KANON . HISTORY OF: ART .

ARCHITECTURE . PAINTING . SCULPTURE . FURNITURE . DESIGN . CLOTHING . GARDENS . MUSIC . PHOTOGRAPHY . ICONOGRAPHY . MYTHOLOGY . PHILOSOPHY . LIBRARY . @

CHAPTER:

MODERNISM . POSTMODERNISM . HIGH-TECH , DECONSTRUCTIONISM , CRITICAL REGIONALISM

A HISTORY OF ARCHITECTURE - MODERNISM1

PART I - MODERNISM: CHICAGO I . MUTHESIUS - WERKBUND . WRIGHT . FUTURISM . AMSTERDAM . BAUHAUS . DESTIJL . CONSTRUKTIVISM . EXPRESSIONISM . ART-DECO . STREAMLINE
INTERNATIONAL STYLE . COMMUNISM/NAZISM . ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE . LATE MODERNISM . CHICAGO II
BRUTALISM . NEOEXPRESSIONISM . GOOGIE

ARCHITECTURE IN THE LATE XIX CENTURY

THE CHICAGO SCHOOL, ARTS&CRAFTS

1 http://www.historiasztuki.com.pl/kodowane/003-02-01-ARCHWSP-MODERNIZM-eng.php
1

The first skyscraper with a steel frame construction (Home Insurance Building,
William Le Baron Jenney) was built in 1884 in Chicago. In 1896, Louis Sullivan,
founder of theChicago School, in an article published in Lippincott's Magazine,
raised the famous slogan "form follows function", but the history of modern
architecture begins in England, where, under the influence of William Morris and
John Ruskin, were made the basis ofArts & Crafts (1887). This movement was
aimed at the revival of artistic craftsmanship as an antidote to the ugliness of
mass production and dissemination of handicrafts as an antidote to the
dehumanization of the industrial production process.

Furniture by Charles Rennie Macintosh, 1902

Home Insurance Building, 1884

One of the major problems facing modern architecture (and

so far unsolved) was housing for the working class.
Already in 1859, Jean Baptiste Godin built in Guise so-called
"familister", building for workers modeled on Charles Fourier
phalanstery (Le Corbusier echoed his prison structure in his
80 years later projects). Twenty years later, factory workers'
housing estate Priest's Mill was built in Lodz (Poland), ahead
of workers' settlements of similar projects in Germany and
England.

Familister, 1859
Priest's Mill Estate by Scheibler Factory in d, 1870 >

British planner Ebenezer Howard, influenced by utopian work of Edward

Bellamy ("Looking Backward" 1888) and an economic treaty of Henry
George ("Progress and Poverty"), formulated in 1899 a beautiful, but
calculated for wealthy investors, concept of garden-city, discharging
overcrowded downtown and creating full of greenery paradise on earth.
Howard presented his idea in the book "To-Morrow: A Peaceful Path to Real
Reform" published in 1902, under the title "Garden Cities of To-morrow".

Standard garden-sity by Howard, 1902

Modern garden-city in Wandsbek near Hamburg

WERKBUND

Arts & Crafts Movement influenced the emergence and formation of French and Austrian
secession, but it has not developed a rich ornamentation, but imitated the formal reticence
of Japanese art, as exemplified by the Willow Tea Rooms by Charles R. Macintosh (1903)
and heavily impacted on the creation and development of the American crafts movement
(American Craftsman), indirectly - the creation of prairie houses of Frank Lloyd Wright, and
- by the architecture of Charles Voysey and propaganda activity of Hermann Muthesius the emergence of Werkbund (1907) and the development of German design. Macintosh
design activities in Austria and Germany has changed the profile of the Vienna
Secession and, above all, Vienna Workshop (led by Josef Hofmann), which paved the
way for future art-deco style.

Willow Tea Rooms, 1903

Sanatorium Purkersdorf by Josef Hofmann

FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

Key projects of prairie houses (including the Robie House and Taliesin), which were the basis for
later theories of organic architecture, were created in America in the years 1901 to 1911, in the
design office of Frank Lloyd Wright.

F.L.Wright, Robie House, 1909

In 1908 Adolf Loos published a famous article Ornament and

Crime, which opposed secession, Hoffman and Vienna workshops.
Loos introduced a fundamental distinction between a work of
art and utilitarian object, and opposed the linking of art with
craft. In the same year Loos designed in Vienna the so-called
"American Bar", and in 1910, entirely devoid of ornament Steiner
House. This was the first radical crackdown on ornament in the
European architecture.

Adolf Loos, Willa Steiner, Vienna, 1910

Adolf Loos, American Bar, Vienna, 1908 >

Since 1907, Peter Behrens served (on behalf of the Werkbund)

as an adviser to the artistic designs of all products of the
German AEG. In 1910, Behrens made the building of the
turbines faculty of AEG, announcing a severe variant of
monumental
expressionism.
The same year, Walter Gropius, Mies van der Rohe and Le
Corbusier (sent to Germany as a science-spy) worked as
assistants in the office of Behrens, and that's where they first
saw an album released by Ernst Wasmuth (Wasmuth Portfolio)
containing the plans and drawings of major projects by Frank
Lloyd
Wright.
Le Corbusier, the future pope of avant-garde, was already the
autor of villa Fallet (1905) and won in the studio of Auguste
Perret his first experience with the use of reinforced concrete.

