Emil Sodersten and Architecture - Research Paper Example

? Emil Sodersten: His design approach and Contribution to Australian Architecture Architecture defines national identity of a country. Since 1788, architecture in Australia had been influenced by overseas trends. The story of Australian architecture, that is why, is closely related to European and American architectural trends. At the same time, the story of Australian architecture also relates to architects who were born elsewhere.1 Many of them have made outstanding contributions to the history of Australian architecture. The list may include William Wardell, who built St. Patrick’s Cathedral in Melbourne and St. Marry’s Cathedral in Sydney. Joseph Reed who designed State Library of Victoria came from Cornwall. Leonard Terry who designed the Melbourne Club came from Yorkshire. John Verge brought the Regency style was from Hampshire.2 In the 20th century among architects who migrated to Australia, include Leslie Wilkinson from Britain, Walter Griffin from United States, and Harry Seidler from Austria.3 This research intends to pay homage to one of the twentieth century Australian born architects. Emil Lawrence Sodersten, a child of a Swedish origin father was born on 30 August in 1899.4 He was the second of seven children. In 1915, he started working as a technical clerk at an architectural firm by the name Ross and Rowe in Sydney. Later in 1921, he studied Architecture at the University of Sydney and attended the lectures of the Dean of Architecture Leslie Wilkinson. About at this period, Sodersten along with the Architect C.B. Dellit joined Hall and Prentice, Brisbane Architects, and helped them design City Hall.5 _________________________________ 1. Leslie Johnson, Australian Architecture 1901 – 1951: Sources of Modernism (Sydney: University of Sydney Library, 2002). 2. Howard Turner, Architects of Australia, (New York: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Division, 1981). 3. Bill Mac Mohan, The Architecture of East Australia, (London: Axel Menges, 2001), accessed April 27, 2013, http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Architecture_of_East_Australia.html?id=FUItnsGv-doC 4. “The Architect,” WYCHBURY, accessed April 27, 2013, http://wychbury.com.au/archives/8 5. “Dellit, Charles Bruce (1898–1942),” Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed April 27, 2013, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dellit-charles-bruce-9947 In 1927, Emil Sodersten became a council-member of the Institute of Architects in New South Wales, and in 1931 Fellow of Royal Australian Institute of Architects.6 Sodersten died in 1961, at the age of 62. His life coincided with three architectural design periods in Australia; federation period (1890-1915), interwar period (1915-1940), and postwar period (1940-1960). 7 Advent of 20th century is associated with the socioeconomic changes in the Australian society; on January 1, 1901, Australia became the commonwealth of Australia. The socioeconomic changes in Australian history displayed large-scale building construction in the suburbs within Sydney and Melbourne.8 At that time, federation architectural design style was popular in the building construction. Australia borrowed federation design style idea from Queen Anne style of architecture from England and the United States. It refers to the English Baroque architectural style and it was popular in the early decades of the twentieth century. Featured architectural characteristics of this style relate to towers, turrets, gables, steep roofs, vertical scale to windows and doors, symmetry and asymmetry, and Australian verandah. Some of the noted architects who used Federation style are Walter Liberty Vernon (1864-1914), George McRae (1958-1923), and Robin Dods (1868 – 1920).9 ___________________________________ 6. Kristine Sodersten. Emil Sodersten: His Contribution to the Development of Architecture in Australia, 1925-1940 (Sydney: University of South Wales, 1967). 7. Richard Apperley, Robert Irving, and Peter Reynolds, A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture: Style and Terms from 1788 to the Present (Melbourne: Argus & Robertson, 1994). 8. Bill MacMohan, The Architecture of East Australia, (London: Axel Menges, 2001), accessed April 27, 2013, http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Architecture_of_East_Australia.html?id=FUItnsGv-doC 9. John Haskell, Architecture in Sydney, (Sydney: University of New South Wales Ltd, 1997). Accessed April 28, 2013, http://books.google.com.ua/books?id=n5WlA4B9NXMC&pg=PT40&lpg=PT40&dq=architect+george+mcrae&source=bl&ots=9uHYyGuJm9&sig=lxNsSfsDq5quuZlevPGRyUuud2g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2NR8UbbmBIvSPLbbgcAI&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBA Emil Sodersten’s professional life is associated with the architectural design style era of America and Europe where prevailing styles at that time were Modern and Art Deco. Modern movement in architectural design style was credited to those architects who had avant-garde ideas, and at the same time were able to articulate them. Avant-grade ideas are personal philosophies and theories. In Europe, Le Corbusier, and architects from the Bauhaus, Frank Lloyd Wright, were the “influencers” of this movement. In the architectural design, modernism