Expressionism: A Movement in Architecture by Shreya Tripathi and Chhavi Goyal

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Expressionism: A Movement in Architecture

Submitted by: Shreya Tripathi (8051) Chhavi Goyal (8033)

Batch: 2018-2023

Amity School of Architecture and Planning Amity University Uttar Pradesh Noida

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

We are extremely grateful of our faculty guide Mrs. Anurita Bhatnagar and co-faculty Mrs. Rekha Jindal for their valuable suggestions and guidance in the preparation of this seminar report. It would not have been possible without their enormous help and worthy experience.

We would also like to thank our parents as they constantly motivated us to work harder throughout the course of the project.

We are thankful to the authors of the references and other literatures referred to in this seminar.

This project has been prepared with utmost care and deep routed interest.

Shreya Tripathi Signature

Chhavi Goyal Signature

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Faculty Guide Certificate

This is to certify that Ms. Shreya Tripathi and Ms. Chhavi Goyal bearing enrolment numbers A1904018051 and A1904018033 respectively, has prepared the report for Architectural Seminar on “Expressionism: An Architectural Movement” under my guidance.

___________________ Faculty Guide Signature Mrs. Anurita Bhatnagar

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Methodology

Expressionism in Architecture Identification of the timeline under Modern Architecture Era

Understanding the elements of Expressionist Architecture

Its impact on the environment during

Origin to Expressionist Architecture

What led to establishment of Expressionism?

this period and people’s reaction towards the same

Study the known Architects’ work of

Erich Mendelson,

this period

Designed the Einstein Tower

Bruno Taut, Designed the Glass House

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Contents Table of figures............................................................................................................................................................ 6 Background/need: ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Aim of the Study: ........................................................................................................................................................ 7

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Objectives of the study:.................................................................................................................................. 8

Literature: .................................................................................................................................................................... 8 Modern Architecture ............................................................................................................................................... 8 Characteristics of Modern Architecture ................................................................................................................ 10 Materials ............................................................................................................................................................ 11 The Modern Era Timeline ..................................................................................................................................... 12 Avant Garde ...................................................................................................................................................... 13 1920s: Expressionism and Neo-expressionism ..................................................................................................... 15 1920s: Constructivism ....................................................................................................................................... 16 19020s: Bauhaus ............................................................................................................................................... 17 1950s: International ............................................................................................................................................... 18 Art Deco ................................................................................................................................................................ 19 Modern European Architecture ............................................................................................................................. 20 Art nouveau and the beginning of expressionism.................................................................................................. 20 A detailed study on one of the movements i.e. Expressionist Architecture:.............................................................. 22 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................... 22 Expressionism in Art ................................................................................................................................................. 23 Der Blaue Reiter: Kandinsky, Macke, Klee, and Marc ......................................................................................... 24 What makes Expressionist architecture special? ....................................................................................................... 25 Architects and their work........................................................................................................................................... 26 The Einstein Tower, designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn ............................................................................. 26 Glass Pavilion ........................................................................................................................................................ 29 Distortion and curves ................................................................................................................................................. 33 Analysis ..................................................................................................................................................................... 34 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................................. 36 Works Cited ............................................................................................................................................................... 37

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Table of figures Figure 1 Form follows function ......................................................................................................... 8 Figure 2: simplicity and flexibility of spaces ..................................................................................... 9 Figure 3:The Bauhaus Building in Dessau .................................................................................... 10 Figure 4:Weissenh of Siedlung in Stuttgart, Germany .................................................................. 10 Figure 5: Less is More .................................................................................................................... 11 Figure 6: Avant Garde art............................................................................................................... 13 Figure 7:Einstein Tower Observatory, Potsdam, Germany, 1920, Erich Mendelsohn.................. 15 Figure 8: Tatlin's tower ................................................................................................................... 16 Figure 9:Images courtesy Craig Hodgetts (left), Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (right) ................. 17 Figure 10:The PSFS Building in Philadelphia, built in 1932, was the first International-style skyscraper. ........................................................................................................................................................ 18 Figure 11: The Chrysler building, New York .................................................................................. 19 Figure 12: casa batillo,antonio gaudi house,barcelona,spain ....................................................... 21 Figure 13: Einstein tower ............................................................................................................... 21 Figure 14: The Scream(1893)

Der Blaue Reiter (1903)

Large Blue Horses (1911) ................. 23

Figure 15:Einstein Tower, Observatory in Potsdam, Germany ..................................................... 26 Figure 16:Plan and section of Einstein Tower ............................................................................... 28 Figure 17:The Glass Pavilion, designed by Bruno Taut and built in 1914. ................................... 29 Figure 18: plan and section of The glass Pavillion ........................................................................ 30 Figure 19: Interior of Glass Pavillion .............................................................................................. 31 Figure 20: Interiors of the Glass pavillion....................................................................................... 32 Figure 21: Het Schip, Amsterdam .................................................................................................. 33

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Background/need: Due to war and industrialization the people thought they were losing the connection with spirituality and were finding it hard to express themselves, hence expressionism was started but it was influenced and modified by the people joining the movement. These people belonged to different movements before that and brought their knowledge with themselves.

