History of interior design, Ali Bakri,

The Beginning of Modernity

In the end of the 19 century till the middle not he 20 century the designers developed both skill and enthusiasm for the imitation of work of the past. They focused on Historicism, Revivalism and traditionalism. Historicism, based on the history for inspiration and for detail, is common since the renaissance and is a natural part of progressive development in design. Revivalism is the return to a particular historic style as the Greek, Gothic… revivals of the 19 century. Finally Traditionalism is an alternative direction opposite to modernism that showed the new belief that design is all about imitating old work of historical periods.

Eclecticism is about that all designers should be a matter of choosing some  historic work and imitating it as convincingly as possible. In the USA the rich used this movement to get identification with European aristocracy. It was all about importing things of the past that brought culture, style and status. Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris was the first university of architecture that had an aim of teaching the student with the method of application of classic historicism.

Electric architecture was a need for interior designers that had the knowledge and skill to produce rooms in styles. Decorators were trained to know period styles, to be skillful in assembling the many elements that go into an interior, and often to be an expert in acquisition of antiques, art works and everything that complete a project. Elsie de Walfe was the first successful decorator to transform her home from a typical victorian rooms with a simple white paint, cheerful colors and flowers printed chintzes. Rudolf Steiner is a reformer from the 20 century, he founded Waldorf schools, and he’s one of the key initiators of organic architecture. He founded the anthroposophical movement. The most important work of architecture; and it marks the first use of concrete to construct a sculpturally formed edifice of such imposing size. He gave over 5000 lectures espousing the worldview of anthroposophy in which art, science and spatiality are united.

The architecture, which outstripped its time. Constructivism USSR.

 In USSR there were so many great architects, who created really outstanding projects, outstanding because they were different for that time. In this post I want to show you some of that kind of buildings of USSR’s constructivism, which are amazing, but unfortunately not well known.

 First building is Roads Ministry, in Tbilisi, Georgia, by architect Georgy Chakhava’s. You can see it on Photo-collage 1. It was built in 1975. Chakhava created many interesting projects, he tried new forms, shapes, but the main thing of his work was the fact that his main inspiration was unique nature of his Motherland, its identity and originality of all its regions, beautiful rivers and especially never-ending mountains, because one of the most powerful thing about Georgia is its mountains, they are like Georgian people: free and powerful. Georgy Chakhava wanted to create a harmony between city and the nature. He said:  "I consider that the more difficult is the relief, the more opportunities are therefor the architect to create".

 This building is located near the river, a little bit on the rock. Under this building there is beautiful nature landscape and small stream. Its area is 10 960 m2. I think that this building looks like a mountain itself, it rises up from the earth and is so powerful and massive. Actually, the idea of this building consists in using earth’s surface as less as possible in order to let the flora, which is under the building, exist.

The сonstruction of the building consists of five horizontal, two-floor in height cross beams, which look as if they were put at each other. Horizontal beams are fastened on three cores. Inside them there are ladders and elevators. The supporting structure is made of steel and reinforced concrete and lean on the massive rock. The middle vertical part of the building is 18 floor in height.

 I really like this building, it is great piece of constructivism architecture of USSR, it looks so brutal, because of its strict geometrical composition, but I like its heavy cantilevered forms, because all of these strictness, gris and brutality somehow make it so natural, because of its location inside of the rock and above the river, moreover if to look between the horizontal parts of the buildings you can see lines of mountains, this is amazing. This building has such deep connection with nature of Georgia, it is really hard to transmit these feeling through architecture, but Chakhava did it amazing.

Photo-collage 1. Roads Ministry, Tbilisi, Georgia, 1975 by architect Georgy Chakhava’s.

 Second building is the Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics (RTC), it is located in Saint Petersburg, RF. It was built in 1987 by architects B.I. Artiushin and S.V. Savin. You can see it and its inside on Photo-collage 2. 

 It is one of the largest research centers in Russian Federation, where scientists make researches and developments of mechanical and electrical robotics, furthermore, this centre is specified on space engineering and new technologies, and also there is producing and tests of specialised space-travel equipment.

 I really like this building because of its cosmic look, It is huge and powerful, like a spaceship, like an alien among other usual buildings. It breaks the standards and it is the main thing, why people may like it and also may not. I think that it is absolutely amazing how during that time people created that kind of buildings, which seemed to be from the science fiction book. Its structure reminds me also of a technical instrument, which gives the idea of technologies, and engeneerings which are happening inside. Inside there is a very big space, for testing and constructing many objects, actually, there is not a lot of information about the insight of it, which make it very secretly interesting. 