Peter Behrens, AEG Turbines Faculty, 1910

Mies van der Rohe built in 1907 Haus Riehl (Potsdam),

and Walter Gropius was the designer without the architectural
achievements, his first completed project was the faade of
Fagus factory, designed by Eduard Werner in 1911.

Le Corbusier, Villa Fallet, 1905

< Mies van der Rohe, Haus Riehl, Poczdam, 1907

In 1911, the German architect Hans Poelzig staged a water

tower in Pozna and factory buildings of Milch Factory in Lubon
near Pozna, creating the first expressionist buildings in Europe.

Hans Poelzig, Water Tower, Pozna, 1911

The Milch Factory in Lubo, near Pozna, 1911

FUTURISM

10

Although Filippo
Marinetti announced futuristic
manifestoin Milan as early as 1909, but it was only in
1914, Enrico
Prampolini and Antonio
Sant'Elia published
a manifesto
of
futuristic
architecture. In the same year Sant'Elia presented a
portfolio of drawings depicting the almost prophetic,
expressive and dynamic vision for the city of the future.

< Computer visualization of one of Sant'Elia sketches

11

In
1911, Walter
Gropius and Alfred
Meyer have
done a draft of the glass facade of
Fagus shoe factory, promising future
Bauhaus style (curtain wall of the
Bauhaus building in Dessau - 1925).
In 1914, at an Werkbund exhibition
in Cologne, they presented their
proposal for a typical factory, with a for those days - modern, glass
staircases at the top office.

< Fagus Werke, 1911

12

At the same Werkbund show appeared different concept of the

new architecture in the form of expressionist theater by Henry
van de Velde, and Glass Pavilion by Bruno Taut, which is
probably the first art-deco building.

Henry van de Velde, Theater

< Bruno Taut, Glas Pavillon - pawilon przemysu szklarskiego

13

At the turn of the century in America acted Irving

John Gill, an architect who have no formal
education training. The practice gained at Chicago's
renowned companies (he worked with Wright at
Adler / Sullivan), and after moving to San Diego he
has pursued projects of large residences in the
fashionable
eclectic
style.
Around 1910, Gill has built several buildings that
make him a precursor of modern architecture. The
novelty of his projects can be assessed by
comparing with - performed in the same time designs by Le Corbusier, van der Rohe and Gropius.

Irving J. Gill, Dodge House, West Hollywood, 1914

Irving J. Gill, First Church of Christ Scientist, 1909 >

Most of the buildings, which opened several distinct chapters in the history of the twentieth century architecture were designed
for the outbreak of the First World War (1914). The continuation of this history was largely defined by the victory of the
Bolshevik revolution in Russia, Nazi in Germany, Fascists in Italy, and spinning of power by Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini.
to be continued...

14

ARCHITECTURE IN THE PERIOD BETWEEN THE WARS

THE AMSTERDAM SCHOOL

Michel de Klerk, Het Schip, Amsterdam, 1917

The war did not break the history of architecture, but significantly affected its
course, since the implementation of many of the initiatives had to be
postponed for several years. For example, the famous exhibition of decorative
arts, held in Paris in 1925, was planned for the year 1915. Similarly, Werkbund
activities were interrupted in conjunction with switching of German industry to
military
production.
Most happened in the neutral Netherlands and in revolutionary Russia.
In the Netherlands, the Amsterdam authorities have introduced modern
legislation defining a social and sanitary minimum for housing (1901). In 1905,
they created the post of artistic advisers, responsible for the quality of
architectural design (it was Mey). In 1914, Hendrik Berlage made plans for
reconstruction and expansion of the city (so-called South Plan) which created
the opportunity for rapid implementation of many projects by a group of young
architects. These architects have created so-called Amsterdam school.
The first building of this school was designed already in 1912, but the greatest
work of Michel de Klerk - Het Schip (a mature example of Expressionist artdeco) was carried out from 1917 to 1920. With Amsterdam school was
associated Wendingen art magazine (Alteration - issued 1918-1932). School of
Amsterdam and Wendingen stood in opposition to both - historicism and pure
functionalism. Architects from the circle of the Berlage continued the tradition
derived from the English Arts & Crafts, developed the concepts of Frank Lloyd
Wright and anticipated the expressionist architecture. Patron of the Amsterdam
School, HendrikBerlage, traveled to the U.S. in 1911 and as one of the few
European architects saw the Wright's buildings directly.

15

DE STIJL

Frank Lloyd Wright had a huge

impact on the entire European
architecture. Back in 1910, a
group
of
young
architects
working in the studio of Peter
Behrens (Gropius, van der Rohe,
Le
Corbusier)
was
simply
"crippled" by the album released
by
Wasmuth
(Wasmuth
Portfolio), which presented the
plans and elevations of Wright's
major projects. Robert van't
Hoff, co-founder of De Stijl,
went to the U.S. after seeing the
album in 1913 to directly see the
Robert vant Hoff, Villa Henny (Huis ter Heide, 1914-15); banister (1919)
Wright buildings (including Unity
Temple of 1908). Van't Hoff
It is worth to show the the wooden staircase banister, designed by van't Hoff in 1919, which
worked with Wright for a short
precedes the form of "architekton" by Malevich and persistently associated with New York and
period and after return Europe
Soviet skyscrapers.
he designed the famous Villa
Henny (Huis ter Heide, 19141915). This work is undoubtedly
a result of fascination with
Wright's architecture.

