UNIT - I

Modernity & Architecture

Measi Academy of Architecture

What comes to your mind
when you hear the term

MODERNITY?
 MODERNITY

➢ 1700’s
➢ Intellectual Movement
➢ Focus on Logical rather than Religious explanations for
events.
 BIRTH OF MODERNITY

As a historical period, modernity began in the seventeenth century and was

marked by significant social & political changes.

Key Characteristics of Modernity 3 inter-related processes:

➢ Rationalization
➢ Commodification 1st- the Enlightenment.
➢ Secularization
2nd – Industrialisation.
➢ Bureaucracy
➢ Individualism 3rd – Capitalism.
➢ Decontextalization
➢ Urbanization
 BIRTH OF MODERNITY

It could also be said that modernism began as a rejection of historical

tenants and imitations of past forms. At the time, many buildings were still
referencing forms of the past, most notably from the Renaissance. When
confidence in Renaissance values began to erode, and architects began to
consciously ask why they were imitating architecture of the past, they
began searching for a new language which expressed a more honest
reflection of the contemporary world and the current ideas at the time. The
slavish adherence to historical forms was questioned and architects began
to look forward.
 BIRTH OF MODERNITY

The wars in Europe and the two world wars

WORLD WAR
shaped the world and hastened the emergence
of a modern world. Modernism gave birth to
self consciousness and self realization that is
reflected in the works of prominent artists of AVANT - GRADE

the times. Their path breaking works that

inspired generations were labeled as avant-
garde till the concept of modernism arrived. MODERNISM
 BIRTH OF MODERNITY
But modernity is more than a period of time; it’s a way of knowing that is rooted
in the Enlightenment and positivism. The Enlightenment was a European intellec-
tual movement .

The people creating this intellectual revolution felt that the use of reason
and logic would enlighten the world in ways that fate and faith could not.

The principal targets of this movement were the Church and the monarchy, and the
ideas central to the Enlightenment were progress, empiricism, freedom, and
tolerance.

New ideas in psychology, philosophy, and political theory kindled a search for new
modes of expression.
 BIRTH OF MODERNITY

There is no clear beginning or singular building that can be marked as the

start of modernism in architecture. There were however several independent
strands of ideas that were developing in Europe around the turn of the
century (1800’s-1900’s) that show a clear connection to the movement.

The buildings that resulted from these ideas could all be strongly associated
with the notions of progress, technological advancement, industrialization
and the development of new building materials.
 BIRTH OF MODERNITY

➢ Questioned the Universal validity of Vitruvian proportions?

Result: Physical excavation of prehistoric to ancient buildings and structures to document

and understand them afresh

➢ Increased man’s ability to control nature

➢ Split between Architecture and Engineering as two different fields

➢ Discussion began on a question whether the MODERNS could not rival or even surpass
the ANCIENTS to achieve the highest ideal of Art.

Result: Replacement of CYCLIC model of history and life with the PROGRESSIVE model
addressing every age as unique and unrepeatable and as an advance on proceeding
periods.
Neo-Classicism a revival of the classical past.

INTRODUCTION
INTRODUCTION
FEATURES OF NEO CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE
Neoclassical, or "new" classical, architecture DESCRIBES BUILDINGS THAT ARE
INSPIRED BY THE CLASSICAL ARCHITECTURE OF ANCIENT GREECE AND ROME.
A Neoclassical building is likely to have some or all of these features:

1. SYMMETRICAL SHAPE.
2. TALL COLUMNS THAT RISE UP TO
THE FULL HEIGHT OF THE BUILDING.
3. TRIANGULAR PEDIMENT.
4. DOMED ROOF.
 US CAPITOL

THE WHITE HOUSE

JEFFERSON’S
MONTICELLO
NEO CLASSICISTS - CLASSIFICATION

STRUCTURAL NEO CLASSICISTS

1. MARC-ANTOINE LAUGIER
2. J.G. SOUFFLOT
3. KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL
4. HENRI LABSTROUE
5. THOMAS JEFFERSON