Expressionism is the way of expressing something in and around something that you feel emotionally, from all the things that happen phenomenally. This is one of the movements in architecture in the 20th century, mainly in Europe, where at that time people fought in World War I, including the architects at that time.

Understanding the history of something is important to create something new. People can even use the nature of Architecture to express their feelings, is in fact interesting to study. The basic principle of communication is to express oneself, and the architect's language is through buildings.

Architecture is a subject which started from shelter and having the knowledge of how Architecture evolved with respect to people, environment, economically is a necessity for us all.

Buildings are not just mere structures, they are spaces where we live.and living is full of experiences, hence to make these buildings connected to us we need to understand, how can buildings express?

We need to create spaces with meaning and emotions. Expressing our emotions in poetic way through buildings and experiencing those emotions when in a space is really special feeling

Aim of the Study: To study about expression of emotions in art and architecture, its importance, need and emergence.

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Objectives of the study: Ø To identify the timeline of movements that occurred during the period of Modernism Ø To understand the elements of Modern architecture to understand the influences on expressionist movement. Ø To study about the famous Architects and their work for the same.

Literature: Modern Architecture “Form follows function” In principle, this meant that buildings should be designed so that the essential structure dictated the form, i.e. from the inside outwards.

Figure 1 Form follows function

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Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Mies Van Der Rohe, the reputed Modernist Architects believed that form follows function. We will be studying their theories later on. First, let’s understand what exactly one means by Modern architecture? (Designing Buildings, 2020) (RIBA Architecture)

Modern industry, new materials and technology resulted in modern architecture and its characteristics such as simplicity of forms; functional, flexible, and flowing spaces; exposed structure; visual weightlessness; and lack of ornamentation.

Figure 2: simplicity and flexibility of spaces

Modern architecture is an architectural style that emerged in Europe and later spread to many countries by the practice of many architects between the 1920s and 1950s. It gained its popularity after the World War-II. (Plan N Design) Bauhaus, a German school of art and architecture, made a large impact on the style of modern architecture, such as the 'less is more' principle. It is comprised of key characteristics, including simplicity of form, functionality, clean structure, lack of ornamentation, and rejection of traditional styles. (Study.com)

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Figure 3:The Bauhaus Building in Dessau

Characteristics of Modern Architecture Simplified Forms & Clean Lines The 'modern look' means simplicity in form and design. Modern architecture is based on abstraction, which is created by clean lines, basic shapes, and forms. Thus, simple, plain, geometric forms, rectangular shapes, and linear elements make the characteristics of modern architecture. This can be seen in the Weissenh of Siedlung in Stuttgart, Germany, that showcases a box-like building, cubic volume, a flat roof, and clean lines. (Study.com)

Figure 4:Weissenh of Siedlung in Stuttgart, Germany

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Functionality & Open Floor Plan The form of a modern building is also determined by its functionality. Functionality means performing for intended use, fitness for purpose. In modern architecture, the emphasis put into functionality is best defined with the credo of 'form follows function.' The concept of open space is weaved into functionality. Rather than traditional separated spaces (or rooms), the modern style creates undivided living and working spaces that function as multiple-use areas. (Study.com)

Less is More This refers to the minimalistic approach to a building, no excessive ornamentation, no excessive elements, just a jinx of bare minimum elements driven by the function and aesthetics parallelly.