16

In 1917, in Utrecht, several Dutch artists founded

the group De Stijl and started issuing their own art
magazine of the same name. One of its founders
- Piet
Mondrian formulated
principles
of neoplasicism. Theo
van
Doesburg (collaborator
and
competitor
of
Mondrian) has developed a theory related to
neoplasticism,
that
resulted
in elementaristicarchitecture of Gerrit Rietveld.
Both
theories
are
radically
abstractionistic.
Mondrian's neoplasticism was inspired by the
Theosophical
mysticism
(indeed
the
entire
contemporary art pretending to be called "rational"
is extremely mystical, and in case of abstract art by
definition).
An important chapter in the history of architecture is
cooperation of Gerrit Rietveld with the group De
Stijl. Rietveld designed in Utrecht in 1924 so-called
Schrder-Huis and realized in practice the concept of
van Doesburg's elementarism.

Gerit Rietveld, Schrder-Huis, 1924

CONSTRUCTIVISM

17

World War I broke the state structure in Russia, which has

created an opportunity for the flowering of radical artistic
programs (as in the case of De Stijl, inspired by the
theosophical or national mysticism). Already in 1909, under
the influence of Western trends, artistic group called Jack
of Diamonds created "kubo-futurism". In 1911, Mikhail
Larionov
and
Natalia
Goncharov
made
first rayonistic painting,
inspired
by
Futurism.
In
1915 Kasimir
Malevich formulated
the
principle
of Suprematism (black
square
on
a
white
background). Vasilly Kandinsky (since 1896 in Munich)
created in 1910 the base of abstract expressionism.
Kandinsky fled from Germany to Switzerland after the
outbreak of war, he returned to Russia in 1918 and took a
number of successive professorships in art schools.
Bolshevik Revolution destroyed all types of art related to the
"bourgeois mentality" and created a demand for art of the
"new man" and "new age". Destroying tradition and
community groups representing them, the ideology of the
revolution needed the support of the new reality and human
resources for its implementation. Since 1918, Russia has
developed a hectic artistic movement, and nearly all
positions in universities and institutions were taken over the
artistic
avant-garde
representatives.
Vladimir Tatlin designed the Monument of the Third
International in 1919. In 1920 the brothers Naum Gabo
and Anton Pevsner declared manifesto containing a realistic
program of constructivism. El Lissitzky was a cultural
representative of Russia in Berlin since 1921 and an active
proponent of constructivism in Europe.
Wadimir Tatlin, Projekt pomnika III Midzynarodwki, 1917-19

18

El Lissitzky, Wolkenbugel, 1924 >

EXPRESSIONISM

19

In November 1918 in Kiel an uprising of the seamen broke out,

a few days later Karl Libknecht announced the creation of a
socialist republic in Germany (soviet Red Army, marching to
help this revolte, stopped at Warsaw in 1920). Although a bit
over a month later the Council of Workers and Soldiers
abandoned building Soviet republic by the Bolshevik model and
opted
for
a
republican
regime,
but
theNovember
revolution was an important experience in German history.
From this revolution took its name Novembergruppe, a group
of left-wing German artists and architects (including Poelzig,
van der Rohe and Gropius), which merged soon with the
Workers' Arts Council (Arbeitsrat fuer Kunst). This group
belonged most of the German avant-garde artists. Among them
was Bruno Taut, who co-founded in 1919, another informal
group of architects known as the Glass Chain (Glass Kette).
Members of this group exchanged letters (signed by
Hans Poelzig, Grosses Schauspielhaus, 1919 pseudonyms) in which formulated an utopian vision of
expressionist city with center called Stadtkrone (Crown City).
Artists of the group were united more by the extreme left-wing
political views than the artistic attitude and most of the
expressionists after several years involved with the functionalist
architecture, but German expressionism has formulated a
certain way of thinking about architecture, which operates in
different
variations
to
this
day.
Hans Poelzig, creator of the redevelopment project of the
BerlinSchauspielhaus became president of the Werkbunduin in
1919. In the same year in Potsdam, Erich Mendelsohn began
construction
of
the Einstein
Tower,
connecting
an
anthropomorphic form with futuristic inspiration of Sant'Elia.
Mendelsohn, together with Richard Neutra designed in 1921 in
Berlin, printing and publishing house - Mossehaus.

20

Erich Mendelsohn/Richard Neutra, Mossehaus, Barlin, 1921-23

Mossehaus considered to be the first building designed in popularized in the U.S. by Neutra - streamline style. In fact 10 years earlier Hans Poeltzig built a department store in
Wrocaw, which is almost pure example of the streamline.

Erich Mendelsohn, Einsteinturm, Potsdam, 1919-1922

Within three years, almost all German architects go through the

experience of different varieties of expressionism. Walter
Gropiusdesigned in 1921 a monument to the Coup-Kapp
victims, and Mies van der Rohe outlines the vision of glass
skyscraper on the Friedrichstrasse (Berlin), announcing the
second Chicago school.

