Bauhaus 1919-1933: Weimar-Dessau-Berlin

A long but engaging read. I found it interesting to compare this to last weeks video and the comparisons made within it. The Bahaus movement was started by a man called Walter Gropius. Starting when the architecture was trying to be linked with fine art, one of the first times this had been done.

The sky scrapers created created by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in 1920-21 are not far off from buildings we see today built in cities. These proposed ideas were almost looking into the future, although not actually built, they now reflect the ideas architects are currently building work like this today. In the 1920’s this was such a huge step for architecture, people like Gropius had completely broken the mould of classic architecture and it was now moving into the modern movement.

From reading the following text it allowed me to have a greater understanding in the lecture, following the Bahaus movement through time and learning about the different architects who pushed this movement forward.

The Russian Revolutionary: Zaha Hadid

A very interesting and riveting watch. Shapes that seem somewhat randomly placed are not in consistent randomness. The shapes themselves work well as a universe within different scales. Zaha Hadid drew architectural forms from these random shapes as she did not believed they were placed with no purpose. Kazimir Malevich used the composition of shapes to create abstraction.

“We can only be aware of space if we break away from earth if the fulcrum disappears.” – Karmir Malevich

Zaha Hadid said by rotating the paintings, shapes would change, turning into architectural drawings. Duing Malevich’s third period (white period), he used the colour white to represent infinity, believing art was a religion. Malevich’s work allowed Zaha to expand her work and architectural form. Using it for inspiration for such things as ‘The Peak’ in Hong Kong.

Towards the end of Malevich’s life, he started to experiment with sculpture. Moving his 2D paintings into 3D models.

Modern architecture - Alan Colquhoun

It was interesting to see how Loos’ architecture had changed through time, He was someone who managed to very slowly push the boat out into what architecture has become today by inspiring people such as Corbusier, which really has an impact on how the architectural world is now. He went out of the box and pushed the boat out further than it had been pushed before. Internally, things were very minimalist which had previously not been explored. Open plan living was formed with different ceiling heights and large open spaces.

The way someone had to move through his space was very controlled, directing the viewer into a straight path through the space. After the war, Loos had a new outlook on his work, combining classicism with irregular windows.

Loos saw architecture as a form of art. He broke the mould that no one had dared break before. Using deliberate artistic gesture.

The globalisation of modern architecture: the impact of politics, economics and social change on architecture and urban design since 1900

At first seeming a quite complex read, soon to became really interesting. A very well written short summary of the history of architecture in a very large time scale. Was most definitely interesting to see the changes that have taken place socially and physically in our world since the Homo Sapiens all the way through to the 20th century.

Fascinating comparison within architecture across continents, when knowledge had not yet been spread. Yet, similar ideas had been used across a wide spread on countries. Also interesting concepts with religion and war and how this can affect the proposed architecture. This was noted especially within the Civil War, new laws passed meaning a huge growth in personal freedom.

“life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” – American Declaration of Independence. 

Architectural knowledge spread when colonies gained power from another. This produced new styles and ideas which had never been experimented with before.

As industrialism spread in the late 19th century introducing the baroque movement in England and Germany. With the United States adopting Frank Lloyd Wright with the Prairie style.

After the first World War, with many technology advances, the modernism movement came about with a fast moving world of painting and sculpture. Architecture was taking a different approach, with different styles, not always being visibly different from one another.

The text gave a huge insight into the changes that took place over such a large scale of time. It is clear however that over the past century the changes have been somewhat more significant in the design of modern architecture.