Chicago school of architecture

Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the

turn of the 20th century. They were among the first to promote the new technologies of steel-

frame construction in commercial buildings, and developed a spatial aesthetic which co-

evolved with, and then came to influence, parallel developments in

European Modernism. A "Second Chicago School" later emerged in the 1940s and 1970s

which pioneered new building technologies and structural systems such as the tube-frame

structure.

In 1871 a devastating fire destroyedmost of downtown Chicago.

This frontier American city,unfettered with European traditions,now had a blank slate upon which torebuild.

Social and economic factors after thefire, as well as the technologicaladvances of the time, gave rise hereto the world’s first skyscrapers.

The architects that contributed tothis unprecedented type ofcommercial building, including LouisSullivan, were collectively known asthe ‘Chicago School’.

From this in 1871 …

… to this in 1896

The Otis Safety Lift, patented in 1861

The electric light bulb

The telephone

First chicago school

Some of the distinguishing features of the Chicago School are the use of steel-frame buildings with masonry cladding (usually terra cotta), allowing large plate-glass window areas and limiting the amount of exterior ornamentation. Sometimes elements of neoclassical architecture are used in Chicago School skyscrapers.

The "Chicago window" originated in this school. It is a three-part window consisting of a large fixed center panel flanked by two smaller double-hung sash windows. 

Architects whose names are associated with the Chicago School include Henry Hobson Richardson, Dankmar Adler, Daniel Burnham, William Holabird, William LeBaron Jenney, Martin Roche, John Root, Solon S. Beman, and Louis Sullivan. 

The top level houses mechanicaldevices such as elevator engines andwater tanks. Its appearance proclaimsits difference in function from the restof the building.

A succession of workers offices fillthe upper stories and are modular andrepetitive in appearance.

Street level spaces for shops, banks,and public commerce. These are large,open spaces “liberal, expansive andsumptuous” that will flow up into thesecond storey.

In the 1940s, a "Second Chicago School" emerged from the work of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and his efforts of education at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. This was supported and enlarged in the 1960s due to the ideas of structural engineer Fazlur Khan. He introduced a new structural system of framed tubes in skyscraper design and construction. He defined the  framed tube structure as "a three dimensional space structure composed of three, four, or possibly more frames, braced frames, or shear walls, joined at or near their edges to form a vertical tube-like structural system capable of resisting lateral forces in any direction by cantilevering from the foundation."[

Second chicago school of architecture

The first building to apply the tube-frame construction was the DeWitt-Chestnut Apartment Building which Khan designed and was completed in Chicago by 1963.This laid the foundations for the tube structures of many other later skyscrapers, including his own John Hancock Center and Willis Tower, and can been seen in the construction of the World Trade Center, Petronas Towers, Jin Mao Building, and most other  supertall skyscrapers since the 1960s.

SKYLINE OF CHICAGO

Chronological context in Architecture- Modernism to Postmodernism -

1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s

First generationmodernists

Second generation modernists

Third generationmodernists

The pioneers of modernism.They each treated form, space,structure, materials and ornament innovel ways.

These were the architects of ‘highmodernism’- the universalInternational Style- as well as thefashionable Art Deco period.

These were the architects ofPostmodernism.They reacted against the orthodoxy ofhigh modernism.

Peter Behrens - Berlin Walter Gropius Frank Gehry

Auguste Perret - Paris Le Corbusier Philip Johnson

C. R. Mackintosh - Glasgow Mies van der Rohe Charles Moore

Otto Wagner - Vienna Gerrit Reitveld I. M. Pei

Adolf Loos - Vienna William Van Allen Michael Greaves

Louis Sullivan - Chicago Napier Art Deco architects Louis Kahn

Frank Lloyd Wright - Chicago and mid-western states of USA Robert Venturi

LOUIS SULLIVAN(1856-1924)

Louis Henry Sullivan was an American architect, and has been called the "father of skyscrapers" and "father of modernism“. He is considered by many as the creator of the modern skyscraper, was an influential architect and critic of the Chicago School, was a mentor to Frank Lloyd Wright.

