INTRODUCTION
Reasons for studying history of architecture:

The buildings of the past serve as full scale models of mass-space
relationship.

They set examples for techniques in dealing with the forces of nature.

They help us understand and develop regard for the social value systems of
the period.

“Time” gives us a sense of value to the buildings.

They serve as an inspiration for contemporary architects.

They add to the enrichment of culture.
Beginning of contemporary architecture:

Nicholas Pevsner dates it to 1860 – the birth of modern techniques and
materials.

Gideon and Scully date it back to 1760 – along with the birth of revolutionary
theories.
Major phases of contemporary architecture:

PHASE I – 1830 to 1900 – Industrial revolution to the Eclectic period.

PHASE II – 1900 till date – Art Nouveau to current trends.
The first premise of human history is, of course, the existence of
living human individuals. Thus, the first fact to be established is the
physical organization of these individuals and their consequent
relation to the rest of nature………..The writing of history must
always set out from these natural bases and their modification in the
course of history through the action of men………..By producing their
means of subsistence men are indirectly producing their actual
material life.
(Marx and Engels, The German Ideology, part 1, 1846)
Material conditions – that is, social systems, political institutions and culture in
general, including art and architecture – are dependant ultimately on the way a
society earns its living. Modern architecture and design must thus be seen in the
context of, and defined by, the modern economic system, a system which began
in effect when the great revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries brought the
bourgeoisie to power, creating a new world society based on industrial
production.
SOCIAL BACKGROUND DURING THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION:
During the Industrial era, a demand for a new architecture was felt. The society
was agrarian from the Baroque to the Industrial era. The agrarian society turned
into a semi feudal society slowly due to marginal mechanization. In another few
years, a feudal system came into being.
The feudal lords became rich. They grew richer with the advance of industrial
growth. Hence the difference between the rich and the poor increased. This led
to a series of social revolutions in USA (1776), UK (17 th century) and France
(1789).
Large palatial mansions built projected the wealth of the feudal lords. Gentleman
clubs were formed to patronize the various arts like literature, painting and
sculpture. They relied on the service of architects. Architects were categorized
according to the segment of society they served.
Gentlemen architects did the castles for the feudal lords, while craftsmen
architects did the humble dwellings for the masses and labour classes with
economic constraints.
During the industrial era great inventions were made.
Machines for spinning cotton were developed. This
resulted in more cotton being grown. Thus many cotton
producing towns developed within 15 years. Thus textiles
and yarn were done
.
Due
to
the growth in industry, transportation became important.
With the invention of the steam engine by James Watt, coal and coke became
necessary for the running of railways. Thus mining towns developed.
With the increase in trade the need for transportation
increased. Thus seaport towns developed to facilitate
trade and commerce.
All these developments which occurred within a period of
50 years, affected the architecture of the period. Due to
the
importance
in
transportation,
roads,
railways,
bridges, tunnels, etc. became necessary.
The development of trade, in turn, led to the springing of
buildings such as banks, stock
exchanges, post offices, etc.
related to communication and
commercial transactions.
All the textiles, yarn, etc. needed textile mills, godowns,
etc. thus each town had mines, banks, etc. Thus
erection of large structures involving quick construction
methods became necessary.
The gentlemen architects were not able to cope up with
this requirement. Hence military engineers and military personnel started building
bridges, godowns, etc. This led to the development of a profession called “Civil
Engineering”.
Competition arose between engineers in terms of materials, cost and time. The
civil engineers took the assistance of people for developing technical details,
quantification and costing of the buildings developed by them. These people
were referred to as “Quantity surveyors”.
The competition between the civil engineers led to the development of closed
contract systems called “Tender”.
At this juncture, the society no longer felt the services of architects necessary. In
London, they formed the Institution of Architects (now referred to as the RIBA –
Royal Institute of British Architects) – the architectural association under the fear
that their profession would be eliminated. They undertook to teach architecture
as a profession. The same happened in Germany and France.
Architectural history was taught. Due to these activities, several movements and
philosophies developed within the next 50 years.
Great personalities like Ferguson, Victor Hugo and Violet La Duc gave a fillip to
the architectural profession. This understanding of the history and development
of new theories started the demand for a new architecture, along with social
needs.
Several treatises were written on art and architecture. This kindled the
awareness of people who were no longer satisfied with the existing architecture.
Hence a sect of anti-revivalist architects was born. While some of the architects
felt that the architecture of the past should be adopted. They were referred to as
pro- revivalists.
The anti-revivalists and pro-revivalists came up with several movements during
the late 19th to the early 20th century.
ROBERT OWEN – The Social Reformist:
Robert Owen was a Welsh reformist and owner of a cotton mill, at New Lanark
near Glasgow. He attempted to improve the living and working conditions of the
poor through education and other amenities like cooperative food stores,
markets, bakery, etc. He believed in the essential humanity of the ruling classes.
He founded the cooperative and trade union movement and sought to improve
the conditions of working classes through legislation.
Influence of new materials on modern architecture
The demand for a new architecture was partly motivated by the development of
new construction materials and methods.
IRON
Before industrialization, Iron was sparingly used in the construction industry due
to:

