ARCHITECTURE OF THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD:

1750s TO 1900s
 BACKGROUND
ARCHITECTURE OF THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD •ARCHITECTURE OF THE 20TH
•NEO CLASSICISM (1750-1850) CENTURY
•FRENCH NEOCLASSICISM
•STYLISTIC EXPLORATIONS
•NEO CLASSICISM IN THE US
•ORGANIC ARCHITECTURE
•NEW MATERIALS AND URBAN TYPOLOGIES •EXPRESSIONISM
•STEEL, CONCRETE, GLASS •CONSTRUCTIVISM
•BRIDGES, RAILWAY STATIONS
•INFLUENCES
•REACTIONS TO INDUSTRIALIZATION •WRITINGS
•CHICAGO SCHOOL •CONGRESSES
•ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT (1834-1896) •EXHIBITIONS
•ART NOUVEAU (1890-1914) •BAUHAUS

•INTERNATIONAL
•EXPERIMENTS AND EXPLORATIONS
AROUND THE WORLD
•DEVELOPMENT OF THE HIGH RISE
•INFLUENTIAL ARCHITECTS
•POSTMODERNISM
 THE INDUSTRIAL PERIOD

DECONSTRUCTIVIS
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POSTMODERNISM

INTERN
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ART
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ARTS
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NEOCLASSICISM

RENAISSANCE BAROQUE
 THE WEST: 1750 TO 1900

1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

 THE WEST: 1750 TO 1900
This period was characterized by:
•Colonization of the resource rich East- which was largely consolidated towards 1830s to 50s.
•Break up of the European colonies in the Americas after the American Revolution in 1776 and the Declaration of
Independence.
•Archaeological findings of Pompeii, Knossos- renewed interest in Antiquity.
•French Revolution and rise of Napoleon- unrest in Europe.
•New principals of Equality, Liberty
•Enlightenment
•Population surge in Europe- urbanization- and industrial Revolution.
•New pace of life.
•Innovations
•New materials and techniques
•Accumulation of wealth
•Rise of the US after the Civil War in 1860s

•Architecturally, this period saw the following:

•Revival of the classical Graeco-Roman styles- as a result of the revival of interests in antiquity
•Rise of the engineer, whi experimented with new materials like steel and glass.
•Development of a new language of architecture towards the end of 19 th cent- embracing new materials and rejecting
classical styles.

1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

NEO-CLASSICISM
 NEO-CLASSICISM
Visual arts, literature, theatre, music and architecture .

Inspiration from the “classical“ art and culture of ancient Greece and ancient
Rome.

Age of enlightenment (from 1620s to 1780s) : cultural and intellectual forces in

Europe emphasized reason, analysis and individualism

In architecture, the style continued throughout the 19th, 20th and up to the 21st
century .

Renaissance view of man – fundamentally good and possessed of an infinite potential for spiritual
and intellectual growth.
Neoclassical view of man : imperfect being, inherently sinful, whose potential was limited.

Symmetry, proportion, unity and harmony in art and architecture as during the renaissance.
Neoclassical works (paintings and sculptures) were serious, unemotional, and sternly heroic.

NEOCLASSICISM

1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

NEO-CLASSICISM
ARTISTIC INTERPRETATION

ROCOCO NEOCLASSIC

‘The swing ‘ 18th-century painting by jean- ‘Andromache mourning hector’  a 1783 painting

honoré fragonard by jacques-louis david .

• Frothy nature. • Architectural setting

• Playfulness • Sculptural form
• Eroticism • Dense emotions
• Frozen moment • Staged scene
 NEO-CLASSICISM
CLAUDE -NICOLAS LEDOUX & ETENNE LOUIS BOULLEE

•Extreme and visionary forms of French Neo Classicism

•Absolute forms- spheres, cubes, cylinders, pyramids- Platonic ideals
•Source of these forms- nature
•Factory complex of Chaux at Arc-et-Senans
•Radical simplification of forms
•Reduction in ornamentation
•His Architecture of the Revolution : graphic structure and
visionary character- attempts to give forms to the theories and
utopian ideals of the revolution.
Boulle: Design for a Monument for Newton (1784)

Ledoux: Director’s House at Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans Boullée’:Project for a metropolitan cathedral (1780)

 NEO-CLASSICISM
NEO CLASSICISM IN THE US

•1776- Declaration of Independence

•An architectural style suitable for the new nation was needed
•Elaboration of European Classicism
•Two styles developed in the US-
•Federal Style and Greek Revival