21

Hans Poelzig, Department Store, Wrocaw, 1912

Walter Gropius, Kapp-Monument, 1921 German Expressionism was, apart from left-wing, utopian and

mystical varieties, an Austrian, theosophy-mystical variety,

which in the history of architecture has left more permanent
traces. Her examples are two of the seventeen buildings

22

designed by Rudolf Steiner, founder of anthroposophy, the

doctrine of a new spirituality as a condition of full humanity.
In the years 1913-1919 Steiner has designed and built theater
building for anthroposophic company - Goetheanum, which
burned down in 1922 to 1923. Between 1924 to 1928 in
Dornach, Switzerland, Steiner has built the so-called Second
Goetheanum.
(Le Corbusier, after the defeat of his totalitarian vision of
housing, returned to ecclesiastical architecture and designed in
1950 the chapel in Ronchamp, referring to Steiner's
Goetheanum.)

Erich Mendelsohn, Factory in Luckenwalde, 1921

Rudolf Steiner, Second Goetheanum, 1924-28

23

Rudolf Steiner, First Goetheanum, 1913-19

Around 1923, it became clear that the unique and costly

expressionist architecture does not solve the problems facing
the constant Germany and all over Europe, seeking a solution to
the problem of mass, industrialized housing. Both, the
Dutch De Stijl and the German architects (eg. Bruno and Max
Taut) tried to find a solution. De Stijl concepts and his own
experiences of working in Werkbund led Walter Gropius - the
most influential architect at that time - to change of attitude.

BAUHAUS

In 1919, Walter Gropius was appointed as a director of the

new school called the State Bauhaus, formed from a
combination of the Weimar art school with the local school of
arts and crafts. His designs from that period bear distinctive
features of expressionism. The school's program has been
formulated in the first years of operation. The first
breakthrough in the history of the Bauhaus was coming
of Theo van Doesburg to Weimar in 1922, who introduced the
ideas of De Stilj group to Gropius. Gropius did not want to hire
him as a lecturer (probably for reasons of prestige), but Van
Doesburg lived for a time near the Bauhaus and tried to
promote his program among school students. The second
turning point was the arrival of Laszlo Moholy-Nagy. MoholyNagy took over (after Johannes Itten) management of the basic
course and became an ardent proponent of constructivism.

24

Georg Muche, Model building, Bauhaus, 1923

Beginning a new phase in the history of the Bauhaus illustrates

the model building shown at the exhibition in 1923. MoholyNagy prepared the catalog for this exhibition. His harshness
and awkwardness contrasts with the completed one year later
Rietveld house in Utrecht, which is the first and last example of
successful application in architecture theory of elementarism.

In 1922, Le Corbusier, inspired by the ideas of Karl Scheffler

(functional
layout
of
the
city),
designed
the Ville
Contemporaine- a city of 3 million inhabitants. On this basis,
he prepared so-called Plan Voisin, shown in 1925 in l'Esprit
Nouveau pavilion at the World Exhibition of Decorative Arts.
Plan Voisin covered a right-bank center of Paris, built-up with
eighteen regularly spaced, 60-storey skyscrapers. The project
was named after the French car maker Gabriel Voisin, who
financed it.

Le Corbusier, Plan, Voisin, 1925

25

At the World Exhibition of Decorative Arts in Paris, 1925 (which has

promoted the art-deco style), were also presented some very important
works ofconstructivism, such as the Russian pavilion designed
by Konstantin Melnikov.

Konstantin Mielnikow, Soviet Pavilion, 1925

Le Corbusier, Pavilion l'Esprit Nouveau, 1925

26

In 1926, in Dessau, Walter Gropius realized

building complex of New Bauhaus and several
houses for university professors. Projects of
Gropius show signs of impacts of van Doesburg,
elementarist architecture of Rietveld and his
own experiences with the project of Fagus
factory.
In 1930, Mies van der Rohe became the new
director of the Bauhaus, but Walter Gropius was
the architect who created, brought to perfection
and has exhausted the potential of a style that
was synonymous with Bauhaus, international
styl and functionalism - in the best and worst
sense of the concepts.

< Kompleks budynkw Bauhausu, Dessau, 1926

27

Also in 1926, Adolf Loos made for the Dada poet Tristan Tzara
house design, which was indeed devoid of ornamentation, however, did
not belong to the mainstream functionalism, but - full of dark symbolism draws its inspiration from the same source as Le Corbusier in his much
later
projects
of
churches.
The project is really brilliant and looks better in the retouched black-andwhite
photography
than
in
reality.
In fact, Loos repeated here in a refined version the garden facade of
(designed in 1910) Steiner's hoose, but the perfect proportions completely
abstract compositions were spoiled by reduction of a "high forehead" of the
building.

Adolf Loos, Tristana Tzara House, 1926

28

The year 1927 is very important

because of the exhibition of
Werkbund,
organized
on
the
estateWeissenhof in
Stuttgart,
which shows the residential houses
designed by the leading avantgarde architects, including Le
Corbusier, van der Rohe, Gropius,
Ouda,
Stam,
Breuer.
Mies van der Rohe (author of visible in the center - multi-family
building)
created
the
urban
concept.
Weissenhof
estate,
presenting examples of various
trends in modern architecture has
become
synonymous
with
functionalism - whatever that term
could mean.

