dhaka, Bangladesh (1963)
04. Arts United Center, Fort Wayne, Indiana (1973)
05. Jatiyo Sangshad Bhaban (National Assembly Building) in Dhaka, East Pakistan (modern
Bangladesh)
Frank Lloyd Wright, original name Frank Wright, (born June 8, 1867, Richland Center,
Wisconsin, U.S.—died April 9, 1959, Phoenix, Arizona), architect and writer, an abundantly
creative master of American architecture. His “Prairie style” became the basis of 20th-
century residential design in the United States.
The first work from the new office, a house for W.H. Winslow, was sensational and skilful
enough to attract the attention of the most influential architect in Chicago, Daniel
Burnham, who offered to subsidize Wright for several years if Wright would study in Europe
to become the principal designer in Burnham’s firm. It was a solid compliment, but Wright
refused, and this difficult decision strengthened his determination to search for a new and
appropriate Midwestern architecture.
Comfort, convenience, and spaciousness were economically achieved. Wright alone built
about 50 Prairie houses from 1900 to 1910. The typical Wright-designed residence from this
period displayed a wide, low roof over continuous window bands that turned corners,
defying the conventional boxlike structure of most houses, and the house’s main rooms
flowed together in an uninterrupted space.
The administrative block for the Larkin Company, a mail-order firm in Buffalo, New York, was
erected in 1904 (demolished in 1950). Abutting the railways, it was sealed and fireproof,
with filtered, conditioned, mechanical ventilation; metal desks, chairs, and files; ample
sound-absorbent surfaces; and excellently balanced light, both natural and artificial.
Two years later the Unitarian church of Oak Park, Illinois, Unity Temple, was under way; in
1971 it was registered as a national historic landmark. Built on a minimal budget, the small
house of worship and attached social centre achieved timeless monumentality.
Wright was a great originator and a highly productive architect. He designed some 800
buildings, of which 380 were actually built and a number are still standing. UNESCO
designated eight of them—including Falling water, the Guggenheim Museum, and Unity
Temple—as World Heritage sites in 2019.
Throughout his career Wright retained the use of ornamental detail, earthy colours, and rich
textural effects. His sensitive use of materials helped to control and perfect his dynamic
expression of space, which opened a new era in American architecture.
He became famous as the creator and expounder of “organic architecture,” his phrase
indicating buildings that harmonize both with their inhabitants and with their environment.
The boldness and fertility of his invention and his command of space are probably his
greatest achievements.
Works
1. Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, Oak Park, Illinois, 1889–1909
2. William H. Winslow House, River Forest, Illinois, 1894
3. Frank Thomas House, Oak Park, Illinois, 1901
4. Ward Winfield Willits Residence, and Gardener's Cottage and Stables, Highland Park,
Illinois, 1901
5. Dana-Thomas House, Springfield, Illinois, 1902
The circulation through the house consists of dark, narrow passageways, intended this
way so that people experience a feeling of compression when compared to that of
expansion the closer they get to the outdoors. The ceilings of the rooms are low,
reaching only up to 6'4" in some places, in order to direct the eye horizontally to look
outside.
The beauty of these spaces is found in their extensions towards nature, done with long
cantilevered terraces. Shooting out at a series of right angles, the terraces add an
element of sculpture to the houses aside from their function.
Kanvinde was born in 1916 in a small village on the Konkan coast. Raised in a joint family in
the village. Kanvinde had the calling of a painter and did enroll in an art school but the
family decided that architecture would be a better profession for him.
He entered the Architecture Department at Sir J.J. School of Art in 1935 then headed by
Claude Batley, who was also the premier architect of the country. He passed out in 1941.
1943, he joined the newly formed Council for Scientific and Industrial Research as
architect. Achyut Kanvinde attended Harvard Graduate school of Design in 1945. In ‘47
appointed as the Chief Architect of CSIR. Formed Kanvinde and Rai in 1955.
In his practice he avoided the loud, revolutionary éclat of the machine-age imagery
popular in the west in favour of an archeologically literate fusion of Western classical order
with Indian building traditions and coupled with sound climatological principles.
His works and his thinking were obvious models for his students. Then had a reputation of
being the new fountainhead of functional and social promise of Modern Architecture
under its émigré director Walter Gropius.
He graduated with a thesis on science laboratories, returned to India in 1947 as the Chief
Architect of CSIR. It is believed that Gropius’s insistence for using space as a tool for
expressing universal human values was what left most lasting influence on his mind.