carried a sociopolitical message. The concept of the message was to break barriers among aesthetics, techniques, and society.10 Modernist architects maintained simplicity in form and design, kept structural elements visible, used linear elements, departed from traditional triangular-based rooflines, made extensive use of windows for lights, abandoned the idea of using interior walls functioning as support walls. At its birth, Art Deco was called Style Moderne; sometimes it was also called Depression Moderne because Art Deco buildings were built during the 1930s great depression.11 To understand the concept of the Art Deco style as a trend, one needs to focus on the 1925-1930s constructions of the U.S.A12 In Architecture, Art Deco style, from the viewpoint of geometrical understanding is characterized in two historical phases; an earlier geometric or “zigzag» phase that lasted between 1925 and 1935, and curvilinear or streamlined phase that began in the 1930s and lasted until after the Second World War. __________________________________ 10. Harry Francis Mallgrave, Modern Architectural Theory: A History Survey, 1673-1968, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), accessed April 28, 2013, http://bilder.buecher.de/zusatz/14/14707/14707518_vorw_1.pdf 11. Roger Scruton, The aesthetics of architecture, (Florida: Taylor & Francis, 1979). 12. David Gebhard, The National Trust Guide to Art Deco in America, (New York: J.Wiley, 1996). From the user’s viewpoint, the key characteristic of Art Deco style is Streamline Moderne.13 In mid thirties, in the U.S.A., national chains of retail stores and service stations were especially fond of the Streamline Moderne.14 From the mid twenty five and until after the WW II, Moderne or Art Deco structures included commercial buildings, gasoline stations, resident buildings, factories, retail chain stores, service stations, restaurants, and theaters. The above discussions imply that architectural design style and historical periods are interrelated. Industrial Revolution in the 19th century, the Great Depression at the beginning of the 20th century, and two world wars were the foundations of architectural design styles that encompassed simplicity and abstraction of the modern movements and elegance of ___________________________________ 13. “Moderne – Art Deco,” Duluth Minnesota USA, accessed April 28, 2013, http://www.duluthmn.gov/planning/documents/DHRS2.pdf 14. David Gebhard, The National Trust Guide to Art Deco in America, (New York: J.Wiley, 1996), 10-12 previous design styles. The movement of the first part of the 20th century established a new style in art, which was called Art Deco. In architecture the concept of this style characterizes simplicity in geometry, and functionality in design. The result of this movement influenced the then Australian architectural design style; the objective of this research is to draw attention to that influence, which was named as Art Deco architectural design style. In Sydney, dominance of the Art Deco style may be found in residential buildings. Sydney’s Cross Art Project studies relationships between art, life, and their boundaries.15 In doing so, the project has developed significant archive materials. The archive material “Architects of Kings Cross” of the Cross Art Project documented contributions of Australian profiling architects; Emil Sodersten is among one of them. Kings Cross in Sidney, Australia, is the world-renowned place for its Art Deco and Modern architecture. The archive documents describe Emil Sodersten as the leading Australian architect working in the Art Deco style who used imaginative planning and lavish brickwork in designing, and therefore earned the title of famous architect John Horbury Hunt of his time. Sodersten’s flat buildings include Kingsley Hall (1925-completed 1931), Cheddington (1930), Twenty Apartments (1930), Brittley Towers (1934), __________________________________________ 15. “Urban Pioneers: Apartment Architects of King’s cross 1900 – 2000,” The Cross Art Projects, accessed April 28, 2013, ” http://www.crossart.com.au/index.php/urban-pineers.html Werrington and Wychbury Towers (1934, side-by-side on Manning St) and the supremely elegant Marlborough Hall (1938) on Ward Ave.16 The adjacent inner city precincts of Potts Point and Elizabeth Bay in Sydney have the highest density of Art Deco architecture in Australia. One of them is called Britley Towers. Designed by Sodersten in Art Deco style, Britley Towers is considered to be great achievements of Art Deco residential architecture in Australia.17 This apartment block was built in 1934 was considered as the largest apartment block built in Australia during the depression. The Britley Towers apartment building exhibits rectangular geometrical plan, multiple stories, masonry construction, and emphasis on vertical elements. Architectural design style is a tool that combines geometrical shapes, building materials, and facade, as well as exterior and interior decorations. The choice of these parameters primarily depends on the historical period and its corresponding progress. Progress is defined by the socio-economic parameters. The socio-economic aspects of the first part of the twentieth century was marked with the technical development. However, the ________________________________ 16. “Heritage Walks,” The