What is/ was Modern Architecture?

In other words, are we still today in the era

of Modern Architecture, or is it over,

having been replaced by some

form of "Post-Modernism"?
 Where do we locate
Modern Architecture?
• Gothic, about 1150 to 1350
• Renaissance, about 1400 to 1600
• Baroque, about 1600 to 1700
• Rococo, about 1700 to 1750
• Neo-Classicism, about 1700 to 1800
• 19 th Century, 1800 to 1900
• Modernism, about 1900 to ?
Design Environments before
the Industrial Revolution
(1) Neo-classicism
(2) Picturesque
(3) Gothic Revival
(1) NEO-CLASSICISM
 Neo-classicism
Definition:

Neo-classical, or "new" classical, architecture
describes buildings that are inspired by the
classical architecture particularly of ancient
Greece and Rome.

A Neo-classical building is likely to have some or all of

these features:

Symmetrical shape

Triangular pediment

Domed roof

The use of the Greek & Roman Orders

Tall columns/ orders that rise the full height of the
building
Osterley Park, Hounslow, London, Robert Adam
 Neo-classicism

Neoclassicism represents simplification after
Baroque and Rococo:

straight lines are favored over curves,

volumes are less often contrasted,

adornments are fewer,

symmetry becomes a must

columns and lintels are more frequent than arches,

triangular pediments than semi-circular ones.

balustrades crown buildings.
 Neo-classicism
Origin

During the 1500s, the famous Renaissance architect
Andrea Palladio awakened an interest in the architecture
of ancient Greece and Rome.

Palladio's ideas became the model for architecture in
Europe for many centuries.

In the late 1700s and early 1800s, the newly-formed
United States drew upon classical ideals to
construct grand government buildings as well as
smaller private homes.
United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., 1793-present
 Neo-classicism

The neoclassical movement that produced
Neoclassical architecture began in the mid-
18th century, (1750 -1850)

Reaction against both the surviving Baroque and
Rococo styles, and as a desire to return to:

the perceived "purity" of the arts of Rome,

to a lesser extent, 16th century Renaissance
Classicism.

the more vague perception ("ideal") of Ancient
Greek arts (where almost no Western artist
had actually been) and
 Neo-classicism

The theme of neo-classicism:

(1) History
(2) Purity
(3) Rationality
(4) Education
 Neo-classicism

(I) History

The rediscovery of the past and the new
history.

The past as an architectural department
store.

Robert Adam (1728-92). Adam as a
neoclassicist and a decorator.

Example; Osterley Park, Hounslow, London,
1762-80.
 Neo-classicism
Osterley Park, Hounslow, London, 1762-80
Robert Adam

Front elevation
 Neo-classicism
Osterley Park, Hounslow, London, 1762-80
Robert Adam

Etruscan room
 Neo-classicism
Foundation of Modern Architectural Theory

Osterley Park, Hounslow, London, 1762-80

Robert Adam

Entrance hall
 Neo-classicism
(2) Purity

The classical past as good architecture, and a
source of basic principles.

The desire to strip away illusion, ambiguity,
complexity (Baroque & Rococo)

Church of St. Genevieve/ The Pantheon,
Paris, 1757-90, Jacques-Germain Soufflot
(1713-80).
 Neo-classicism
Church of St.Genevieve/ The Pantheon, Paris, 1757-90,
Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-80).

Front elevation / entry

 Neo-classicism
Church of St.Genevieve/ The Pantheon, Paris, 1757-90,
Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-80).

View up towards dome

 Neo-classicism
Church of St.Genevieve/ The Pantheon, Paris, 1757-90,
Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-80).

Interior court with frescoes

 Neo-classicism
Church of St.Genevieve/ The Pantheon, Paris, 1757-90,
Jacques-Germain Soufflot (1713-80).
 Neo-classicism

(3) Rationality

Interest in pure geometrical forms and
volumes.

The "visionary" or "revolutionary" architecture
of Etienne-Louis Boullee (1728-99).

Project for Newton Cenotaph, 1784.
 Neo-classicism
Project for Newton Cenotaph, 1784.
 Neo-classicism
Royal saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, 1770s,
Claude-Nicolas Ledoux [1736-1806]).
 Neo-classicism
(4) Education

The teaching responsibilities of design: the duty of the
architect or other educated person as a citizen.

Explicit teaching: the new museums, including those of
Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) at the second Monticello
(1793-1809), near Charlottesville, Virginia, and Sir John
Soane in his house in London.