difficulty in its’ mass production

poor resistance to exposure

lack of classical precedents in its’ use
Abraham Darby (England) industrialized the production of iron in 1709.
Industrialization of iron production led to its’ extensive usage in the construction
industry.
Early instances of iron usage in construction:

The first successful cast-iron bridge was constructed over the river Severn in
England in 1775. It consisted of a single semicircular arch spanning 100.5
feet and a rise of 45 feet made up of five cast iron ribs.

The Sunderland bridge (1776) designed by Paine spanned 236 feet. The six
ribs form the arch composed of cast iron panels which acted as voussoirs. A
series of 105 such panels made up each rib. The method of stone vaulting
was adapted to iron construction.

Robert Stephenson designed the Britannia tubular bridge in 1849.

The Golden Gate suspension bridge across the San Francisco bay - the
longest single span bridge in the world. Overall length – 9200 feet. Length of
the middle span – 4200 feet. Width of roadway – 60 feet. A new material
made it possible to build a construction par excellence.

The bridge over the Thames had a single span of 600 feet. Since the bridge
designers were not architects they looked unto the Renaissance architecture
for aesthetic motivation. Finally they used watchtowers or Egyptian pylon-like
supports.
Buildings using Iron as a material
In architecture the first usage was for a cast iron framework for the cupola in the
Royal Pavilion at Brighton in 1818.
In France, wrought iron was used as an alternative roofing material to wood
which was prone to fire hazards. E.g. Theater Francais, Paris (1786).
Cast Iron was used in cupolas like the rotunda of the British museum where the
cast iron ribs were used from the ground to the top.
Suspension bridges using wire cables were introduced in 1824 on the Rhone.
They gave lightness to the form. They were used for large spans.
Iron was also used in combination with glass in several structures such as glass
houses and the galleries at the great exhibitions.
In the Theater Francais by Victor Louis, a wrought iron roof was used to achieve
elegance and boldness in design. This was characteristic of iron construction in
France. The specialty of this building is that the entire construction was counter
balanced in such a way that only thin walls were needed for support.
The form of the girders reveals an instinctive knowledge of the moment of inertia,
which had not been scientifically formulated yet.
Iron Columns
Structurally, cast iron columns were first used in 1780 to increase the span in the
roof supports of English cotton mills, to obtain obstruction free space or the newly
invented cotton spinning machines.
The slenderness of cast iron columns changed the concept of proportion in
architecture.
Iron pillars were also used in combination with other materials.
Iron Girders

Iron beams (girders) were used in combination for the first time in cotton mills
at Salford, Manchester in 1801. They were “I” section, simply supported from
wall to wall at regular intervals.
It was a seven storey mill using 9” dia hollow cast iron columns.
The building was 140’ long and 42’ wide. It had a cast iron skeleton with outer
masonry walls and served as a standard for warehouses.

James Bogardus initiated the construction of buildings with steel skeletons in
1848. Iron columns substituted masonry walls to support the floors of
buildings. All American department stores, warehouses and office buildings
were based on this system.

Jules Saulnier designed the Menier Chocolate works (1872) – an example of
a steel skeleton structure with the walls reduced to mere curtains. This was
the forerunner of USA’s skyscrapers.
`

William Fairbrain attempted to make his buildings fireproof. In this 8 storey
flat-roofed refinery, he introduced wrought iron as well as cast-iron members.
Wrought iron I-section girders joined with iron tie bars are supported by cast
iron pillars.

