Mies van der Rohe and Oscar Niemeyer - Research Paper Example

?Mies van der Rohe and Oscar Niemeyer - Structural Grid Versus White Architecture Sculptures Mies van der Rohe and Oscar Niemeyer are two most important architects of the 20th century. They were champions of the modern architecture and in their capacities contributed to the new ideas and methodologies that continue to influence the architectural world today. This essay will examine the lives and works of the two icons in under the following subtopics; Professional biography, traditionalism to modernism, design principles and study cases. The essay will also analyze the similarities and differences of the two architects in terms of structural grid, floor plans and ’solid and void.’ Professional biography of Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe began by training as a stonemason with his father. He became a master stonemason at nineteen years. He worked at the art nouveau architect and furniture design that belonged to Bruno Paul. He received the first commission to design a house belonging to a philosopher when he was twenty years. He started working for Peter Behrens in 1908. He studied architecture of Karl Friedrich Schikel and Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1912 Mies opened his own office in Berlin. He studied skyscraper and designed two glass towers made of steel-frames for a competition. This foreshadowed his skyscraper designs of the 1940s and 1950s (Wintle, 2002, p 32). Ludwig van der rohe actively participated in several avant-garde groups like ‘Zehner ring’ and the Novembergruppe that championed modern art and architecture. He contributed to major architectural philosophies of the 1920s when he was the artist director of the Weissenhoff project. This was a model housing colony in Stuttgart where he managed to design a block together with other leading European architects of the time. In 1927, Mies designed the German pavilion in Barcelona which became his most famous buildings. The Barcelona pavilion hall was flat roofed with walls made of marble and glass and could be moved around. This brought the first concept of fluid space. Mies met Philip Johnson, a New York architect who championed him to architectural fame in the United States. Philip included some of Mies projects in the MoMas first architectural exhibition in 1932. He became the director of the Bauhaus School between 1930 and 1933 and then relocated to the States in 1937. He headed the department of architecture at the Armour institute of Technology in Chicago, (now Illinois Institute of technology). He designed a new campus for the school using refined steel and glass style (Thomas, 2010). After becoming an American citizen, Mies designed the Farnsworth house. The house was transparent and supported by eight steel columns. The interior consisted of a single room subdivided by partitions of glass. He developed the convention hall in 1953 and later the twin towers in Chicago. The twin towers skyscrapers were a realization of his dream of building skyscrapers using glass and steel. He built other high-rises in New York Detroit, Toronto and Chicago. However the Seagram building in New York was voted as the work of genius in skyscraper design. He achieved the ‘Order pour le Merite’ from Germany in 1959. He was acknowledged with the “Presidential Medal of Freedom” by the US government. He was invited to Berlin to design the New National gallery. This building was the culmination of his life-long vision of an exposed structure connecting the interior to the landscape. It was also his last design before his death on the 17th August, 1969. Traditionalism to Modernism Before World War I, Mies was a traditionalist who designed traditional custom homes. However, the traditional styles were already under heavy criticism from the progressive theorist. According to these opponents traditional architecture was first and foremost non-progressive. The emerging technology of the modern time demanded its presence in the lives and architecture. However, traditional architecture was blamed for hiding the modern construction under the shallow classical facades. After World War I, he joined the avant-garde group which begun to look into new styles that would suit the modern industrial error. Criticism of the traditional styles had reached credible threshold especially due to the consequences of the World War I. The society credited World War I with the failure of the imperial leadership of Europe. As a result the aristocratic classical styles symbolized the old world order. Progressive thinkers sought for architectural designs that embodied rational problem solving and an exterior expression of modern structure and materials (Lang, 1994, 386). It was during this time that Mies embarked on developing visionary projects that found favor with the emerging modern architectural industry. Initially these were side projects most of which were not built. Nonetheless, he officially joined the modernist thinkers in his debut when he created a spectacular competition proposal for the Friedrichstrabe skyscraper, which was all-glass, in 1921. He then followed this with a curved version in the following year and named it the skyscraper. Ludwig Mies went on to design several modern buildings projects the epitomes of which were the Barcelona Pavilion and the Villa Tugendhat in Brno, Czech Republic. His modernist ideas were influenced by the art movements of the time. For instance, the aesthetic credos of Russian Constructivism and Dutch De Still group who capitalized on the use of simple forms that enhanced extension of space beyond interior walls and pure use of colors. He was also amazed by Gerrrit Tietveld, and the theories of Adolf Loos that stressed the removal of unnecessary ornaments, and replacing it with the flaunting of material and forms. Throughout Mies Career, he ensured that the overall concepts of his architecture supported his endeavor to express the modern era. His success has inspired many theorist and philosophers to explore his ideas further. In the end he has inspired the designs of many modern buildings in various parts of the world. Design principles Ludwig Mies van Rohe is famous for the quote “Less is more” Simply put his designs had no room for ornament and