Modern ethics say that minimal, cluster free buildings help in igniting the feeling of simplicity, peace, and stress-free environment which is very much needed for so-called ‘modern’ people. (RIBA Architecture) (Plan N Design)

Figure 5: Less is More

Materials Steel, Concrete, Glass and Wood are the four most prominent materials used in modern buildings. By principle, modern architecture promoted the concept of truth and justice to the materials used and not ornamenting or plastering them with some other artificial material. What is inside should be reflected outside. (Plan N Design)

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The Modern Era Timeline The Modern Era is broadly defined as the period from 1930 through the 1970s. Buildings or sites of the period often looked to the future without overt references to historical precedent; expressed functional, technical or spatial properties; and was conscious of being modern, expressing the principles of modern design. The architecture produced during this period took on many forms and represented a range of complex ideology. The terms included here represent a means of categorizing these disparate resources based on design similarities, but are in no way intended to limit or fully define them. (Docomomo, 2019) Modernism isn't just another architectural style. It is an evolution in design that first appeared around 1850 — some say it began earlier than that — and continues to this day. The photos presented here illustrate an array of architecture — Expressionism, Constructivism, Bauhaus, Functionalism, International, Desert Mid Century Modernism, Structuralism, Formalism, High-tech, Brutalism, Deconstructivism, Minimalism, De Stijl, Metabolism, Organic, Postmodernism, and Parametricism.

Dating these eras only approximates their initial impact on architectural history and society.

(ThoughtCo, 2018)

Origins: Early modernism in Europe (1900–1914) Early American modernism (1890s–1914) 1. Early skyscrapers Rise of Modernism in Europe and Russia (1918–1931) 1. International Style (1918–1950s) 2. Bauhaus and the German Werkbund (1919–1932) 3. Expressionist architecture (1918–1931) 4. Constructivist architecture (1919–1931) 5. Modernism becomes a movement: CIAM (1928) Art Deco 1. American Art Deco; the skyscraper style (1919–1939) 12

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2. Streamline style and Public Works Administration (1933–1939) American modernism (1919–1939) (Wikipedia, 2020)

Avant Garde

Figure 6: Avant Garde art

Avant-gardism has been most prominent in literature and the arts, whereas its use in the context of architecture was less common. Nevertheless, there has been a tendency to identify the Modern movement as the avant-garde in architecture. The theoretical finetuning urged by Burger, however, necessitates a modification of this too-simple identification. Bürger's work also brought about a growing consensus to distinguish between the historical avant-garde, chronologically situated before World War II, and the neo-avant-garde, which is a more recent phenomenon. The issues and themes around which the Modern movement in architecture crystallized were surely related to the avantgarde logic of destruction of the old and construction of the new. (Kingston University London, 2018)

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The thought that architecture should no longer limit itself to the design of representative buildings but rather should develop into a more comprehensive discipline that is focusing on the whole of the environment and that merges with social reality and with life itself was shared by many prominent modern architects from the 1920s. (Kingston University London, 2018) Avant-garde architects such as Walter Gropius, Hannes Meyer, and Ernst May believed that their mission had to do with the design of all aspects of life, and they aimed at a reconceptualization of the whole process of building, including construction techniques, housing typologies, and urbanism. One of the most radical interpretations of such beliefs was to be found in the work of Walter Benjamin.

Benjamin thought that the destructive gestures of the avantgarde, which aimed at purification, were necessary to free the way for a revolutionary future. (Kingston University London, 2018) The alignment between modern architecture and politically progressive tendencies was thus clearly present in the 1920s and the early 1930s, in the self-reflection of its representatives as well as in the discourse of major critics. This avant-garde position claimed a new, more open and more socially relevant mission for architecture. It was Utopian and critical, believing that the new future could be reached only by starting from scratch. (Kingston University London, 2018) The Modern Movement is often given the role of the avant-garde in architecture. Recent theoretical developments, however, argue for a differentiation in meaning between 'avant-garde' and 'modernism'. It is claimed that the avant-garde was a radical and disruptive phenomenon, which aimed at a total unification between art and life and which resisted the divide between high art and mass culture. The avant-garde is thus theoretically distinguished from modernism, which is seen as a calmer and less revolutionary movement of aesthetic renovation. This article points out how this differentiation in meaning can elucidate some important divergences in the discourse of the Modern Movement. It focuses on some early writings of Sigfried Giedion and on Walter Benjamin's interpretation thereof, in order to highlight their fundamental questioning of architecture's role vis-avis society. This questioning means that, in the considered texts, both authors are closer to an avantgardist sensibility than to a modernist one. (Heynen, 2010) The avant-garde and its significance for 20th-century architecture rests, then, with the constant obliteration of boundaries between the arts and architecture, image and text, and the meanings of old and new. (Kingston University London, 2018)

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1920s: Expressionism and Neo-expressionism