The neoclassical capitol: United States Capitol,
Washington, D.C., 1793-present, architects: everyone,
but especially William Thornton, Benjamin Henry Latrobe
(1764-1820), Charles Bulfinch, Thomas U. Walter.
 Neo-classicism
Foundation of Modern Architectural Theory

United States Capitol, Washington, D.C., 1793-present

 Neo-classicism
Source of Inspiration

Architects of the time drew inspiration from a
number of architectural building types taken
from antiquity:

Most common resources are:
(1) The Roman triumphal arch.
(2) The Greek / Roman temple.
(1) The Roman Triumphal
Arch
 Neo-classicism
The Building Example
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel, Paris
(1806-08)
Charles Piercier and Pierre Francois-
Leonard Fontaine

Copied the detail of Arch of Constantine

massive rectangular slab of masonry with
three holes in it-the center hole is the
main arch, the other two are lower and
narrower subsidiary arches.

Four columns, dividing the arches, that
stand on pedestals and rising to an
entablature, which breaks out over each
separate column and at each of those
points of breaking out carries a carved
standing figure.
(2) The Roman / Greek
Temple
 Neo-classicism
The Building Example
Maison Carree ( 130 AD )

‘Temple architecture were used widely
as an antique model for architecture.

The best preserved of all Roman
temples is the Corinthian Maison Carree
at Nimes (c. AD 130).

A typical temple - a rectangular building
with an open portico and pediment in
front with columns all round - was

Used as a model for churches widely in
the eighteenth century.

Attracted such bored epithets as 'mere
copyism and 'cold imitation' to the Neo
classical movement
La Madeleine (1807-1842)

begun as a church, was continued by Napoleon as a Temple
of Glory but was completed as a church in 1842.

Direct reference to the Maison Carree, resulting a lifeless
paraphrase of an antique Roman temple.
Neo-classicism
(a) FRANCE
(b) ENGLAND
(c) GERMAN
 Neo-classicism
(a) France

Most telling images of neo-
classicism before and prior
to the French Revolution.

Spearheaded by 2
architects:

Claude-Nicolas Ledoux
(1736-1806)

Etienne-Louis Boullee
(1728-1799)

Architecture as an
expressive language.
i) Claude Nicholas Ledoux
 Ledoux

Revolutionary architect in his approach to the

architectural ideal made through geometry.

Ledoux was no mere copyist even when he applied
conventional details.

He designed a number of buildings between 1765
and 1780 in which he attempted to reconcile the
traditional elements of French classicism with the
new spirit of the antique.
 Ledoux
Tollhouses (1780’s)

Explored range of neo-classical
combinations.

Basically cube-like and included temple
fronts with:

Arcuated Palladian windows

Peristyles

Domes

A host of other classical elements.

Specialty is in the combination or re-
constitution of architectural
arrangement.
 Ledoux

Royal Saltworks at Chaux (1775-
1779)

Director's House, Saltworks, Arc

et Senans; note the Banded
Doric columns

Aerial view showing the salt works which were built at the
center of the double D-shaped plan

The curved range of work

buildings
 Ledoux

Chateau de Benouville, Calvados
(1768-75)

Ledoux was no mere copyist even when
he applied conventional details.

He designed a number of buildings

between 1765 and 1780 in which he
attempted to reconcile the traditional
elements of French classicism with the
new spirit of the antique.

Besançon. Theater, 1775-79

ii) Etienne-Louis Boullee
 Boullee

Architectural visionary of France.

Little built works – more of an architectural theorist.

Vision soared beyond conventional means – designs
as a form of poetic communication.

Un-built abstract projects – pure studies of pure
geometry.

Utopian ideals – architecture must be associated
with politics and the social condition to lead the way
to a new world of better standards.
 Boullee

Cenotaph & Monument for

Sir Isaac Newton (1784)

Huge hollow sphere as
metaphorical tribute to the
scientist’s work.
Exterior View: note rows of cypress
trees ringing the sphere

Monumental scale with stripped
down classicizing elements.

Building to house a planetarium

and shrine.

Interior View - Night: Internal

illumination system to simulate the
solar system.
 Boullee
Bibliotheque du Roi (The National Library)

1788

Library hall consisting of tunnel-like space, defined by walls of stacks
and a coffered barrel vault.

Between wall and vault, full length colonnade to highlight the vastness
of the overall scale.
iii) Alexander-Pierre Vignon
 Vignon

La Madeleine (1807-1842)

begun as a church, was continued by
Napoleon as a Temple of Glory but
was completed as a church in 1842.

Direct reference to the Maison
Carree, resulting a lifeless
paraphrase of an antique Roman
temple.

Theorist Winckelmann would
disagree with such approach of
direct copyism.
iv) Jacques-Germain
Soufflot
1713 - 1780
 Soufflot
Church of St. Genevieve/ Pantheon,
Paris (1757-92)

Remarked on lessons from gothic
churches:

Truth of structure in Roman revival
mode.

Question the validity of Roman classical
design.

