Architectural form &

Architects

Classical Architecture

Golden ratio
In mathematics, two quantities are in the golden ratio if their ratio is the same as the ratio of their sum to the larger
of the two quantities. The figure on the right illustrates the geometric relationship.
The golden ratio also is called thegolden meanorgolden section, Other names includeextreme and mean
ratio, medial section,divine proportion,divine section, golden proportion,golden cut, andgolden
number.
Some 20th century artists and architects, including Le Corbusier and Dal, have proportioned their works to
approximate the golden ratioespecially in the form of the golden rectangle, in which the ratio of the longer side to
the shorter is the golden ratiobelieving this proportion to be aesthetically pleasing
Phidias (490430 BC) made the Parthenon statues that seem to embody the
golden ratio.
Plato (427347 BC), in his Timaeus, describes five possible regular solids (the
Platonic solids: the tetrahedron, cube, octahedron, dodecahedron, and icosahedron),
some of which are related to the golden ratio.
The Parthenon's faade as well as elements of its faade and elsewhere are said by
some to be circumscribed by golden rectangles.
The Architectural Orders are the ancient styles of classical architecture, each
distinguished by its proportions and characteristic profiles and details, and most
readily recognizable by the type of column employed. Three ancient orders of
architecturethe Doric, Ionic, and Corinthianoriginated in Greece.
Architect Vitruvian came up with a proportion study on human form in his book
dearchitectura.
Later Leonardo da vinci gave a form to Vitruvians writing, thus Vitruvian man.
Le Corbusier in modern period again revived the concept of relation of human
proportion in his Modular man concept.

The Greek concept of form precedes the attested language and is represented by a number of
words mainly having to do with vision: the sight or appearance of a thing.
The pre-Socratic philosophers, starting with Thales, noted that appearances change quite a bit
and began to ask what the thing changing "really" is. The answer was substance, which stands
under the changes and is the actually existing thing being seen.

Platos Theory of Forms

Plato's theory of Forms or theory of Ideas asserts that non-material abstract (but substantial) forms
(or ideas), and not the material world of change known to us through sensation, possess the highest
and most fundamental kind of reality.
Starting with Plato, the theory of matter and form (today's hylomorphism) was born.
The objects that are seen, according toPlato, are not real, but literallymimicthe real Forms.
According to Plato, Socrates postulated a world of ideal Forms, which he admitted were impossible
to know

Vitruvius and ideal form

Architectural bible for the new generation of humanist

patrons and architects was the ten books on
Architecture, by the roman architect Vitruvius.
The ideally proportioned forms described by Vitruvius
were derived from the ideal geometric forms discussed by
plato in philebus
Forms generated by straight lines and circles, as well as
the solids created by these forms in three dimensions .
Plato was convinced that such forms not only had
inherent beauty but were eternally and absolutely
beautiful.
Vitruvius in his 3rd book, (temple design) talked about
symmetry and proportion.
Ideal systems of proportion can be found in the perfect
proportions of the human body.
The ideal platonic phileban shapes the square and the
circle are incorporated in the proportions of the human

Medieval Architecture in Europe

Architect : Brunelleschi
centralized plans.

He was one of the foremost architects and engineers of theItalian Renaissance.

He is well known for his mathematical rational space design and the construction of dome using that.
He is the one to invent the idea of perspective.
Although Brunelleschi was considered the main initiator of stylistic changes in Renaissance
architecture, critics no longer consider him the "Father of the Renaissance".
Brunelleschi died in Florence in 1446.
In 1434 Brunelleschi designed the first Renaissance centrally planned building, Santa Maria degli
Angeli of Florence.
It is composed of a central octagon surrounded by a circuit of eight smaller chapels.
From this date onwards numerous churches were built in variations of these designs.
The building was to have an octagonal, domed space at its core, surrounded by eight ancillary spaces
Original centrally planned Santa Maria degli Angeli

Perspective invention
Creating realistic looking 3 dimensional images on a flat surface has challenged artists since
paint was first applied to cave walls.
Brunelleschi is often given credit for being the first person to create a workable
mathematical formula to use in doing so.
Medieval painters noted receding lines of architectural features, but couldnt make
mathematical sense of them.
The placement of figures within architecture was particularly perplexing.
Brunelleschis discovery is linked to his architectural work.
Presenting realistic images of what his final work would look like helped him win contracts.
He explained perspective through The peep- show demonstration.