Twentieth Society Century Heritage Society of NSW, accessed April 27, 2013, http://www.twentieth.org.au/assets_activities/eliz_potts_walk.pdf 17. “Art Deco Apartment, Sydney, AU,” Sydney Australia, accessed April 28, 2013, http://www.australia-sydney.net/art_deco_apartment.html aftershock of the World War I created ambivalent feeing in society; depiction of a wonderful future world on one hand, and on the other hand, apocalyptic vision of a world gone awry. This dichotomy of world’s future visions were expressed through architecture. Traditional architects sought to avert disaster with classical designs of ancient architecture while modernists embraced a minimalist philosophy, expressed in the Bauhaus and International Style of architecture.18 Art Deco, in contrast to these uttermost positions, attempted to settle a centrist sight that adopted technology, yet symbolically cited past civilizations. Art Deco, differentiating itself from the other modern styles such as Bauhaus and the International style started as a highly stylised design movement in Europe after World War I. In 1922, Eliel Saarinen, a young Finnish architect introduced Art Deco to the American architects through his participation in the international competition for designing the Chicago Turbine Headquarter project.19 The American architect Raymond Hood was commissioned for the project. Emil Sodersten lived in the era when Art decor as a style flourished in architecture in America. In the mid 1920s, at the beginning of his career, Sodersten was influenced by the American architects Raymond Hood, and Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue. Raymond Hood already used the concept of Art Deco design style along with gothic; in designing the corporate headquarter of American Radiator Company in the New York City. This building, which was completed in 1924, was the first Art Deco skyscraper built in the United States. Sodersten was inspired by the Art Decor style and applied it in his works. Emil Sodersten fused American Art Decor style skyscraper with Northern European Modern, _________________________________ 18. Richard Strinner, “Art Deco: Polemic and Synthesis,” Winterthur Portfolio Vol. 25, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 21-34 19. “Moderne-Art Deco,” Duluth Minnesota USA, accessed April 28, 2013, “The Art Deco Movement and Definition,” State of Delaware, accessed April 27, 2013http://www.deldot.gov/archaeology/art_deco_architecture/pdf/ch1.pdf which created richness in architectural design, and offered significantly more functional attributes than their predecessors. It was at that time when Sodersten together with the Charles Dellit thought establishing Art Deco as a style in Sydney. Sodersten met Charles Dellit in 1921 when he studied Architecture at the University of Sydney and attended the lectures of the Dean of Architecture Leslie Wilkinson. About at this period, Sodersten along with the Architect C.B. Dellit joined Hall and Prentice, Brisbane Architects, and helped them design City Hall. Charles Bruce Dellit at the same time also attended the lectures of the Dean of Architecture Leslie Wilkinson. Both Sodersten and Dellit broke their conservative architectural education and became fond of Art Deco.20 Both of these two architects found their inspiration in American skyscrapers, new materials, new use of traditional materials, and new technology. Sodersten and Dellit believed that an architect must appreciate scientific progress, and “by the aid of modern science reach beyond our present dreams to artistic creations as yet undreamt of ”.21 Sodersten and Dellit were the ground barkers and had led Australian architecture in the Art Deco style. They used Art Deco to establish a connection between Victorian conventions and Modern architecture. Today, influence of Art Deco style is immediately apparent in significant public buildings in almost any Australian city, country town, or suburb. Art Deco is a style of an era, which cannot be ignored. Art and architecture do not exist without style. Style, on the other hand, encapsulates societal, technical, and financial parameters of an era. Art Deco as a style in art emerged in the late nineteenth century; __________________________________ 20. Kristine Sodersten. Emil Sodersten: His Contribution to the Development of Architecture in Australia, 1925-1940 (Sydney: University of South Wales, 1967). 21. “Dellit, Charles Bruce (1898–1942),” Australian Dictionary of Biography, accessed April 27, 2013, http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dellit-charles-bruce-9947 however, its formal debut took place in Paris in 1925. Emergence of Art Deco as a style characterized social rebellious outcry against conventional, classical approaches to design. In artifacts, this outcry was manifested offering luxury, style, and efficiency, and in architecture irregular shape, curved lines, curved glass, mosaic, and stained glass. Architecture was the most visible area in which Art Deco exercised a pregnant influence in Australia and until this day it stays the most spectacular, with countless remarkable structures still standing across the nation. However, opponent such as Robin Gerard Boyd, a famous Australian Victorian architect and a leader of Melbourne’s Modern Architecture movement disparagingly described 1920s domestic architecture as being the “Jazz Style” and “only a decorator’s idea and the zigzag stripe and the skyscraper’s setback silhouette symbolized the jazz age.” 22 The zigzag and skyscraper silhouette were the style of the era; zigzag appeared on wall-paper, curtains, cushions, and skyscraper silhouette appeared on bathroom tiles, living-room cabinets, bookcases, bed-heads and even on fabrics. Sodersten and Dellit as the pioneer of the Art Deco movement in Australia envisioned this new era, its socioeconomic parameters, which were the characteristics of this era.23 Contrary to Boyd’s remarks, the then contemporary houses, those were composed of ____________________________________ 22. Robin Boyd, Australia’s Home, (Parkville: Melbourne University Press, Parkville, 1961), 80. 