Three-Dimensional Art

• Sculpture• Architecture• Craft & Design

Architecture

Chapter 10Understanding Art

The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own, we have no soul of our own civilization.

–Frank Lloyd Wright

Introduction1. What is architecture?2. Why is architecture important to

us?3. Why does architecture, of all the

arts, have the greatest impact on our lives?

4. Why does architecture determine the quality of the environments in which we work, play, live, meditate, and rest?

Architecture

• The art and science of designing buildings, bridges, and other structures to meet our personal and communal needs• It is also a vehicle for artistic expression in three-dimensions• The architect mediates between the client and the selected site

• Architectural Materials

• Stone• Wood• Cast Iron• Construction• Steel Cage• Reinforced Concrete• Steel Cable• Shell

- Stone

• Discuss the properties of stone• Stone as a symbol of strength and permanence• Stone expresses warmth• Refer to Figure 10-1

- Discuss kivas- Discuss adobe structures

Post-and-Lintel Construction

Post-and-Lintel Construction

• See Stonehenge (ch. 12)

Dry Masonry

Stone as a favored material

Stone as a favored material

• See The Parthenon (ch. 13)

Arches

• Arches span distances• They support other structures, such as roofs• They serve as actual and symbolic gateways, as in the Arch of Triumph in Paris, France

Rounded and PointedArches

Parts of an Arch

• Voussoirs• Centering scaffold• Keystone• Compressive strength• The Pont du Gard (ch. 13)

Vaults

• An extended arch• Barrel vault• Groin vault• Ribbed vault• Buttressing• Bay• Webbing

Vaults

• See the Ottonian St. Michael’s at Hildesheim

(ch. 14)• See the Romanesque

St. Sernin (ch. 14)

Clerestory

Stone as an elegant Gothic structural element

- lacy buttressing and ample fenestration

- see Laon Cathedral, Cathedral of Notre-Dame, and Chartres Cathedral (ch. 14)

Domes

• Domes are hemispherical forms• They are rounded when viewed from underneath• They are extensions of the principle of the arch• They are capable of enclosing a vast amount of space

Domes

• See Stupa of Sanchi (ch. 17)

Pendentives are used to support a huge dome

Other Uses of Stone in Construction

• Stone is rarely used today as a structural material• Expensive to quarry and transport• Stone veneers• Decorative stone used on façades• Stone slabs for entry halls, patios, and gardens

- Wood

• Wood is attractive and versatile• It is an abundant and renewable• It is light and can be worked onsite with portable hand tools• A variety of colors and grains• It can be weathered or painted• It can be used on the façade or as a structural material

- Wood

• Wood also has drawbacks:- It can warp, crack, rot, and

is highly flammable and prone to insect infestation• Modern chemicals can treat and strengthen wood• Plywood and siding

Post-and-Beam Construction

• Similar to post-and-lintel construction• Vertical and horizontal timbers are cut and pieced together with wooden pegs• The beams allow for windows, doors, and interior supports• Supports another story or roofs

Trusses

• Lengths of wood, iron, or steel• Pieced together in a triangular shape• Trusses span large distances• The strength of trusses• Trusses as design and engineering elements

Balloon Framing• An American construction building technique• A product of the Industrial Revolution (early 20th century)• Mass production and assembly of materials• Sidings, such as shingle, clapboard, veneers, and newer aluminum siding

Roofing Materials for Balloon Framing

Construction

• Asphalt• Cedar shingle• Tile• Slate

- Cast-Iron Architecture

• Was also a product of the 19th

century’s Industrial Revolution• Changed the realm of architecture• Was a welcome alternative to stone and wood• Allowed for the erection of taller buildings with thinner walls• Has great strength but is heavy

Steel-Cage Architecture

• Very strong metal with some carbon and other metals• Harder than cast iron and very expensive; however, less of the material needs to be used• Skeletal forms of steel result in “steel cages”• Façades and inner walls are hung from the skeleton; thus, its mass

Less is more.

–Ludwig Miës van der Rohe

- Reinforced Concrete Architecture

• A 19th-century building material also called ferroconcrete• Steel rods and/or steel mesh are inserted into wet concrete • Steel is inserted at points of greatest stress before hardening• It can span greater distances and support greater weights

- Reinforced Concrete Architecture

• Le Corbusier’s Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut

Ronchamp (1950–54)• Frank Lloyd Wright’s Kaufmann House (“Fallingwater”) Bear Run,

PA (1936) • Moshe Safdie’s HabitatExpo 67, Montreal (1967)

- Steel-Cable Architecture

• Asian wood and rope suspension bridges for thousands of years• Brooklyn Bridge used steel cables to span NY’s East River (1833)• Parallel wires share the stress• Very flexible and the road below can sway during changing weather and traffic conditions• Note: Twin Towers in Fig. 10-21

- Steel-Cable Architecture

• Guy Nordenson and Henry N. Cobb’s schematic drawing for the

World Trade Center (2003)

• David Childs in collaboration with David Libeskind Freedom Tower

(2003)

“A Closer Look”

Tribute in LightIn Lights at Ground Zero,Steps toward illumination

March – April 2002

- Shell Architecture• Modern materials and engineering methods now enclose spaces with inexpensive shell structures• Shells are capable of spanning greater spaces• Constructed from reinforced concrete, wood, steel, paper, etc.• Concept as old as the tent or new as a geodesic dome

- New Materials, New Visions in Architecture

• New idea in architecture: “If you can think it, we can build it”• Global architects now adopt high-tech metals and methods• Different visions concerning assembling designs and buildings• Unorthodox building materials

- New Materials, New Visions in Architecture

• Frank Gehry’s Ray and Maria Stata Center for Computer, Information and

Intelligence Science, MIT, Cambridge, MA

• Peter Testa and Devyn Weisner, Testa Architecture and Design’s Carbon Tower

• Shigeru Ban’s Nomadic Museum

Architectural Art Tour

Chicago

• The Monadnock Building• The Tribune Tower• The Pritzker Pavilion, Millennium Park• Robie House

Discussion Questions:

• Why is architecture so important to us as humans?• What are the materials used in building construction?• What are some of the building techniques used in architecture?• Why is architecture an artform and a science (engineering)?