Santo Spirito
photograph

His drawing of Santo Spirito

Constructional Dome
Brunelleschi drew upon his knowledge of ancient Roman construction as well as lingering Gothic
traditions to produce an innovative synthesis.
Employed the Gothic pointed arch cross section instead of a semi circular one
To reduce dead load, he created a double shell as was done in the Pantheon
Employed 24 vertical ribs and 5 horizontal rings of sandstone, as observed in the ruins of Roman
construction
The cupola on top was a temple of masonry acting as a weight on top of the dome.
Designed special machines for construction.

The Florence Cathedral dome (1436)

Brunelleschi's design contained two shells for the dome,

an inner shell made of a lightweight material,
and an outer shell of heavier wind-resistant materials.
By creating two domes, Brunelleschi solved the problem of weight during construction because
workers could sit atop the inner shell to build the outer shell of the dome.
To support the dome Brunelleschi devised an ingenious ring and rib support from oak
timbers.
Although this type of support structure is common in modern engineering, his idea and
understanding about the forces needed to sustain the dome was revolutionary.
The rings hug both shells of the dome, and the supports run through them. Other than a few
modifications to remove rotted wood, the supports still hold up the entire dome.
Another fear that a lot of people observing the construction had was how to actually get the
bricks on the dome to stay up in the dome, and not fall to the ground during the
construction.
He created a herringbone pattern with the bricks that redirected the weight of the
bricks outwards towards the dome's supports, instead of downwards to the floor.
By observing carefully the curve of the dome as it took shape, Brunelleschi was able to place
this bricks in key areas.

Rationally ordered space

Featured a continuous arcade
At the hospital the arcading is three dimensional, creating a loggia with domed vaults in each bay.
long loggia would have been a rare sight in the tight and curving streets of Florence, not to mention
its impressive arches, each about 8 m high
Use of Corinthian columns across its main facade and around an internal courtyard.
The design was based in Roman architecture.
It was also the first building in Florence to make clear reference - in its columns and capitals - to
classical antiquity.
Filippo Brunelleschi used ideal of pure circles squares and cubes to determine the proportions of the
arcade across the front of this orphans asylum.
He tackles the problem of developing a rational mathematical scheme for accurately depicting on a
painted flat surface the arrangement of objects on real three-dimensional space.
That is he set out to rediscover the mathematical perspective that roman painters had used.
Alberti was also working on this problem at the same time in Rome.

The Foundling Hospital, 1421-1444

Rennaisance

Ideal form & centralized plans in Architecture

Renaissance architects sought clearly expressed numerical relationships in their designs recalling
the mysticism of Pythagoras and his followers.
The circle and square were especially attractive form for renaissance designers symbolizing the
perfection of god.
Circle and square were not only considered as ideal forms for the church planning but also for the
town scheme plans.
Antonio Averlino was the first designer to use ideal form on city plan.
Ex : town sforzinda .The plan consisted of an octagonal star shaped city with streets radiating from a
central market square.
Ex; Palmanuova, a fortress city of venice, by Vincenzo Scamozzi with a nine pointed star.
Renaissance architects sought to shape space using modular units based on whole number
proportional relationships.

Antonio Averlino (Filarete)s ideal

city of Sforzinda plan.

Industrial Revolution and form

1880-1940. As a reaction to the dirty towns, urbanisation, and mechanisation of this era, movements
appeared calling for a return to wholesome living, high-quality craftsmanship, and a connection with
nature.
Some of this was manifested in a taste for exotic cultures and spirituality.
Architects were fascinated by the new materials, the production process, which in turn made them
to experiment those on building designs.