23. “The Influence of Art Deco in Australia,” The Sunday Age, accessed April 27, 2013, http://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2008/national/art_deco/pdf/DecoDownUnder.pdf previous architectural styles were “jazzed – up” with superficial Art Deco ornamentation, and a number of quintessential Art Deco residences were designed and constructed during this new era.24 Burnham Beeches, a three-storey building in Sherbrooke, forty kilometer east of Melbourne is an example of one of the impressive Art Deco style private residential buildings. The design used curved architectural form using reinforced concrete, a new construction material of that time, as well as steep and extensive multilevel patios that resembled the deck of a ship.25 If Art Deco architectural design style were only a decorator’s idea as Robin Boyd mentioned, then it seemed unusual that this design style would be considered appropriate for the design of memorials built to honor the memory of many thousands of Australian soldiers, who died in the First World War. Regardless of the then contemporary Australian architects’ opinions about the Art Deco architectural design, the collective consciousness of the society accepted it as a part of the social culture. Of several public memorials three most significant, Melbourne’s Shrine of Remembrance (Hudson & Wardrop, 1934); the Anzac Memorial (C. Bruce Dellit, 1934) in Hyde Park, Sydney, and the National War Memorial (Emil Sodersten, 1936) in Canberra were commissioned with the Art Deco styles. In 1925, Sodersten participated in the international competition for designing a national war memorial and museum to be built in Canberra. Sodersten’s design though highly praised was not accepted because it was over the budget. ___________________________________ 24. “The Influence of Art Deco in Australia,” The Sunday Age, accessed April 27, 2013, http://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2008/national/art_deco/pdf/DecoDownUnder.pdf 25. “The Influence of Art Deco in Australia.” Sodersten’s design broke the stylistic tradition, and bestowed the hall of memory through the view of a fortress that rose from the base. Architect’s John Crust’s design was within the budged. Nevertheless, Out of 69 participants, Crust and Sodersten were jointly commissioned to prepare and present an amended version of the project. Crust was managing the finance part of the project, and Sodersten was the design part. Conflict arose between these two architects, and Sodersten eventually left the project in 1938, leaving Crust to complete the construction to Sodersten’s designs.26 The Australian War Memorial was formally opened in 1941, but its Hall of Memory was not accomplished until 1959. Located at the top of Anzac Parade on Walter Burley Griffin's Parliament House, Sodersten's building was the first national architectural memorial in Australia .27 Art Deco design style in Australian architecture relates to the interwar period. In this period, the modern movement, which originated in Europe, was the most potent architectural development. The movement was publicized by the then mainstream architects such as Le Corbuiser, Gropius, Mies van der Rohe. The mainstream modernists were too radical for people who liked streamlined cars, chromium plated toasters, cocktail, and Charleston. That is why the ordinary people responded more easily and happily to Art Deco. People wanted to see exciting and stimulating buildings. Art Deco responded to this need by building the cinema and the skyscraper with favored exterior and interiors. Art Deco as an architectural design style celebrated the aspects of the machine ______________________________________ 26. Kristine Sodersten. Emil Sodersten: His Contribution to the Development of Architecture in Australia, 1925-1940 (Sydney: University of South Wales, 1967). 