History of Cities and Their Architecture - Essay Example

Barcelona Pavilion al Affiliation) Early in 1930, Mies van der Rohe’s building that was referred to as German Pavilion in Barcelona started to be disassembled. After some fruitless attempts to sell it locally, nearly transformed into a restaurant, the German authorities decided to return the marble and stainless steel elements to Berlin for their resale. The dispersal of constituents extended over different continents. According to Köstner and Gottschalk, the company that delivered the marble blocks chose to reuse them later in Germany (Curtis, 2008). Some remains of the onyx wall, which was caramel-colored, finished up as being tops of table in Mies’ Chicago room and in the home of Sergius Regensburg’s in Berlin. Philip Johnson developed one of the chairs for his collection. Mies van der Rohe designed Barcelona Pavilion, which was developed from German Pavilion, during international exposition that was in Barcelona Spain. It was constructed with the aim of demonstrating modern movement of architecture of the world (Curtis, 2008). The building was originally named a Germany pavilion, as it was the expression of Germany after the First World War to indicate the culture of the country that is still rooted in the classical history. The pavilion was built with an aim of hosting King Alphonso XIII of Spain and officials from Germany during the time of exposition (Curtis, 2008). As compared to other buildings at the exposition, Mies understood that work he did as just a building and he did not aim in housing art or any sculpture. The building was just designed to place tranquility and escape from exposition, which was then to transform the pavilion into an inhabitable statue. The building is situates at the foot of Nation Art Museum. Barcelona Pavilion recedes on a narrow site in corner, which is much secluded from the city seats of Barcelona (Dodds, 2005) By raising the pavilion on a plinth in conjunction with the narrow profile of the site, the Barcelona Pavilion has a low horizontal orientation that is accentuated by the low flat roof that appears to float over both the interior as well as the exterior. The furniture of the building also exhibits the duality of modernism and classicism. The now iconic Barcelona chair and ottoman were designed specifically for the Barcelona Pavilion. The Barcelona building served as a reception place for the King and Queen of Spain. After the exhibition in which the pavilion intended was closed, the resembling of the pavilion was in 1930. As time went, the pavilion became a key point not only to Mies but also to other architectures that operated in the 20th century. In 1980, there was setting of project by Oriol Bohigas who was the head of planning department to ensure that there was rebuilding of the pavilion (Dodds, 2005). Activities to reconstruct the building were carried out as from 1983 and the new building was officially opened in 1986. Description There are different materials that were used to build the pavilion. The pavilion was build using steel, glass and four different kinds of stone. Then stones used include green Alpine marble, Travertine from Rome and golden onyx that was obtained from Atlas Mountains. The reconstruction using the materials was all of the same as those, which were originally used by Mies in 1929. Mies designed a chair that consisted of a letherupholstered metallic profile that in over the years have been seen as an icon of a modern design. To the extended, the chair is still being manufactured and sold. Georg Kolbe’s sculpture is located in the building made of bronze. The sculpture is placed at the end of the small pond (Quetglas, 2001). The sculpture is reflected in the water and in the glass and marble. This creates a sensation that is multiplied in space while the curves that it has contrast with the geometry purity of the building. The building of Barcelona Pavilion is for many designers their favorite structure in the World. Its stylish architecture is unadulterated poetry, modest honest flat surface of stone with thin, graceful refined steel cruciform pillars. The addition of water that flows through two surface pools brings stillness and likeness to the pavilion that was created by Mies. The structure according to the designers has been seen to be unique (Quetglas, 2001). One of the most significant aspects that are notices in the building is the roof of the pavilion. The roof is of low profile. The low profile of the roof appears in promotion as a fluctuating plane overhead the interior volume.  The presence of floating gives the capacity a sense of lightness that varies between attachment and canopy. The roof structure of the roof is made up of eight slim cruciform columns that allow the roof to seem like effortlessly floating above the volume while releasing up the interior to allow for an open plan (Quetglas, 2001).  With the projection, which is low out over the exterior and the directness of the pavilion, there is unclear spatial separation where the interior becomes and looks like exterior and exterior becomes interior. The pavilion is planned as a proportional conformation where the interior of the pavilion is compared to two shiny pools. The smaller reflecting pool is located straight behind the inner space, which enables for light to pass through the interior volume as well light the marble and travertine pavers.  