29

In 1928, Mies van der Rohe created

two
important
projects:
the Tugendhat Villa in Brno, and
the German Pavilionat the World
Exhibition
in
Barcelona.
It
is
impossible not to notice that both of
these buildings are a mix of
influences of Wright (Van der Rohe
met his work already in 1910 in the
Behrens studio) and Rietveld. You
can also see a fascination with
Japanese architecture. The entire
American and European avant-garde
owes Japan more than willing to
admit.
< Villa Tugendhat, Brno, 1929

< German Pawilion, Barcelon, 1930

30

CIAM

Representatives of the architectural avant-garde, who deny the results of the international competition for the Palace of the
League of Nations in 1927 (Le Corbusier lost the competition) met in 1928 at La Sarraz near Lausanne. They established
the International Congress of Modern Architecture (CIAM) in order to promote the principles and creating an organizational
framework for modern design. In the years 1928 - 1956 CIAM held 11 meetings. The most important were the congresses in
Brussels (1930) dedicated to the sustainable building (industrialization) and the Congress of Athens (1933), ended with the
signing of Athens Charter. Athens Charter laid down the principles of modern urbanism, but - against the will of the signatories
- was responsible for dissemination of modern blocks of flats as the natural environment.

Castle at La Sarraz and historical photography od the founding Congress of CIAM, 1928 (in a circle, Le Corbusier)

31

In 1929, Le Corbusier (who spend more and more attention

to urban planning) has created a Villa Savoy, the building
ideally making the famous five points of modern architecture,
which stripped the walls of the supporting functions and
allowed the free formation of the plan and elevation of the
building:
pillar
design
free
plan
free
facade
a
wide
window
rooftop
garden.
Puristic, extreme rationalist in statements, but extremely
mystical in fact, concept of the architectural absolute.
Le Corbusier, Villa Savoy, Poissy, 1929

ART-DECO AND STREAMLINE

32

In the late 30's, in the U.S. many skyscrapers designed in art-deco style was built, with
Chrysler Buildung and Empire State Building at the helm. Art-deco became popular and
the whole urban districts in the most exotic places in the world were designed in this style.
Parallel version of art-deco called streamline. It was almost entirely devoid of ornament,
marked by dynamic lines and vertical structures, which for a long time dominated not only
architecture, but also the entire industrial design. But keep in mind that the American
streamline as a style for fast cars and modern liners, comes from German Expressionism
(Poelzig/Mendelssohn) whose earliest examples arose in Eastern Europe.

Erich Mendelsohn, Red Star Facory, Petersburg, 1925

Department store, Wrocaw, 1927 (right)
Chrysler Building in art-deco style

ARCHITECTURE OF TOTALITARIANISM

33

Years of the 30th was a period of different varieties

oftotalitarianism. Stalin, Hitler and Mussolini substantially
influenced the development of architecture as a field (with the
economic and ideological reasons) most dependent on the policy.
Different, however, was the fate of architecture under the rule of
three
dictators.
Hitler solved the problem in the simplest way - he denied the
architecture and modern art as a whole, recognizing it as a
perverse (entartete) result of an international Jewish-communist
complot. Hitler had his own vision of architecture (he drew
Neoclassical reconstruction projects of Linz), which is treated as
an imperial decoration to the 1000-year Reich ceremony, but
otherwise using the great architects such as Albert Speer, he
created expressionistic version of the Empire, with art-deco
decoration.
Stalin's Empire was built by the legions of avant-gardist. For
example, the so-called Brigade of May (originating from the
Bauhaus), rode through Russia in a special train-offices and
designed dozens of big industrial cities - eg. Magnitogorsk - in
just three years. Stalin subordinated constructivism to Soviet
ideology and created the architecture, which combined
"architektons" of Malevich with art-deco ornamentation.

34

Archival postcard from the International Technology Exhibition in Paris in 1937, shows German (left) and Soviet (right) Pavilions
standing opposite each other and perfectly sums up the topic.

The most interesting is the history of architecture of fascist Italy, because a pre-war fascism (which is only for historical reasons
can be directly associated with Nazism and Stalinism) had the support of the radical avant-garde (Marinetti was an individualist-

35

fascist, which considered Christ as a futurist), Gruppo Modernist 7 (founded in 1926) as well as Novecento movement (formed in
1922), which completly negated the modernism and alluded to the great tradition of the Italian Renaissance.
Since the mid 1920's until the outbreak of war in Italy carried out the objects belonging to the even contradictory aesthetic
worlds.

Arc de Triomphe, Bolzano, 1925-28, Marcello Piacentini

Novocomum, Como, 1928-29, Giuseppe Terragni, Gruppo 7

36

Casa del Fascio, Como, 1933-36, Giuseppe Terragni, Gruppo 7

Court House, Bolzano, 1939

37

Very interesting building is the Palazzo

del
Lavoro
della
Civilta,
called Colosseo Quadrato, designed
before the war for the world exhibition,
planned
for
1942
in
Rome.
It is worth remembering about this
building, when examining the history
of contemporary postmodernism.

