Minimalism Presentation

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MINIMALISM


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What is Minimalism?

How did it come about?

How has it impacted art and architecture?


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Early Modernism

Erik Gunnar Asplund (1885-1940, Sweden)

Was originally known as a neoclassical architect but adoptedModernist design sensibilities during the period between world wars.

Frequently collaborated with Sigurd Lewerentz, and Alvar Aalto

considered him to be a major inuence.

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Minimalism

Donald Judd (1928-1994, America)

Studied philosophy and acquired a masters degree in Art History.

Sustained himself by writing art criticisms for magazines and

maintained working friendships with artists such as Dan Flavin and

John Chamberlain.

Contemporary Minimalism

Peter Zumthor (1943-, Switzerland)

Apprenticed as a carpenter, attended an Arts Academy in Switzerland

and completed his architectural training at the Pratt Institute.


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Erik Gunnar Asplund

Post World War I:

Disgusted with Nationalist viewsthat contributed to the initiation of

World War I, some architects began

rejecting the old cultural forms and

developed an internationalist world

view. Their designs embraced

modern technology, new materials

and a functionalist outlook on living.

In 1928, Asplund was sent on a tour

of Europe by the Swedish Exposition

Committee for inspiration for his

pavilion designs.

When he returned his designs

demonstrated his new interest inFunctionalism, Constructivism,

Industrialism and the reductive

aesthetic being developed in

greater Europe.

He recognized the efciency and

brilliance in the new materials for his

termporary and quickly-constructed

exhibition projects.

To a new architecture and a

new life - Gunnar Asplund

Swedish Exhibition SignageEl Lissitzky, Lenin Tribute, 1922

Le Corbusier, Towards a New Architecture


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Donald Judd

The 1960s:

During a time of social revolution,including the Civil Rights Movement,

Vietnam war protests and the

beginning of the Gay Rights

Movement, Donald Judd rejected

the usual way of composing non-

representational art by adding

his own kind of clarity to art

making. Judd had a difcult timeunderstanding and producing

abstract expressionism which gave

way to believing that art did not need

to be representational.

The art of the time was composed by

mixing, balancing, and harmonizing

the various parts in order to create

a whole greater then the sum of its

parts. Judds sculptures are simply

wholes - no more, no less. Each

piece has clearly dened parts, and

the parts are either separated or

attached to ll out these limits.

Donald Judd fought against artistic

conventions and constraints. He

actively questioned the nature of art,

the job of the artist and the methods

of galleries.

"The Essence of Abstract Expressionism "


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Peter Zumthor

Contemporary Society:

Technology has helped to createa world where people move too

quickly through space and are

disconnected from physical reality.

Peter Zumthor wants people to slow

down, and rejects the virtual world

as he designs for an architecture

that needs to be experienced inperson.

He comes from a hands-on

background of carpentry and

woodworking, refuses to have a

website showcasing his works, and

writes very little about his projects.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: MASS


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STOCKHOLM CITY LIBRARY

The library is a simple prismatic mass,

easily comprehended as a cylinder resting

on a square base

Design Principles: MASSErik Gunnar Asplund


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Design Principles: MASSDonald Judd

15 WORKS IN CONCRETE

The works are comprised of pure geometries

resting on the oor or cantilevered from

the wall. Vibrant primary colours and

manufactured materials clearly dene the

edges.

I was surprised when I made those rst two

freestanding pieces, to have something set

out into the middle of the room. It puzzled

me. On the one hand, I didnt quite know

what to make of it, and on the other, they

suddenly seemed to have an enormous

number of possibilities.

-Donald Judd


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Design Principles: MASSPeter Zumthor

VALS THERMAL BATHS

An interplay between stone and water; a

juxtaposition between solid and void. The

diagram to the right is the initial conception

of Boulders standing in water. The play

of interior masses on the oor plan direct-

ly translates into the nal Thermal Baths

building.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: LIGHT


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SKOGSKAPELLETDeliberate preservation and addition

of trees exaggerate the contrast

between the rough and dark texture

of the forest and the geometric purity

of the chapel and its brightly lit interior

Erik Gunnar Asplund Design Principles: LIGHT


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Design Principles: LIGHTErik Gunnar Asplund

SKOGSKAPELLET

A central skylight illuminates the

white painted interior of the chapel


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Design Principles: LIGHTPeter Zumthor

VALS THERMAL BATHS

The collection of interior spaces of the thermal bathsengage the user, through a variety of sensory ex-

periences. Light acts as a procession through the

collection of spaces. Movement is not directed or

controlled but the user is free to be draw to certain

light sources, with blue and red lights indicating the

temperature of pools in each chamber. A stip lighting

detail is used in the ceilings, to allow the natural lightto penetrate the spaces and act as a guide along

corridors and around corners.