Photo-collage 2. Institute of Robotics and Technical Cybernetics (RTC), Saint Petersburg, 1987 by B.I. Artiushin and S.V. Savin.

 Third building is just usual house. It is called Circle House in Nezhinskaya street, 13. It was done in 1974 by architects Evgeniy Stamo and Alexandr Markelov. You can see its construction, how it was build and actual house on Photo-collage 3. In 1970 there was a big build up of Moscow with typical, the same houses and many districts in the city looks similar, that’s why architects decided to change usual, ordinary Moscow’s house. Actually, the way they changed it was unpredictable, architects created absolutely circled house, which was shock for city’s usual architecture, because very one is used to the fact that all houses have edges and this building was a total collapse for people’s minds and understanding of houses, it was really new step. To create this building, the main thing, which architects found out was the fact, that the maximum angle, in the point of meeting of panel blocks could just be not higher than 6градусов. This is extremely brave and original.

 The building turned out to be huge. It has 9 floors, 913 flats and 26 doorways ( in USSR;RF there are too many apartments in one buildings, so not to get lost, there is a system of doorway in every house, in one doorway there could be till 100 flats, and in one house there can be till 10 doorways, or even more ). Also, inside of this building is very big garden, which can, actually, be used as a football field, because of its size. I think having such garden is very good, because you can not be worried for your children, for anything, actually, because this garden is closed inside and you can get there only if you live in this house. Moreover, inside of this house there were some shops, hairdresser, pharmacy, and atelier, which were located on the first floors, near the doorways. Everything that people need was in this house. I think that it is great, when everything is so close, even too close, that you do not even need to go out to the city, but it seems a bit back to the commune-houses, where people lived all together, sharing everything: from sleeping to eating. Anyway, I find this house wonderful, because of its brave originality. It looks so mysterious, powerful like a big ring. I even feel, as if it was an unapproachable fort.

                   Photo-collage 3. Circle House in Nezhinskaya street, Moscow, 1974 by Evgeny Stamo and Alexandr Markelov.

Flowers That Never Wither

 20th century is full of beautiful architecture with organic motives in it, especially in Barcelona. The most common architects of catalan modernism, who followed these organic motives are Antonio Gaudi, Lluís Domènech i Montaner and famous houses like Casa Batllo, La Pedrera, Casa Lleó Morera, but these buildings are known for everyone. Exactly everybody knows flowers, leaves and other organic shapes and motives of these houses, but not everybody knows that there are also some places, some buildings, which were also done in Catalan Modernism, which also have very powerful organic shapes, but the only difference is that they were not done by famous architects and this article is exactly about these interesting buildings.

 I took a walk on Career de Girona. There were so many wonderful, exciting buildings. Actually, the thing, which grabbed my attention was that all doors of these buildings and facade near doors had different kind of floral ornaments, around them. Some time ago, I read very interesting dissertation on topic: “Allegoric symbols of the floral motives compositions of architecture”, by Russian Doctor of History and Art E.K.Blinova, which she wrote in 2011, and from it I understood that floral ornaments in architecture are not just for beauty, they also have a meaning, and some flowers have specific symbolisation, not just in floral world, but also in world of architecture. 

 On picture on the right, you can see doors of a building, which is located on Carrer de Girona,1. It has an organic ornament around, on the facade. You can see that these are long leaves, not exactly flowers. These leaves cover the wooden doors from all sides. These are oak branches. To understand their meaning I will quote a dialogue from a very good book, which I think everybody read in the childhood :

“ - Do you ever get scared? - asked Alice. - You are absolutely all alone here, nobody protects you...

- What do you mean “alone” ? - said the Rose. - Than, what is the oak stays here for?”

Novel “ Alice in Wonderland ”, by Lewis Carroll, 1865.

 From this quote it is clear that oak is the defender, this tree is a symbol of safety and protection. So, these oak branches are covering doors of the building, like a sphere, it means that these branches are defenders of the building, also sphere is a symbol of safety, as well, as oak, and together they create a kind of mascot for this building. I think that when this kind of decoration has meaning it makes building way more beautiful, gives kind of history and soul to it.

 On pictures in the middle of the page, you can see one more building, which is located on Carrer de Girona, 22. I was amazed by it because of its beauty. It is full of organic ornaments all over it, from bottom to top. This building is typical house of catalan modernism; as you can see, there are no straight lines or corners – everything is slight and curvy. As you can see, there is a column, which is done in shape of a real tree, it looks very beautiful and massive at the same time. This tree-column symbolise the long-live, strength and powerful beauty, which means that this building will stay strong and beautiful very long. Moreover, as you can see on Picture 3, there are many balconies with many other organic ornaments, which also have some oak branches, as previous building, so it means that this building is under the protection, in safety. What is more interesting thing is that, as you can see on Picture 3, the red-column continues under all balconies of the building, till the very end as if it was supporting all balconies, even small ones. I really liked this unusual and wonderful building.

