Ernö Goldfinger, a Hungarian-born architect, was a key member of the modernist architectural movement that emerged in the first half of the 20th century. His works would not only redefine British architecture and the London skyline with several of them being grade listed buildings, but also popularize the modernist movement in Britain. A self-proclaimed Marxist, Goldfinger was tall and humorless, qualities that represented some of his later works and his Brutalist style. Born Jewish in a family business of forestry and saw-mills, Goldfinger became interested in architecture through the books of Hermann Muthesius, specifically his book The English House. This book inspired Goldfinger’s early interest in furniture and interior design that is …show more content…
The British Government faced a huge shortage of housing following World War II. As a result, the government began to see high-rise buildings as a solution to the nearly 4 million houses that had been destroyed. Metro Central Heights is Goldfinger’s first tower block structure. Metro Central Heights has become one of Goldfinger’s most iconic works and received a Grade II listing from the UK government. The irony of the Metro Central Heights is that it was originally called Alexander Fleming House, who shares a last name with one of Goldfinger’s biggest opponents for 2 Willow Road, Ian Fleming. Yet, unlike Willow Road, Metro Central Heights gave Goldfinger great prominence and praise. Completed in 1963, the structure is now a group of residential buildings in Southwark. south-east London. Originally, when Goldfinger was given the job to create a structure in Southwark, the purpose of the building was not yet known but was ideally to become a multi-story office complex. Goldfinger described his design in three main components, “the permanent structure; the much less permanent services and an even more fleeting component, the human requirements.” These thoughts highlight the lack of knowledge on the eventual use of the building. Thus, the interior design of the building was created to be as flexible as possible, providing open decks that would be divided accordingly. The design received praise from the …show more content…
Trellick tower (lower left) is actually very similar to Balfron tower (top-right). Goldfinger lived in Balfron tower for two months in order to discover the opinions of residents on his design. He used what he learned in his design of Trellick tower a few years later. Finished in 1972 for the Greater London Council for social housing. The building has a long, thin profile. It is unique because it utilizes a separate lift and service tower linked at every third story to the access corridors in the main building. The residents living in flats above or below the corridors levels have internal stairs. The lift services every three floors meaning in order to get to floor 11, 12 or 13, residents take the lift to floor 12. The ten walkways connect the service tower column to the housing. The separate service tower column is for the lift, laundry rooms and trash chutes as well as a boiler room at the top. This design is purposeful for its efficiency. Most residential buildings integrate the staircases and lift towers in the center of the building. However, Goldfinger’s design with the separate lift tower on the side is successful because it presents three benefits; first, it allows for quicker lift rides because it reduces the amount of stops the lift will take. This is important because Goldfinger knew the
By giving the biographies of architects Richard Neutra and Robert Alexander, Hines does nothing to remedy his aimless writing. He writes that Neutra had a variety of experience as an archi...
Hitchcock, Henry Russell. Early Victorian Architecture in Britain Volumes I and II. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1954.
In the 1950s Newcastle was known as a sleep city, Dan described it as “moribund” (1) decades had past and very little economic development had taken place between that time frame and families were left to suffer. In 1959, T. Dan Smith became Leader of Newcastle City Council, he set up his own independent planning department in the council and appointed Wilfred Burns as chief officer in 1960. They both wanted to re-modernise Newcastle for the better by undertaking new road plans to resolve the traffic congestion that plagued the city and breath new life into the city by clearing out the slum areas and rebuilding new homes to help improve peoples living conditions. One way Smith helped promote his grand scheme was through a series of models and held public gatherings to help fuel his passion to help change Newcastle, a method used by Richard Grainger who greatly strengthened Newcastle’s status as a regional capital. In order to achieve Grainger’s equivalent he set out to get renowned architects to develop the city, like Le Corbusier , Basil Spence, Leslie Martin, Robert Matthew and even Picasso to help reinforce his vision for the future “Brasilia of the North” (2). In this essay I will closely examine T. Dan Smith’s proposed plans for the new urban motorway system, that would help solve the traffic problem. Also the redevelopment of Eldon Sqaure that would come under scrutiny, but would later become a commercial success. I will also investigate the new Civic Centre that replaced the Old Town Hall and the intention from the local authorities to demolish the Royal Arcade and replace it with a roundabout.
The Elizabethan era was an era of art above all else. Elegance reflected in all areas of the peoples’ lives. From the entertainment and language to the churches and castles, beauty shone bright.There were many vents for artistic creativity during the Elizabethan era; countless instruments, painting, books, playwright, and last but not by any stretch the least, architecture. Elizabethan architecture has a vast amount of variety and personality, the buildings reflected the pride of both the inhabitants and the builders.
The architect of the house: Heinrich Tessenow (1876-1950) was a German architect who studied as an apprentice carpenter before studying architecture at a building trade school in Leipzig, followed by the technical University of Munich. ‘He was in no sense an official fascist ideologue: he was an outspoken anti-Nazi and at one time a member of the ring, but with Hitlers coming to power lost the teaching post.’ K.Michael Hays, Feb. 1989, Tessenows Architecture as National Allegory: Critique of Capitalism or Protofascism [ebook], MIT press, available at J Stor, http://links.jstor.org,sici?sici=0889-3012%28198902%290%.
