Farnsworth House Vs Little Moreton Hall

Architecture has followed the course of history, it marks triumphs, disasters, marvels in engineering and structure within society. Architecture can be judged through four categories; Physical, Economical, Socio-cultural- political and Technological aspects all having a high influence on the final design. This is also recognised through the two chosen case studies, The Farnsworth House in Illinois, USA designed by Mies Van Der Rohe, and constructed between 1945 and 1951, and Little Moreton Hall in Cheshire, England which began construction 1504 with extensions being added for the next one hundred years. Both pieces of architecture are highly contrasting yet serve the same function, they have both been heavily influenced by the above factors,

The house of Tudor was the reining monarch at the time and they introduced the design style seen on Little Moreton Hall. The white background with the crossing of darkened wood beams. At the time much of society, especially those with wealth who could afford to construct large buildings would often construct them to the Tudor style as a sign of loyalty to the House of Tudor and the reigning monarch. The Tudor era was also a violent era, there were many challenges to the firmly held power of the monarch including the Pilgrimage Of Grace 1536-7 which was brutally suppressed. This form of suppression is also reflected within architecture. Many buildings constructed within the Tudor era consisted of limited materials, bland exterior decorations and many churches, tower castles and public buildings often had very loyal pro-monarch messages or statues. Although Little Moreton Hall never included any of these it still showed the following trend with society by following the Tudor design concept. Unlike Farnsworth House Little Moreton Hall didn’t incorporate any new technology or any design concepts like Farnsworth House. Unlike Farnsworth House, Little Moreton Hall is a vernacular example of architecture hence it has restrictions placed upon it. Vernacular architecture is defined as “Vernacular architecture is composed of local materials and derived from local customs, techniques that have been passed on from generation to generation”(February 20, 2018, https://www.archdaily.com/tag/vernacular-architecture)- which applies to Little Moreton Hall. Though in the sixteenth century many of the populace were poverty stricken and had little wealth, hence the need to use vernacular architecture not out of choice but out of necessity. However the Moreton’s chose to