Top Ten Modern Architects

top 10 modern architects who are the greatest modern architects of the 20th century first we must ask what makes a great architect is it how many buildings they designed or how creative they are or is it how they responded to the design problems of their age and what influence did they have on other architects in the World At Large in other words their designs address the issues of their age architecture is the will of the epoch translated into space nice vanderer the core problem for architects of the 20th century was the ordering of society around the idea of industrial production in the past Architects focus on the craft of a Master Mason or the master Carpenter in the Industrial Age this craft was abandoned and replaced with mass production what forms were best for communicating this new organization in society should we design all buildings to look like factories and all housing to look like factory worker housing an architect must be a prophet a prophet in the truest sense of the term if he can't see at least 10 years ahead don't call him an architect Frank Lloyd Wright the second problem of the 20th century was new technology how should Architects incorporate new scientific breakthroughs into architecture electric lighting HVAC and structural design were all new to architecture Walter gropius said we want an architecture adapted to our world of machines radios and fast cars with the increasing strength of new materials steel concrete glass and with a new audacity of engineering the ponderousness of old methods of building is giving way to a new lightness and airiness the third problem to be solved was one of new industrial materials glass steel concrete and aluminum being the most important the fourth problem was to develop a new modern concept of space how do Architects represent the fast space of an automobile a train or an airplane Architects responded by creating interlocking spaces hovering volumes and interpenetrating planes but who are the greatest modern Architects let's start number 10 Walter gropius Bauhaus believes the machine to be our modern medium of design and seeks to come to terms with it modern architecture as we know it in the 20th century came to fruition in 1920s Germany it was a reaction to mass industrial production and was based on radical workers groups the mood in Germany was a juxtaposition of angst and despair with hope for a utopian future in this context Walter gropius founded the Bauhaus in 1919 its aim was to fuse art and craft using new industrial processes and technocratic ideals at this point Architects were learning how to integrate new technologies of mass production glass and steel to create a new visual language of forms gropius had students designed for mass production and seek to express these new values of mechanization gropius had a huge effect on Architects such such as Paul Rudolph I am pay and Philip Johnson the Bauhaus has had a huge effect on culture for mass-produced multi-family housing to Ikea number nine Som Som isn't a specific architect but an architectural firm of many Architects it started as Skidmore Owings and Merrill at one point it was the most important Architecture Firm in the world there on this list because they had one of the most important roles in developing modern architecture specifically they designed the modern form of the skyscraper and some of the tallest buildings in the world to include the John Hancock Center the Willis Tower One World Trade Center and the Burj Khalifa the John Hancock Center 1969. the John Hancock Center of Chicago of the 1970s was designed signed by Bruce Graham of Som they took the mesian formula and modified it to be diagonal brace tubes this cross bracing dealt with the lateral wind forces Som developed a standardized big business version of Nice van DeRose technological Purity the steel frame tinted glass and refined finishes they optimized American love for high technology and megastructures the skyscraper was a central preoccupation of American architecture and symbolized capitalism's dominance over the world they are the Prototype Architecture Firm that integrates Structural Engineering architecture civil engineering Urban Design and interior design the Burj khalfa has been the tallest skyscraper in the world since it was built in 2010. the design is based on Islamic architecture of the region the primary structure is reinforced concrete some structural steel it was designed to be a centerpiece of large-scale mixed-use development One World Trade Center New York designed by David Childs of Som One World Trade Center is the tallest building in the United States and the seventh tallest building in the world number eight Carlos Scarpa Carlos Scarpa is perhaps the most important architect you've never heard of he wasn't known outside of Italy until the 1980s unlike other modern architects who wanted to tear down traditional architecture and replace it with modern abstract forms Scarpa was deeply sensitive to existing context and tried to integrate new with the old his architecture delighted in stratification layering in the dynamic interaction of planes Frank Lloyd Wright was a primary influence on Scarpa a central part of his practice was the restoration and reuse of old buildings he developed a method of juxtaposing new with old fragments so that each was enhanced the effect was to feel the passing through layers of time what his work teaches us is modern architecture can integrate the old and the new new into a seamless hole Scarpa taught the existing context could be used to design a deeper and more profound form of modern architecture number seven Pierre Luigi nervey Pierre Luigi nervey was an Italian engineer and architect his structures Illustrated the engineering principle of bringing structural loads down into the foundations with minimal use of materials nervy saw building structure as an art he demonstrated how engineering and sculptural expression could