The institutional buildings he designed in the first five years, are conservative. All having:
Similar facades.
Horizontal, clean volumes,
Aesthetically pleasing proportions of fenestration.
Ribbon windows.
A grid frame structure- unexposed, and plastered exterior finish.
The form is very rough, and blocky. He has always been described to be modest and
approachable, and always has preferred to keep a low profile. This building presents a stark
contrast to his character.
Though there is thus a clear agreement about his early works, there is no accepted view on
whether his later works were an evolution of the Modern view or a new approach. He
questioned the basic values of modernism early on, his major work speaks of his adaptation
of the modernist/ brutalist style.
Awarded Padma Shree in 1976. President IIA (1974-75) Co-Authored book “Campus Design
in India”.
IIA’s Babu Rao Mhatre Gold Medal for life time achievement in 1985 Great Masters Award
from JK Industries Ltd. in 1993. Was also a part of the jury on the competition for the Indira
Gandhi National Center for Arts, along with B.V. Doshi.
Works
1. Harivallabdas House
2. IIT Kanpur
3. Doodhsagar Dairy
4. National Science Center, New Delhi (1991)
5. Nehru Science Center, Mumbai (1985)
IIT-Kanpur is located on the Grand Trunk Road, 15 km west of Kanpur City and measures
close to 420hectares. This land was gifted by the Government of Uttar Pradesh in 1960
and by March 1963 the Institute had moved to its current location.
By the end of 1960s Kanvinde’s expressive architecture was variously interpreted as “an
architectural expression that reflected the culture and aspirations” and “clearly
reflected the rise of the Brutalist polemic of architecture”.
Here the paradox is that what (Brutalism) in the West was popular for the dynamism and
the aesthetic of vigour, in neo-Gandhian India of 1970s is regarded a realistic and
expressive product of India.
In retrospect, that style shows a remarkable similarity with the brute morphology of
vernacular architecture in parts of India. In Kanpur, the local availability of high quality
brick and the prevalent labour and construction practices made Kanvinde go for
reinforced concrete for structural frames and brick as infill.
The IITK campus occupies a 1055 acre area. The Academic Complex is located centrally
at the site and free from traffic noise. Academic buildings: 13 departments, PK Kelkar
Library, Computer Centres faculty offices, laboratories and administrative buildings
Around 7000 students, 390 faculty, and 1000 staff members (and their families) reside on
campus. No. of buildings: 108, 10 boys hostel and 2 girls hostel. With Sports complex,
Housing for faculty.
The site is flat with the canal on one side and transportation route on the other side.
Pedestrian and vehicular traffic are completely segregated. The residential campus is
planned and landscaped with a hope for environmental freedom.
Halls of residence, faculty and staff houses and community buildings surround the
central academic area to provide flexibility in movement and communication. Core
Pedestrian Island which consist of lecture halls surrounded by landscaping and water
body forming the main focus of the campus.
The academic area is well connected by a long corridor which links all the major
buildings. The academic area is set up in vicinity of Hostels to provide quick accessibility
to students. Conventional type of buildings were designed as isolated islands of
departments.
Activities which students and faculties share are designed to encourage meeting and
interaction Institute's Academic Area comprises academic buildings and facilities
including the PK Kelkar Library, Computer Centre, National Wind Tunnel Facility and SIDBI
Innovation and Incubation Centre.
It also houses faculty offices, laboratories and administrative buildings. The academic
area is connected by a long corridor which links all the major buildings. SIDBI
INNOVATION & INCUBATION CENTRE
14. B. V. Doshi
Balkrishna Doshi, in full Balkrishna Vithaldas Doshi, also called B.V. Doshi, (born August 26,
1927, Pune, India), Indian architect, the first from that country to be awarded the prestigious
Pritzker Prize (2018). In a career spanning about seven decades, Doshi completed more
than 100 projects, many of which were public institutions based in India: schools, libraries,
art centres, and low-cost housing.
His understated buildings adapted the principles he learned from working with Le Corbusier
and Louis Kahn to the needs of his homeland. In considering India’s traditions, lifestyles, and
environment, Doshi designed structures that offered refuge from the weather and provided
spaces in which to gather.
Doshi’s early works show the influence of his mentors’ projects in India. The School of
Architecture in Ahmedabad, which Doshi founded and designed in 1966, recalls the grid
facade of the Mill Owners’ Association Building, while the use of brick and concrete evokes
the Villa Sarabhai.