Along with Henry Hobson Richardson and Frank Lloyd Wright, Sullivan is one of "the recognized trinity of American architecture". He received the AIA Gold Medal in 1944.Form ever follows function

Dankmar Adler (1844, in Germany – 1900, in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.)

After he began his own firm, Adler hired Louis Sullivan as a draughtsman and designer in 1880; Sullivan was made a partner in the firm in 1883

Adler was not only an architect but also a gifted civil engineer who, with his partner Louis Sullivan, designed many buildings including influential skyscrapers that boldly addressed their steel skeleton through their exterior design: the Guaranty Building in Buffalo, New York, the Chicago Stock Exchange Building (1894–1972) and the Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri.

Adler and Sullivan's Auditorium Building (1889) is an early example of splendid acoustical engineering, as is their Kehilath Anshe Ma'ariv Synagogue. Both drew upon the fine acoustics in Adler's earlier Central Music Hall. Adler was an acclaimed expert in acoustics.

Auditorium building 1889

EXTERIOR-Typical semi circular arches-inspired from the roman arches.

Granite masonry for first 2 floors Ashlar masonry for upper storeys.

Thicker foundations. 10 floors+tower(water tank)

ENTRANCE-

Entrance lobby-seems to be borne down by wt of bldg

Ornamental patterns on balustrade got simplified as one moved up

• Staircase- narrow-deviation from european standards-grand ceremonial staircase.

AUDITORIUM- 4250 seats broke away from traditional horse shoe plan- no side seats. But stage comparatively small and lacking in storage

space Stage-system to fly out the sides of the proscenium arch to

make stage area continuous with rest of the auditorium

Acoustic tunnel – conical-diminishes reverberation by decreasing the volume of

auditorium-to control the flow while improving diffusion of the sound Stairways and public area- did away with all walls so

sound could flow away till the rear part of the great theatre

Stage directly visible from foyer on first floor

4000 light bulbs light up the auditoriumVentilation and lighting system passes through the archesFunction- focus light on stageForm-arches and bulbs fixed along their lines.Rest of auditorium lighted in same way only lighting and arrangements change.Curve due to pressure of the first

balcony-not hidden from sight and used as a visible member in design

Offices-smallest part of building-least space taken.

Hotel -wide entrance large balconies daylight, richly decorated staircase

dining room on 10th floor-roosevelt university now uses as library.

Banquet hall later added by Adler and decorated by Sullivan placed on 7th floor roof of auditorium- now used by university as concert hall

1947-roosevelt university took over1918-Sullivan left office in tower.

Hotel expanded as new building erected across road connected by underground tunnel but became successful independently-identical façade was designed.

Wainwright Building is among the first skyscrapers in the world. It was designed by Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan in the Palazzo style and built between 1890 and 1891.

With the Wainwright Building Sullivan solved theproblem of how to design the newly developedskyscraper; by treating the structure as aclassical column: the lower two floors form thebase; floors three to nine a fluted shaft; and theornate frieze and cornice on top form a capital

Required function=need of light at ground floor (skylighted ground floor)

Solution in terms of form= atrium therefore creating a u-shaped form for plan

Plan provides an outer exposure for all offices.

Innovative structural elements raft roofing of reinforced concrete braced, riveted steel frame wall bays carried on spandrel shaft angles

First 2 storeys make up the baseThen horizontal ledge which provides flat surface base for pilasters

Unusually high cornice brings perpendicular momentum to a stop

Window spandrels set back in a deeper relief plane each storey carries a different brick ornamentation on

spandrel

10th storey surrounded by foliage frieze of the roof - circular windows centre of each leaf tendril

Ornamental elements-Decorated spandrels around windows and doors.

The Guaranty Building, which is now called the Prudential Building, built in Buffalo, New York In 1894

He and Adler divided the building into four zones. 1. The basement was the mechanical and utility area. Since this level was below ground, it did not show on the face of the building.

2. The next zone was the ground-floor zone which was the public areas for street-facing shops, public entrances and lobbies.

