history of contemporary architecture - 08. Semiotics + Structuralism الشكر للدكتورة مجد الحمود

1. Modernism and the Heroic Period of
Architecture
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2. Sources of Modernism
• Modernism:
– It is a discourse.
– Within Europe society it changed, the cultural changes occurred by the aid of the
Bourgeois families in Europe (The educated and the Rich) because they were
capable of traveling since it is expensive and they can afford such a thing, and
they were interested in solving the society problem (Poorness).
• They were elites, but they had the intention to induce or change, so they
were supported by many philosophers.
• So this part of the society were interested in Arts and Cultural changes at the
same time.
• Therefore, they aided in the evolving of the modern discourse. They believed
in equity and that everybody have the right to have insurance, go to
hospitals, and have residence.
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3. • The new religion is the science.
• Changes in lifestyle using the car.
• It needed a number of measures for cleanliness and order, for standardization
and repetition, and for perfection and high finish.
• Rational ideas and no romanticism.
• A new way of representing objects in space.
• The whole concept of art changed to impressionism: new colors showing the
public life, artists were drawing their impressions.
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Sources of Modernism

4. Structuralism
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5. Modernism and the Heroic Period of Architecture – Sources of Modernism
Structuralism (1899 – 1925)
Structuralism (1899 – 1925) (Auguste Perret, Eric Mendelson):
• The reinforced concrete as a new concept of space (exposure to outside): new
elements like cantilevers and terraces are introduced.
• Structure is introduced as part of the design.
Examples:
– El Lissitsky:
• A sculpture celebrating the engineer.
– Eric Mendelson:
• Use of reinforced concrete in a plastic manner.
• Use of strip windows.
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6. Modernism and the Heroic Period of Architecture – Sources of Modernism
Structuralism (1899 – 1925)
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Eric Mendelson:
• Erich Mendelsohn was born in Poland in 1887.
• These early experiences generated a personal philosophy of "Dynamism" that
demonstrated an attitude that was both expressionistic and personal in nature.
• Mendelsohn used no historical precedents in formulating his designs.

7. Modernism and the Heroic Period of Architecture – Sources of Modernism
Structuralism (1899 – 1925)
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Eric Mendelson:
• The Schocken Department Store
• In Stuttgart, 1926, was the best known
of Eric Mendelsohn's numerous well-
designed store buildings.
• The five-storey facade was banded
horizontally with windows and panels,
providing an emphatic contrast to the
fully glazed curved vertical staircase
tower.
• It has been a prototype for many, later,
European store buildings.
Site plan of building in
central Stuttgart. North is
up, M is old market place.

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Mendeslohn’s sketches and most photographs lift it
out of context, making it a separate icon, and
historians have tended to read it in an equally
self-contained way.
But the building was very contextual:
Significantly, the six- line description given by
Mendelsohn in his Complete Works of 1930 is
largely to do with the site.
Analysis will show that he responded no only in
terms of the all-important massing, but also in
plan, in elevation, in section.
Diagram to show layering
of plan.
Diagram showing
structural grid.

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Schocken Department Store, 1926

10. Modernism and the Heroic Period of Architecture – Sources of Modernism
Structuralism (1899 – 1925)
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Hat Factory and Dye Works, Luckenwalde 1921-3
Sketch for a factory 1915
Eric Mendelson:

11. Modernism and the Heroic Period of Architecture – Sources of Modernism
Structuralism (1899 – 1925)
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Eistein Tower, Postdam, 1920-4
Eric Mendelson:

12. Modernism and the Heroic Period of Architecture – Sources of Modernism
Structuralism (1899 – 1925)
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Eric Mendelson:
EinsteinT
ower1919
Laboratory, astronomical
observatory
• Bearing Masonry, concrete
over brick.
• curvaceous, streamlinedform.
• aggressive andmassive forms.

13. Schocken store Chemnitz, 1930,
modern photo with thickened
glazing mullions.
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Villa Sternefeld, Berlin, 1923 - 1924

14. – Albert Kahn in the U.S.A., a factory for cars:
• Use of some sort of a grid.
• Ornament itself is from the reinforced concrete.
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Albert Kahn, Ford motor company factor, Michigan, 1909

15. Auguste Perret (1874-1954)
• The architect who brought that
approach to its first satisfying climax
was Auguste Perret (1874-1954).
• He was a French architect and a
specialist in reinforced concrete
construction.
• Elimination of unnecessary detail.
• Expression of structure are basic to
any understanding of modern
architecture.
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Territorial, Technical Changes, and Cultural in the 19th Century
Structural Changes for Cities

16. 1. Rue Franklin Apartments, 1904
August Perret
• In 1903 he designed an apartment
in Paris and went further than the
Chicago architects.
• He realized that that the 8-storey
frame made load-bearing walls
unnecessary; since the walls held
nothing up, the building could have
open space inside.
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Territorial, Technical Changes, and Cultural in the 19th Century
Structural Changes for Cities

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2. Theater de Champs Elysees, 1913
Territorial, Technical Changes, and Cultural in the 19th Century
Structural Changes for Cities

18. 3. Notre Dame Du Raincy, 1922 -
1925 , Auguste Perret
Its columns, vaults and tracery are
the equivalent in concrete of their
medieval predecessors in stone.
Reinforced concrete makes
buttressing and load bearing walls
unnecessary, so that a new light and
airy space was encircled .
The walls comprising the north, the
bowed east, and the south facades
are of pre-cast concrete with
variously shaped openings filled in
with colored glass and small painted
panels.
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Territorial, Technical Changes, and Cultural in the 19th Century
Structural Changes for Cities

19. – Auguste Perret Apartments:
• The use of Reinforced concrete and cantilevers and lintels
• Ornaments is embedded in the structure itself
• The aesthetics are in the structural logic
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20. – Auguste Perret Apartments:
• Auguste Perret’s House, Paris, built
1902 – 1903, has been referred to as
the first major 20th century building. It
is constructed with a reinforced
concrete frame; the architect uses the
trabeated form to provide a watered-
down type of classicism.
• Between the columns the faience
infilling panels and the windows
indicate the period decor and
fenestration.
• The novel features are the way the
design is implemented with the part-
courtyard on the face of the building
and the effect this has in strengthening
the vertical emphasis through
recessed balconies.
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21. – Auguste Perret, apartments at Paris, 1902
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Plan of typical apartment.

22. STRUCTURALISM
• based on the idea that all things are built from a system of signs (these
signs are made up of opposites: male/female, hot/cold, old/young, etc.)
• a process of searching for the relationship between elements
• STRUCTURE IS MORE IMPORTANT THAN FUNCTION.
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23. European Space Centre ESTEC
• (European Space Centre ESTEC in
Noordwijk, restaurant conference-hall
library,
• (Aldo van Eyck and Hannie van
Eyck)
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24. Nakagin Capsule Tower
• Nakagin Capsule Tower in Tokyo,
(Kisho Kurokawa)
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25. Peter Eisenman (known for being a
Structuralist with his designs)
• Designed an
innovative facade for
the University of
Phoenix Stadium in
Arizona
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26. Thank you 
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