superfluity. Instead they embodied seriousness, clarity of function and greater realization of space. He considered the use of glass and steel as the materials that could effectively realize functionality and interior space (Mayer, & Turkienicz, 2005). Various events shaped Mies designs. Firstly, the new building materials such as concrete, glass and steel. He was also influenced by the school of architecture in German known as Bauhaus where the new modern materials could be shaped into structures. It was while here that Mies realized that the use of steel could free the interior space. Professional biography of Oscar Niemeyer Oscar Niemeyer Soares Filho went to the National School of Fine Arts in 1930 and graduated in 1934 with a BA. He did not consider himself an architect rather than a hobby. He then worked with his father’s Typography house. He also worked at the architecture studio of Lucio Costa and Carlos Leao. His dissatisfaction with the architecture on the streets inspired him to pursue his career. Together with Costa, they designed major buildings such as the Ministry of Education and health building, the Brazil’s pavilion during the 1939 New York World’s Fair (Salvaing, 2009, p15). Oscar launched his own career in 1941 when he designed several buildings in the suburb of Pampulha in Rio de Janeiro. He established his own design trademarks that included the use of curves and heavy use of concrete. This was a unique divergence from the right angle, T-squares and triangles. He was chosen to represent Brazil as part of the architectural team designing the new headquarters of the United Nations in New York. Significant elements of his designs affected the designs. After the successful completion of the UN headquarters, Niemeyer was awarded an appointment as dean of the graduate school of Design in Harvard University. However, due to his political affiliation with Brazil’s Communist Party the US government denied him the work visa. Back in Brazil, Niemeyer was appointed the new chief architect of public buildings in 1956 by the then President Juscelino Kubitschek. He was tasked with the duty of designing the buildings in the Country’s new capital Brasilia. Brasilia was a modern civic metropolis in the interior of Brazil that was to be built from scratch. He used this opportunity to express his utopian vision of government in his designs. The buildings Oscar designed are the Brasilia Palace Hotel, Ministry of Justice building, Presidential Chapel, the President’ Palace and the cathedral. He resigned as the chief architect in 1960 after the inauguration of the new Capital city and embarked on private practice (Niemeyer, 1956, p45). Having joined the Brazilian Communist party earlier in 1945, he landed in problems when the Brazilian military overthrew the government in 1964 which forced him to exile in France. While in France he designed many buildings in Europe and North Africa. In addition he went into furniture designs which were trademarked with the use of winding curves. He returned to Brazil in 1985 when the dictatorship ended. In 1988, Niemeyer was awarded the Pritzker Architecture Prize, the highest award in the architectural profession after the cathedral he built in Brasilia. To date though semi-retired, and advanced in age, he still works in his office everyday on the designs and new projects. Traditionalism to Modernism Before Niemeyer’s time, The Brazilian community was a predominantly traditional society in all areas including architecture. According to Holston, 1989, Brazil was a developing nation that was less concerned with economics of architecture. Flamboyancy and richly decorated Portuguese Baroque characterized the Brazilian architect a result of colonialism (Wintle, 2002, p384). Oscar as a young man was appalled at the kind of architecture that surrounded him. The lavishness of the traditional architecture only showed a society that squanders resources for fame and less functionality. Therefore right from the beginning Niemeyer was a modernist at heart who wanted transform the Brazilian architecture to a modern state. Realizing modern architecture in Brazil was not an easy task. Several factors stood in the way of the modernity. First, Brazil being an underdeveloped country lacked the social and economic infrastructure to accommodate modern architecture. The heavy industries in Brazil could not support the requirements of modern urban architecture. Furthermore, according to the politically committed modernist of the time, the advanced societies had hardly realized modernist architecture which made Brazil incapable of such innovations. Niemeyer decided design his structures based on contradictions specific to Brazil. The odds that faced the Brazilian modern architecture are what inspired his designs. He is known for the quote “that which is advanced arises, paradoxically, from that which is least” (Holston, 1989, p 88). He set out to demonstrate to the whole world that the Brazilian architectures were capable of technically producing the kind of architecture that precede the social, economic and political conditions yet to be achieved in Brazil. According to Niemeyer, the third world countries like Brazil provided the best conditions for advancing architectural innovation in great leaps. Brazil provided freedom to experiment and explore architectural designs. This he believes catapulted the country into the forefront of modern architecture. The construction of the capital city of Brasilia changed the architectural conditions in Brazil. Being a state directed enterprise; it was planned for and sustained by the advancement in Brazilian heavy industry. It was during this time that he sought to exercise the freedom to explore his trademarks. He explored the possibilities of skeletal structures that emphasized expressive freedom especially in public buildings (Holston, 1989, p91). Design principles Oscar Niemeyer was a Brazilian communist who believed in freedom for everyone. His socialist ideals inspired his designs to mirror the characters such as simplicity, freedom and space. This is indeed visible in his trademarks when he digressed from the right angles into the use of sinuous curves in his designs. He wanted to design buildings that portrayed functional rightness and simplicity of form; this is evident in