FEDERAL STYLE
•Sequence of heterogenous forms- enclosed by rectangles of
various sizes
•These delimit and give form to harmoniously linked spaces
•Charles Bulkfinch, William Thornton
Charles Bulkfinch: Old Connecticut State House, 1796
GREEK REVIVAL
•Closer adhesion to values and expressive and stylistic models of
the Greek civilization
•Stimulated by the archaeological findings in Greece, Italy
•Henry Latrobe-Architectural exactness and stylistic purity
•Bank of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia- Latrobe
•Modelled on Greek Ionic temples
•Central domes, porticoes
•Small details- leaves of corinthian capitals- corn and tobacco used
in place of decanthus leaves

Henry Latrobe: Bank of Pennsylvania

 NEO-CLASSICISM
NEO CLASSICISM IN THE US

CAPITOL BUILDING, WAHINGTON

DC- 1792-1827
•Thornton’s original design- Neo Classical-
Large windows, dominant domes
•It was yet not complete in 1814 when
British burned it
•Latrobe was hired to restore it- mostly
interiors
 NEO-CLASSICISM
NEO CLASSICISM IN THE US
THOMAS JEFFERSON 1769- 1809
Mansion for self- 1769-1772
•Kept adding and making changes- influence from England and France
•Palladio- central plan building and English country homes- monumental and
elegant
•Added functionality to the aesthetics
•Introduced ‘modern’ technical innovations- service elevators
•Became a reference for American classical movement

Virginia State Capitol: 1785-96

•Simplification of French neo-classicism
•Clear indication of what the young Republic wanted to state architecturally
•Influence of Maison Carree

Thomas Jefferson: Virginia State Capitol Thomas Jefferson: Monticello Estate

NEW MATERIALS
 NEW MATERIALS

IRON, GLASS AND THE ENGINEERS

•19th Century- New materials and building techniques
•Industrial scale manufacture of iron and steel alloys- end of 18 th cent and start of 19th cent
•Experiments with new shapes and types of buildings
•Classical forms along with the aesthetics of the new materials and their technical possibilities, created new and
diverse possibilities
•New materials for new spaces and new needs- eg. Green houses, exhibition pavilion, large commercial centres.
•Ductility of metallic framework used to form vast areas of glass.

EXPERIMENTATION WITH NEW

MATERIALS
1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000
NEW MATERIALS
•Railway stations- 2 different but complimentary structures: the building with classical citations and the tracks
with the technological expressiveness of the shed roofs.
•Focus of architecture shifts from display and celebrations to those of physical construction led to the birth of a
new professional- the engineer.
•Engineers- structural precision, economy of materials, building around a structural skeleton.
•Terms of theoretical debate changed- no longer around classical orders but seeking to explore expressive
possibilities of different languages.

Mannheim railway station William Henry Barlow , St. Pancras,

London, 1868
 NEW MATERIALS

GALLERIES
•A new urban typology- covered pedestrian
passages lined with storefronts.
•Came into being through initiatives of various
entrepreneurs of Paris in the 1st decade of the 19th
cent.
•Covered by glass panes set in metallic framework.
Illuminated during the night.
•Changed the rules for commercials paces.
•Offered a kind of comfort, anticipated the
department stores and malls.
•GALLERIA VITTORIO EMANUELE, MILAN,
(1865-67)
Giuseppe Mengoni: Galleria Vittorio Emanuele, Milan, 1865-67
•UMBERTO I, NAPLES (1887-90)

Emanuele Rocco : Galleria Umberto I, Naples, 1887-91

 NEW MATERIALS

BRIDGES
Coalbrookdale Bridge over the Severn River in England-
1779, designed by Abraham Darby and John Wilkinson.
•Made entirely of cast iron- first of its kind.
•Revolutionized landscapes and methods of transportation
while also revealing the level of complexity in engineering.