Figure 7:Einstein Tower Observatory, Potsdam, Germany, 1920, Erich Mendelsohn

Built in 1920, the Einstein Tower or Einsteinturm in Potsdam, Germany is an Expressionist work by architect Erich Mendelsohn. (ThoughtCo, 2018) Expressionism evolved from the work of Avant Garde artists and designers in Germany and other European countries during the first decades of the 20th century. Many fanciful works were rendered on paper but never built. Key features of Expressionism include the use of distorted shapes, fragmented lines, organic or biomorphic forms, massive sculpted shapes, extensive use of concrete and brick, and lack of symmetry. (ThoughtCo, 2018) Neo-expressionism built upon expressionist ideas. Architects in the 1950s and 1960s designed buildings that expressed their feelings about the surrounding landscape. Sculptural forms suggested rocks and mountains. Organic and Brutalist architecture is sometimes described as Neoexpressionist. (ThoughtCo, 2018) Expressionist and Neo-expressionist architects include Gunther Domenig, Hans Scharoun, Rudolf Steiner, Bruno Taut, Erich Mendelsohn, the early works of Walter Gropius, and Eero Saarinen.

(ThoughtCo, 2018)

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1920s: Constructivism

Figure 8: Tatlin's tower

During the 1920s and early 1930s, a group of avant-garde architects in Russia launched a movement to design buildings for the new socialist regime. Calling themselves constructivists, they believed that design began with construction. Their buildings emphasized abstract geometric shapes and functional machine parts. (ThoughtCo, 2018) Constructivist architecture combined engineering and technology with political ideology.

Constructivist architects attempted to suggest the idea of humanity's collectivism through the harmonious arrangement of diverse structural elements. Constructivist buildings are characterized by a sense of movement and abstract geometric shapes; technological details such as antennae, signs, and projection screens; and machine-made building parts primarily of glass and steel. (ThoughtCo, 2018)

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19020s: Bauhaus

Figure 9:Images courtesy Craig Hodgetts (left), Bauhaus Dessau Foundation (right)

The Bauhaus school originated in Weimar, Germany (1919), moved to Dessau, Germany (1925), and disbanded when the Nazis rose to power. Walter Gropius, Marcel Breuer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and other Bauhaus leaders migrated to the United States. At times the term International Modernism was applied to the American form of Bauhaus architecture. (Docomomo, 2019) Generally, Bauhaus buildings have flat roofs, smooth façades, and cubic shapes. Colours are white, grey, beige, or black. Floor plans are open and furniture is functional. Popular construction methods of the time — steel-frame with glass curtain walls — were used for both residential and commercial architecture. More than any architectural style, however, the Bauhaus Manifesto promoted principles of creative collaboration — planning, designing,

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drafting, and construction are tasks equal within the building collective. Art and craft should have no difference. (ThoughtCo, 2018)

1950s: International

Figure 10:The PSFS Building in Philadelphia, built in 1932, was the first International-style skyscraper.

International Style is a term often used to describe Bauhaus-like architecture in the United States.

One of the most famous examples of the International Style is the United Nations Secretariat building, originally designed by an international team of architects including Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, and Wallace Harrison. It was completed in 1952 and meticulously renovated in 2012. The

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smooth glass-sided slab, one of the first uses of curtain-wall glass cladding on a tall building, dominates New York City's skyline along the East River. (ThoughtCo, 2018) American International style buildings tend to be geometric, monolithic skyscrapers with these typical features: a rectangular solid with six sides (including ground floor) and a flat roof; a curtain wall (exterior siding) completely of glass; no ornamentation; and stone, steel, glass construction materials. (Docomomo, 2019)

Art Deco

Figure 11: The Chrysler building, New York

The Art Deco style is one of the easiest to identify since its sharp-edged looks and stylized geometrical decorative details are so distinctive. (Pennsylvania Architectural Field Guide, 2015) Art Deco is first of all a style of ornament. This ornament is predominantly rectilinear, with geometrical curves playing a secondary role. The commonest motifs of all are fluting and reading, often flanking doors or windows or forming horizontal bands above them. (Docomomo, 2019)

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Art Deco buildings feature distinctive smooth finish building materials such as stucco, concrete block, glazed brick or mosaic tile. Decorative details can incorporate various artistic or exotic motifs to suit the building's function or the architect's whim. (Pennsylvania Architectural Field Guide, 2015)

Modern European Architecture Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Europe during the first decades of the twentieth century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts. The term Expressionist architecture initially described the activity of the German, Dutch, Austrian, Czech, and Danish avant-garde from 1910 until 1930.

Subsequent redefinitions extended the term backwards to 1905 and also widened it to encompass the rest of Europe. Today the meaning has broadened even further to refer to architecture of any date or location that exhibits some of the qualities of the original movement such as: distortion, fragmentation, or the communication of violent or overstressed emotion.