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Design Principles: LIGHTDonald Judd

LIGHT

Towards the end of his career, Judd became

interested in materiality and light. His works

developed a sensitivity to natural light, explor-

ing changes in character and solidity at dif-

ferent times of the day. Coloured plexiglass,relective metals and smooth painted surfaces

allowed him to create complexity with simple

surfaces.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: STRUCTURE


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WOODLAND CEMETERY

A three dimensional grid system utilizes

abstract walls and columns to arrange

and compose the built forms.

Design Principles: STRUCTUREErik Gunnar Asplund


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Design Principles: STRUCTUREDonald Judd

CHAIR

The concept of structure coexists with

the overall shape of the object. Object

and structure become one and the

same, without an indication of struc-tural hierarchy. Judd attempts to blur

componential aspects into one prima-

ry object, emphasizing its wholeness

and simplicity.


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Design Principles: STRUCTUREPeter Zumthor

CHAPEL OF ST. BENEDICT

Wood from the surrounding environment

forms the primary structural building mate-

rial, and amplies its beauty through simple

and clean detailing. The interior structure of

the chapel becomes the dening element of

the space. He gently pulls away the structure

from the exterior wall, allowing it to elegantly

hold up the roof and draw diffuse light into thechapel.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: RITUAL


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Design Principles: STRUCTUREPeter Zumthor

VALS THERMAL BATHS

Zumthor creates a ritual of the bath. He

heightens a simple human activity into

a multi-faceted phenomenological ex-

perience. He engages the user through

light, touch, smell, and sound. He cre-

ates an internal spatial experience

through harmonizing the senses, to cre-

ate an unprecedented sensory engage-

ment.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: LANDSCAPE

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SKOGSKYRKOGARDEN

The extent of the Woodland Crematorium is de-

ned by a wall. The buildings appear to dissolve

into the forest behind like a ruined, ancient city

while the low wall provides a hard edge to the

rest of the open, manicured site

Design Principles: LANDSCAPEErik Gunnar Asplund


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Design Principles: LANDSCAPEDonald Judd

15 WORKS IN CONCRETE

The natural landscape is just another plane

for the art object to rest upon. The art cre-

ates an internal atmospsphere negating ex-

ternal relationships.


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Design Principles: LANDSCAPEPeter Zumthor

VALS THERMAL BATHS

Zumthor elegantly respects the surrounding

context by enhancing site characteristics. The

Thermal Baths masterfully sit into the hillside of

Vals, acting as a natural rock form in the land-

scape. The stone that makes up the oor and

walls surfaces of the baths is quarried from the

local hills. He frequently employs local materials,like the wood in the Chapel of St. Benedict.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: ORDER

D i P i i l ORDERD ld J dd


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ORDER

Judd insists on the independance of things - a

commitment fundamental to his art and life.

Modular objects at regular intervals reinforces

a lack of hierarchy, and the equal status of

each element.

Design Principles: ORDERDonald Judd

Design Principles: ORDERPeter Zumthor


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Design Principles: ORDERPeter Zumthor

VALS THERMAL

BATHS

An early diagram of the Ther-

mal Baths demonstrates thatrom inception the project is

crafted by how one moves

through a series of interior

spaces. The diagram dem-

onstrates the ideology of

how the user engages the

building. The experience ofspaces are key in the ampli-

cation of the sensory expe-

rience one has as they move

through the baths.


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Design Principles: CONTAINMENTErik Gunnar Asplund


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GOTHENBURG LAW COURTS

There is a sense of openness to the atri-

um extension as skylights ood the space

with natural light, curving wood walls

provide smooth edges and warmth, and

openings in the upper oor plates extend

space vertically. The atrium is intended to

ease the tension of visitors facing the lawby feeling un-enclosed and un-opressive.




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The exterior courtyard and the new atrium

appear to be one bright, continuous space

with the use of a full-height glass wall.