•James Finlay- in 1801 patented a system of trusses to

stiffen the decks of suspension bridges
•1st half of 19th century numerous bridges were built in
England using the technique of suspension bridges. Eg
Union Bridge at Tweed and Clifton Bridge near Bristol

Abraham Darby and John Wilkinson : Coalbrookdale Bridge ,

•Steel tended to replace iron. England, 1779
•Designers concentrated on obtaining lighter structures
using smaller quantities of material but guaranteeing
greater tensile strength and elasticity

James Finlay: Union Bridge at Tweed, England, 1820

 NEW MATERIALS

BRIDGES
Tower Bridge, London, 1886-94
Firth of Forth Bridge, Edinburgh, 1882-89 John Wolfe-Barry and Horace Jones
Sir Benjamin Baker •Movable bridges appeared at the end of the 19th Cent to resolve
•3 giant units supported by pylons over a total length of about 2,500 problems of commercial traffic.
metres •The central structure is a movable raodway that can be raised or
•Visionary and popular work. lowered to permit the passage of ships along the Thames.
•William Morris called it the ‘supremest specimen of all ugliness’

Bridge at Paderno d’Adda, 1887-89

Jules Rothlisberger
•Rectilinear girder supported by a parabolic arch with a span of
150 metres.
CHICAGO SCHOOL
 CHICAGO SCHOOL

Wainwright building St. Louis, USA The Home Insurance Building in Chicago built in 1885

MOVEMENT FIELD OF IMPACT PERIOD ORIGIN/ MAIN CONCEPT PIONEERS/ EXAMPLES

AND EMPHASIS CENTRES MASTERS
CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE- 1870- AMERICA PRACTICAL CONSIDERATIONS, LOUIS SULLIVAN WAINWRIGHT
SCHOOL SKYSCRAPERS 1910 ENGINEERED STRUCTURES, BUILDING
SKYSCRAPERS, ORNAMENTATION

CHICAGO
SCHOOL

1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000

 CHICAGO SCHOOL
•1871- City of Chicago -constructed mostly of wood was destroyed
almost exclusively by a great fire.
•The rebuilding of the city in stone and steel marked a revolutionary
turning point in the history of architecture.
•Chicago School- innovations by architects and engineers involved
in the city’s reconstruction.
•Specific problems: insertion of new buildings in what remained of
the urban fabric, the design of structures that would be
technologically trustworthy and resistant to fire; and the design of
forms suitable for the functions of the new buildings, most of them
for the use of service industries.
•William Le Baron Jenney- proposed a new multi-storey building-
the skyscraper. The height made possible by the invention of the
elevator increased exponentially the use of the building lot.
•Metal skeleton framework
•Framework determined the modulation of the exterior.
•Daniel Hudson Burnham- worked on an expressive language for the
large facades of the commercial buildings
•Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan – efforts to elaborate decorative
and structural elements in a new language
 CHICAGO SCHOOL

Schlesinger & Mayer Department Store, Chicago, 1899-

1904
Louis Sullivan
First skyscraper in which the supporting skeleton was left visible
Did not eliminate decorations- used to emphasize the vertical support
elements, the entrances and the outline of the lower floors.
 CHICAGO SCHOOL
Guaranty Building, Buffalo, New York, 1895
Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan
Three functional areas: large ground floor access area; the attic
located on the top and the shaft in between with number of floors.
CHICAGO SCHOOL

Reliance Building, Chicago, 1890-95

Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn Root,
High point of the Chicago School’s ‘structuralist’
current
 CHICAGO SCHOOL
Flatiron Building, New York, 1902
Daniel Hudson Burnham and John Wellborn Root,
22 floors high
Notable for its narrow, triangular shape- dictated by the
plot
ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT
 ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

William Morris, Philip Webb: Red House, London

MOVEMENT FIELD OF IMPACT PERIOD ORIGIN/ MAIN CONCEPT PIONEERS/ EXAMPLES

AND EMPHASIS CENTRES MASTERS
ARTS AND INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTS, 1834- ENGLAND, VERNACULAR, TRADITIONAL JOHN RUSKIN RED HOUSE
CRAFTS FURNITURE, WALL 1896 AMERICA CRAFTMANSHIP REVIIVED, WILLIAM MORRIS LONDON
PAPERS, AN D LIFESTYLE AGAINST INDUSTRIAL BRUTAL
ACCESORIES LIKE EXPRESSION ,/ HONESTY, AGAINAST
CARPETS/ UPHOLSTRY MACHINE PRODUCTS, NON - URBAN

ARTS
CRAFTS
1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
 ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT
•Main protagonist- designer-cum-poet, William Morris
•Morris was inspired by writings of John Ruskin who praised Gothic
architecture and criticised the monotony of factory production.
•Medieval past and medieval architecture - variety of ornament,
individual craft skills: lost due to reproduction of standard forms.
 