Art nouveau and the beginning of expressionism ●

The founders of Expressionism are the Norwegian Edvard Munch, the Swiss Ferdinand Hodler,the Belgian James Ensor, & the Russian Vasily Kandinsky

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All of these artists grew up in the environment of Art Nouveau

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Munch is often credited with unlocking the gates to expressionism with his famous contemporary pieces like The Scream,1893.

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The expressionist typical trait is to present the world solely from a subjective perspective, distorting it radically for emotional effect in order to evoke moods or ideas.

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These artists conveyed their sadness, sickness, death and moral crisis to the public in a way that began anew school of art

The onset of Art Nouveau(1890-1905) & Expressionism proclaimed new standards in the creation and judgment of art. Art was now meant to come forth from inside the artist, rather than from a depiction of the external visual world, and the standard for assessing the quality of a work of art became the character of the artist's feelings rather than an analysis of the composition.

From art Nouveau

Figure 12: casa batillo,antonio gaudi house,barcelona,spain

To expressionism

Figure 13: Einstein tower

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A detailed study on one of the movements i.e.

Expressionist Architecture: Introduction There are many movements that comprise what we know today as “modern art.” In each case, artists sought to achieve a like minded goal—regardless of their own style preferences. Impressionists, for example, reimagined ephemeral moments in time on canvas. Post-Impressionists explored the mind of the artists, while the Fauves took an expressive approach to art. And the Expressionists, a group of figures with eclectic artistic tastes, aimed to elicit emotion. (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc, 2019) While the Expressionist movement started in Germany, it eventually spread all over the continent— and beyond. Here, we explore this evocative movement and the figures and groups that helped shape it.

We who live today have the rare and great fortune to live during a great revolution, not only of art, but of the whole intellectual and spiritual orientation. . . . All around us there stirs and grows a new art -- Expressionism.

- Adolf Behne, February 1914

Expressionism was an early 20th-century movement in art and architecture. It developed between 1910 and 1924 among a group of architects from European countries including Germany, Austria, and Denmark. It was a time of great turmoil and upheaval in Europe and many of the architects had fought on the battlefields of World War I. Their experiences greatly impacted their work and what they created looked like nothing that had come before it. (Nobert Wolf, 2004)

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Every modernist architecture movement started with an art movement.

Expressionism in Art The roots of the German Expressionist school lay in the works of Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and James Ensor, each of whom in the period 1885–1900 evolved a highly personal painting style.

These artists used the expressive possibilities of colour and line to explore dramatic and emotionladen themes (Richman, 2018).

With an aesthetic and approach heavily inspired by the paintings of Vincent van Gogh and Edvard Munch—two artists viewed as predominant precursors of the movement. Expressionists employed artificial colour palettes, energetic brushstrokes, and exaggerated textures in their works. Together, these characteristics culminate in avant-garde paintings that favour the subjective over the true-to-life in order to reveal a glimpse into the psyche of artists.

Figure 14: The Scream (1893)

Artist: Edvar Munch

Der Blaue Reiter (1903)

Artist: Wassily Kandinsky

Large Blue Horses (1911)

Artist: Franz Marc

The group who first dreamed of expressionist utopia and how it’s merger with other groups brought changes in the movement: Influenced by artists such as Munch, van Gogh, and Ensor, the members of the Dresden-based Die Brücke group sought to convey raw emotion through provocative images of modern society. They depicted scenes of city dwellers, prostitutes, and dancers in the city's streets and nightclubs, presenting the decadent underbelly of German society. In works such as Kirchner's Street, Berlin (1913), they emphasized the alienation inherent to modern society and the loss of spiritual communion between individuals in urban culture; fellow city dwellers are distanced from one 23

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another, acting as mere commodities, as in the prostitutes at the forefront of Kirchner's composition.