ROMANTIC NEO CLASSICISTS

1. CLAUDE NICOLAS LEDOUX.

2. ÉTIENNE-LOUIS BOULLÉE
3. JEAN-NICOLAS-LOUIS DURAND
STRUCTURAL NEO CLASSICISTS
Marc-Antoine Laugier
• Born January 22, 1713 in France
• Studied at ages 14-17 at college at Avignon
to become a Jesuit priest, then on to Lyons, Province.
• Participated in public education with the Jesuits
• Developed interest in architecture and began
discovering buildings on his own.
• Spoke publicly to the king and his consorts
regarding religious and political problems
• Wrote the Essai. Easy for people to read and understand.
• Became “l’Abbe Laugier” by appeal and worked on his own
• Worked with embassy and devoted his time to writing
• Wrote Essai sur l'architecture (1753) among others including: Observations
sur l’architecture, Venetian history, Peace of Belgrade, Art criticism,
History of troubadours, Commerce of the Levant, History of Malta, History
of the Popes.
• Died April 5, 1769 in Paris, France
 Chapter I: General Principles of Architecture

• Founded on simple nature. Nature indicates its

rules.
– Example: The Primitive Hut
• Tells story of primitive man seeking shelter and
building out of necessity.
• What this man built became the basis for all
architecture

• The Hut is made of the following architectural

elements:
– The column
– The entablature
– The pediment

•He searched for absolute beauty, which in his primitive hut came from nature.
Was rooted in functional or structural basis. (This theory was the basis of the
so-called Rationalist movement.)
 The Primitive Hut

• Like Vitruvius, Laugier places the origins of

architectural forms in nature: the first dwelling
was built in the forest, with branches and trees.

• This differs from the previous theories of

Vitruvius in one important aspect: the hut is an
abstract concept as much as it is a material
construction.
• The Primitive Hut represents the first
architectural idea.

• Shows beginnings of an understanding of

column, entablature, and pediments. Future
architecture is based on these principles.
 Article I: The Column
•Columns must:
–Be strictly perpendicular to the ground
–Be free-standing, to be expressed in a
natural way
–Be round, because nature makes nothing
square
–Be tapered from bottom to top in
imitation of plants in nature
–Rest directly on the floor

Article II: The Entablature

•The Entablature must:
–always rest on its columns like a lintel
–In its whole length it must not have any
corner or projection

Article III: The Pediment

•The Pediment must:
–represent the gable of the roof
–never be anywhere except across the
width of a building.
–be above the entablature
J.G. SOUFFLOT

INTRODUCTION:
Jacques-Germain Soufflot, (born July 22, 1713, Irancy, France—died
Aug. 29, 1780, Paris), French architect, a leader in the development
of Neoclassical architecture and the designer of the Church of
Sainte-Geneviève (the Panthéon) in Paris.

▪ He was a respected theorist too, and after a further nine-month visit to Italy ,he was
able to demonstrate his knowledge of Classical antiquities.

▪ This important Italian study-visit, which he undertook as part of the entourage was
highly significant in the history of French architecture, for it marked a change away
from the Rococo of Louis Quinze to the Neo-Classicism of Louis Seize

Jacques-Germain Soufflot's (1713–1780) church, Saint-Geneviève (now the Panthéon),

was one of the first Neoclassical structures in France, heralding the simplification of
churches that became increasingly classical in inspiration.
PRINCIPLES
1. His severe Neoclassicism is characterized by a reliance on architectural details rather
than sculptural decoration.

2. Recreated the LIGHTNESS, SPACIOUSNESS AND PROPORTION of Classical

architecture(Gothic).

3. G. Soufflot's Roman-inspired design for the church of St. Geneviève (now the
Panthéon; 1755–92) emphasized the structural role of the column

EXAMPLE: church of Ste. Geneviève

(now the Panthéon; 1755–92)

His aim in this project was to combine

the strict regularity and
monumentality of Roman arched
ceiling vaults with the lightness of
slender supporting piers and
freestanding Corinthian columns.
 PLANNING
1. St -Geneviève is a Greek cross in plan (nave, north
and south transepts, and choir are of equal
dimensions), and originally the walls were pierced
with windows in each bay between the columns.

2. Inside, the unusually abundant rows of free-

standing columns support a series of Roman
vaults and the central dome in a remarkably clear
and logical expression of space and structure—
one of the artistic goals of Soufflot and certain
other French architects of his generation.

3. This structure created a Gothic sense of openness

out of the classical columns and round-arched
vaults. Together these elements endowed
Soufflot’s building with stark order and light-filled
spaciousness.

4. The relative lack of decorative adornment

contributed greatly to the sense of spatial clarity
and grandeur.
EXTERIOR
1. The Pantheon in Paris is considered the most perfect
expression of Soufflot’s style.

2. The enormous Roman portico is supported by Corinthian

columns, and the building’s surface is almost completely
devoid of sculptural detail.