Design Principles: CONTAINMENTDonald Judd


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CONTAINMENT

Judd experimented with room-sized

installations where the experience be-

came the entire facilitation, not just

the art. Using contemporary material,

Judd uses expansion and contraction

of space around the enclosure to de-

ne atmpsphere. He then moved onto

works about openess and dened thespace.

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Design Principles: CONTAINMENTDonald Judd

Design Principles: CONTAINMENTPeter Zumthor


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KUNSTHAUS BREGENS GALLERY

Through detailing and natural lighting, the ceil-

ing plane dissolves and walls feel like the only

enclosure forming the room. The subtle material

palette forms a subtle backdrop to enhance the

power of the artwork.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: REPETITION

Design Principles: REPETITIONErik Gunnar Asplund


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The modern facade of the extension to the

law courts pays homage to the heritage

building with careful mimicry of horizontal

and vertical elements, and adds a playful

edge with the asymmetrical positioning ofthe windows

Design Principles: REPETITIONDonald Judd


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REPETITION

Repetition allows for multiple points of view of the

same object at once. Variations of form occuring

at regular intervals have no sense of hierarchy; all

parts are equally valued providing a sense of uni-ty. Together simple elements become complex.

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Design Principles: REPETITIONPeter Zumthor


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Simplicity is beauty. Here the repetition of a unit-

ized space frame facade system creates a image

of a unied whole. Zumthors aim is the engage-

ment within the building, through the repetition of a

mystifying facade system, a dialogue is created to

draw the user into the interior and main attraction -the art - rather than the architecture.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: VOLUME

Design Principles: VOLUMEErik Gunnar Asplund


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The interior stair with clock tower and

the exposed elevator shaft reinforce the

sense of the atrium space as an interiorpiazza, encircled by open balconies.

Design Principles: VOLUMEDonald Judd


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PRINCIPLES

VOLUME

Judd was fascinated with working with real

space - not the illusion of depth created by

paintings on a at canvas. He dened volumes

with the edges of forms (ex. in between re-

peated elements, space between disconected

objects, and negative spaces), and throughsubtraction. from pure geometries.

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Design Principles: VOLUMEPeter Zumthor


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Peter Zumthors architecture is ideology is the

creation of an architecture that enhances the

image of the surrounding fabric. His volumet-

ric forms, are traditionally geometric always

elegantly tting into the context. The volumetric

form, is the housing of the interior, and interior

that must ultimately enhance the functions ofa project. His volumetric manifestations are

resultants of the needs and uses of the interior

spaces.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: ESSENCE

Design Principles: ESSENCEErik Gunnar Asplund


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THE STOCKHOLM EXHIBITION, 1930

The Exhibition was a marvelous and strange construction inwhich the Russian-Constructivist idiom was commercialized and

capitalized on; the political turned into commercial advertising

-Marc Treib

Design Principles: ESSENCEDonald Judd


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ESSENCE

He believed that art did not need to represent

anything, not gure, gesture or movement -

that it could be understood simply as art - and

that materials, colour and volume could havepower in themselves.

Design Principles: ESSENCEPeter Zumthor


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KUNSTHAUS BREGENS GALLERYZumthor wants his buildings to allow the user to

experience themselves - through emotional re-

sponse and physical sensations - and connect

to a place. He believes that architecture does

not need an underlying meaning to be powerful.

Architecture is not a vehicle or a symbol forthings that do not belong to its essence. In a

society which celebrates the inessential, archi-

tecture can put up a resistance, counteract the

waste of forms and meanings, and speak its

own language.

-Peter Zumthor from Ruby, Sachs and Ur-

sprung, Minimal Architecture, 2003, p18.


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DESIGN PRINCIPLES: EXPRESSION

Design Principles: EXPRESSIONErik Gunnar Asplund


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SKOGSKYRKOGARDEN

Asplund employs many means to

reinforce the themes of aging, death

and birth at the Crematorium.The

railroad station clock is bent over asif exhausted.

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SKOGSKYRKOGARDEN

The lamps in the forecourts of the

chapels are in the form of candle

snuffers and the entrances to the

cremation ovens in the shape of

caskets

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The full forms of the great grass

covered knolls and tree-lined medi-

tation grove suggest the opposing

theme of birth through reference tothe fertile female form.

Design Principles: EXPRESSIONDonald Judd


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EXPRESSION

Judd did not grasp Abstract Expression-

ism - the prevalent art force in New York

during the 1950s. Instead, he outsourced

the manufacture of his pieces, denying the

need to demonstrate the artist and human

emotion in his work. He embraced ma-

chine-made materials so that the art could

speak for itself.

