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Chicago School
The search for a new architecture in America
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19th century had been
filled with soot, disease,
overcrowding, and lack
of open space
No wonder early 20th
century schemes of
urban reform made so
much of light, space,
greenery, hygiene, and
transparency.
INTRO: Origins of
Modern Arch.
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In both Europe and America Coal and steam power Ferrous metals and
engineering
Concentration of capital
Labor (and laborers) moved
from country to city Opening of national and
international lines of tradeand communication
Cities on both sides of the
Atlantic expanded upwards,outwards, evenunderground, to cope withthe pressure of people,traffic, and goods.
Chicago 1873, Chicago 1907
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Industrialization changedthe size, shape, andrelationship of buildings inthe cityscape Challenged pre-existing
building conventions Created uncertainties about
the basis of style
Upset the scale of values:private buildings(warehouses, factories,etc.) towered above publicbuildings of civic orreligious importance.
Lewis Cubitt, Kings Cross Station, 1851-2
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Progress induced radical change in all areas of life In response, modern movement attempted to:
Come to terms with the newness (engineering, etc.)
Frampton broke the newness down into 3 categories (which
were?)
Improve upon quality of life brought about by the industrial
revolution
For architecture, new ways of living and doing
business meant developing new buildingtypologies to house these functions
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Differing Origins of Modern Arch.
In Europe: Thousands of years of
building culture
Modern arch. movements
were reactions against
immediately preceding
building norms
Cities were built on
layers of historic fabric
built up over time
In America: Building traditions were
shorter, imported, and
much less entrenched
Cities were relatively
much newer than
European cities
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Chicago School
Richardson, Sullivan, Burnham & Root,
Holabird & Roche, Wright
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Why Chicago?
Main depot, nerve center,clearing house for the greatrailroad expansion to the West
Great Chicago Fire, October 8-10, 1871
Tabula rasa
Worlds Columbian Exposition1893 Years and years of preparation
Record for outdoor eventattendance in its time, 716,881people from all over the worldcame to the fair
Between 1870 and 1900,population increased from299,000 to 1.7 million people
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Worlds Columbian Exposition, 1893
The White City
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The Challenge
reconcile engineering and architecture Struggle to do this is most clear in the commercial
buildings produced in the Midwest in the last two decades
of the nineteenth century.
The problem to find forms for a range of mercantile functions from
warehouse to tall office building.
Should be cheap, quick to construct, flexible in use,
fireproof
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Typical arrangement
The Skeleton
Utilitarian cage Wide bayed windows
Elevators tucked out of the way
Grid of structural supports inplan
Maximizes sqft Major change was the
relationship between load andsupport, and between claddingand frame
Question facing architects: What were these buildings
supposed to look like and whatdid they really represent?
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Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886)
Born in southern Louisiana,lived on a plantation
Went to Tulane, then Harvard,then Ecole des Beaux Arts inParis until the end of the CivilWar.
Combined elements ofmedieval, classical, andvernacular strategies into asystem that could be adjustedto handle a wide range of tasks
straddled the old world and
the new calledRichardsonian Romanesque
Supplied the rock on which theChicago School would stand
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Marshall Fields (1885-1887)
Richardsons majorcontribution to Americancommercial architecture Giant purchasing warehouse
Symmetrical and hierarchicalplan with a dominant structuralidea
The block as a whole wastreated like a monolith intowhich arches were cut
Ext. is loadbearing sandstonewith a granite base
Cast-iron/wrought iron frame
Technologies of two differenteras (stone arch, metalframe) are resolved together
Pont du Gard aqueduct, France
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H.H. Richardson, Marshall Fields,
Chicago, 1885-1887William Le Baron Jenney,
First Leiter Building,
Chicago, 1879
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Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886)
Allegheny
Courthouse,Pittsburg,
1886
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Henry Hobson Richardson (1838-1886)
Trinity Church, Boston,1872-1877
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H.H. Richardson
Glessner
House,
Chicago, 1887
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Louis Sullivan (1856-1924)
Wrote The Tall OfficeBuilding Artistically
Considered in 1896
Tripartite division of
base, middle, and top
Expression of skyscraper
should be a vertical
emphasis
Coined the phrase form
(ever) follows function
Favored ornamentation
inspired from nature
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Auditorium Building
1886-1889 Designed by engineer Dankmar
Adler and Louis Sullivan
3 programs in 1 building Opera house
Hotel
Offices Load-bearing outer walls
Exterior partially based on thedesign ofMarshall Fields
Borrowed historical devices(like the tower)
Divided into base, middle, andtop Sullivan repeated thisstrategy
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Adler and Sullivan, Auditorium Building,
Chicago, 1886-1889
Torre del Mangia, Piazza del Campo,
Siena, Italy, 1338-1348
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Rookery Building (1888)
Burnham and Root
Considered one of their
masterpieces, and they
kept an office in it
Oldest standing high-rise
in Chicago
Exterior is load-bearing
walls, interior is steel
frame
Marked transition between
load-bearing masonry and
steel framed skeleton
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Rookery Building
(1888)
Light court in the centerprovided light for officebuildings
Lobby remodeled byFrank Lloyd Wright in
1907 Added marble and
Persian styleornamentation
known for Wrightsspiral stairs that end indouble curve
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Monadnock Building (1884-1893) Last Chicago skyscraper built
using load-bearing masonryconstruction
One of the tallest masonrybuildings in the world 18stories
Northern half designed and
built first by Burnham andRoot in 1884-1891
Completely resolvedsculptural entity a work ofinvincible directness andclarity
Form was inspired by the formof an Egyptian Pylon
Client insisted on simple linesand avoidance ofunnecessary clutter
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Burnham and Root, Monadnock
Building, Chicago, 1884-91
Isis Temple, Philae Island, Egypt,
Temple of Karnak, Egypt,
Egyptian Pylon as inspiration
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Monadnock -an isolatedrock hill, knob, ridge, or
smallmountain that rises abruptly from a gently
sloping or virtually level surroundingplain
(Pilot Mountain, North Carolina)
Burnham and Root, Monadnock
Building, Chicago, 1884-91
What the n*ck is a
Monadnock?!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountainhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plainhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plainhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mountain7/27/2019 Chicago School Lecture
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Reliance Building Floorplans
Ground Floor
An Upper Floor
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The Gage Group
Group of 3 buildings
Holabird and Roche
designed the buildings
Sullivan designed the
ornamental faade onthe tallest building
Shows the two different
approaches within the
Chicago School Straightforward
Expressive
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Wainwright Building
Adler and Sullivan
St. Louis, MI, 1891
Sullivan wrote his essay
The Tall Building
Artistically Considered
after designing this
building
Base, middle, top
Material, ornament, and
shadow express verticality
and the underlying pattern
of visual stresses
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Carson Pirie Scott Building
Sullivan, 1899-1904
Steel structure allowed
large windows for light
and visibility of
merchandise Frame has a horizontal
emphasis
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Chicago School: In Conclusion
New synthesis of
technology and form
Faced industrial realities
head on
Reflected on the
goal/purpose of
architecture
Contributed a major
foundation to modern
architecture.
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Form Follows Function
vs.
Ornament is Crime
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