27. “The Hall of Memory,” Australian War Memorial, accessed April 28, 2013, http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/hall/ age, and abandoned both abstraction and the use of extensive decorative elements, which served no particular functions. Art Deco contributed in architecture Horizontal, vertical, diagonal straight lines in parallel in conjunction with geometric curves. It also used eye-catching finishes such as colored opaque glass; chromium plated steel, plywood faced with exotic veneers. Multi-storey office buildings facades used vertical piers, colored terracotta cladding over the height of the facade above a base polished granites. Art Deco very easily found the road to Architecture. Progressive construction means were in use when Art Deco as a design style flourished over Europe and America. Art Deco did not have to provide new height, new technology, or new material. It provided elegant blocky shape silhouette with non-structural decorative materials. In 1924, the first Art Deco style building in the USA, Raymond Hood designed the Corporate Headquarter of the American Radiator Building. We mentioned earlier that Sodersten at the beginning of his career was influenced with the work of Raymond Hood. Before and after the Great Depression, America continued to build skyscrapers, and had been using Art Deco as an architectural design style. Silhouettes of Chanon building, Empire State building, and Chrysler building until this day decorate the city of New York. The American skyscrapers built in Art Deco design style influenced Sodersten. Sidney has a high proportion of high rise office buildings built in Commercial Pallazo, Federation free Classical, Inter-war Beaux-Arts, Post-war international, Mid-century Modern, Late 20th century Brutalist, Post Modernism, and Millennium Minimalist Modernism styles. Sodersten added to this city a sixty-one meter tall Art Deco style City Mutual Life Building (CML). The CML building has a monumental black marble entrance porch supporting bronze sculptures with emphasis on vertical elements. The twelve-storey building is scaled vertically to reach the heavens, which shows that the structure accents on the vertical dimension and windows are zigzag metal framed. Sodersten used steel frame stone cladding structure with contrasting stones on the two lowest floors. The interior has two-storey decorated with fine original fittings in bronze and terrazzo. Art Deco style high-rise buildings tended to exhibit elaborate front facade that had vertical fluted accents with steeped back details as the structure ascended upwards.28 QBE is another high-rise building office building; it has14 floors above the ground and it is 48-meter tall. The frame material is steel. The building features an unusual serrated facade of textured face brick above a polished granite plinth with simple Art Deco moldings. The structure pays accents on the vertical dimension; metallic windows with colored glasses, which display glamorous Art Deco look. Sodersten’s shift in the architectural design style, from federation to Art Deco, was noticed in his design of two 8 stories Wychbury and Werrington residential buildings. They are located in Sydney’s Kingsclere Potts Point, which is the birth place of Australia’s first high rise apartment. Sodersten maintained the tradition of Kingsclere by introducing two lift / service cores. Critiques paid attention to the facades of these two buildings. Both ______________________________________ 28. Virginia McAlester, Lee McAlester, A Field Guide to American House, (New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 198, 465. buildings’ facades are symmetrical; Werringtong facade exhibits the influence of gothic and classical architectural designs while Wycbury’s facade exhibits the Art Deco style. Wycbury’s facade is divided into four bays separated by stacked pilasters and topped by flayed bricks. In the design of these two buildings Sodersten showed his mastery in the use of this building material. Masonry construction is one of the Art Deco design characteristics. Wycbury’s facade served as brick piers with upright recesses, which leads to fanned brickwork capping detail, above the heads of the top floor windows. The effect of brickwork facade slays views both outwards and upwards. Potts Point in Sydney has significant numbers of Art Deco buildings, and although Wychbury is not among the larger apartment buildings, it has genuine Art Deco design characteristics, and it is one of the buildings of architect Emil Sodersten. Cheddington is among the iconic Art Deco buildings of Elizabeth Bay. Seated with pride on the curve of the loop, its glorious presence experiences attention, and envy. This partially furnished one bedroom apartment bears patterned ceilings and large windows. The separate sunroom or dining area is a popular addition of these well-configured apartments. Within walking distance to Rushcutters Bay Park, Beare Park, the harbor foreshores of Elizabeth Bay and the fashionable Macleay Street precinct of Potts Point, this strata apartment offers aesthetic appeal in a highly fashionable location. Ancient Roman architect Vitruvius mentioned that the key obligations of a structure are to meet commodity, firmness, and delight. Until this day, this concept has not changed. Commodity explains the purpose of the construction; firmness answers to its ability to resist natural forces for a period of time and delight incorporate the philosophical concept of aesthetic. Aesthetic explains the concept of beauty. Beauty is the effect of people’s perception of the surrounding environment. We live in a world of objects; created by nature and human beings. Objects are products of design, whether created by nature or human beings. Manmade objects are the products of one’s understanding, and idea. Man-made object is what we call architecture. Architecture has different branches. Different branches create different man-made objects; buildings, landscapes, bridges, monuments, etc. This research work studied man-made buildings, and studies are