be synthesized into a naturalistic expression of Form and Function nervy was intuitive in his methods of design and his building seem like descendants of grand structures of History his numerous stadiums factories exhibition halls and bridges demonstrated how engineering and sculptural expression can achieve a synthesis of form giving an almost natural character agnelli exhibition Hall Turan nervey used open precast concrete ribs with blender profiles resulting from the imprint of diamond shape plans to realize a shell Vault Gaddy wool factory Rome slender columns and flared capitals were supported on radiating network of two-way beams which express the pattern of underlying stresses Palazzo Del laverno for the Palazzo Del laverno nervey created an open space with a grid of freestanding columns each supporting a square roof unit on splayed beams the solution allowed for an entirely glazed perimeter and for strips of Natural Light Between the square roof elements nervey is the direct inspiration for Architects like Santiago calatrava number six Philip Johnson architecture is how to waste space in 1932 Johnson along with Henry Russell Hitchcock wrote the book International style architecture since 1922. this did several things it changed modernism from a technique and process of design into a style this was a lie as modern architecture up until this point was not a style liquor Museum said styles are a lie Phillip Johnson and disagreeing with Lee corbusier turned modernism on its head secondly it turned German architecture of the Bauhaus into an international style these two lies together created a new vision for modern architecture as an international style Philip Johnson was perhaps the first openly gay architect in history coming out publicly in 1993. he was a great cheerleader for Architects of his time he helped bring nice vanderer to the United States and sign the Seagram's building with him in 1954 he was the first director of the Museum of Modern Art in New York and brought gropius and Lee kerbousier in 1932 he organized the first exhibit of modern architecture he was also the first to have a show on Industrial design and can be said to have brought this art from the Bauhaus to the United States Philip Johnson invented the term post-modern architecture or was the first to use it widely he was a great promoter of other post-modern Architects such as Robert Venturi Frank Geary and Michael Graves number five Frank Geary people ask me if I'm an artist or an architect but I think they're the same Frank Geary is a Los angeles-based architect he's considered a post-modern architect Gary said I think the biggest problem of industrial architecture is that it loses its sense of humanity minimalist stuff drains all the humanity out of it the idea works great for the money thing but it doesn't work well for the feeling thing Gary's most famous building is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao it was so successful it created the Bilbao effect which is a term coin to express how an iconic piece of architecture could Revitalize the tourism and rebuild the economy of the city cities around the world hired Architects to design large-scale eye-catching architectural commissions for good or for bad Louis Khan architecture is the thoughtful making of space Khan achieved an integration of the modern and the ancient he was a master of monumentality his deep humanism enabled him to avoid mere shape making of formalists he knew how to fuse together modern construction with traditional forms and methods Khan's method used the party diagram as the main generating idea of a composition this comes from the Boz Ark system Khan said you say to a brick what do you want brick and the brick says to you I like an arch and you say to the brick look I want one too but arches are expensive and I can use a concrete lintel and then you say what do you think of that brick and the brick says I'd like an arch Khan said I would say that architecture is a thoughtful making of spaces it is not filling prescriptions as clients want them filled it is not fitting uses into dimensional areas The Architects First Act is to take the program that comes to him and change it not to satisfy it but to put it in the realm of architecture which is to put it in the realm of spaces number three Frank Lloyd Wright study nature love nature stay close to Nature it will never fail you Frank Lloyd Wright is often misunderstood as an architect some see right as a traditionalist with American values of individualism naturalism and democratic ideals he is backward looking coming from the American arts and crafts movement some see right as a precursor to modernism with modern Universal interpretations of spaces and Abstract massings these ideas always compare right to the broader history of architecture both these interpretations of right are misleading he was in fact a singular architect with his own style and world view and does not fit easily into the history of architecture the best way to understand right is his continuation of the ideas of Lewis Sullivan his mentor and the development of his architecture into a purely individual and unique modern style most of Wright's ideas on organic architecture ornamental design nature come from Sullivan but he also added classical architectural ideas but unlike Sullivan right transform space in a modern Way by manipulating volumes of rooms and spaces right design space like music where Rhythm movement repetition and variation of elements was key like other modern Architects Wright was concerned with integrating arts and crafts and new Machine Age Technologies the Roby house the Roby house is the clearest expression of the prairie house ideal the prairie house was a set of principles or archetypal elements that set up the psychology of the home these would include the Hearth as the center of the home the plinth as a base the roof as a tent-like structure and walls and columns for enclosure Unity