Sir Joseph Paxton(3 August 1803 8 June 1865)

Born on Paxton was born in 1803, inMilton Bryan, Bedfordshire

Paxton was very much interested in gardening, impressed by his skills and
enthusiasm The Duke offered the 20-year-old Paxton the position of
Head gardeneratChatsworth, which was considered one of the finest
landscaped gardens of the time.
In 1832, Paxton developed an interest in greenhouses at Chatsworth where he
Victoria Regia House
designed a series of buildings with "forcing frames" forespaliertrees.
Inspired by the huge leaves of the waterlily 'a natural
feat of engineering' and tested by floating his daughter
Annie on one leaf, he found the structure for his
conservatory the Victoria Regia house.
The secret was in the rigidity provided by the radiating ribs
connecting with flexible cross-ribs. Constant
experimentation over a number of years led him to devise
his glasshouse design that inspired the Crystal Palace.
With a cheap and light wooden frame, the conservatory
design had a ridge-and-furrow roof to let in more light and
drain rainwater away.
Paxton used hollow pillars to double as drain pipes and
designed a special rafter that also acted as an internal and

The Crystal Palace

1851

The Great Conservatory was thetest-bedfor the prefabricated glass and iron structural techniques
which Paxton pioneered and would employ for his masterpiece:The Crystal Palaceof theGreat
Exhibitionof 1851.
This was the first ever time to use extensive glass and steel frames.
This was an Exposition Hall, built in Victorian Style.
Modular construction system -prefabricated iron sections were used.
The Palace was 1,848 feet long, 408 feet (124m) wide and 108 feet (33m) high
Floor area of 770,000 sq ft.,1851 ft long, 450 ft wide.
It required 4,500 tons of iron, 60,000 cubic feet of timber and needed over 293,000 panes of glass.
Yet it took 2,000 men just eight months to build, and cost just 79,800
Its novelty was its revolutionary modular, prefabricated design, and use of glass.
one man managed to fix 108 panes in a single day

exandre Gustave Eiffel (1832- 1923)

He was a French civil engineer and architect.

A graduate of the cole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures.
He is known for various bridges for the French railway network, most famously the
Garabit viaduct. He is best known for the world-famous Eiffel Tower, built for the
1889 Universal Exposition in Paris, France.
Most of his works were with wrought iron, since the era was industrial revolution.

Eiffel Tower 1887 -1889

Exposition Observation Tower, Victorian Structural Expressionist

Eiffel Tower weighs 7,300 tonnes, while the entire structure, including non-metal
components, is approximately 10,000tonnes.
Eiffel used empirical and graphical methods accounting for the effects of wind
rather than a specific mathematical formula.
Careful examination of the tower shows a basically exponential shape
The form is achieved for resisting wind, and the reason it withstands steadily is a
nonlinear integral equation based on counterbalancing the wind pressure on any
point on the tower with the tension between the construction elements at that
point.
As proof of the tower's effectiveness in wind resistance, it sways only 67 cm (23
in) in the wind.

ARTS AND CRAFTS MOVEMENT

William Morris (London, England 1834 -1896)
William Morris was an artist, designer, printer, typographer, bookbinder, craftsman, poet, writer and champion of socialist
ideals. He believes that nature was the perfect example of God's creation.
He was the founder of Art and crafts movement.

The Arts and Crafts Movement was a reaction against the poor quality of design during the
Industrial Revolution.

The members of the Arts and Crafts Movement believed that the growth of industry had
destroyed traditional skills and had removed the pride that a craftsman could find in his
work.
ArtsThe
the Arts and
Crafts
Movement
themselves into crafts guilds, based
andmembers
Crafts, orofCraftsman,
houses
have
many offormed
these features:
on the
medieval
examples, in order to encourage high standards of design and provide a
Wood,
stone,
or stuccosiding
supportive
working
environment.
Low-pitched roof
Wide eaves with triangular brackets
Exposed roof rafters
Porch with thick square or round columns
Stone porch supports
Exterior chimney made with stone
Open floor plans; few hallways
Numerous windows
Some windows with stained or leaded glass
Beamed ceilings
Dark wood wainscoting and mouldings
Built-in cabinets, shelves, and seating