3. The third zone was the office floors with identical office cells clustered around the central elevator shafts.

4. The final zone was the terminating zone, consisting of elevator equipment, utilities and a few offices.

The supporting steel structure of the building was embellished with terra cotta blocks. Different styles of block delineated the three visible zones of the building.

Usage Variations in the color and pattern of the glaze could make

it look like granite or limestone; this flexibility helped make it attractive for architects.

Four major types of terra-cotta were widely used1. Brownstone was the earliest type. A dark red or brown

block which was not necessarily glazed, it was used as imitation sandstone, brick or with real brownstone.

2. Fireproof was developed as a direct result of the growth of the high rise building in America. Cheap, light and fireproof, the rough-finished hollow blocks were ideally suited to span the I-beam members in floor, wall and ceiling construction. Certain varieties still in production today.

3. Veneer was developed during the 1930s, is still used today. Unlike traditional architectural terra-cotta, ceramic veneer is not hollow cast. It is a veneer of glazed ceramic tile which is ribbed in the back like bathroom tile and usually attached to a grid of metal ties which have been anchored to the building.

4. Glazed architectural terra-cotta was the most complex building material developed. The hollow units were hand cast in molds or carved in clay and heavily glazed, then fired. associated with the architecture of Louis Sullivan.

Function, form and ornament

ornament must be of the building, integral to structure, rather than merely applied over it.

reflected functional aspects of the building, distinguishing entranceways, busy public areas thoroughfares the plain surfaces of his buildings ornamented with lush

Art Nouveau and rather Celtic-likeDecorations

usually cast in iron or terra cotta

ranging from organic forms like vines, ivy, to more geometric designs, interlace

Inspired by his Irish design heritage.

Shingle style houses (1880-1900)

• Irregular steeply pitched roof• Large porches• Shingle walls without corner boards• Asymmetrical façade• Decorative detailing used sparingly• Often have a tower• Porch posts are often clad in Shingles• Most commonly found in coastal New England

Shingle Style houses can take on many forms. Some have tall turrets, suggestive of Queen Anne architecture. Some have gambrel roofs, Palladian windows, and other Colonial Revival details. Some Shingle houses have features borrowed from Tudor, Gothic and Stick styles. But, unlike those styles, Shingle architecture is relaxed and informal. Shingle houses do not have the lavish decorations that were popular during the Victorian era. The architectural historian Vincent Scully coined the term "Shingle Style" because these homes are usually sided in rustic cedar shingles. However, not all Shingle Style houses are shingle-sided. You will recognize them by their complicated shapes and rambling, informal floor plans.

Aside from being a style of design, the style also conveyed a sense of the house as continuous volume. This effect—of the building as an envelope of space, rather than a great mass, was enhanced by the visual tautness of the flat shingled surfaces, the horizontal shape of many Shingle-style houses, and the emphasis on horizontal continuity, both in exterior details and in the flow of spaces within the houses.

McKim, Mead and White and Peabody and Stearns were two of the notable firms of the era that helped to popularize the Shingle style, through their large-scale commissions for "seasidecottages". Perhaps the most famous Shingle-style house built in American was "Kragsyde" (1882) the summer home commissioned by Bostonian G. Nixon Black, from Peabody and Stearns. Kragsyde was built atop the rocky coastal shore near Manchester-By-the-Sea, Massachusetts, and embodied every possible tenet of the Shingle style. The William Watts Sherman House is a notable house designed by American architect H. H. Richardson, with later interiors by Stanford White. The house is generally acknowledged as one of Richardson's masterpieces, and the prototype for what later became known as the Shingle Style in American architecture.

An icon of American architecture, the demolished William G. Low House was a seaside cottage at 3 Low Lane in Bristol, Rhode Island. It was designed in 1886-87 by architect Charles Follen McKim of the New York City firm, McKim, Mead & White. The house — with its single, exaggerated, 140-foot-long gable — embodied the tenets of Shingle Style architecture, which included horizontality, simplified massing and geometry, minimal ornamentation, and the blending of interior and exterior spaces.

FRENCH GARDENS

References: www.wikepedia.org www.greatbuildings.com Imagegallery/flickr