(Elger, 2004) Unlike the pastoral scenes of Impressionism and the academic drawings of Neoclassicism, Die Brücke artists used distorted forms and jarring, unnatural pigments to elicit the viewer's emotional response. The group was similarly united by a reductive and primitive aesthetic, a revival of older media and medieval German art, in which they used graphic techniques such as woodblock printing to create crude, jagged forms. (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc, 2019) The group published a woodcut broadsheet in 1906, called Programme, to accompany their first exhibition. It summarized their break with prevailing academic traditions calling for a freer, youthoriented aesthetic. Although mostly written by Kirchner, this poster served as a manifesto stating the ideals of Die Brücke. The members of Die Brücke drew largely from the writings of German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche in terms of both their artistic project and their philosophical grounding. Their name came from a quote from Thus Spoke Zarathustra (1883-85) that states, "What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end." The group exhibited and collaborated through 1913, when Kirchner penned Chronik der Brücke (Brücke Chronicle) and the collective effectively dissolved. (Selz, 1974)

Der Blaue Reiter: Kandinsky, Macke, Klee, and Marc The artists of Der Blaue Reiter group shared an inclination towards abstraction, symbolic content, and spiritual allusion. They sought to express the emotional aspects of being through highly symbolic and brightly colored renderings (Encyclopædia Britannica, inc, 2019). Their name emerged from the symbol of the horse and rider, derived from one of Wassily Kandinsky's paintings; for Kandinsky, the rider symbolized the transition from the tangible world into the spiritual realm and thus acted as a metaphor for artistic practice. For other members such as Franz Marc, Paul, Klee, and Auguste Macke, this notion became a central principle for transcending realistic depiction and delving into abstraction.

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Although Der Blaue Reiter never published a manifesto, its members were united by their aesthetic innovations, which were influenced by medieval and primitivist art forms, Cubism, and Fauvism.

However, the group itself was short-lived; with the outbreak of World War I in 1914, Franz Marc and Auguste Macke were drafted into German military service and were killed soon after. The Russian members of the group - Wassily Kandinsky, Alexej von Jawlensky, and others - were all forced to return home. Der Blaue Reiter dissolved immediately thereafter.

About the term expressionism: The term "Expressionism" is thought to have been coined in 1910 by Czech art historian Antonin Matejcek, who intended it to denote the opposite of Impressionism. Whereas the Impressionists sought to express the majesty of nature and the human form through paint, the Expressionists, according to Matejcek, sought only to express inner life, often via the painting of harsh and realistic subject matter. It should be noted, however, that neither Die Brücke, nor similar sub-movements, ever referred to themselves as Expressionist, and, in the early years of the century, the term was widely used to apply to a variety of styles, including Post-Impressionism. (Elger, 2004)

What makes Expressionist architecture special?

The German Expressionists soon developed a style notable for its harshness, boldness, and visual intensity. They used jagged, distorted lines; crude, rapid brushwork; and jarring colours to depict urban street scenes and other contemporary subjects in crowded, agitated compositions notable for their instability and their emotionally charged atmosphere.

What can make our buildings expressionist?

•Distorted shapes for an emotional effect •Fragmented lines •Organic forms •Extensive use of concrete & brick 25

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•Asymmetry •Individual forms (kellner, 1983)

Architects and their work The Einstein Tower, designed by architect Erich Mendelsohn

Figure 15:Einstein Tower, Observatory in Potsdam, Germany

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This building was designed by Erich Mendelsohn Even today the slightest mention of the German architect, Erich Mendelsohn recalls images of his plastic and curving forms at the Einstein Observatory. In almost every architectural textbook or historical survey class, photographs of the building reaffirm the sculptural genius of Mendelsohn and his innate talent for artistic expression. The crisp lines of molded concrete articulate each surface and plane in a way that suggests a new physics of form [figure 2.2 & 2.3]. Indeed the sketches that usually accompany any photograph are all the more assuring that Mendelsohn was not just a master of technical accomplishment, but a conceptual seer too! And yet this is usually as much of Mendelsohn as is commonly discussed. The fact that this building came at the beginning of his career, at the beginning of an avant-garde fervor in the 20's, and before many of Mendelsohn's more typical buildings are crucially absent. That he was responsible for nearly 75 buildings and projects after the Einstein Observatory is also a routine oversight limiting a fuller understanding of his career.

Curiously, this suggests both a general level of ignorance surrounding architectural history and a more determined effort to remember Mendelsohn in a particular way. But the control of how Mendelsohn is imagined reveals a much larger historical problem in the origins of Modernity. For the historians writing on the formation of Modern architecture nearly seventy years ago, The Einstein Observatory was a symbol of romantic thinking. It represented the subjective creativity of Mendelsohn: The Expressionist, as an attitude and ideology which Modernity had surpassed (Leiter, 1997).

Elements: -Moulded rather than being built -plastic kind of building -Without angles and with smooth rounded corners

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Figure 16:Plan and section of Einstein Tower

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Glass Pavilion

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Figure 17:The Glass Pavilion, designed by Bruno Taut and built in 1914.

The Glass Pavilion, designed by Bruno Taut and built in 1914.