limited to the external beauty of the buildings. Both in art and architecture beauty is a function of numerous variables; among them culture, tradition, and historical period play a significant role. These variables define the standards of beauty, and it, at the same time, varies according to time and culture. In architectural design, we define beauty as style, and it also varies to time. That is why different times present different architectural design styles. Until the beginning of the 21st century, we had observed styles such as Romanesque, Gothic, Victorian, Craftsman, Art Deco, and Postmodern. The style that we discussed in this research work is called Art Deco style. In architectural design, a style is a language. As every language has grammar so has the style. The key parameters of the grammar of architectural design style are geometrical shapes, construction materials, lines and curves, and historical motif.29 In this work we described these key parameters in Sodersten’s work designed in Art Deco style. Returning back to Vitruvius, the key task of an architect is to design and build highly sophisticated and aesthetical structures. An architect performs this key task using contemporary or other design styles. Emil Sodersten lived in the historical era when Art Deco as a design style flourished in America and other parts of the world. Besides Sodersten, there were other Australian architects who were also inspired by this design and shared their contribution in the history of architecture. The important role that Emil Sodersten played was that he was the groundbreaker of Art Deco style in the Australian architecture. Sodersten had innovative ___________________________________ 29. John Gero and Lan Ding, Exploring Style Emergence in Architectural Designs, accessed April 28, 2013, http://gsct3237.kaist.ac.kr/e-lib/Style/Conference/EXPLORING%20STYLE%20EMERGENCE%20IN%20ARCHITECTURAL%20DESIGN.pdf mind to envision the Australian landscape with Art Deco design style buildings. An architectural design uses various parameters. These parameters are the principal building blocks of any design. They can be defined as variables that may take certain values to define a system and evaluates its limit of performance. A parameter can be measurable and also not measurable. Measurable parameters are, for example; height, length, width, temperature, pressure, distance, angles, etc. Non-measurable parameters are, for example, state of emotion, aesthetic, etc. The non-measurable parameters in architectural design are no less important than the measurable parameters. Perhaps, it is the precise combination of several non-measurable parameters that make every architectural design unique. Non-measurable parameters describe architect's emotion and personality. Art Deco perhaps is a technique that is capable to describe the emotion and personality of the architects.30 Being an intelligent person, and outstanding architect, Sodersten took the full advantage of Art Deco to describe his emotion in each of his designs. Sodersten fully realized that it is the Spirit of architects that define Art Deco architectural design style. Emil Sodersten is a part Australian Architecture. His masterpieces on Australian soil describe the tale of an era not only to the Australian only but also to the entire mankind. He played a prominent role in the history of Australian Architecture during the period of Art Deco design style. _____________________________________ 30. Hiller Bavis, Art Deco, (NewYork: Schocken Books, 1968). Bibliography Apperley, R., Robert Irving, and Peter Reynolds. A Pictorial Guide to Identifying Australian Architecture: Style and Terms from 1788 to the Present. Melbourne: Argus & Robertson, 1994 Australian Dictionary of Biography. Dellit, Charles Bruce (1898–1942). Accessed April 27, 2013. http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/dellit-charles-bruce-9947 Australian War Memorial. “The Hall of Memory.” http://www.awm.gov.au/encyclopedia/hall/ Bevis, H. Art Deco. New York: Schocken Books, 1968. Boyd, R. Australia’s Home, (Parkville: Melbourne University Press, Parkville, 1961) Duluth Minnesota USA. “Moderne – Art Deco.” Accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.duluthmn.gov/planning/documents/DHRS2.pdf Gebhard, D. The National Trust Guide to Art Deco in America. New York: J.Wiley, 1996. Gero, J., and Ding, L. Exploring Style Emergence in Architectural Designs. Accesed April 27, 2013. http://gsct3237.kaist.ac.kr/e-lib/Style/Conference/EXPLORING%20STYLE%20EMERGENCE%20IN%20ARCHITECTURAL%20DESIGN.pdf Greenhalgh, P. Modernism in Design. (London: Rekation Books Ltd, 1990). Accessed April 27, 2013. http://books.google.com.ua/books?id=r7cxqy6i4QgC&pg=PA1&lpg=PA1&dq=modernism+in+design+paul+greenhalgh&source=bl&ots=3jrx38ZcjT&sig=_yRZ1CEt0aAX-dYM9NUNHUq4WGs&hl=en&sa=X&ei=6zp4UY25McGQtAbt74HYBQ&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=modernism%20in%20design%20paul%20greenhalgh&f=false Haskell, J. Architecture in Sydney. (Sydney: University of New South Wales Ltd, 1997). Accessed April 28, 2013. http://books.google.com.ua/books?id=n5WlA4B9NXMC&pg=PT40&lpg=PT40&dq=architect+george+mcrae&source=bl&ots=9uHYyGuJm9&sig=lxNsSfsDq5quuZlevPGRyUuud2g&hl=en&sa=X&ei=2NR8UbbmBIvSPLbbgcAI&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBA Leslie, J. Australian Architecture 1901 – 1951: Sources of Modernism. (Sydney: University of Sydney Library, 2002). Accessed April 27, 2013. http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/tools_citationguide.html McAlester, V., McAlester, L. A Field Guide to American House. New York: Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 1984. MacMahon, B. The Architecture of East Australia, (London: Axel Menges, 2001). Accessed April 27, 2013 http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Architecture_of_East_Australia.html?id=FUItnsGv-doC Mallgrave, H.F. Modern Architectural Theory: A History Survey, 1673-1968. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005). Accessed April 28, 2013. http://bilder.buecher.de/zusatz/14/14707/14707518_vorw_1.pdf Scruton, R. The aesthetics of architecture. Florida: Taylor & Francis, 1979 Sodersten, K. Emil Sodersten: His Contribution to the Development of Architecture in Australia, 1925-1940. Sydney: University of SouthWales, 1967 State of Delaware. “The Art Deco Movement and Definition.” Accessed April 27, 2013. http://www.deldot.gov/archaeology/art_deco_architecture/pdf/ch1.pdf Strinner, Richard. “Art Deco: Polemic and Synthesis.” Winterthur Portfolio Vol. 25, No. 1 (Spring, 1990), pp. 21-34 Sydney Australia. “Art Deco Apartment, Sydney, AU.” Accessed April 28, 2013. http://www.australia-sydney.net/art_deco_apartment.html The Cross Art Projects. “Urban Pioneers: Apartment Architects of King’s cross 1900 – 2000” http://www.crossart.com.au/index.php/urban-pineers.html The Sunday Age. “The Influence of Art Deco in Australia.” Accessed April 27, 2013. http://www.theage.com.au/interactive/2008/national/art_deco/pdf/DecoDownUnder.pdf The Twentieth Society Century Heritage Society of NSW. “Heritage Walks.” Accessed April 27, 2013. http://www.twentieth.org.au/assets_activities/eliz_potts_walk.pdf Turner, H. Architects of Australia. New York: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Division, 1981 WYCHBURY. “The Architect.” Accessed April 27, 2013. http://wychbury.com.au/archives/8 Assignment 2 On November 2, 2012, Australian news media announced that the Emil Sodersten Award for the 2012 has been taken by PTW Architects for its work on The John Kaldor Family Gallery, Art Gallery of New South Wales.1 The Emil Sodersten Award for Interior Architecture is awarded by the Australian Institute of Architects in recognition of one of Australia’s exceptional architects of the twentieth century. Emil Lawrence Sodersten, a second child of a Swedish origin father was born on 30 August of 1899. He died in 1961 at the age of 62.2 Architecture is a part of history and culture of a society. It is a set of core features and attributes of time and place. It reveals functional, constructive, and the artistic detail of the place and time.3 That is why a nation never forgets the contribution of highly regarded architects. The Emil Sodersten Award demonstrates Australian society’s respect and recognition of one of the noted architects of the last century. History of Australian architecture dates back from the early colonial era to this day. At different period of history, Australia adopted different architectural styles. Each style classified a specific historical period. They are old colonial period (1788 – 1840), Victorian period (1840- 1890), Federation period (1890 – 1915), Interwar period (1915 – 1940), and Postwar period (1940 – 1960), Late twentieth century (1960 – 2000) period.4 The scope of this research limits to review of architectural trends of the actual period that correspond to Sodersten professional life. __________________________________ 1. “National Architecture Awards 2012: Interiors,” Architecture Design, accessed April 25, 2013, http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/national-architecture-awards-interiors 2. Poppy Biazos, The Life and Work of Emil Lawrence Sodersten (Sydney: University of New South Wales, 1987). 3. John Frazer, An Evolutionary Architecture (Architectural Association: London, 1995), 1-126. 4. John Maxell Freeland, Architecture in Australia: A History (New York: Penguin Books, 1972), 72-202. In 1925, Sodersten, at the age of 24, started his professional career, which he actively continued until the beginning of the Second World War.5 Sodersten’s professional life coincided with the Australian architecture of the interwar period. Architecture is the reflection of socioeconomic aspects of society. Socioeconomic aspects of the society vary in the timeline of civilization. That is why architects works differ in design and style in the timeline of civilization. Among many, architectural design style is a key parameter that varies in the timeline of human civilization. An architect’s works are closely connected to the style that a society embraces during a specific period of civilization. It is difficult to establish whether the society establishes the style or style forms the society. Nevertheless, art and architecture do not exist without style. Style is a representation of an era of the civilization. We, the people, through art and architecture, display the style of an era. Style, on the other hand, encapsulates societal, technical, and financial parameters of an era. Perhaps, it will be valid to say that style characterizes an era. An architect lives and works under the influence of the style of his or her era. This is true when we compare architectures of pre-industrialized society and post-industrialized society. Only advent of digital technology, made architects of the 21st century able, to go beyond the Euclidian geometry, to find different unimaginable shapes of forms of buildings and other structures.6 The twenty-first century’s digital era started observing trend, which contemporary architects define as traveling beyond the postmodern sensibility of complexity __________________________________ 5. Howard, Tanner, Architects of Australia (New York: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Division, 1981), 119. 