The larger and shallow reflecting pool, which is available in the pavilion, compliments the volume as it stretches across the rest of the platform.  Its elegance and sleek lines establish a place of solitude and reflection. The Pavilion was going to be bare, no trade exhibits, just the structure accompanying a single sculpture and purpose-designed furniture and named the Barcelona chair. This lack of accommodation enabled Mies to treat the Pavilion as a continuous space: blurring inside and outside (Robinson, Falgàs, Lord & Alix Trueba, 2006). However, the structure was more of a hybrid style, some of these planes also acted as supports. The entire building rests on a plinth of travertine. A southern U-shaped enclosure, also of travertine, helps form a service annex and a large water basin. The floor slabs of the pavilion project out and over the pool. Another U-shaped wall on the opposite side of the site also forms a smaller water basin (Robinson, Falgàs, Lord & Alix Trueba, 2006). This is where the figure that was built by Georg Kolbe is placed. The chrome-clad, cruciform pillars support the plates of the roof, which are relatively small. This gives the roof an impression of a flying roof of the pavilion. A column is given ornament instead of being shown for what it is. However, the chrome stays honest to itself as it is left. People can enjoy the chrome for what is as it reflects light around it. Perhaps, upon noticing the small size of the column, visitors have a greater appreciation of the technical aspects of the buildings Walls are given a similar treatment as well. The core of each wall is made of brick or concrete masonry-core. They are then assumed a marble, onyx, or travertine facing. Only the ends of walls are completely made of one substantial. By adding these luxury elements to the pavilion, Mies van der Rohe has made the Barcelona Pavilion into something he thought to be more similar to a standard palace, rather than a functionalist current building (Robinson, Falgàs, Lord & Alix Trueba, 2006). However, the means by which persons like the building is the same as that of other current buildings: a gratitude for the resources and their distinctive abilities. Mies van der Rohe was at that time involved in making ornament from the structure that is to be utilized in the pavilion: the chrome pillars look like I-beams, which originate in structure work. The casting and absorption of light thanks to the innate nature of these materials is the main motif of the overall the building. The pool also serves this goal. A more direct classical callback comes with the addition of a sculpture of a woman by George Kolbe. Mies van der Rohe placed this sculpture in a small pool where multiple planes of light and water meet, tying together strands of modern decoration (lighting) with classical decoration. The furniture of the building also exhibits the duality of modernism and classicism. The now iconic Barcelona chair and ottoman were designed specifically for the Barcelona Pavilion. The Barcelona building served as a reception place for the King and Queen of Spain. Fittingly, the Barcelona chair recalls the luxurious and fancy chairs and thrones of antiquity in their structure (Robinson, Falgàs, Lord & Alix Trueba, 2006). On the other hand, they were also made to look as if they had been produced from a machine. Despite its flirtations with classism, the Barcelona Pavilion’s form arose because of its function. The building was built for the International Exhibition of that year. The building also served as a platform for the Weimar Republic to “distance itself from its imperialist past”. The goal was to send a friendly message, to communicate openness and internationalism, which was realized with the open floor plan and unadorned material surfaces. In addition to the design, the materials are what give the Barcelona Pavilion its true architectural principle as well as the unearthly and experiential qualities that the pavilion was made to symbolize.  The pavilion interlocks the synthetic and the natural and this is by use of four types of marble, steel, chrome, and glass.  The marble originates from the Swiss Alps and the Mediterranean.  Mies’ implementation of the marble is created through a process of splitting, called broaching, that creates a symmetrical patronization that is found in the marble.  However, the most used material is the Italian travertine that wraps the plinth and the exterior walls adjacent to the reflecting pool.  When it is made visible to the sun, the travertine becomes brightened almost as another light source that dissolves the natural stone and washes the light over the space.  