The red

THE ART NOUVEAU MOVEMENT

Art Nouveau means for new styles in French
styles developed in response to industrial revolution and art and
craft movement.
Well known in French, Belgium and Germany.
According to the philosophy of the style, art should be a way of
life.
Iron, Stained glasses, The Curing Door Handles, The Vegetal Curve,
Dynamic beauty of the banister, The Slender Iron Pillars,
The
Architects:
coilingHorta
patterns(Belgian
of the mosaic
floors
are1947)
some the features of its
Victor
architect,
1861
form.
Victor Horta created buildings which rejected historical styles and marked the
beginning of modern architecture.
He conceived modern architecture as an abstract principle derived from
relations to the environment, rather than on the imitation of forms.
Organic forms established by Horta do not meet standard ideas of modern
architecture, but Horta generated references ideas of many modernist.
Ex : Hotel Tassel - Elegant urban house with facade defined around centered,
stacked orielbay windows and balcony.

enry Van De Velde (Belgian architect, 1863 1957)

Borrowing from his own Flemish background and the English Arts & Crafts
movement, Van de Velde developed a highly detailed, style.
Using concrete as an expressive element, he created ornamental designs and
ornate interiors which directly influenced the Art Nouveau movement.
Ex - BLOEMENWERF HOUSE

Antonio Gaudi (Spanish architect,1852 1926)

Gaudi developed a sensuous, curving, almost surreal design style which
established him as the innovative leader of the Spanish Art Nouveau
movement.
With little regard for formal order, he juxtaposed unrelated systems and
altered established visual order.
Gaudi's characteristically warped form of Gothic architecture drew
admiration from other avant-garde artists. Ex - Casa Batllo, SagradaFamilia Expressionistic, fantastic, organic forms in undulating facade and roof line.

Modernism
Modernism is a philosophical movement that, along with cultural trends and changes, arose from
wide-scale and far-reaching transformations in Western society in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries.
Modernist Architecture; The term is often applied to modernist movements at the turn of the 20th
century, with efforts to reconcile the principles underlying architectural design with rapid
technological advancement and themodernizationof society.
Architectural modernism was adopted by many architects and architectural educators, and
continued as a dominant architectural style for institutional and corporate buildings into the 21st
century.
Modernism eventually generated reactions, most notably Postmodernism which sought to
Theme of the
form
preserve
pre-modern
elements, while "Neo-modernism" has emerged as a reaction to Post modernism.
the notion that "Form follows function", a dictum originally expressed by Frank Lloyd Wright's
early mentor Louis Sullivan, meaning that the result of design should derive directly from its
purpose
simplicity and clarity of forms and elimination of "unnecessary detail"
materials at 90 degrees to each other
visual expression of structure (as opposed to the hiding of structural elements)
the related concept of "Truth to materials", meaning that the true nature or natural appearance of
a material ought to be seen rather than concealed or altered to represent something else
use of industrially-produced materials; adoption of the machine aesthetic
particularly in International Style modernism, a visual emphasis on horizontal and vertical lines

Architects

Notable architects important to the history and development of the modernist movement
include Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius, Erich Mendelsohn, Frank
Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, Gerrit Rietveld, Bruno Taut, Arne Jacobsen, Oscar Niemeyer
and Alvar Aalto.

Form Follows Function!

ther of modern architecture - Louis Henry Sullivan (Boston, 1856 1924)

Form follows function is a principle associated with modernist architecture and industrial design
in the 20th century.
The principle is that the shape of a building or object should be primarily based upon its
intended function or purpose.

Sullivan's designs generally involved a simple geometric form decorated with

ornamentation based on organic symbolism.
As an organizer and formal theorist on aesthetics, he propounded an architecture
that exhibited the spirit of the time and needs of the people.
Considered one of the most influential forces in the Chicago School, his
philosophy that form should always follow function went beyond
functional and structural expressions. He influenced by Hobson
Richardson, whom Sullivan was a great admirer.
Louis Sullivan's phrase"form (ever) follows function"became a
battle-cry of Modernist architects after the 1930s.
However, Sullivan himself neither thought nor designed along such
dogmatic lines during the peak of his career.

ten floors of offices

covered with white terracotta tiles hung
on the steel frame
punctuated by rows of large windows.Sits
on a two-storey base
Framed as part of the metal structure
Panels above and around the main
doorways are filled with Sullivans own
luxurious decoration in cast iron.

Carson, Pirie and Scott Store", Chicago.