Colosseo Quadrato, 1940

38

ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE

Antonio Gaudi, Casa Battlo, 1906

In parallel with the international style (based on the

geometric
abstractionism,
standardization
and
industrialization), developedorganic architecture, designed
to create harmony of the artificial environment created by
humans
to
the
natural
environment
of
nature.
This harmony can be interpreted in several ways and hence
many misunderstandings about assigning individual objects to
organic
architecture.
Often the organic architecture includes such objects whose
form and material selection have been inspired by the world
of plants and animals. The dynamic, curved line is the
opposite of cool, "soulless" geometry. On this basis, the
organic architecture includes buildings of Antonio Gaudi, Art
Nouveau ornaments, expressionist works of Mendelsohn and
Steiner, and virtually every building resembling a fish, bird,
mammoth or dragon, and covered with thatch, reed, wood
shavings, leather, etc. In addition to these, the architects of
"organic" include, for example, Aalto, Saarinen, Makovecz,
and even Scharoun - the author of Berlin Philharmonic.
Such buildings have nothing to do with the "organic
architecture", although it may be helpful to create for them a
type of "biological expressionism. "
The second yardstick to determine the organic architecture is
aconstruction, based on solutions derived from the natural
world. Such "structures" are, for example, a network of
spider, bubble, stock bamboo or cereal crops column. This
consistently used inspiration usually leads to a form

39

associated with the world of living nature, but their automatic

reckoning for organic architecture does not seem justified,
because the method itself does not guarantee the
preservation of what is the basis for harmony - the balance
between the parts of a whole, and between whole and the
environment.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin I, 1914

A third way of understanding of organic architecture is based

on the definition of the organism, which (as opposed to a
mechanism consisting of interchangeable parts) is the result
of natural growth of form. In short - a mechanism arises from
the independent, external elements, while the organism
develops from within, developing its elements as integral
parts.
Implementing such a concept can lead either to a building
consisting of several interpenetrating elements, or to a
complex of separate buildings, organized around the
functional center that recognizes the natural environmental
conditions. Organic character of such architecture is
independent of materials and structures used, because the
result solely from the way of space organisation.
Prairie houses built by Frank Lloyd Wright before 1910
announced so understood organic architecture. Its full
implementation
were:
Taliesin
I,
1909
1911
Taliesin
West,
1934
1937
Fallingwater - Kaufmann House, 1935-1937

Richard Neutra, Lovell House, 1929

Taliesin I (built under the clear influence of the Japanese

fascination) is Wright's own house, consisting of a series of
penetrating buildings that fit into the hill located on the lake,
with
a
a
multi-level
courtyard
as
center.

40

Fallingwater is
a
set
of
functionally
distinct
but
interpenetrating spaces, connected by the abstract structure
of reinforced concrete terraces, glass walls, and free-hanging
over
the
mountain
stream.
Taliesin West, a large complex of buildings with a rich
program (Wright's winter house, the school of architecture,
the foundation and the museum), freely arranged on the
sands and rocks of the desert near Phoenix in Arizona. This
complex of buildings has already announced a post-modern
ecological architecture, fortunately - thanks to Wright's talent
- maintained within the limits of what still can be called
architecture.

Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater - Dom nad wodospadem, 1937

Organic architecture understood as a particular way of

space organisation and as relationship between buildings
and natural environment is completely independent from
the architectural style of building treated as an object and
can be successfully implemented even in the forms typical for
the international style. An example of such an architecture
can be garden part of Lovell House, designer by Richard
Neutra in 1929, considered the classic work of international
style. Despite the formal relationship to the Farnsworth House
by Mies van der Rohe or the Johnson's Glass House, the
building has more connections with nature, than curved,
organic forms od the ecological "green" architecture.

Frei Otto, Olympic Stadium, Munich, 1972

41

Frank Lloyd Wright, Taliesin West, 1934-37

POST-WAR ARCHITECTURE

42

Second World War is not an important watershed in the history of architecture. Totalitarian architecture was also a marginal
phenomenon, even though the victory of the Soviet Union has lengthened for decades the process of dying of utopian ideas of
social and urban planning. The only important effect of the war was the exodus of European avant-garde to the United
States (Gropius, van der Rohe etc.), which determined the final transfer of the center of the avant-garde to America.
Postwar Architecture faced an unresolved problem - mass housing. International Style, stubbornly called functionalism, exhausted
its possibilities. Visionary in individual realizations, refined in the works of genius (Villa Savoy) - international style used in
housing has never exceeded the level of Weissenhof (1927), Sdra ngby estate near Stockholm (1933-1940 - photo on the left)
and
led
to
the
spread
of
duplicated
boring,
impersonal
cages
for
people.
Functional
Architecture
is
an
architecture
of
paradoxes:
- Almost all the works of the international style built in the interwar period are individual residences or public buildings on a small
scale
(even
for
complex
Bauhaus),
Nearly
all
projects
are
unique
buildings,
expensive
and
designed
for
the
social
elite,
- These projects
were
done
by architects
who advocated program
of low-cost industrialized housing.
International Style architects created the idea of building mass, but precisely in this area they suffered a spectacular defeat,
whose symbol became Pruit Igoe housing estate. However, the modernist architects did not want to admit defeat, and
concentrated their activities in the field of large-scale public architecture.