 On pictures on the bottom of the page, there is massive wooden door, and you can also see this door in zoom. This building is located on Career de Girona, 9. On these pictures you can see flowers of extraordinary shape. These iron flowers make wooden door look beautiful, but also they symbolise wealth and luxury, which means that this building was probably house of rich people. Even that door is made of wood and flowers of other, quite stronger material, shows their powerful and rich nature. What is more, there are some oak branches again. They are wooden, and if you noticed they somehow support the iron flowers, so it means that wealth of this house is in safety. 

 Actually, Career de Girona is full of interesting buildings, I offer you to take a walk through it and look around, so you can discover more interesting architectures yourself.

Bibliography:
Some additional sources, which I read to get more information to develop the topic.

Book “Flowers in Legends and Myths”, by Russian writer N.F.Zolotnitskiy, 1913 
Dissertation on topic: “Allegoric symbols of the floral motives compositions of architecture”, by Russian Doctor of History and Art E.K.Blinova, 2011
Book “Modern Architecture in Barcelona”, by David Mackay, 1854-1939

THE AVANT-GARDE MOVEMENT, SURREALISM

THE AVANT-GARD MOVEMENT

SURREALISM

The Avant-garde movement is a movement that includes people or works that are experimental and innovative especially in art and culture, they push the boundaries of what is considered to be normal and rebels against society and culture. It is the factor of modernism and is one of the most important movements since it has many elements in its name varying from cubism to symbolism.

One of my favorite movements Is Surrealism, The aim was to resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality, and that’s why I find it very interesting. Sometimes dreams can give u the best version of reality or on the contrary the worst version of reality but being able to put these dreams into reality to begin with, whether its in art or culture, shows a great amount of imagination and wisdom. The description of surrealistic art can be quite strange but then again, dreams and repressions in a humans mind are at a frequency rarely anyone can explain.

A good example of surrealism would be Salvador Dali (1904-1989), he is a very well known artist that has left a great impact on the world. One of his most appreciated works would be ‘The Persistence of memory’ which is an oil on canvas painting ranging between 24cm × 33cm. In our trend these days people may see this famous ‘melting clock’ everywhere from shops selling a souvenir to people having it inked on their body but not everyone really knows what it represents because Dali wasn’t so specific with his analysis since his creatively odd personality doesn’t allow him to and so there are various theories and sayings by many different people as to what it actually represents. To me this painting shows a man in his dream, this man being Dali, the human like figure on the floor of the landscape with closed eyes that represents a sleeping state. The melting clocks represent time, ticking at a very distorted pace like how it feels like when we are dreaming. The ants on the mirror like object represents decay; Dali has used the ants several times in other paintings.

Therefore the painting in my words, can be summarized by a man stuck in his dream decaying while time ticks away in a distorted manner, maybe never ending.

Expressionism - Edvard Munch, Art or Therapy?

Expressionism - Edvard Munch, Art or Therapy?

"I was walking down the road with two friends when the sun set; suddenly, the sky turned as red as blood.

I stopped and leaned against the fence, feeling unspeakably tired. Tongues of fire and blood stretched over the bluish black fjord. My friends went on walking, while I lagged behind, shivering with fear. Then I heard the enormous infinite scream of nature."

Munch wrote these words in his diary in 1892, before he drew the most familiar image of his "The Scream".

At first, it might seem that Munch describes a relaxing evening. However, for Munch it was a moment of an existential crisis.

In the paint, Munch express his chaotic emotional state in that moment.

Munch's quote and painting reminded me of a therapy using drawing, that psychologists use with children. I guess that Munch's childhood influenced his way of thinking and painting.

Back to his childhood Edvard's mother died of tuberculosis in 1868, as did Munch's favorite sister Johanne Sophie in 1877.

About his father he wrote "My father was temperamentally nervous and obsessively religious—to the point of psychoneurosis. From him I inherited the seeds of madness. The angels of fear, sorrow, and death stood by my side since the day I was born."

I believe that Munch used art to express his inner thoughts, feelings and emotions. From his painting I see that he wasn’t an optimistic person, he reveals an honest, even ugly, glimpse of his inner troubles and feelings of anxiety through what he called his “soul painting,” putting more importance on personal meaning than on technical skill or “beauty,” a traditional goal of art.