Appreciative of Le Corbusier’s ability “to create a soft light that makes people’s faces
glow,” Doshi included slanted skylights and sliding doors to manipulate light and to regulate
temperature. Ever mindful of India’s heat, he included recessed plazas shaded by leafy
trees throughout the campus to offer spaces where students could meet in comfort. It was
renamed the Centre for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT University) in 2002.
Students assisted in designing each new addition, using similar forms and materials so that
the entire campus felt cohesive.
Doshi quickly became known for his commitment to providing affordable housing
throughout India, where a shortage of homes had plagued cities for decades. Notably, he
designed the Life Insurance Corporation Housing in Ahmedabad (1973) and the Aranya
Low Cost Housing in Indore (1989).
The latter, arguably his best-known project, was a township for low- to middle-income
families. The master plan called for a central spine of private businesses and houses
constructed on each side. A cluster of 10 residences share a central courtyard, while paved
streets and squares break up the ordered space.
Doshi offered future inhabitants a selection of 80 models that ranged from one-room units
to larger houses that suited different needs and incomes. The minimalist designs show
Doshi’s dedication to waste little space and material. The completed township provides
80,000 individuals with 6,500 residences.
Works
Sangath is a complete
combination of Doshi's
architectural themes from his
previous work including complex
interiors and structures, ambiguous
edges, vaults and terraces. The
path turns and forces the
occupant off of the north-south
axis and alongside the elevated
garden walls. Now visible in
perspective, the vaults begin to
recede into the background
above the grassy amphitheatre,
water channels and gardens in the
foreground.
Here the ceiling plane rises as the inhabitant experiences how Doshi interlocks multi
height spaces and creates compression and release between them. The underside of
the vault in the main drafting room is finished with a textured concrete that dispersed
natural light into the space. At the end of the hall lies the opening seen from the site
entrance and one regains their sense of place along the main axis.
Sangath also expresses Balkrishna Doshi's desire for a connection between nature and
the individual. The overall form exaggerates the details of nature with its rolling mounds,
cave-like spaces, terraced land, playful water channels, and reflective surfaces.
Storm water in funnelled through the site by the slick, round vaults and water troughs. The
sunken interior spaces are insulated by clay within the structure. Heat from the sun is
reduced by grassy mounds and the white reflective china mosaic that covers each
vault.
Natural light is also filtered into the interior spaces during the day, while the moon is
reflected in the ponds and across the china mosaics at night.
Along with natural connections, Sangath holds connections to India's culture. The layout
resembles the way that a temple develops a series of stages into a final platform while
the form loosely imitates the boldness of a stupa.
Other references to modern styles are also apparent with the Le Corbusier ear shaped
pool; amphitheatre steps resembling those by Aalto and Wright; Gaudi's broken china
mosaic; and a water feature similar to that of Kahn's Salk Institute.
In particular, Correa was influenced by Le Corbusier’s use of striking concrete forms. The
importance of the site was a constant in Correa’s approach. Complementing the Indian
landscape, he worked on an organic and topographic scale in early commissions such as
his Gandhi Smarak Sangrahalaya (1958–63) in Ahmedabad and the Handloom Pavilion
(1958) in Delhi. Considerations of the Indian climate also drove many of Correa’s decisions.
For residential commissions, he developed the “tube house,” a narrow house form designed
to conserve energy. This form was realized in the Ramkrishna House (1962–64) and the
Parekh House (1966–68), both in Ahmedabad, which has a hot and arid climate. Also in
response to climate, Correa often employed a large over sailing shade roof or parasol, an
element first seen in the Engineering Consultant India Limited complex (1965–68) in
Hyderabad.
When designing in the midst of overpopulated cities, he tried to create quasi-rural housing
environments, as is evident in his low-cost Belapur housing sector (1983–86) in Navi Mumbai.
In all of his urban planning commissions, Correa avoided high-rise housing solutions,
focusing instead on low-rise solutions that, in combination with common spaces and
facilities, emphasized the human scale and created a sense of community.
His later works, which continued his long-standing interests, include Surya Kund (1986) in
Delhi; the Inter-University Centre for Astrology and Astrophysics (1988–92) in Pune,
Maharashtra; and the Jawahar Kala Kendra arts complex (1986–92) in Jaipur, Rajasthan.
His many awards included the Padma Shri (1972) and Padma Vibushan (2006), two of
India’s highest honours; the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture (1984) from the Royal
Institute of British Architects; the Praemium Imperiale prize for architecture (1994), awarded
by the Japan Art Association; and the Aga Khan Award for Architecture (1998).