"Schlesinger-Mayer Store"

Deconstructivism

Philip Johnson
Philip Cortelyou Johnson(July 8, 1906 January 25, 2005) was an influential American
architect.
He is especially known for his postmodernwork since the 1980s.
In 1930, he founded the Department of Architecture and Design at theMuseum of Modern
Artin New York City. In 1978 he was awarded anAmerican Institute of ArchitectsGold Medaland
in 1979 the firstPritzker Architecture Prize.

The Glass House

Johnson's early influence as a practicing architect was his use of glass.
TheGlass House(1949) that he designed as his own residence inNew Canaan
Johnson curated an exhibit ofMies van der Rohework at theMuseum of Modern Artin 1947,
featuring a model of the glass Farnsworth House.
The concept of a Glass House set in a landscape with views as its real "walls" had been
developed by many authors in the German Glasarchitektur drawings of the 1920s, and already
realized by Johnson's mentor Mies.
The building is anessayin minimal structure, geometry, proportion, and the effects of
transparency and reflection.
The house sits at the edge of a crest on Johnson's estate overlooking a pond. The building's
sides are glass and charcoal-painted steel; the floor, of brick, is not flush with the ground but sits
10inches above.
The interior is an open space divided by low walnut cabinets; a brick cylinder contains the
bathroom and is the only object to reach floor to ceiling.
The house sits at the edge of a crest on Johnson's estate overlooking a pond. The building's
sides are glass and charcoal-painted steel; the floor, of brick, is not flush with the ground but sits
10inches above.
The interior is an open space divided
by low walnut cabinets; a brick
cylinder contains the bathroom and is
the only object to reach floor to ceiling
Later, Johnson added a painting
gallery with an innovative viewing
mechanism of rotating walls to hold
paintings followed by a sky-lit
sculpture gallery.
Johnson viewed the ensemble of oneroom buildings as a total work of art,
claiming that it was his best and only

Frank O Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, 28 February 1929 is a Canadian architect born inCanada, currently a United
States resident based inLos Angeles.
A number of his buildings, including his private residence, have become world-renownedtourist
attractions.
His works are cited as being among the most important works ofcontemporary architecturein the
2010World Architecture Survey, which ledVanity Fairto label him as "the most important architect
of our age
Gehry's best-known works include thetitanium-cladGuggenheim MuseuminBilbao, Spain;Walt
Disney Concert Hallin downtown Los Angeles;Louis Vuitton FoundationinParis, France;MITRay and
Maria Stata CenterinCambridge, Massachusetts.
Much of Gehry's work falls within thestyleofDeconstructivism, which is often referred to aspoststructuralistin nature for its ability to go beyond current modalities of structural definition.
In architecture, its application tends to depart frommodernism.
Deconstructivist structures are not required to reflect specific social or universal ideas, such as
speed or universality of form, and they do not reflect a belief thatform follows function
Gehry is sometimes associated with what is known as the "Los Angeles School" or the "Santa
Monica School" of architecture.
Gehrys style at times seems unfinished or even crude, but his work is consistent with the
California "funk" art movement in the 1960s and early 1970s, which featured the use of inexpensive
found objects and non-traditional media such as clay to make serious art.
Gehry has been called "the apostle of chain-link fencing and corrugated metal siding"

 Peter Eisenman(born 1932) is

anAmericanarchitect.
He was one among Newyork five.
Eisenman become more affiliated with
Deconstructivism.

Peter
Eisenman

Rem
Koolhas
Remment Lucas "Rem" Koolhaas born 17 November 1944 Dutcharchitect,architectural
theorist,urbanistand Professor in Practice of Architecture and Urban Design at theGraduate School
of DesignatHarvard University.
In 2000, Rem Koolhaas won thePritzker Prize

Zaha
Hadid

Daniel
Liebeskind
Daniel Libeskind(born May 12, 1946)
is aPolish-Americanarchitect,artist,professorandset
designerofPolish Jewishdescent.
Libeskind founded Studio Daniel Libeskind in 1989 with his wife, Nina, and is its principal
design architect.
Libeskind's work has been exhibited in major museums and galleries around the world,
including theMuseum of Modern Art, theBauhaus Archives, theArt Institute of Chicago, and
theCentre Pompidou.
Libeskind won the competition to be the master plan architect for the reconstruction of
theWorld Trade Center siteinLower Manhattan.
Critics often describe Libeskind's work asdeconstructivist

Bernard Tschumi (Form follows

Fiction)
Swiss Architect.