Temple Unity Temple was an exercise in first principles for right rights American influence was considerable especially among his Midwestern followers of the Prairie School in Europe his Works were mostly known through photos and drawings and thus a mythological version of right was created in Architects Minds two of Rights students were from Vienna Rudolph Schindler and Richard nutura and after studying at his atler went on to be renowned modern Architects themselves number two Miss vanderer [Music] less is more Barcelona Pavilion International exhibition in Barcelona 1929. nice Van Der rohe was a German architect who moved to the United States and who developed a rectilinear style based on Poetic accentuations of structure and Technology his skyscrapers were rationalist constructions where he strips down the building to his its essential structure then wraps it with a curtain wall of glass creating a minimalistic solution this is a dematerialization of building structure and would become the international style he created a utopian vision for an industrial future the skyscraper becomes the Cathedral of modernity an expression of culture's highest aspirations the irony is that this utopian vision of the future became the boring symbol of capitalism Crown Hall all Illinois Institute of Technology Chicago 1950 Crown Hall was the image of a factory with vast Universal space it used a dramatic truss system that created structural Clarity while celebrating American Steel craftsmanship the glass box was space good for everything the Symmetry proportion and clear expression of load and support were a modern interpretation of neoclassical architecture Mis it may be argued is the most copied modern architect Philip Johnson's glass house is a direct copy of mises Farnsworth House and Som made a career of copying misa's style exactly in their skyscraper designs number one Liker busier architecture is the masterly correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light Liker busier was a painter architect writer and theorist born in Switzerland he is arguably the most influential architect of the 20th century Lee corbusier was increasingly interested in reinforced Concrete in the use of this material in context of industrialization this allowed for large uninterrupted spaces on the interior imitators of Lee corbusier took this idea and created brutalism which used rough concrete as the primary building material a house is a machine for living in the idea of mass production housing was as important as the fact the idea was a house whose function had been examined from the ground floor up and stripped to their Essentials this promised a new life where people could look out past Pure White Walls to the essential joys of light space and Greenery science has given us the machine the machine gives us unlimited power and we in our turn can perform Miracles by its means his book towards a new architecture is a Manifesto of modern architecture it has been one of the most influential architectural books of the 20th century it argues to throw away old forms and ways of doing architecture and embrace mass production in the machine his ideas coalesced into five points of modern architecture this was a vocabulary Larry of architectural forms based on reinforced Concrete Construction they were number one the pillow T this was a central element from which all others evolved it allowed the building to be lifted off the ground ribbon Windows often this meant horizontal strip Windows running the full length of the building a free plan with Pilots supporting the weight of the building the interior and the exterior walls freely move anywhere based on the functional Demand free facade the free facade allowed for all windows or curtain wall or any sort of openings based on functional requirements terraced Gardens on the roof concrete allowed for the roof to be a structural member that could support Greenery and become an exterior space to take in Earthen Sky Villa Savoy we can see all these elements come together in the Villa Savoy The Villa Savoy boy had pillow teas that elevated the main floor up to the second level to create a piano Nobile by using Pilots the exterior walls were not structural and the windows could be placed anywhere pilotes also allowed for a free plan as no structural walls were required this allowed for a free facade creating windows or Brie Soleil which were sunscreens finally the roof could be flat and a Terrace Garden could be placed there likobuzier painted daily and is abstract cubist-like paintings which he called purist gave him a rich vocabulary of forms for his late architecture Ron Schomp Ron sharp is perhaps the most singular Masterpiece of liquor boozier like Picasso he focused his ideas on primitive forms an ancient associations there is a tension between modernism and primitive forms Liker busier is perhaps the second most copy speed architect after Mis Van Der rohe Stephen hall for example has made a career from coppering lucabusier his Saint Ignatius Chapel is a thematic copy of Liker busier's wrong shop did you agree with the list of top 10 architects who's your favorite modern architect leave your own list in the comments below if you like this video please like And subscribe if you'd like to support this Channel please go to Redbubble and buy a t-shirt or sticker

Channel: Roberts Architecture

Views: 241,869

Keywords: Ronchamp, Pilotis, Free Plan, Villa Savoye, Five Points of a New Architecture, Towards A New Architecture, Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier, Less is More, Seagram Building, Farnsworth House, Crown Hall, Barcelona Pavilion, Mies van der Rohe, Robie House, Broadacre City, Guggenheim Museum, Falling Water, Lois Kahn, Yale Art Gallery, Salk Institute, Frank Gehry, Postmodern Architecture, Carlo Scarpa, Pier Luigi Nervi, Burj Khalifa, S.O.M., Bauhaus, Frank Lloyd Wright

Id: zWFTgLdwmFA

Length: 22min 6sec (1326 seconds)

Published: Thu Sep 22 2022