WHAT TO LOOK FOR IN AN ARTS AND CRAFTS BUILDING:
•Clarity of form and structure
•Variety of materials- local materials
•Asymmetry
•Traditional construction
•Craftsmanship
•free of any imposed style
•Function, need and simplicity (without spurious ornament),

•The movement declined in England after 1900

•Was influential in Europe- Germany: the
publication of Hermann Muthesius’s Das
Englische Haus and the creation of the Deutscher
Werkbund (1907).
•Influenced Frank Lloyd Wright (a founder
member of the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society)
and Greene & Greene in California. Great Coxwell Barn , William Morris
•Other architects- Philip Webb, Richard Lethaby •which he described as ‘beautiful as a
and Charles Voysey. cathedral’.
•Morris preferred plain and unadorned
buildings;
ART NOUVEAU
 ART NOUVEAU

Antonio Gaudi : Casa Batlo Antonio Gaudi : Casa Batlo Mackintosh: Lights in Glasgow
School of Art

MOVEMENT FIELD OF IMPACT PERIOD ORIGIN/ MAIN CONCEPT PIONEERS/ EXAMPLES

AND EMPHASIS CENTRES MASTERS
ART FURNITURE, STAIRCASE, 1893- PARIS AESTHETICAL, STYLISTIC, VICTOR HORTA, HOTEL TASSEL,
NOUVEAU RAILING. 1910 BELGIAN INDIVIDUALISTIC EXPRESSION, ANTONIO GAUDI, CASA MILA,
ENGLAND NATURALISM, USE OF MACHINE MAKINTOSH SAGRADA
‘USA PRODUCTS AND NEW MATERIALS IN FAMILIA
SPAIN INNOVATIVE WAY CHURCH

ART
NOU
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1400 1500 1600 1700 1800 1900 2000
 ART NOUVEAU
Introduction
•By the end of 19th Cent. It was no longer possible to escape modernity and
mass production and its application in all spheres of life.
•Rejection of eclecticism and simultaneous progress in industrial civilization.
•A new language developed – inspired directly from nature.
•References of flora and fauna.
•Dynamic lines, decorative, agile and flexible.
•Function should be matched by form, and decoration, wherever it is used,
should be natural and grow from the structure.
•The agreement of form and function is beauty.
•Primary goal- creation of ‘total art’- an artistic design that overlooked no
element but used all the elements to create a harmonious whole.
•A stringent relationship between the exterior, interior, furnishings, and even
small products.
•Language was largely international- recognizable everywhere- along with
references to local traditions.
•Important architects:
•Horta and van de Velde in Belgium
•Guimard in France
•Mackintosh in Scotland
•Gaudi in Spain
•Wagner, Olbrich and Hoffmann in Austria
•Basile in Italy
 ART NOUVEAU
BELGIUM
Victor Horta
•Influence of writings of Violletle-Duc and the creations were made possible
by developments in engineering.
•Bare metal areas following a continuous line- fluid and curving.
•This line involved all architectural elements.
•Artistic dignity to elements that were traditionally hidden, giving them
original character.

•Tassel House, 1892- became popular- spreading the style to homes,

commercial and social structures.
 ART NOUVEAU
AUSTRIA
Wagner, Olbrich and Hoffmann
•Viennese Secession Movement, founded in 1897 by a group of
artists- with the aim of opposing official academic art in favour
of an architecture and art suitable for the evolution of modern
society.
•Liberation from historicist revival and aspiration to create a
work of ‘total art’
•Control over decoration. Use of cubic blocks and geometric
decorations.

Secessionhaus , Joseph Maria Olbrich, Vienna, 1897-98

•Square module, with an atrium topped by a hemispherical dome of
gilt bronze laurel leaves and berries, framed by four towers.
•Basic forms and balanced distribution.
 ART NOUVEAU
AUSTRIA
•Otto Wagner, St. Leopold, Steinhof, Vienna, 1906
•Supporter of a bare architecture that draws its
raison d’etre from principles of construction and
from materials used.
•Shaping its volumes much like those in the
Secessionhaus- square modulewith large dome
between towers.
•Decoration more sober and measured approach.
•Covered with marble plates held in place by large
bolts that are left visible.

•Otto Wagner, Villa WagnerII, Vienna, 1913

•Isolated, symmetrical composition and a more
restrained use of decoration- only to define the
volumetric form
 ART NOUVEAU
FRANCE
•Art Nouveau in France- seen more as a decorative style than an
architectural style
•France- exposure to international influence through expositions.