his design of the “Church of St. Francis at Pampulha” (Underwood, 1994, p250). The building of the capital city of Brasilia was based on the socialist concept of utopia. The buildings are in sculptural harmony of colors and forms the compliments the setting. He displays his ideals in his buildings that he would want the whole world to share. For instance, the Niteroi Art Museum is visually appealing having a shape like an eye. Another key principle was that every building and its environments must be treated as a whole. The building must show its relationship with the surrounding environment and add beauty to that environment as opposed to relying too much on functionalism. This is evidenced in his house that he built in Rio de Janeiro. As evident in his designs, Oscar was a man who hated rules. When Designing the United Nations Headquarters, in the 1950s he did not agree with the rules of dominant functionalism imposed by the Bauhaus. Study cases 4- Similarity and differences One of the similarities between Niemeyer and Mies is the fact that both of them are modernist who championed the need for modern urban designs that made use of the modern equipment such as steel as well as glass and concrete. They also emphasized the need for expressive freedom and the need for expanded space. Even though their works are different, they both believed in the idea of interconnection between opens spaces, environment and nature. Based on his own principles Mies designed buildings that adhered to the structural grid. His buildings followed straight lines and right angles but emphasized more on the open spaces. Furthermore, his buildings were characterized by heavy use of steel and transparent glass. The aim was to incorporate the surrounding environment to the interior spacing and view. He moved away from the disciplined structure to the solid transparent walls (Unwin, 2003, p 169). While Ludwig Mies did not invent the steel frame structure, he gave the aesthetic importance by simplifying it to its natural form in order to show the grid. The characteristics of steel structure such as lack of boundary and hierarchies inspired Mies to enhance interior spacing using steel structures. Niemeyer on the other hand adopted the use of curves in his buildings. He expressed his philosophy, of curves and how they relate to nature and life, in his designs. Though this was a radical shift from the rational modernist, Niemeyer was free to realize his ideas of buildings that embodied sinuous curves. He also capitalized on the heavy use of concrete in his designs as evidenced in the various buildings in the capital city of Brasilia (Williams, 2001, p76). The floor plans of the two architects differed significantly. Mies advocated for the open floor plans. He believed that open floor plans created spaces that were both beautiful and practical. The open floors plan provided light as it was characterized by large windows of transparent glass. Niemeyer’s floor plans were geared towards similar objective of open space. However, due to the curvaceous nature of his designs, his floor plans adopted the curvilinear and the sculptural forms of architecture. Mies did not consider space as a void. In fact in his architectural expression he perceived space as volumetric. Space could not be a void according to him because it has shape and volume. He therefore sought to confine space and not define it as demonstrated in the stairs and ceilings that appeared to float, the mullions that seemed as not touching (Harrington, 1997, par 12). On the other hand, Niemeyer provided counterbalances of solid and void. His voids were mostly spherical in nature enclosed in reinforced concrete. His designs were characterized by v-shaped roofs, and parabolic surfaces. In conclusion, the two iconic architects with German lineage made significant contributions to the world of architecture. Mies van der Rohe never had formal education. Nevertheless he championed a unique concept of modern architect that emphasized both beauty and functionality. Several iconic buildings in major cities such as New York, and Germany testify to his ingenuity. Niemeyer on the other hand is credited with the advancement of the Brazilian architecture having developed his designs based on his philosophy of curves. Furthermore, his socialist utopia inspired very unique designs that portray the ideal society where all men are equal. The capital city of Brasilia in Brazil stands as the realization of Oscar Niemeyer’s ideas of both the social and the architectural world. Even though Mies and Niemeyer were modernist with similar ideas on the connection between interior space and environment, they used very different methods to express their ideas. Mies was a structuralist who employed the use of steel and glass to enhance space while Oscar applied sculptural architecture in designing curvilinear structures. Work cited Harrington, K. I Gave Myself a Shock: Mies and the Pavilion 1997 available online at < http://www.ucalgary.ca/ev/designresearch/publications/insitu/copy/volume2/history/Kevin_Harrington/index.html > April 20, 2012. Holston, J., The Modernist City: An Anthropological Critique of BrasIlia. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 1989. Lang, J. Urban Design: The American Experience, New Jersey, NJ: John Wiley and Sons, 1994 Mayer, R, Martin, G, C, & Turkienicz, B, Niemeyer?s proportion rules. Available online at < http://www.simmlab.ufrgs.br/publicacoes/MAYER_MARTINS_TURKIENICZ%5B1%5D.pdf> 2005, April 20, 2012. Niemeyer, O, S, Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 19 Apr. 2012 . April 20, 2012. Niemeyer, O. Oscar Niemeyer: works in progress, New York, NY Reinhold Pub. Corp., 1956 Salvaing, M. Oscar Niemeyer, New York, NY: Assouline, 2009. Thomas, T, Oscar Niemeyer – Architect of the People. Available online at < http://www.escapeintolife.com/essays/oscar-niemeyer-architect-of-the-people/> April 20, 2012. Underwood, D, K. Oscar Niemeyer and the architecture of Brazil, New York, NY: Rizzoli, 1994. Unwin, S. Analyzing Architecture, London, UK: Routledge, 2003. Williams, D., Culture Wars in Brazil: The First Vargas Regime, 1930-1945, North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2001. Wintle, J. Makers of Modern Culture, Volume 1, London, UK: Routledge, 2002. Read More