According to the huge success of that painting, I can learn that to create a successful art I should listen to the inner self, without any restraints, even if it does not fit the conventional wisdom. As well as the Expressionist's did

.back then

  

HofID_03-14-16_AnastassiyaProkofyeva_BrutalistArchitecture

Brutalist Architecture

Brutalism was one of the 20th century`s most controversial architecture movements. It is as well reaction on earlier avantgarde styles such as: Futurism, Constructivism, Expresionism, Post-modernism, Destructivism, etc.

Brutalism is significant for its usage of raw concrete and is often misunderstood or even disliked. Brutalism emerged in early 1950s through dissfatisfaction with existig forms of Modernism from which it wanted to diferrate but in the same time wanted to keep its heroic spirit. 

Today, we use the term Brutalism to refer to both a particular moment in post-war British architecture.

Boarder phenomen it got in 1960s and 1970s where it got almost sculptural Modernism, rendered in raw concrete. As the austerity of the 1950s gave way to the energy and renewed national self-confidence of the 1960s, Brutalism took centre stage, defining British architecture of that decade. Brutalist social housing began appearing all over Britain, with notable examples, such as Park Hill in Sheffield (1957–61) by Jack Lynn and Ivor Smith.

The movement‘s most important single influence was undoubtedly Le Corbusier‘s Unité d‘Habitation in Marseille, both in terms of aesthetics and social program.

Picture number 1:  Le Corbusier‘s Unité d‘Habitation in Marseille

Brutalism as an architectural philosophy, rather than a style, was often also associated with a socialist utopian ideology, which tended to be supported by its designers, especially Alison and Peter Smithson, near the height of  the style. Critics argue that this abstract nature of Brutalism makes the style unfriendly and uncommunicative, instead of being integrating and protective. Brutalism also is criticised as disregarding the social, historic, and architectural environment of its surroundings. 

In the recent years, many brutalist buildings all over the world are beeing demolished and replaced by more traditonally-oriented structures. 

As an example of the sad architectural faith was „Hotel Praha“ in Prague. It was built in 1981 and survived just a bit longer than 30 years. Although the building was considered an example of “Brutalism,” the prevailing architectural style of the late communist era. Many people were in favor to keep the building as an Prague heritage. Sadly, desicion has been made and the building was demolished on June 2014. 

Picture 2: Hotel Praha in Prague 

OPINION:

So, should we demolish or cherish brutalist architecture? Most people consider architecture, if they consider it at all, it is typically viewed through the aesthetic point of view. Brutalist architecture seems to have drawn a hard line between those who love it and those who hate it. Nowadays, many brutalist buildings are facing uncertain future. However, it is still part of our past and social reflection of that time, if we lose those buildings we will lose part of our history. Hopefully, new generation will find the beauty in heavy concrete "sculptures".

History of Interior Design-Pilar Uribe Donatiu-The Beginning of Modernity

From 1909 to 1919, design professionals and artists started being keen on developing skills and the imitation of works of the past.

Their focus was mainly on Historicism, Revivalism and Traditionalism.

In terms of Historicism they relied on history for inspiration and details. It was common since Renaissance and its progressive development in design.

Revivalism referred to the effort put to go back to a specific historic style, as in Greek and Gothic revivals of the 19^th century.

Moreover, traditionalism was an alternative opposition to modernism that followed the idea that design was all about imitating old the work of any historic period.

Eclecticism was followed by the idea that all designers had to choose an old historic movement and copy it as best as they could.

In the United States, newly rich and powerful used this movement to get identification with European aristocracy. It was all about importing things of the past that brought culture, style and status.

At the same time, in Paris, the Ecole des Beaux-Arts was the fist real school of architectures with the aim of teaching their students with a method of application of classic historicism to planning and architecture.

Eclectic architecture in the United States needed specialised interior designers who knew how to proceed in creating the rooms with the styles they wanted.  Interior designers and decorators had to train themselves on knowing the styles used in each period, to be able to know what elements had to be placed in every interior, moreover they had to know about antiques, art and any other element that was required in an interior in order to be able to get their designs right.

One of my favourite Spanish arquitects, which is also an Eclectic arquitect, is Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926). He is so called the father of the Modernism movement, all because of his style when designing his architectural pieces of art. He teared apart the idea that buildings had to be straight and geometrical to create shapes inspired by natural and organic shapes. In my opinion, this was the moment when architects and society in general stopped having this fear of leaving the bubble of what’s normal, and broke the unwritten rules of design and architecture. All in all, thanks to Antoni Gaudi, now we have buildings with amazing shapes and structures that no one would have ever imagined by that time.