Bernard Tschumi(born 25 January 1944) is

an architect, writer, and educator, commonly
associated withdeconstructivism.
He does not believe in a building-user
relationship in his designs, once saying "Any
relationship between a building and its users
is one of violence, for any use means the
intrusion of a human body into a given
space, the intrusion of one order into
another." Tschumi in Architecture and
disjunction

Brutali
Truth to Materials
sm
Brutalist architecture is a style of
architecture which flourished from the 1950s to the mid 1970s,

spawned from the modernist architectural movement

The British architects Alison and Peter Smithson coined the term in 1953, from the French bton
brut, or buildings
"raw concrete",
Brutalist
usually are formed with striking repetitive angular geometries, and,
where concrete is used, often revealing the texture of the wooden forms used for the in-situ
casting.
Not all Brutalist buildings are formed from concrete. Instead, a building may achieve its
Brutalist quality through a rough, blocky appearance, and the expression of its structural
materials, forms, and (in some cases) services on its exterior.
Brutalist building materials also include brick, glass, steel, rough-hewn stone, and gabion
Brutalism as an architectural philosophy, rather than a style, was often also associated
with a socialist utopian ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially
Alison and Peter Smithson, near the height of the style.
Brutalist Architects Swiss architect Le Corbusier, Ern Goldfinger,
Walter Netsch, Marcel Breuer etc.
Geisel library

The Roger Stevens Building at the University of

Leeds is the centre piece to a large complex of
Brutalist buildings connected by skyways.

The building of RIA

Novosti, former presscenter
of 1980 Summer

Chandigarh

The Five Points of a New Architecture

Pilotis The replacement of supporting walls by a
grid ofreinforced concrete columnsthat bears the
load of the structure is the basis of the new
aesthetic.
Roof gardens The flat roof can be utilized for a
domestic purpose while also providing essential
protection to the concrete roof.
The free designing of the ground plan
The absence of supporting walls means that the
house is unrestrained in its internal usage.
The free design offaade By separating the
exterior of the building from its structural function
the faade becomes free.

Villa Sovoye
His theoretical studies soon advanced into several
different single-family house models.
The Villa Savoye is probably Corbusier's best known
building from the 1950s, it had enormous influence
On international modernism. It was designed
addressing his emblematic "Five Points", the basic
tenets in his new architectural aesthetic:
1.
Support of ground-levelpilotis, elevating the
building from the earth and allowed an
extended continuity of the garden beneath.
2.
Functional roof, serving as a garden and
terrace, reclaiming for nature the land occupied
by the building.
3.
Free floor plan, relieved ofload-bearing walls,
allowing walls to be placed freely and only
where aesthetically needed.
4. Long horizontal windows,
providing illumination and
ventilation.
5. Freely-designed facades, serving
only as a skin of the wall and
windows and unconstrained by
load-bearing considerations

THE SECRETARIAT, Chandigarh

The secretariat, the longest building in chandigarh, 254m

long,and 42m highforms the adminstrative center,with
ministeral offices grouped in the center and offices for
employees arranged on either side
The building was completed in 1958.
The building is composed of six eight storey
Blocks separeted by expansion joints.
The rough concrete again interposes in the fenestration of the two
main facades ; more than 2000 units of unique design
Appraoch to the building is through roadways below ground level
to a large parking area in front of the central block, and a floor is
left open at this level to form an entrance hall
Block 1
and
2 rises
directly
theexcavated
ground area of the parking lot and have the
3,4
and
part of
5 facefrom
on the
lower storey open between pilotis
For the rest part of block 5 and whole of 6 the level goes till plaza height, and
lower portion of these blocks are left open to a height of two storyes
The top of the building is developed as a roof garden containing the service
blocks and cafeteria for employees
Ramp enclocure
Square windows

Small entrance

Projected
porticos

Rough concrete
Finish