Works
By developing climatic solutions for different sites and programs, Indian architect Charles
Correa designed the Kanchanjunga Apartments. Located in Mumbai, the U.S.
equivalent of New York City in terms of population and diversity, The 32 luxury
apartments are located south-west of downtown in an upscale suburban setting
embodying the characteristics of the upper echelon of society within the community.
The building is a 32 story reinforced concrete structure with 6.3m cantilevered open terraces. The
central core is composed of lifts and provides the main structural element for resisting lateral loads.
The central core was constructed ahead of the main structure by slip method of construction. This
technique was used for the first time in India for a multi-storey building.
The concrete construction and large areas of white panels bears a strong resemblance to
modern apartment buildings in the West, perhaps due to Correa's western education. However,
the garden terraces of the Kanchanjunga Apartments are actually a modern interpretation of
a feature of the traditional Indian bungalow: the veranda.
He lived in Delhi and Shimla for a couple of years in his childhood that is from 1939 – 1951.
He attended Harcourt Butler higher secondary school. In 1951-1954, he attended Delhi
School of Architecture in New Delhi.
He was very imaginative and a creative person. His imaginative perception helped him go
a long way. He believed in gaining knowledge and then applied his knowledge mingled
with creativity in his projects.
Raj Rewal took up his first job as an assistant stage manager for several avante grade
theatre production in London. He became an associate of the Royal Institute of British
Architects, London.
Raj Rewal worked with Michel Ecochards’s office in Paris before starting his practice in New
Delhi. He designed designed the Asian Village and the Parliament Library in New Delhi. He
got married to a Lady named Helene from France in 1962.
He set up his own architectural practice in 1962 when he returned back to Delhi. In 1963-
72, he taught at the Delhi School of Architecture. He opened his second Architectural
Office at Tehran, Iran in 1974. Ram Sharma was his associate in the foundation of the
Architectural Research Cell in 1985.
In 1986, he became the curator of the exhibition “Traditional Architecture in India” for the
festival of India in Paris.
He convinced the European consultants to develop an unusual structural system for the
Ismaili centre and the central public works department to undertake the construction of
stone columns and Ferro cement domes for the Parliament Library.
The two major influence that he encountered is the time when he returned to India. He
admits that those influences have helped him in his development as an architect.
1. When he became a Professor at the School of Planning and Architecture in New Delhi
2. After studying the Projects of Le Corbusier
Corbusier made contemporary designs. After the success achieved by him in the planning
of Chandigarh City, it became evident to Raj Rewal that Modern means can be applied
to build in India. He developed a sense of Contemporary style as well as learned to retain
the traditionalism of India. His working experience that he gained while he was working as
an assistant manager for several Avante Grade theatre productions in London.
As a set designer for the drama shows, he learnt that each dramatic work had a particular
character which he interpreted as the rasa of the building.
Works
B.
C.
D.
E.
Asian games village is first of its kind in the game series to house athletes of the Asian games.
Builts on the remains of the 15th century khilji dynasty of Siri fort. The complex is situated in
siri fort area near hauz khas village, Delhi.
The site is surrounded by Siri fort sports complex on the northern side, shahpur jat village on
the southern side, a green belt on the eastern side. The complex has a common entry and
exit gate which connects to the main road.
The hierarchy of Courtyards is present at different levels of the complex. The complex
consists of 700 housing units out of which 200 were individual houses and 500 apartments
which vary from 2 to 4 story structures. Design features that used in Asian games village.
Clustering of buildings, Courtyard providing public space within the building.
Scattering of terraces creating an interactive space. Streets are narrow, shaded broken up
into small units creating pauses, points of rest, and changing points.
Green areas and Courtyards are spread all over the site which can be accessed from
almost all sides of the site. Terraces that are formed provide semi-private space which
obviously reminds the characteristics of houses of Jaisalmer.
Vehicular and pedestrian movement is segregated but closely interlinked for convenience
Peripheral roads are connected to cul-de-sac parking areas where it gives access to
dividable garages or car porches attached to houses or apartment blocks. The parking
space is on the ground only and has no basement or stilt for the same.
The basic unit of 4 apartment is designed in such a way that it is linked with the Courtyard
in between to create a variety of interlinking spaces. The central spine of the Asian games
village is reserved for the pedestrian courts and streets of various clusters.
Each 2bhk flats faces an internal Courtyard A small cluster has 2 apartments on one level
served by a single core. A two small cluster share a Courtyard. 3 sets of two clusters each
make a big cluster. This cluster faces the Courtyard which internally connected the
combination of various dwelling type In an urban pattern of unusual diversity makes the
Asian games village quite remarkable.