The building provokes something in someone than having any real function.Building designed as a mechanism to create vivid experiences, where people would be able to feel, touch and primarily see.

The goal of this functionless building is that architecture would include the other arts of painting and sculpture, to achieve a new, unified expression. Timeless aesthetic of smooth curved glass shells; an aesthetic that can easily be connected to contemporary glass facades.

The futuristic Expressionist glass projects in both amorphous and crystalline arrangements can be seen as an expression of the utopian expectations for a new society after the German Revolution of 1918. Expressionist manifestoes and literature, on the other hand, reveal a thoroughgoing interest in a literary-architectural convention associated with and Symbolist tradition down to Expressionism.

Expressionist architects, familiar with the various earlier conventions, in a highly eclectic fashion 29

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reinterpreted the meaning of the glass-crystal symbolism as a metaphor of transformation to signify a glass and crystal, an iconographic theme that stretches from King Solomon, Jewish and Arabic legends, medieval stories of the Holy Grail, through the mystical Rosicrucian changed society. This article, though it begins and ends with a discussion of Expressionist design, deals primarily with the sources and changes of this iconographic tradition.

Figure 18: plan and section of The glass Pavillion

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Figure 19: Interior of Glass Pavillion

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Figure 20: Interiors of the Glass pavillion

Bruno Taut began the interchange of ideas known as the "Utopian Correspondence" among members of the famous "Glaserne Kette" (Glass Chain) in November 1919.

Intended as a way of sharing the thoughts of everyone involved, it also served to promote these visionary architects as one unified image. This came through the publication of their correspondence in Taut's short lived magazine, Frith Licht (early light). The magazine presented the various attitudes developed in the correspondence of the circle as well as the publication of many architectural projects." The work of radical architects was stylistically diverse, but remained united under the common idea of developing new forms of expression to represent a future era of humankind.

Mendelsohn was not directly involved with the Glass Chain, but still remained active in the radical thinking about architecture. (Leiter, 1997)

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Distortion and curves Distortion of form is an integral part of expressionism because of free flowing nature of lines and surfaces gives some sort of emotional connection to the building. Reducing the elements to its original form so that we can mould it.

However, it wasn’t until the industrial revolution that curved structures became more prominent in the architectural landscape. This was largely thanks to the advent of several lighter materials with higher tensile strength, and the technical advances made in the space of tools and machinery. But the buildings were still vertical columns, with domes and catenary arches. It was not before the dawn of the 20th century that expressionist architecture came to the fore. It was also a time marred by war and dictatorship, and imaginations were stifled. But that did not stop Erich Mendelsohn from envisioning a building that was inspired by nature – the Einstein tower. The building marked the beginning of a modernist era led by Germany, which was inspired by biomorphic forms.

Figure 21: Het Schip, Amsterdam

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Analysis We read a lot of articles and parts of books on expressionism and the related movements of modernism, the thing that intrigued us most was the importance people gave to the spaces they live in and what art they created and how they wanted their future to be like.

We got to know there is so much more to architecture than ornamentation or functional use of spaces. Self expression matters so much to mankind. We could see the shift that we had in the thought process or in prioritising, their approach towards buildings was much more poetic.

And this poetic approach should be brought back and we should respect and bring back the knowledge gained by the great minds of history.

To architects and historians at the end of the 1920's, monuments of an Expressionist past served as continual verification that they were moving in both a productive and enlightened manner. However, I believe the role of Expressionism in the 1920's was not just a dead phenomenon looked upon in hindsight, nor was it completely incompatible with Neue Sachlichkeit ideology. Instead my interpretation of Expressionism is through its effect on the imagination and visions of later avant-garde attitudes.expressionism was expression of one’s emotions through art and architecture.

Although the events and ideas of Expressionism range from around 1910 to the early 1920's, its greatest influence on architecture came after WWI in the formation of an avant-garde devoted to the spiritual renewal of German society. For most radical artists and architects, a feeling of desperation brought on by the war and recent political troubles indicated that society was in a period of decline. Numerous writings predicted the degeneration of German culture in a future that was doomed to spiritual unrest.

Within these gloomy prospects for the future, many architects placed their hope in the idea that a new form of society would be born from within the distress of their present day. Nietzche's idea of creation through destruction was pessimistic, but also implied that conscientious work toward spiritual regeneration could lead to a new future. Out of this hope, the younger radical architects attempted to find a new basis of life in the cultural redemption of the arts.