INTERIORS
KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL

INTRODUCTION:
o Schinkel, Karl Friedrich (1781–1841). Prussian architect, the
greatest in Germany in the first half of C19.
o He was not only an architect of genius, but a civil servant,
intellectual, painter, stage-designer, and gifted draughtsman.
o. He became a painter of romantic landscapes and panoramas
(Medieval City by the Water, 1813) and stage sets (Magic Flute,
1815). In 1815 Frederick William III appointed him Prussian
state architect.
o He designed many buildings that became paradigms of
excellence in the period during which he served his country and
King as Prussian State Architect, and he established standards
that influenced generations of architects throughout Germany.
KARL FRIEDRICH SCHINKEL

PRINCIPLES
▪His means was severe and neo-classical though the effects he obtained in his interiors
with dramatic lighting, changes in levels and spatial fluidity show an original mind at
work

EXAMPLES
By 1830, he had produced his main works:
1. the Neue Wache guard house (1816),
2. the Schauspielhaus (1812-21),
3. Humboldt’s country house (1822-1824) and
4. the Altes museum

The museum was built between 1823 and 1830 by the architect Karl Friedrich Schinkel in
the neoclassical style to house the Prussian royal family's art collection. The historic,
protected building counts among the most distinguished in neoclassicism and is a high
point of Schinkel's career.
ALTES MUSEUM
PLANNING

Plan : 276’ L x 170’ W

Height till the cornice :
61ft
Inner courtyard:
57’ long x 52’ wide

1. The body of the two-story building is raised on a plinth, giving the building a greater
stature as well as preventing the risk of damage to the artwork from moisture or
flooding, for which the island was renowned
2. From behind the entrance lobby rises a two-winged, grand stairway, which is at once
inside and outside, enclosed only with columns.
3. Schinkel illustrated his idea of the purpose of the building with decorative figures on the
walls of the stairway
4. A low block with a central rotunda for sculpture flanked by courts and surrounded by
galleries for paintings
EXTERIOR
▪The museum employs the Ionic order to articulate the 87 m (276 ft.) face of the building,
which is the only part of the exterior with any visual sign of the Orders

▪Atop the eighteen Ionic columns, which support the portico, sit eighteen sandstone eagles.

▪The dedication inscription, upon which the eagles are perched, reads:

FRIDERICVS GVILHELMVS III. STVDIO ANTIQVITATIS OMNIGENAE ET ARTIVM LIBERALIVM MVSEVM CONSTITVIT
MDCCCXXVIII — Friedrich Wilhelm III founded this museum for the study of all forms of antiquities and of the liberal arts
in 1828
ALTES MUSEUM
INTERIORS

Rotunda: Skylight

Rotunda: Gallery

1. The exhibition rooms of the museum are grouped around two inner courtyards; the
center of the building is the two-story (23 m), skylit rotunda, which is surrounded by a
gallery supported by twenty Corinthian columns.
2. Like the Pantheon in Rome, its interior surface is adorned with coffering (rectangular,
sunken panels).
3. A portion of the museum's statue collection is displayed between the rotunda's
twenty columns.
 Francois Henri Labrouste
INTRODUCTION:
1. Pierre Francois Henri Labrouste was born in Paris in 1801.

2. He enrolled at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in 1819 under Vaudoyer

and Levas, and won the Grand Prix in 1924. From 1824 to 1830 he
studied at the French Academy in Rome, where he developed his
ideas on "romantic rationalism".
PRINCIPLES
1. Labrouste believed that architecture
should reflect society.

2. Accordingly, his work reflects the

rationalism and technical aspects of
industrial society.
EXAMPLES
1. Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève, built between
1843 and 1850 in Paris.

2. The Reading Room of the Bibliothèque

Nationale de France in Rue Richelieu, Paris
and built between 1862 and 1868.
 Bibliothèque Sainte-Geneviève,
1. One of the greatest cultural buildings of the nineteenth century to use iron in a
prominent visible way was unquestionably the Bibliothèque Ste.-Genevieve in Paris,
designed by Henri Labrouste and built in 1842-50.

2. The large (278 by 69 feet) two-storied structure filling a wide, shallow site is deceptively
simple in scheme: the lower floor is occupied by stacks to the left, rare-book storage and
office space to the right, with a central vestibule and stairway leading to the reading
room which fills the entire upper story.

3. The ferrous structure of this reading room—a spine of slender, cast-iron Ionic columns
dividing the space into twin aisles and supporting openwork iron arches that carry
barrel vaults reinforced by iron mesh—has always been referred by Modernists for its
introduction of high technology into a monumental building."