Plan resembling St Mark’s in Venice

Greek cross

Domes supported by single columns with
straight entablatures

Lightness of structure derived from
gothic examples
 Soufflot
Church of St. Genevieve/ Pantheon,
Paris (1757-92)

Plan resembling St Mark’s in Venice

Greek cross

Domes supported by single columns with
straight entablatures

Lightness of structure derived from gothic
examples

Gothic lightness with Greek/Roman styling.

Interior Roman in feeling and rich in
decoration.

To compare with Sir John Soane’s Bank of
England
Neo-classicism
(b) England
 Neo-classicism
England

England made the most determined effort to

apply the new archaeological information to the
creation of a new architecture directly inspired
by the antique.

Sometimes they changed their context to
garden buildings and interior space.

There were early architects used information
from previous architects like Palladio, but later
generation preferred to study the antique models
from first hand.
 Neo-classicism (England)
Building Examples
Bank of England, London
(1788-1833)
Sir John Soane

Evident are the basic geometric
shapes of the composition.

Flat surface expression stressing the
crisp outline.

Pilasters, entablatures and coffers
reduced to a thin diagrammatic
patterns of grooves and fretwork.

Rigorist tendencies evident.
 Neo-classicism England
Building Examples
Chiswick Hall/ House
Lord Burlington

Lord Burlington had anticipated the
new wave of enthusiasm for the
antique.

His knowledge of the antique is
based on Palladio's architecture and
his codified and illuminated drawings
of the antique.
Neo-classicism
(c) Germany
 Neoclassicism in Germany

Architects in Germany developed a severe but
inventive style in the 1790s that was indebted to
Ledoux.

As well as to Winckelmann's call for a return to
the spirit of ancient Greek architecture.

The great monument of the Berlin school was
the Brandenburg Gate (1789-93) by Langhans
 Neo-classicism (Germany)
Building Examples
Brandenburg Gate (1789-93)
Langhans

Distantly inspired by the
propylaea on the Acropolis in
Athens,

it was the first of the
ceremonial Doric gateways to
rise in modern Europe.

The Greek revival in Germany
was linked with the growth of
Prussian nationalism and
imbued with the supposed
moral virtues of the Doric
order.
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
 Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Altes Museum (1824-1828)

Karl Friedrich Schinkel transformed

Berlin with a series of monuments in
a rationalist Greek style.

Facade in the form of an open

colonnade of nineteen bays; with its
long but undemonstrative Ionic
colonnade
(2) THE PICTURESQUE
 The Picturesque
(1) The English Landscape Garden

The new English garden: a reaction against French
and Dutch formal gardens of the 17th century.

The architectural impact of the Picturesque was the
new emphasis it placed on architecture as part of an
environment.

The Picturesque tradition of England created the
English landscape garden.

A variety of different kinds of structure were placed
in relation to carefully composed plantings in order to
capture the effect of a painting by Claude or Poussin.

Henry Hoare's Stourhead was an outstanding
example of this approach to gardening and garden
architecture.
 The Picturesque

Stourhead House and Gardens, Stourton,
Warminster
 The Picturesque

Stourhead House and Gardens, Stourton,
Warminster
 The Picturesque

Kew Gardens, Surrey

Chinese Pagoda, 1763

Sir William Chambers
 The Picturesque
(2) The Concept of the Picturesque

Contemporary with neo-classicism (England)

Intellectual underpinnings: a new concept of
nature (nature as life; the genius loci/ spirit of the
place),

new thinking about aesthetics, a new
appreciation of historical and cultural diversity.

The modern concept of style. Exoticism and
nationalism.
 The Picturesque
(3) Picturesque Associationism

The transfer of picturesque composition from the
garden to the house and the invention of an
aesthetic theory (associationism) to account for
its appeal.

Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire, Eng., 1795-1807, by
James Wyatt for William Beckford.
(3) GOTHIC REVIVAL
 Gothic Revival

Adaptation occurred after 1800 – approximately 1830’s
to 1850’s.

Style very particular to place and building typology.

From supposition that Gothic architecture was an
indigenous style of Northern Europe

Revivalism tendencies hinged on:

Style as development of Northern culture – patriotism

Style best suited to a northern climate and colder
zone.

New material of construction:

Gothic style – skeletal articulation and tensile
structure renders itself to be expressed in iron as the
new material in the industrial age.
 Gothic Revival
Contributions to modern thoughts of architecture

Free planning

Asymmetrical massing

Varied silhouettes

Plasticity of forms

Exploitation of colour and texture in use of indigenous
stones.

Style kept alive a sense of craftsmanship at a time of
mass production was beginning to alter the age old
habits of the building industry.

Style more prevalent in England and America. To be
used in the design of churches and country houses.

Classical style for public buildings and mansions.
Lyndhurst
Tarrytown, New York
1838 and 1864-65
Gothic Revival
 Gothic Revival
House of Parliament, London
Sir Charles Barry assisted by A. W. N. Pugin
1835-67

Gothic Details
THE END….