About 80 % of the houses and apartments have access to pedestrian enclosures. The
interlocking courtyards are provided to accommodate different functions creating a
micro-climate free from dust and heat. The density of Asian games village is 15 units per
hector
Joseph Allen Stein began his career in India, at age 40, as the first Head of the Department
of Architecture at Bengal Engineering College, Howrah with a sense of purpose. He
undertook research with students in developing prototypes for urban and rural housing
demonstrated at the International Exhibition of Low-Cost Housing in New Delhi in 1954.
His township development in association with architect Benjamin Polk and engineer Benoy
Chatterjee for government housing in West Bengal and Orissa and for TISCO in Bihar, were
an attempt to balance Nehru’s ideal of an industrialized, modern India by providing workers
with dignified housing.
Stein created an oasis in Delhi where he shifted in 1955 to start practice, emphasizing the
importance of tangible harmony of buildings in nature. He brought grace in modern
architecture by the settings of nature in which he created them.
The series of major works for cultural, humanitarian, and environmental institutions Stein
designed in New Delhi maintain his continual striving towards a humble, refined form in a
garden setting, enriched materially by the adaptation of the traditional north Indian jali and
the inclusion of local building stone.
Stein was one of the first architects working in India after independence to use traditional
elements in a modern building. His development of the jali and several other shading
devices dramatically filter light and create a quality of repose in the spaces they shade
from the fierce north Indian sun.
Each of his projects in and around Delhi were conceived of in order to offer relief from the
intense climate and created a new urban grammar of form making. He integrated
buildings with the idea of vertical gardens - a prototype for bringing living beauty to
crowded urban settings.
Stein along with structural engineer Vishnu Joshi explored a variety of shell forms, significant
for their purity of form and inventive conservation of materials, as modestly scaled structures
integrated with the landscape.
Stein’s partnership with Doshi and long-time associate Jai Ratan Bhalla began in 1977, their
designs maintaining several points in common- a modest, harmonious sense of proportion;
an ongoing interest in the vault as a structural and architectural form; and an integration
of man-made constructions with their surroundings.
Stein personally focused on two environments for design he felt to be vital to the earth itself
and our human future- the regional environment of Central Asia’s Himalaya mountain
range threatened by deforestation and cultural disintegration, and a more conceptual
landscape he called ‘metapolis’ : “The entire earth, or at least its fertile portions, could be
a garden of paradise, with intensive agriculture in the irrigated lowlands, protected
wilderness in the highlands and well-engineered, pleasant new towns sheltering both
industrial and agricultural workers on the less fertile lower slopes. In case of India, much of
the country has an ideal geomorphological structure for realizing such a pattern of total
landscape, in which there would be room for all, including the creatures of the wilderness”
Works
The convention block is divided into two built structures, an auditorium and the
convention center. This segregation helps in better handling of crowd and there is also
a separate entry to the convention center that avoids other disturbances. There is also
a basement floor for parking around 1000 cars.
One of the best Auditoria in the country, the Auditorium at Habitat World is equipped
with state-of- the-art infrastructure enabling direct telecast, 35 mm projection. The hall is
ideal for large conferences, seminars, film screenings, presentations, theatre and cultural
performances of all kinds. Simultaneous interpretation can be made available on
request.
Segregation of pedestrian and vehicular entry with the use of level differences creates
a different approach to the complex. The height of the buildings are 30m. Connected
by aerial walkways. The entire façade is cladded with red bricks giving a majestic look
Use of horizontal and vertical ribbon windows having slots in them for plantation purpose.
The building blocks being separated create interesting courtyards landscaped with
stone sculptures and is green throughout. The courtyard being green, creates an image
of a tropical rainforest with a constant airy flow through the spaces.
Sunlight Streams Into The Complex Creating Beautiful Patterns On The Textured Surface
With The Time Of The Day. The Spaces Are Quiet Except For The Sounds Of The Gurgling
Fountains That Relieves The Surroundings With The Heat. The Ventilation Shafts Are Well
Design Providing Sunlight To The Basement.
Well Designed Drainage System Eliminates Use of Rainwater Pipes and adds To the
Beauty of the Structure. Use of shading devices reflect back 70% of the summer heat. It
is designed as a space frame structure with blue reflectors that can be aligned providing
shade during summer and allows winter sun to enter.
END OF SECTION B