The travertine’s characteristic luminous makings as well as those of Mies’ unified employment of the factors over the platform adds to the closure of spatial demarcation transforming the pavilion into one unceasing volume rather than two separate objects. Commentary 3.1 Making of the building There are different materials that were used to build the pavilion. The pavilion was build using steel, glass and four different kinds of stone. Then stones used include green Alpine marble, Travertine from Rome and golden onyx that was obtained from Atlas Mountains. The reconstruction using the materials was all of the same as those, which were originally used by Mies in 1929. Mies designed a chair that consisted of a letherupholstered metallic profile that in over the years have been seen as an icon of a modern design. To the extended, the chair is still being manufactured and sold. Georg Kolbe’s sculpture is located in the building made of bronze. The sculpture is placed at the end of the small pond. The structure was made through architectural technology through combination of manual labor and machine labor. The pavilion’s design is based on a formulaic grid system developed by Mies that not only serves as the patterning of the travertine pavers, but it also serves as an underlying framework within which the wall system works.  By raising the pavilion on a plinth in conjunction with the narrow profile of the site, the Barcelona Pavilion has a low horizontal orientation that is accentuated by the low flat roof that appears to float over both the interior as well as the exterior. The furniture of the building also exhibits the duality of modernism and classicism. The now iconic Barcelona chair and ottoman were designed specifically for the Barcelona Pavilion. The Barcelona building served as a reception place for the King and Queen of Spain. Fittingly, the Barcelona chair recalls the luxurious and fancy chairs and thrones of antiquity in their structure. On the other hand, they were also made to look as if they had been produced from a machine. 3.2 Revealing of intention of the developer The pavilion’s design is based on a formulaic grid system developed by Mies that not only serves as the patterning of the travertine pavers, but it also serves as an underlying framework within which the wall systems work.  By raising the pavilion on a plinth in conjunction with the narrow profile of the site, the Barcelona Pavilion has a low horizontal orientation that is accentuated by the low flat roof that appears to float over both the interior as well as the exterior (Solà-Morales Rubió, Cirici & Ramos, 1993). The architect Mies van der Rohe was concerned in coming up with free flowing space and this he did through using walls as flat surface in isolation, joined by descending elements or glass. Therefore, the wall is expressed as a single element with space flowing around it. The majority of the pavilion building is constructed out of travertine, which gives the building a luxurious feel and aids the perception of spaciousness. Mies wanted this building to become “an ideal zone of tranquility” for the weary visitor, who should be invited into the pavilion on the way to the next attraction. Since the pavilion lacked a real exhibition space, the building itself was to become the exhibit. The pavilion was designed to “block” any passage through the site; rather, one would have to go through the building. Visitors would enter by going up a few stairs, and due to the slightly sloped site, would leave at ground level in the direction of the Poble Espanyol (Solà-Morales Rubió, Cirici & Ramos, 1993). The visitors were not meant to be led in a straight line through the building, but to take continuous turnabouts. The walls not only created space, but also directed visitor’s movements. This was achieved by wall surfaces being displaced against each other, running past each other, and creating a space that became narrower or wider. Another unique feature of this building is the exotic materials Mies chooses to use. Plates which were considered to be of high-grade pebble materials like facings of marbles of Tinos verde antico and onyx made of gold together with colored glass of green, white, grey as well as translucent glass perform exclusively as three-dimensional dividers (Solà-Morales Rubió, Cirici & Ramos, 1993). Architecture was more to Mies van der Rohe than just a formula to follow. Rather, he thought the goal of architecture was to serve as a “symbol of our time” and sought out how to make architecture culturally relevant. Mies van der Rohe did not follow any formulas when he designed the Barcelona Pavilion. He did not use classism and its orders or a one-size-fits-all solution available from industrialization. The goal of modern architecture is not to merely the reject the past. Rather, it is to capture and adapt to the needs of the present. The results are architecture that takes on many different forms (Solà-Morales Rubió, Cirici & Ramos, 1993). References Curtis, P. (2008). Patio and pavilion. Los Angeles: J. Paul Getty Museum. Dodds, G. (2005). Building desire. London: Routledge. Quetglas, J. (2001). Fear of glass. Basel: Birkhäuser-Publishers for Architecture. Robinson, W., FalgaÌ€s, J., Lord, C., & Alix Trueba, J. (2006). Barcelona and modernity. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Yale University Press. SolaÌ€-Morales Rubió, I., Cirici, C., & Ramos, F. (1993). Mies van der Rohe. Barcelona: G. Gili. Read More