41
Ground Floor
Section

First Floor View

THOMAS JEFFERSON
• 3rd President of United States
• Largely responsible for introducing neo-classicism in
architecture to the new republic
• He suggested to adopt an architectural style that was
already devised and approved by the general suffrage of
the world – NeoClassicism (Maison Carrée
• Birth of a new republic of United states
• Jefferson envisioned America as a great "Empire of Liberty" that would promote
republicanism
• Need for infrastructure for development
• Need for buildings to symbolize the greatness of the Nation and its values
• He replicated Neo-Classical buildings in Europe and constructed buildings in USA
Virginia State capital – Replication of Maison Carrée
University of Virginia – Replication of Pantheon, Paris
 THOMAS JEFFERSON

One characteristic which typifies Jefferson's architecture is the use of the octagon and octagonal
forms in his designs. Palladio never used octagons, but Jefferson employed them as a design motif.

Jeffersonian architectural attributes: Monticello

• Palladian design (e.g., central core, symmetrical wings)

• Portico-and-pediment primary entries
• Classical orders and moldings (especially Tuscan)
• Piano nobile (main floor elevated above ground level)
• Red brick construction
• White painted trim
• Sand painted columns
• Octagons and octagonal forms
• Chinese railings
• "Suppressed" (hidden) stairs, instead of grand stairways
Virginia State Capitol
 Virginia state capitol
State of Virginia needed a new government building,
Jefferson – a self-taught architect and former governor of
that state – took his inspiration from ancient roman
buildings

The Ionic capitals at the top of the building’s columns are

much simpler than the Maison Carrée’s elaborate
Corinthian capitals.

Inspired from Maison Carrée

The grand front steps, part of Jefferson’s original
design, were not added until 1904. Also added at that
time were two wings (not in Jefferson’s design) that
expanded the building to the east and west, providing
chambers for the Virginia State Senate and House of
The Virginia State Capitol was Thomas Delegates.
Jefferson’s architectural declaration of
independence from Great Britain. Its
The building’s interior features a domed rotunda
neoclassical design has influenced public containing Jean-Antoine Houdon’s full figure portrait of
buildings in America since 1788. George Washington.
ROMANTIC NEO CLASSICISTS
 ROMANTIC NEO CLASSICISTS

• Romanticism (also the Romantic era or the Romantic period) was an

artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in
Europe towards the end of the 18th century and in most areas was at its
peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850.

• Romanticism was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and

individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature, preferring
the medieval rather than the classical.

• It was partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the aristocratic social

and political norms of the Age of Enlightenment, and the
scientific rationalization of nature—all components of modernity.
CLAUDE NICOLAS LEDOUX
ROMANTIC NEO CLASSICISTS
.
INTRODUCTION:
1. Claude Ledoux was born in DORMANS, FRANCE IN 1736.

2. He was educated at a private architectural school in Paris.

3. After completing his studies, Ledoux assumed several

government positions as an engineer, mainly of bridge design.

4. He used his knowledge of architectural theory to design not

only in domestic architecture but town planning; as a
consequence of his visionary plan for the Ideal City of Chaux,
he became known as a utopian.

5. Although much of Ledoux's architecture is quite practical and

functional, the "visionary" aspects of his work are better
known.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
1. His master plan and architectural designs systematically addressed the technical,
social, and symbolic dimensions.
2. He believed that architects must infuse their designs with an expressive character
appropriate to their purpose.
3. Ledoux pursued this attitude by exploring typology and the ways by which
architecture can convey meaning.

EXAMPLES:

1. Rotonde de Chartres (aujourd'hui : entrée du parc Monceau

2. The Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans: House of the director
3. Projet de palais de justice d'Aix-en-Provence
The Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans
1. The design, which received royal approval, of the Royal Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans, is
considered Ledoux's masterpiece.
2. The initial building work was conceived as the first phase of a large and grandiose
scheme for a new ideal city.
3. The first (and, as things were to turn out, only) stage of building was constructed
between 1774 and 1779.
4. The site built for large scale salt production is a total concept being functional, and
aesthetically pleasing.
5. Ledoux designed the semicircular complex to reflect a hierarchical organization of work.
6. Entrance is through a massive Doric portico, inspired by the temples at Paestum.
1. The entrance building sits at the midpoint of the semicircle is a stately entrance and
contains on one side guardrooms and on the other a prison and a bakery.