This distant glimmer of salvation was the bond that links most Expressionist architects together in the postwar years. Though not many buildings were built, as many of them remained on paper and many of the 34

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others were not fully constructed.Their understanding of art and their role in the avant-garde was determined by a larger sense of obligation to society and cultural rejuvenation. As the historian Kurt Junghanns has astutely characterized, "The idea of the unavoidability of catastrophe was slowly linked with the notion of a great turning-point, a powerful coming awakening to an existence with new relations between men and with novel forms of art and architecture.

In anticipation of a new world, most radical architects were united in the search for an architectural style to coexist with and manifest their social ideals. These investigations were shaped by their belief that architecture held primary responsibility for expression of the cultural zeitgeist and could guide the direction of spiritual regeneration. In a similar sentiment to much of how the avant-garde perceived their relation to society, Mendelsohn began to formulate his own direction in architecture as an extension of cultural will.

Through the enthusiasm of painter groups such as Die Brucke (The Bridge) and Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider) in the pre war years and radical organizations afterward, Worringer was adopted as the ideological source of how Expressionist artists and architects explained their work.

After the political revolution in 1918, the rebellious spirit of these artists created numerous organizations in an attempt to demonstrate the solidarity of artists united under one cause .Artists and architects perceived themselves as victim-heroes destined to sacrifice themselves in the hope that a better world would be achieved through their own demise.

The sculptural contours and streamlined mass suggested a building in motion that explored many of Mendelsohn's ideas on the dynamics of form. Like Taut's use of glass for a new architecture of utopia, Mendelsohn used concrete to explore new forms of expression. The opportunities offered in concrete were the basis for a new style and an organic conception of form. Like many other (Leiter, 1997) Expressionist architects working at the time, Mendelsohn aimed at creating a symbol of the postwar commitment to harmony between art, science, and nature.How the environment and people’s thinking can shape architecture.With a different and changing environment, architecture also changes with time. It expresses how people lived and what they believed during those days.It is an expression of how people feel, just like communication, Architects communicate through buildings on behalf of people.Everything has an impact on one thing or another. The raw material available, economy, political issues, etc have an impact on many things just like architecture. The buildings tell a story. Why they were made the way they are. How it was constructed, etc. everything has a story behind it.It is interesting to study what goes around us will 35

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influence everything on its way.

It's how our world evolves and we come closer to our Utopia.

Conclusion While reading about expressionism and parts of some related movements we were very inspired by the amount of thought, dreams and hopes that went into imagining the world we strive in today. It may not be what those great thinkers, dreamers and leaders wanted it to be, but everything that we have today from those concrete jungles to the architecturals marvels did not come out of nowhere.

Our spaces and our live are thousands of dreams twisted, turned and turned into reality.

We might not have achieved the utopia that they wanted the world to achieve but we got hopes and these movement pushed our expectations to a height that we usually forget in this modern world.

All great Architects put emphasis on the idea of expression, louis I kahn said “we all live to express” and this line here states the importance of expression in one’s life. And to know how this idea came in this world, evolved and is still being passed on to people is truly a miracle.

Let's hope that we can use this knowledge, learn more and maybe someday the utopian dream of the people would be reality.

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Elger, D. (2004). The Art Story. Retrieved feb 2020 Encyclopædia Britannica, inc. ( 2019). Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved Feb 2020, from https://www.britannica.com/art/Expressionism Heynen, H. (2010). What belongs to Architecture? Avant-Garde ideas in Modern movement. The Journal of Architecture, 120-147. kellner. (1983). Research gate. Retrieved Feb 2020, from https://www.researchgate.net/publication/269657442_Expressionism_as_The_Radical_Creative_ Tendency_in_Architecture_Ekspresionizam_kao_radikalna_stvaralacka_tendencija_u_arhitekturi Kingston University London. (2018). The concept of Avant-Garde in twentieth and twenty-first century architecture. Research repository.

Leiter, R. J. ( 1997). Erich Mendelsohn: Constructing an Image of Modernity Between Expressionism and the 1920's Avant-Garde. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Nobert Wolf, U. G. (2004). The Art Story. Retrieved february 2020, from https://www.theartstory.org/movement/expressionism/ Pennsylvania Architectural Field Guide. (2015). Art Deco Style. Architecture Styles.

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Richman, K. (2018). My Modernmet. Retrieved January 12, 2020, from https://mymodernmet.com/whatis-expressionism/ Selz, P. (1974). The Art Story. Retrieved februaly 2020, from https://www.theartstory.org/movement/expressionism/ Study.com. (n.d.). Modern Architecture: Characteristics & Style. Art, Music, and Architecture Around the World.

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