Banham, Reyner. "The Plot Against Bernard Maybeck." Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians March 1984, p33-37
The reference to Rudolf Wittkower, and his 1952 publication Architectural Principles in the Age of Humanism was conspicuous here. By the time of the New Brutalism’s publication Wittkower’s works had already, in his own word, “caused more than a polite stir” in post-war architecture. His analysis of proportion, rationality, and abstraction in Palladian architecture was seen as an endorsement on the “hard” Modernist architecture over the “soft” Scandinavian Modernism. The controversy was further fueled by the works of Colin Rowe, Wittkower’s student, on the Classical language found in Le Corbusier’s works. To claim the relevance of Classical architecture in New Brutalism, for these architects, was to manifest their belief that New Brutalist architecture should be understood as the actual heir to the first generation of Modernist architects. The Smithson couple stated such ambition in the first sentence of their writing: “Our belief that the New Brutalism is the only possible development for this moment from the Modern Movement.” What is noteworthy is that in this one page writing these authors paid tributes to not only one but two émigré historians of the time. The use of the term Modern Movement was a deliberated reference to the works of Nikolaus Pevsner. By evoking Pevsner’s study from William Morris to Walter Gropius, the Smithson and Crosby emphasized the avant-garde spirit in New Brutalism.
The Palace of Westminster, also known as the Houses of Parliament, serves as the meeting place for the House of Commons and the House of Lords. The Old Palace was a medieval building that was destroyed by fire in 1834. After the fire, a competition was held for architects to submit plans for the new building that should be in a Gothic or Elizabethan style hoping to embody the conservative values of England. A Royal commission chose Charles Barry’s designs for a Perpendicular Gothic palace. Barry’s own style was more classical than Gothic which is why Augustus Pugin’s involvement was so crucial in Barry winning the competition. Barry’s plans reflected more of his knowledge of the neo-classical style through its symmetry. Pugin was the leading authority on Gothic architecture at the time. Almost all of the remains of the Old Palace were incorporated into the new design. Their work on the Palace began in 1840 and, while most of the work was finished by 1860, the New Palace of Westminster was not complete until a decade later. One of the most identifiable features of the Palace is the Elizabeth Tower, commonly identified by its main bell, “Big Ben”. The building is also known for two main spaces; the Lord’s Chamber and the Common’s Chamber. It is well identified by its main façade which runs parallel to the River Thames. The Palace, as it stands today, has been conserved very well to best display the designs as Charles Barry and Pugin intended them to be displayed. The Palace was, and remains, the center for political life in the United Kingdom, just as it remains a major iconic landmark of London. Many articles and books have been written discussing and disputing the history and design of the New Palace of Westminster, as well as the...
In the short reading, The Cunning of Cosmetics, by Jeffrey Kipnis, he begins by explaining what architecture is reacting to and how it effects the direction it is going in. As a result from explaining this, he starts to ponder on his job on Herzog & de Meuron and question, “When did my infatuation with HdM’s work begin?”(Kipnis 23) he starts to realize that buildings have the “Ability to insinuate itself into my psyche” without forcing itself upon someone. He is able to analyze this in the magazine he was reading Arch- Plus by Nikolaus Kuhnert and see how he separated the magazine into two sections – Ornament and Minimalism, through this he able to explore prime examples such as Signal Box and Ricola Europ, explaining how the use of their materiality and modern ornamentation can give a “Erotic allure…the sirens of the Odyssey”. Overall he is clarifying that
The Tower was a large construction project enforced by different rulers, building tower after tower (21 in total), “and finally encircling it with a moat whose water was delivered by the Thames River,” (McGillick). Original functions of the Tower included “acting as a royal power base, being a place where an army could be housed and a place that can protect London from invasions, and also is a source of protection for the Royal family during chaos,” (Alchin).
The German Pavilion, more commonly known as the Barcelona Pavilion, is one of the most recognizable buildings of the modern period during the early 20th century. It encapsulates every element of modern architecture in one structure. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the fathers of modern architecture, was the architect of this beautiful building. In this essay I will explore how Mies impacted the modern movement in architecture through his groundbreaking ideas using the Barcelona Pavilion as a case study.
Jencks believes “the glass-and-steel box has become the single most used form in Modern Architecture and it signifies throughout the world ‘office building’” (27). Thus, modern architecture is univalent in terms of form, in other words it is designed around one out of a few basic values using a limited number of materials and right angles. In...
Holt, Elizabeth G. From the Classicist to the Impressionists: Art and Architecture in the 19th Century. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1966.
What makes modern architecture? Before answering this, one would need to understand what the term “modern” exactly describes. In architecture, modernism is the movement or transition from one period to another, and it is caused by cultural, territorial, and technological changes happening in the world. In Kenneth Frampton’s Modern Architecture: A Critical History, he details these three major societal changes that impact and create modern architecture.
From my opinion off what I have gathered, I came to an understanding that Critical regionalism can be seen as an approach to architecture that tries to stand up for places culture and identifies the identity of a place where Modern Architecture has failed to, by using the building's geographical context and reference of vernacular architecture. The term critical regionalism was first used by Alexander Tzonis and Liane Lefaivre and, with a somewhat different meaning, by Kenneth Frampton. Critical regionalism could be considered as a particular kind of post-modern response. This response developed as a result of the failure of Post-modernism, together with the influence of Globalization and the spread of Western culture. Critical Regionalism could also be seen as the best solution to cultural issues and the problems of architectural identity. Frampton’s argument is that critical regionalism should not only answer to context, but it should also value the progress of universal modern architecture.