Henri Labrouste designed the Bibliotheque Genevieve. It was the first library
building in France designed to be a complete and independent unit. In this
cast iton and wrought iron construction was used. It’s outer walls were of
masonry. All structural members were made of iron. It had a long doubleheight reading room. The roof was made up of thin barrel vaults – iron
network. The iron construction balanced by itself – no stress was put on the
walls.

In the nineteenth century, buildings with new usage such as market halls and
department stores led to the use of cast-iron columns with delicate trusses to
support interesting roof forms and lighting the interiors by means of sky
lighting.
Progress in buildings due to the invention of elevators

The first satisfactory elevator was invented by Elisha Graves Otis of New
York. The safety of the elevator was demonstrated in New York in the 1853
Exposition.

The first passenger elevator was used in 1857 in a department store.

The first European elevator was used in the Paris exposition of 1867.

The first iron-framed skyscraper was built in 1885. It was the ten storeyed
Home Insurance building of Chicago.
Qualities which made steel successful were

Fire resistance

High tensile strength hence span could be increased and heavy loads could
be applied.

Reusable – wastage of material can be minimized.

Slender mass in form could be achieved

Cast into any form – ease of manufacture – hence maximum flexibility in
design could be achieved

Cheaper compared to timber
GLASS
The use of glass dates back to the Egyptian civilization. It had developed over
the centuries and by the middle of the 18 th century, its’ development into hand
manufacturing and mouth blowing.

During the industrial revolution, glass was used in conjunction with iron to
develop new solutions.

Initially, wrought iron was used with glass to construct the glass roof of the
Gallerie Orleans. This use of glass gave an impression of freedom, openness
and being outdoors, while being protected from the forces of nature. This was
a precursor of the glass and iron halls of the great exhibitions.

The first large structure using glass panes was a French conservatory – the
green house of the Botanical gardens at Paris, renamed the glass gardens.

Glass was used extensively for show window of stores.

Glass was used extensively in the great exhibitions. The Crystal palace itself
derives its’ name from the extensive use of glass on the exterior to admit light.
Maximum size of panels available during the period was only 4 feet in length.

The enormous area of glass used in the vaulting of the Palais de industries,
Paris (1855), admitted so much light that it almost blinded the spectators.

In the Paris exhibition of 1878, a glass canopy was introduced and carried
along the length of the glass front wall. Extensive use of glass provided visual
lightness to the structure. Glass was used extensively later by architects like
Walter Gropius and others from the Bauhaus school as plain sheer curtains
between the inner and outer space with pillars set behind the façade.

Within a century, glass became part of the architect’s structural technique.
The shift from solids and voids to voids only by covering the entire surface
with glass occurred around the 19th century. Thus a window was extended to
become a window-wall.

Gropius and Corbusier extended patronage. Mies van der Rohe went one
step further to extend the window wall in height to the sky vertically.

Strip windows became the fashion. Transparent glass walls with structural
frames were based on the theory of visual extension of space.

Stained glass walls with modern paintings were also employed along with
new techniques for treating glass as done in churches.

The transparent, sculpturesque and reflective qualities of glass were exploited
by several architects of the 20th century.
CONCRETE
Early usage of concrete

First usage in 1774 – Eddystone home by John Smeaton, England.

In 1829, Dr.Fox created concrete floors by piling concrete between iron
girders. This was patented in 1844.

William Fairbrain used tie bars embedded in concrete – proper RCC was
used in warehouses for 7 to 8 storeys.

In the Paris exhibition of 1867 concrete was used as floors for the subbasement of the main building.
Early uses of RCC

Francois Hennebique and William Coignet invented RCC in France. Used in
architecture since the late 19th century and became popular in the early 20 th
century.

Tony Garnier used RCC systematically in the town hall project (1901-1904)
using cantilevering of structures.

August Perret designed the multi storied apartment – Rue Franklin
Apartments in 1903. It used a concrete skeleton – had six floors – the ground
floor was covered with glass. The building was considered fragile and
discarded initially.

Concrete was later used by F.L.Wright in plastic form.
Merits of Concrete

Can be cast into any shape.

Good in compression.

Rust-free.

Fire-resistant.

Cheaper than a pure steel structure.