6. Alvarado Rodrigo and Jaime Munoz, “The Control of Shape: Orgins of Parametric Design in Architecture in Xenakis, Gehry and Grimshaw,” METU JFA 107 – 118 (2012): 107-118. accessed April 25, 2013, doi: 10.4305/METU.JFA.2012.1.6 through ‘heterotopia’, or complex hybrids. The results are Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, and other projects of Frank Gehry and other contemporary distinguished architects. The above discussion emphasizes that architects are always influenced by the contemporary style, which is established through socioeconomic aspects and progress of technology. This research intends to support this argument through the works of Emil Sodersten. It was mentioned previously that Sodersten’s professional life coincided with the Interwar period of Australian architecture. The socioeconomic life of the Australian people at that time was influenced by the technical progress that contributed telephone, gramophone, electric trains, cars, new household, and movies from the US. The technical progress of 1920s brought a wave of optimism in the Australian society. However, the world was thrown into depression due the U.S. Stock market crash. This, as well, impacted Australian society. Survival became the focus of many families. Architecture is an art of modeling of the human environment, and designing of behavior of people from the same environment, through a functional organization of space and form of elements of objects, and system via creative composition and color. Up until the Interwar period, Australian architecture had been under the British style. However, the advent of 1920s technological progress drifted Australian culture more towards American culture. Australian architecture of this era could not avoid this shift. Residential architecture was influenced by the birth of Californian Bungalow. Iconic architecture of a society is a well-orchestrated symphony of building materials, geometrical shape, facade, and interior decoration combined. To write this symphony, an architect uses design methods, and styles, as instruments, to combine geometrical shapes, building materials, faced and interior decoration. Emil Sodersten lived in the era when Art decor as a style flourished in architecture. Sodersten was inspired by the Art Decor style and applied it in his works.7 Emil Sodersten fused American Art Decor style skyscraper with Northern European Modern, which created richness in architectural design, and offered significantly more functional attributes than their predecessors. The main objective of this study is to support the research argument, in the context of Emil Sodersten’s architectural design work, associated with the application of Art Decor style, which broke the traditional stylistic approach to Australian Architecture. In fulfilling this objective, the research will explore the birth and concept of Art Decor style and its application in architectural design by Emil Sodersten’s different architectural works. The body of the research will review the following aspects in order to explain the topic of the research: General information about Emil Sodersten and accepted by him architectural design methodology; The concept that architectural design style depends on the historical profile of socioeconomic aspects of the society; Emil Sodersten’s professional life from the perspective of contemporary architectural design style in Australia; General information of Art Decor and its application in American architecture that influenced Emil Sodersten; Analysis of Emil Sodersten’s professional life in the context of his architectural works, and how he adopted Art Decor ideas in his style; Conclusion that demonstrates that Emil Sodersten’s works is a contribution to the Australian architecture. ________________________________ 7. Howard, Tanner, Architects of Australia (New York: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Division, 1981), 123. Bibliography Architecture Design. “National Architecture Awards 2012: Interiors.” Accessed April 25, 2013. http://www.architectureanddesign.com.au/news/national-architecture-awards-interiors Biazos, P. The Life and Work of Emil Lawrence Sodersten. Sydney: University of New South Wales, 1987. Frazer, J. 1995. An Evolutionary Architecture. Architectural Association: London, 1995. Freeland, J.M. Architecture in Australia: A History. New York: Penguin Books, 1972. Rodrigo, Alvarado, and Jaime, Munoz. “The Control of Shape: Orgins of Parametric Design in Architecture in Xenakis, Gehry and Grimshaw.” METU JFA 107 – 118 (2012): 107-118. Accessed April 25, 2013. doi: 10.4305/METU.JFA.2012.1.6 Turner, H. Architects of Australia. New York: Macmillan/McGraw-Hill School Division, 1981 Read More