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History of architecture essay
Modern architecture history
History of architecture essay
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Contemporary Architecture
The term of “contemporary architecture” refer to the architecture of the present day. This floating definition may lead to misunderstanding of the meaning. Some may think that any recently constructed building can be belong to the contemporary architecture and this is wrong. Contemporary architecture is based on common rules, principles and characteristics by all those who practice it. Contemporary architecture is dynamic style which changes constantly. Accordingly, contemporary architecture cannot be regarded as an architectural movement.
Architectural movements, like the Baroque, Futurism, or Modernism, are always characterized by features gives the building or the structure historical identity. Since the contemporary
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Large and multiple windows are very common feature of contemporary architecture. Wide unfamiliar openings, picture windows, curtain walls, and skylights either on flat or low-pitched roofs are all use to let the sun shine in creating special effect in the place and enhances the quality of space. The benefits of this type of fenestration is to provide natural lighting in place and integrate stunning outdoor views with the interior on the other hand Clerestory windows let light in without offering outdoor views and leave valuable wall space free. To more distinguishing of contemporary interior spaces large continuous spaces are created. Continuous open spaces can be achieved by the elimination some of interior walls or re-design interior spaces and lightly colored callings and walls can create the since of wide airy …show more content…
Architects recognize the essential need for retrain back to nature and to have direct contact with the nature. Beginning with building materials that surround us natural materials are mostly used in contemporary buildings. Natural resources of materials enhance the sustainability and reduce emissions and environmental waste. Moreover recycled and nontoxic materials are used commonly for both the interior and the exterior. Plants exterior walls and on roofs very common feature increased the air quality, blend the building with the natural surroundings and to facilitate natural cooling to the interior. Contemporary designers were excellent in integrate to structure with the surrounding not only through planting roofs and surfaces but by using of local materials and blending buildings with the natural surroundings or repurposing existing buildings. Indoor spaces blend with outdoors spaces due to the use of large glasses and natural materials. Roof is given a great importance in contemporary architecture where overhanging roofs are used to produce eye-catching design and create additional shading areas without harming the
It is the new decade after the end of world war two and modernism is a well-established practice. Its pioneers and spearheads are prevalent figures looming over the new architects and designers who are trying to make their mark in the shadows of such historically influential people. With new technologies and materials emerging from the world wars the next era of modernism had started to evolved, bringing with it philosophies and ideas which seemed far removed from those of the pioneers of modernism “What emerged in the late 1940s and 1950s was an expanding synthesis of questions utterly removed from the confident statements of the pioneers.”(Spade 1971,10) Two significant buildings were designed in the 50's, both of them for educational institutes and to house students of architecture, there were both designed in completely different styles and methods. The first is Ludwig Mies van der Rohes' Crown Hall, finished in 1956 and designed as a part of a campus master plan for the Illinois Institute of technology in Chicago. Mies' design for Crown Hall is one of his most realised expressio...
Modernism vs Neo-Traditionalism: A debate on the merits and failures of two major competing paradigms in architecture and urban planning.
In the Modern movement of architecture there was an impulse to break from the classical styles and regulations that had been governing design. Through this break many new designers emerged. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe became widely regarded as a Modern architect with his simplistic designs and attention to details. Alvar Aalto of Finland was known as a Romantic Modernist as he paid homage to nature through his undulating surfaces and allusions to the landscape. Both men embraced the new movement and desired to connect their work with nature. Aalto was known for using organic shapes to influence the plans, flow of spaces, and overall form of his buildings; however, Mies relied on simplistic forms striving for less and utilizing new construction technics to create simple often overlapping angular plans. In comparing the two modern architects, their unique forms and the influence of nature on both, we are able to understand the two drastically different strategies for design and their common roots.
The essence of modern architecture lays in a remarkable strives to reconcile the core principles of architectural design with rapid technological advancement and the modernization of society. However, it took “the form of numerous movements, schools of design, and architectural styles, some in tension with one another, and often equally defying such classification, to establish modernism as a distinctive architectural movement” (Robinson and Foell). Although, the narrower concept of modernism in architecture is broadly characterized by simplification of form and subtraction of ornament from the structure and theme of the building, meaning that the result of design should derive directly from its purpose; the visual expression of the structure, particularly the visual importance of the horizontal and vertical lines typical for the International Style modernism, the use of industrially-produced materials and adaptation of the machine aesthetic, as well as the truth to materials concept, meaning that the true nat...
Frank Lloyd Wright has been called “one of the greatest American architect as well as an Art dealer that produced a numerous buildings, including houses, resorts, gardens, office buildings, churches, banks and museums. Wright was the first architect that pursues a philosophy of truly organic architecture that responds to the symphonies and harmonies in human habitats to their natural world. He was the apprentice of “father of Modernism” Louis Sullivan, and he was also one of the most influential architects on 20th century in America, Wright is idealist with the use of elemental theme and nature materials (stone, wood, and water), the use of sky and prairie, as well as the use of geometrical lines in his buildings planning. He also defined a building as ‘being appropriate to place’ if it is in harmony with its natural environment, with the landscape (Larkin and Brooks, 1993).