Hector Guimard-
•Influenced by Viollet-le-Duc. Looked upon iron as the material
of the future.
•Used iron not just for its support function, but also because it
assumes elongated, sinuous forms that replicate curving lines of
nature.
•Thus he avoided symmetry or parallelism.
•1896- design of surface stations for the metro
•Metamorphosis of architecture and nature- combined
decoration and functionality
•Influenced by English country-house movement- every house
can rise to the status of a work of art.
•He aimed to become an expert in the techniques of all arts: the
essence and end of a building are its ‘decoration’.

•Castel Beranger, 1894-98

•Originally planned as neo-Gothic.
•Influenced by Horta
•Made it more dynamic through projections and indentations.
 ART NOUVEAU
SCOTLAND
Charles Rennie Mackintosh
•Inherited traditions of the arts and crafts movement
•1897- Glasgow School of Art- an austere and compact construction that assembles closed architectural bodies
following a rhythm of ‘disturbed symmetry’- use of carefully controlled asymmetrical elements.
•Furniture- similar simplicity- colour and decorations rejected in favour of the sharp contrasts of black and white, of
lacquered wood, and the mat design- of clear Japanese derivations- of rectangular lattices.
•Reduction of supple curves in favour of geometry- as against the Belgian version.
•Architectural details, windows, murals- use of lines (though different from that of Horta)
•Furniture and architecture- taste for planes, volumes and their geometric combinations.
•Interior spaces and objects therein- lines, colours and the play of squares
•External spaces- volumes, interlocking plane, geometry of slabs of stone, clear uniformity of plaster
•Coherence in a synthesis of organicity and abstraction
 ART NOUVEAU
SCOTLAND
School of Art, Glasgow, Library, 1896-00, 1907
•Natural light
•Traditional English windows to spread light

School of Art, Glasgow, north front, 1896-00, 1907

•Volumetric blocks, simplicity
•Art Nouveau elements- wrought iron brackets of windows
 ART NOUVEAU
SCOTLAND
Hill House, Helensburgh, 1902-5
•Influence- English country-house. Work of art
•Functional building composed of solid, square volumes that fit
together within a scheme
•Freed from classical rules
•Unadorned walls, rustic grey plaster
•Complex and variable masses, perfect relationship established
between exterior and interiors.
•Furniture- with an architectural character, careful application of light-
complete work of art
 ART NOUVEAU
SPAIN
Barcelona
•End of 19th Cent- Barcelona becomes the 1st city to have urban Design norms- to distinguish building types.
•The distinction was operated on the basis of decoration- most of all on the public parts- facade, entrance, stairs.
•This was possible due to great amount of decoration on buildings- local artisan tradition
•Decoration often involved structural members

Antonio Gaudi
•Blends decorative and structural elements from Flamboyant Gothic, from plateresque, from Mudejar art, as well
as of azulejo tiles and original mosaics in bright colours
•Strong sense of historical continuity
•Close attention to the use of materials and to the natural-artificial relationship
•Morphological constructive principles such as the use of the parabolic arc that contributes to reinforce the
dynamic sense of his lines.
•Being original means returning to the origins- revitalised the styles of the past, and a concept of rupestrian
architecture generated by seismic movements.
•Compositional freedom- plastic deformation of the physical plants of buildings- impossible to separate the
structure from decoration- (anticipating the expressionist themes)
 ART NOUVEAU
SPAIN
Casa Batlo 1905-7
•Mosaic of vitreous paste in various colours and at various angles- to make use of reflections of sunlight
•Ornamental details- wrought iron balconies, window surrounds, roof with polychrome majolica tiles
•Interior furnishing- materials and colours- intense blue to white
•Analogy to morphology of living beings- a distributive and functional logic that matches their physical image
 ART NOUVEAU
Sagrada Familia, Barcelona, begun 1882
•Expressions of Gaudi’s intellectual ideas and religious beliefs-
mystical
•Art nouveau interpretation of the Gothic style.
•Original neo-Gothic design by Del Villar.
•‘the straight line belongs to man, the curved line belongs to God’-
Gaudi
•Geometry of parabolic curves, ellipses, hyperbolas
•Structure and decoration no longer separate
•Realistic and allusive iconography at the same time
•Decoration sprouts organically from the architecture
•Vertical supports transformed into a forest of arboreal shapes.
•Dynamism and stability, stupor and reverence, religious piety and
love for nature, vague sense of suffering
•Gaudi saw incompleteness and imperfection as necessities
•Nativity facade, Passion facade,