43

Style International has created a work, whose brilliance

and determination can only be compared to "Black square
on white" by Kazimir Malevich. It is the Farnsworth
House by Mies van der Rohe, designed in 1945 and run
until
1951
in
Plano
(Illinois).
In 1949, Philip Johnson, Mies collaborator, designed
the Glass House (New Canaan, Connecticut), the building
of similar spatial concept. Both buildings are magnificent
examples of consistently realized idea of functional
architecture, the two wonderfully combine internal and
external space, but in this space, there was no place for
a real existing human being.

Mies van der Rohe, Farnsworth House, 1946-51

44

Philip Johnson, Glass House, 1949

45

Two famous glass houses amounted a dwelling house to the

level of an abstract being (the next step could lead to the
removal of the construction). Farnsworth House and the Glass
House influenced the mentality of modern, particularly young
architects.
In 1945, John Entenza, an advocate of modernism and
publisher
of
the
influential
magazine Arts
&
Architecture conceived
and
financed
the Case
Study
Houses - a program aimed at creating model projects of - how
do we know it - "simple and cheap housing. " Entenza invited
many prominent architects (Neutra, Eames, Soriano, Saarinen,
Koenig), who designed 36 houses in the years 1945 - 1966.
Some of these projects have been completed. While some
projects completed at the beginning of the program was an
attempt to solve the problem (simple and inexpensive
Charles and Ray Eames, Eames House, 1949 residential house), then after 1947/49 - when Farnsworth
House and Glass Housethe were already known - the
imagination of most architects was dominated by the idea of a
huge, glazed wall.

Ralph Rapson, CSH#4 - Greenbelt House, 1945

46

Richard Neutra, CSH#20A - Bailey House, 1948

Pierre Koenig, CSH#21, 1958

Charles Eames and Eero Saarinen, SCH#9 - Entenza House, 1949

47

Pierre Koenig, CSH#22 - Stahl House, 1960

Poniewa budynki te zaprojektowali wybrani przez Entenz

modernici, trudno byo spodziewa si przytulnych zaktkw i
spadzistych
daszkw,
mona
byo
jednak
oczekiwa
przynajmniej
odrobiny
programowego
racjonalizmu.
Racjonalist okaza si ojciec duchowy zjawiska - Mies van der
Rohe, ktry nie projektowa ju wicej domw mieszkalnych, ale
skonscentrowa si na budynkach uytecznoci publicznej
poniewa zrozumia, e te dwa rodzaje architektury nie dzieli
nazwa ani funkcja, ale charakter organizowanej przestrzeni.
Do koncepcji horyzontalnego, szklanego absolutu zawieszonego
w stalowych ramach mia powrci 10 lat pniej w Crown Hall.

Mies van der Rohe, Crown Hall, 1956

THE SECOND CHICAGO SCHOOL

48

The symbol of modernism of the twentieth century - a

skyscraper - geometrically pure, devoid of any ornaments,
glass, curtain walls - had its prototypes in New York's McGraw
Hill Building in 1931 and the PSFS Building (Philadelphia
Saving Fund Society), built in Pennsylvania in 1932 - only two
years after construction of the Chrysler Building (please note
the two towers in the background PSFS). However, both
buildings have features art-deco style - they were not the
image of the absolute.

William Lescaze/George Howe, PSFS Building, Pensylwania, 1932

49

Raymond Hood, McGraw Hill Building, Nowy York, 1931

50

In 1947, Mies van der Rohe designed two apartment buildings

in Chicago and this enabled him to realize the vision, which he
presented at the Friedrichstrasse skyscraper proposal in 1921.
860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments almost fully
implement the principle of Modernist architecture - "less is
more" - and are the first large building almost completely
devoid of any decorations. It is not quite true, because the
beams, which divide the faade in the mathematical rhythm of
"bars" do not arise from the construction of the building, so
they're in some twisted sense a decoration - but at least they
are
not
an
"ornament".
Implementation and the positive acceptance of Mies buildings
have opened the way for a whole mass of buildings designed by
the same rules (Lever House - Gordon Bunshaft, 1951-1951).

51

Gordon Bunshaft, Lever House, 1951-51

Lever House introduced a modification, which seems to be

purely cosmetic surgery, but it is very important - dull box of
the main building received a crowning cornice, which was
equivalent to the cornice of a typical building of the first

52

Chicago School. The fact that this element hides the technical
floor is irrelevant - the cornice is a purely aesthetic. Its
emphasis was so strong that it was repeated in many
subsequent buildings - including UN Headquarters in New York
(Harrison / Abramovitz - completed in 1953) and even in
Seagram Building (mies, 1958) - the last of the projects, which
ends the story of the second Chicago School and perhaps the
entire history of classical modernism.

< Mies van der Rohe, Seagram Building, 1957

nowojorskie wieowce z chicagowskim gzymsem.

