Modern Times

Question 1

Vernacular Architecture

Answer 1

• to accommodate modern functional needs
• mostly for private residences
• uses forms, textures and details of medieval domestic models
  EXAMPLE: The Orchard Chorleywood by Charles Francis Annesley, near London, Late 19th c.

Question 2

Frank Lloyd Wright

Answer 2

• his style was not based on European nor foreign models
• he preached the beauty of native materials
• he insisted that building should grow naturally from the surroundings
• he helped create an open plan that changed the way Americans live.

Question 3

Prairie Style

Answer 3

• developed by Wright
• common characteristics:
  1. Horizontal proportions
  2. flat bricks or stucco walls, often outlined with wooden strips of contrasting colors
  3. windows with abstract and geometric ornament
  4. hip or gable roofs with wide overhang eaves

Question 4

Frederick C. Robie House

Answer 4

by Wright, in Chicago, 20thc.

• use of steel beams to achieve longer spans
• lighting and heating were integrated in the floors and ceilings

Question 5

Johnson Wax Headquarters

Answer 5

by Wright, in Wisconsin, 20th c.

• 200 types of curved red brick walls
• roof is supported by steel reinforced “Dendriform” concrete columns
• Wright designed the furniture to echo the curving of the walls
• use of Pyrex glass tubing from the ceiling and clerestories to let in soft light

Question 6

Functional/Structural Determinism

Answer 6

• functional requirements and structural solutions determine the final design
• inspirations came from machines, not past forms

EXAMPLE: AEG Turbine Factory by Peter Behrens

Question 7

Walter Gropius

Answer 7

his 2 main concerns:

1. development of an industrialized architecture
2. social responsiveness to housing needs

he believed that objects must:

1. fulfill their function practically
2. be affordable
3. be durable
4. be beautiful

Question 8

the 5 points of new architecture by Le Corbusier

Answer 8

1. on pilotis
2. roof gardens
3. free plan
4. free facade
5. free fenestration

Question 9

le modulor

Answer 9

a scale proportion by Le Cornusier

• it attempts to discover mathematical proportions in the human body to improve the appearance and function of architecture
• it’s called ergonomics today

Question 10

Chapelle de Notre-Dame du Haut

Answer 10

by Le Corbusier, in France, 20th c.

• molded space with concrete
• thick concrete walls
• based on Le Modular grid
• the curved walls make it seem to be open in landscape but the inside gives a sense of compression
• light colors on the outside but it is dark on the inside due to lack of windows

Question 11

International Modernism

Answer 11

• Ornamentation is a crime
• high design ideals of purity and honesty, as well as socially conscious ideals
• it developed images free from the past
• it made building components using industrial process
• it laid out the basis of rational architecture

BUT,

• they become buildings often rejected by the public
• they aged fast
• they consumed much more resources and energy

Question 12

Late-Modernism

Answer 12

Louis Kahn
It amplifies the expressive qualities of Modernism

EXAMPLE: Jonas Salk Institute for Biological Studies in La Jolla, California

this institute has residential quarters, research labs, and a community centre. each lab opens to a small courtyard

Question 13

Post-Modernism

Answer 13

Robert Venturi and Michael Graves

• It seeks to inject, in modern architecture, some meaning accessible to its users
• it did not really reject modernism,
• it tried to make referential, meaning that it addresses to context and tradition to give a civic meaning