This case study is focused on the Shodhan House by Corbusier. Le Corbusier proved himself to be proficient in many areas. He had ambitious plans to create whole communities in his designs. He was even called the father of international style. As his style evolved, so did his buildings. The Shodhan House is an example of his purist design. There were many factors that contributed to the design of the Shodhan House, and many things had to be taken into consideration. Firstly, since the building was located in India, there were many considerations regarding weather that had to be taken into account. The owners wanted to stand out among their neighbours with an opulent design. Corbusier worked with this challenge by creating a double height ceiling and mezzanine which were design elements in many of the buildings in the area, but also exhibited the opulence of the owners. Corbusier made this building unique, but used elements common in many of his modernist designs. A flat roof (with garden), a parasol (to shade from the sun), an open facade, and the piers elevating the floor, and a ribbon window. These were the elements used in many of his designs and others.
A natural building has the same concept to a green building but rather on a smaller scale and leans towards using natural materials that are obtainable locally. Green architecture and sustainable design are closely related topics. Sustainability can be described as fulfilling the needs of current generations devoid of compromising the capacity of generations to come meeting their needs.
What makes modern architecture? Before answering this, one would need to understand what the term “modern” exactly describes. In architecture, modernism is the movement or transition from one period to another, and it is caused by cultural, territorial, and technological changes happening in the world. In Kenneth Frampton’s Modern Architecture: A Critical History, he details these three major societal changes that impact and create modern architecture.
18th Century, one of the important epochs in the human civilization, marks the period when Architects and Artists began to see and be open to the great revival of interest in the learning and values of modernism. Throughout this era, Modern Style and International Style significantly contribute in influencing its Architecture Style Period. Although both of them are parts of the 18th Century Architecture Style Period, each style has remarkably distinguishable modern language and modern antiquity in it. The first building discussed in this essay would be the Kaufmann Residence or as known as Fallingwater House which was built during the early Modern period, while the other building is Farnsworth House, which was made in international period with
Through the modern era technologies evolved and avant garde was not just a matter of being ahead in you design concepts,. but also in the materials that you use. Modernist designers, in an obsession of moving forward, where always looking to enhance their ideals with new materials. When the modernist bubble burst the post-modern views came forward, embracing styles and techniques of history, architectures where liberated to be able to blend and combine techniques from throughout history. Contemporary architects, in various forms, continue on with the post-modern legacy of taking inspiration from history and seek out to use traditional building methods not only for convenience but also economical, environmental, contextual and symbolic reasons.
Buildings reflect the values and ideas of society within periods. The role of architecture in shaping society and vice versa largely depends on the period in question and who or what affects first. The Enlightenment, and the subsequent period the Post-Enlightenment, reflect the biggest change for current ideas regarding architecture and society and current theories. At the same time, individual identities and understanding of society, progress and truth all follow a similar evolving path. It is during this dramatic shift in thinking that the role of architecture to society and the idea of progress and truth becomes a more complex relationship. How this relationship works and its implications is based on the theory that there is a direct link between the two. One cannot develop without the other. Who leads whom and to what extent they influence each other is evident in architectural trends and pioneering works by architects such as Robert Venturi, Frank Gehry amongst others.
Behind every architectural work there is an architect, whether the architect is one man or woman, a small group, or an entire people. The structure created by any of these architects conveys a message about the architect: their culture, their identity, their struggles. Because of the human element architects offer to their work not just a building is made, but a work of art, a symbol of a people, a representation, is also created.
Nature in architecture is critical. Laugier made this clear in the 1700s with his basic, but insightful, claims in “An Essay on Architecture.” Modern architects have taken his beliefs further than he probably ever imagined with technology and the cutting-edge idea of biomimicry. After studying natures’ artistic design, architectural stature, and overall success rate on this earth, I believe that the incorporation of nature is vital to architectural design.
Since the late 19th Century, Western designs, aesthetics, culture and technology have expanded globally to help communication between regions and nations. During this time, modernism was one of the dominant movements yet, relating to architecture, which is also known as ‘international style’; later granted the title ‘functionalism’ by the Bauhaus. The rise of modern architecture contributed to the exploration and invention of new ...
Abstract: New forms in current world have been testimony to the contemporary style of postmodern architecture and are the strength of today’s generation for creating significant architectural standards. Post modernism has blurred the borders between contemporary and traditional construction classical concepts and simply in the field of art and literature. The architectural elements like domes, arches, and classical shapes have lost their identity but the post modernism tries to bridge between these historical forms and contemporary styles. The related architects not only struggled to achieve the image for the buildings but also rejected oversimplified diagrams for living. The post modernism here tries to achieve theoretical base for their designs that creates the excitement in the design program.