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Design Principles: EXPRESSIONPeter Zumthor


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BRUDER KLASS CHAPEL

The expression of Peter Zumthors

work can be largely seen in his core prin-

ciple of engaging sensory experience. This

interior perspective, looking upward withinthe chapel, is a dening image. The user

is invoked by light penetrating an oculus,

and surrounded by walls cast out of forms

of burnt out trees. The mastery of Peter

Zumthors expression is summarized in this

image. The expression of the interior, is to

ultimately enhance the uses of the space

through engaging sensory experience.


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MINIMALISM

Minimalism


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Develops as a reaction and rebellion against disputed contextual ideologies and institutions, such as

nationalism, expressionism, excess and detachment from the physical world.

Works are stripped down to their most fundamental features, but nd complexity in the study of light,

materiality, structure and volume.

Power and meaning is to be found in the work itself. Historical and expressive content is reduced to a

minimum, if not non-existent.

Detailing is careful and essential to achieving the reductionist aesthetic.

Geometric forms, equality of parts, repetition of elements, neutral suraces and industrial materials are

common characteristics of minimalist works.

Resources

Batchelor, David. Minimalism, Cambridge University Press,1997.


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B. Jones, Peter. Modern Architecture Through Case Studies. Architectural Press. Oxford. 2002. p. 161-176

Cantz, Hatje, Donald Judd: Architecture, MAK Applied Arts, Germany, 2003.

Donald Judd, The Vancouver Art Gallery, Vancouver, 1978.

Donald Judd, Waddington Galleries, London, 1986.

Paavilainen, Simo. Hundred Years from the birth of Asplund. Arkkitehti, 1986. No.4. p. 52-59

Plummer, Henry. The Architecture of Natural Light, The Monacelli Press, China, 2009.

Ruby, Sachs and Ursprung, Minimal Architecture, Prestel, Munich, 2003.

Treib, Marc. A Reconciliation with History: Gunnar Asplund and an Architecture of the past. Architecture and Ur-

banism, April 1991. p. 38-65

Wrede, Stuart. The Architecture of Erik Gunnar Asplund. MIT Press. 1980

www.installationart.net

www.juddfoundation.org

www.moma.org

Images:

Corbusier image:

www.worldarchitecturenews.com

Thermal Baths:

Plummer, Henry. The Architecture of Natural Light, The Monacelli Press, China, 2009.

Blue wall curved art:

www.artreview.com

Judd Copper Box:

Batchelor, David. Minimalism, Cambridge University Press,1997.

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Resources continued...

15 Works in Concrete:

Ruby Sachs and Ursprung Minimal Architecture Prestel Munich 2003


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Ruby, Sachs and Ursprung, Minimal Architecture, Prestel, Munich, 2003.

www.chinati.org

www.unc.edu

Steel boxes in Mafta, Texas gallery space:

Cantz, Hatje, Donald Judd: Architecture, MAK Applied Arts, Germany, 2003.

Ville Snellman Elevations:

http://diffusive.wordpress.com/2009/09/22/gunnar-asplund-villa-snellman-1917-18/

Gothenburg Law Courts Interior Piazza

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Asplund_R%C3%A5dhusannexet_G%C3%B6teborg_06_(pho

to_by_Seier_on_ickr).jpg http://www.ickr.com/photos/pg/2362888941/

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/Asplund_R%C3%A5dhusannexet_G%C3%B6teborg_04_(phot

o_by_Seier_on_ickr).jpg

Skogskapellet Interior

http://www.skogskyrkogarden.se/en/media/

Skogskapellet Exterior

http://www.ickr.com/photos/pg/2814171363/

Skogskapellet Sections and Elevations

Treib, Marc. A Reconciliation with History: Gunnar Asplund and an Architecture of the past. Architecture and Urban

ism, April 1991. p. 38-65

Stockholm City Library Exterior

http://cavin2009.com/japan/sweden/stockholm

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/33316

Gothenburg Law Courts Exterior http://www.ickr.com/photos/pg/2362865621/

Woodland Cemetary

Wrede, Stuart. The Architecture of Erik Gunnar Asplund. MIT Press. 1980

Stockholm Exhibition

http://www.arkitekturmuseet.se/ung/utstallning/modernismen/english/default.html

http://www.aggregat456.com/2010/06/impure-opticality-or-when-urban-screens.html

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