2. Other buildings on the semicircle include on the left, as one faces the entrance,
quarters for carpenters and laborers, and on the right, marshals and coopers.

3. At the center of the circle is the house of the Director. On either side of the Director's
house are the saltworks themselves. These two buildings are 80 meters long, 28
meters wide, and 20 meters high. They produce 3000 tons of salt per year.

4. The significance of this plan is twofold: the circle, a perfect figure, evokes the
harmony of the ideal city and theoretically encloses a place of harmony for common
work

House of the director

 DIRECTORS HOUSE

SALT WORKS

PUBLIC BUILDINGS

ENTRANCE

Ledoux's design plan for Royal

Saltworks at Arc-et-Senans.

Aerial view of the proposed

city at the Royal Saltworks at
Arc-et-Senans by Claude
Nicolas Ledoux, published in
1804 with schools and
hospitals
 DIRECTORS HOUSE SALT WORKS

PUBLIC BUILDINGS ENTRANCE

ÉTIENNE-LOUIS BOULLÉE
ROMANTIC NEO CLASSICISTS

INTRODUCTION

1. Étienne-Louis Boullée (February 12, 1728 - February 4, 1799) was a visionary French
neoclassical architect whose work greatly influenced contemporary architects and is
still influential today.

2. Born in Paris, he studied under Jacques-François Blondel, Germain Boffrand and

Jean-Laurent Legeay, from whom he learned the mainstream French Classical
architecture in the 17th and 18th century and the Neoclassicism that evolved after
the mid century.

3. He was elected to the Académie Royale d'Architecture in 1762 and became chief
architect to Frederick II of Prussia, a largely honorary title.
DESIGN PHILOSOPHY
EXAMPLES
Boullée believed that a building’s “character” 1. Salon for the Hôtel de Tourolles
should be poetic and evoke an appropriate feeling 2. Hôtel Alexandre
in those who experienced it. 3. Hôtel de Brunoy

For example, the strong use of symmetry in his

drawing – not only in the buildings, but in the
pyramid-shaped mountain as well – is intended as
an image of clarity, order, and perfection. The
monument thus becomes a metaphor for the divine
nature of the Supreme Being.

Hôtel Alexandre in 2013

Project for a Cenotaph for Isaac Newton
"His style was most notably exemplified in his
‘Project for a Cenotaph for Isaac Newton’ (above),
which would have taken the form of a For
Newton’s cenotaph a 500 ft diameter sphere is
embedded within a three-tiered cylindrical base,
giving the impression of a buried volume.

Though the structure was never built, its design

was engraved and circulated widely in professional
circles.

‘Newton’s cenotaph was designed to isolate, to

reinvent, the huge movement of time.

Inside, the viewer is isolated too, on a small viewing

platform. Along the top half of the sphere’s edges,
apertures in the stone allow light in, in pins,
creating starlight when there is daylight. During the
night a huge and otherworldly light hangs, flooding
the sphere, as sunlight. During the day, the “night
effect.” During the night, “day effect."
JEAN-NICOLAS-LOUIS DURAND
INTRODUCTION
1. Was a French author, teacher and architect.

2. He was an important figure in Neoclassicism

3. Having spent periods working for the architect Étienne-Louis Boullée and the civil
engineer Jean-Rodolphe Perronet, in 1795 he became a Professor of Architecture
at the École Polytechnique.

DESIGN PHILOSOPHY

1. He was one of the most influential teachers of his time, and his radically rationalist approach,
which emphasized priority of function and economy of means, was expressed in analytical
writings that remained popular into the 20th century

2. About 1790 he executed a series of drawings entitled Rudimenta Operis Magni et Disciplinae,
which are probably a pictorial representation of Boull?e's theories, centred on the notion of
expressive forms and 'character' in architecture

He was an important figure in Neoclassicism, and his system of design using simple modular
elements anticipated modern industrialized building components.
JEAN-NICOLAS-LOUIS DURAND

L'Hôtel des Invalides à vol d'oiseau

•Building complex consist of school, church and
dome area.
•Originally was a large hospital and a home for
wounded soldiers during war.
•The dome was built to have a private royal chapel.

L'entrée du Palais-Bourbon - Assemblée Nationale

Video Links

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bnu2GB7w4Qs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q3PM_PSlp8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yc0UmTpx-EE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCaY2ZLTTCo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17GLr7srbKU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xLhNP0qp38Q

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNUrMS4N_cM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpzflTfm8k0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9W8qkf96Hp8