1. The arts and crafts movement in architecture embodies the spirit of craftsmanship. In rejection to the machine aesthetic buildings that took rise during the industrial revolution, arts and crafts architects valued wood more than any other material. In Europe the arts and crafts appeared to be a Hodge podge of styles echoed in one building. Despite this range in styles seen in these European structures gothic elements and ornamentation were most frequently seen. At the Red House by William Morris we see repetition of steep gabled roofs, placing emphasis on verticality just as gothic architecture did in the cathedrals during the sixteenth century. Although wood was heavily used in the English arts and crafts movement, masonry most often adorned the exteriors of the buildings. When moving across the Atlantic and looking at American arts and crafts although the structures have many similar features there are slight local adaptations to this building from that make it unique from its European counterpart. In America the brick and mason exteriors are replaced by wood siding. The gamble house by Greene and Greene encompass what this movement was all about it America. Constructed almost entirely of wood great attention was given to even the smallest detail. It was the American arts and crafts movement later gave rise to the bungalow home which became “The” style for suburban residential architecture for decades.
http://www.gamblehouse.org/_img/photos/int/porter-stairwell.jpg
2. Supply and demand regulate architectural form” a quote from Adolf Loos an Austrian designer who in the early 20th century began the rejection of ornamentation, which can be speculated, ignited the modern movement. When understanding how this quote relates to modernism we have to ask what building materials were in great supply and demand at the rise of this movement. With the development of the assembly line steel and concrete were more readily available than any period prior in history. Combined with the use of these materials and Loos’s thought of rejecting ornamentation the modern style arose. Structures began to take on the image of the very thing producing the materials in which they were built by, the house had become a “machine for living.” When thinking about the “machine” immediately the word efficient comes to mind. This leads me to speculate that these “modern” structures must have been just as efficient. However through readings and class discussions I have come to the conclusion the house imitating characteristics of the machine are not. These houses have been criticized for their crude and unlivable nature. The efficiency of this style home had become so out of control at the Farnsworth house, designed by Mies Van der Rohe that the client actually sued the architect or how unlivable the structure was. It appears that now as we move to a more environment conscious society a great emphasis on sustainability in architecture has emerged. Although we still see structures similar in form to those of the early 20th century being built it appears that a shift in construction methods as well as material use has been made.
http://www.e-architect.co.uk/images/jpgs/chicago/farnsworth_house_gmad06_3.jpg
3. Although Frank Loyd wright practiced as the same time the Bauhaus movement was going on his interiors mantained a level or warmth, clutter, and livability. The following rendering is a study of bauhaus principles of color theory and materiality, and reduction of excess ornamentation and clutter applied to Wrights Falling Water.
Great Job
ReplyDelete