53

54

International Style exhausted its possibilities upon the

foundation ofFarnswoth House, 860-880 Lake Shore
Drive and Crown
Hall by
Mies
van
der
Rohe.
Modernist architecture has suffered a complete defeat in the
field of mass housing - probably because it was the first
attempt to realize the wrong and inhuman idea of the
anonymous crowd crammed in the anonymous framework of
the industrialized, high-rise, multifamily housing. Architecture
has failed because she could not solve the task incorrectly
worded. Even Frank Lloyd Wright suffered a defeat in
attempting to solve the problem of affordable single-family
housing. He tried to build a "cheap villa for the poor millionaire"
and his Usonian Houses were just ugly, wooden boxes.
< Frank Lloyd Wright, One of the Usonian Houses

BRUTALISM

55

Le Corbusier, Notre Dame du Haut, Ronchamp, 1955

In the fifties of the twentieth century, architects faced the

following
choice:
- to develop an international style and try to humanize him to
avoid the trap of abstract glass cages on a steel frames,
- or declare it for the closed experience, put them into a
directory of historical styles and look for different means of
expression.
The problem was, that abstraction can be humanized only in
two ways - by the differentiation of texture and detail (and
therefore the type of ornament), or by striking differentiation of
form, which inevitably leads to some version of Expressionism
(which
in
combination
gives
the
art-deco
style.)
Both methods are a denial of international style, in which there
was no ornament at all, and combining of volumes is
subordinated to the function.
Le Corbusier, the Pope of the international style, has done a
most radical reversal, trying both ways. In the years 1950 1955 he created a chapel of Notre Dame du Haut in
Ronchamp, which actually is not an oarchitectural object. It is
a sacred sculpture - monumental form with the RomanesqueAfrican holes scattered randomly on the massive, concrete
walls, and its functional concept combining the intimate chapel
with
the
arena
of
mass
religious
gatherings.
In the years 1952-1959, Le Corbusier designed the Dominican
monastery of Sainte Marie de La Tourette near Lyon. One
wing of the building located on a slope, rested on thin piles as
in the Villa Savoy (without any functional significance), and the
windows of the residential part is divided into a dense rhythm of
monastic cells, creating an atmosphere of a medieval defensive
structure. The building is made of raw concrete and speaks
much more complex language than the language of calipers and

56

ruler.
Both buildings designed by Le Corbusier, inspired (for the next
two decades) architects around the world (including Poland).
Using blocks of raw concrete, determining form and texture of
the building, has become a hallmark of brutalist architecture
(brut - raw). One of his representatives was Louis Kahn, the
author of, among others:

Wojciech Pietrzyk, Ark of the Lord Church, 1967-77

National Assembly Building, Dhaka, Bangladesh, 1962

57

Le Corbusier, Sainte Marie de La Tourette, 1959

Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, 1959

Kallmann McKinnell & Knowles, Boston City Hall, 1969

58

NEO-EXPRESSIONISM

In a completely different direction went architects, who were

limited by the ascetic formula of "Internationale". These
architects have been fascinated with completely different forms,
such as the tribune of Madrid Hippodrom by Eduardo Torroja,
Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Bello Horizonte (Brazil)
by Oscar Niemeyer, a mexican pavilion of "Floating Gardens"
by Felix Candela, the Philips Pavilion at the exhibition in
Brussels by Iannis Xenakis, and an ice rink roof in New Haven
by Eero Saarinena. They were interested in opportunities that
give the architect a new construction techniques, allowing any
shape of the most sophisticated roofs.

Eduardo Torroja, Madrid Hippodrome, 1935

59

Oscar Niemeyer, St. Francis of Assisi, Bello Horizonte, Brazil, 1946

Iannis Xenakis/Le Corbusier, Pawilon Philipsa, Brussel, 1958

60

Frank Lloyd Wright, Guggenheim Museum, Nowy York, 1959

Felix Candela, Floating Gardens, Mexico, 1958

This trend, breaking the geometry of the right angle, created

over the next years several remarkable buildings, among which
draws attention - aesthetically and functionally questionable,
but conceptually great - Solomon Guggenheim Museum in
New Yorkby Frank Lloyd Wright. The one-in-six-storey
contemporary art gallery has no stairs, because it is running up,
upward extending spiral. There is a clear affinity with the
(upside down) spiral monument to the Third International by
Vladimir Tatlin (which, in turn, refers to "Leonardo stairs" in the
castle of Chambord).
If you specify the style of architecture of years 1950-1960

61

as neo-expressionism, it can be divided into three streams:

Lyrical Expressionism - referring to the association with the
organic world, emphasizing the lightness and immateriality of
structures. An example may be International Airport of John
F. Kennedy by Eero Sarrinen, 1961...

Eero Saarinen, David S. Ingalls Skating Rink, Yale, 1958

Eero Saarinen, John F. Kennedy International Airport, Nowy

York, 1961
Neo-classical Expressionism, using new forms to emphasize
the soaring and dynamic structure. An example is St. Mary's
Cathedral by Kenzo Tange (Tokyo, 1964), and Metropolitan
Cathedral by Frederick Gibberd (Liverpool, 1967)...

62

Kenzo Tange, St. Mary's Cathedral, Tokyo, 1964

Frederick Gibberd, Metropolitan Cathedral, Liverpool, 1967

63

James Langenheim, The Theme Building, Los Angeles, 1961

Futuristic Expressionism - derives from the tradition of

Sant'Elia and fascination of streamline-aerodynamic forms of
cars and planes, whose example would be The Theme
Building by James Langenheim (Los ANgeles, 1961), or
the Space Needle by Victor Steinbrueck (Seattle, 1962).

64

Victor Steinbrueck, Space Needle, Seattle, 1962

65

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