World Architecture
World Architecture is a art or practice of designing and constructing buildings.
51. Deal Castle
Kent, England
Deal Castle, built in 1539 1540 to stand guard over the town of the same name on the Kent coast of southeast England, is a fine example of a new building type, created in response to major changes in politics and the technology of warfare. With others at Walmer and Sandown, it epitomized Henry VIIIs new forts by its assured and concentrated use of the design elements common to all. Deal is the largest, most impressive, and most complicated of the so-called Device forts. It probably looks just as was intended: crouching in wait low above the beach, stocky, powerful, and seemingly impregnable. In the turbulent years that followed Henry VIIIs accession in 1509 he twice made war on France, the second time as an ally of the Holy Roman Emperor. Charles V of Spain. When he realized that Frances defeat would give Spain too much power, Henry changed sides, joining France and the pope against the empire. England was financially ruined by the campaigns of 1527 1528, and six years later, Henrys divorce from Catherine of Aragon led to a break with the Catholic Church, isolating him from most of Europe. He tried to drive a diplomatic wedge between France and Spain, but in 1538 they signed a truce, arousing Henrys fear of a joint invasion. He urgently launched an ambitious defense program. Using funds plundered from the monasteries by his religiousreforms, in 1539 Henry initiated a chain of about thirty forts and batteries to defend Englands major ports and repel the expected invasion fleet. They included ten Device forts: Portland, Pendennis, and St. Mawes in southwest England Hurst, Calshott, and Sandgate around the Solent and Camber, Walmer, Sandown, and Deal on the southeast coast. The nature of warfare was changing, and the sophisticated defense systems of medieval castles had become obsolete. Built to resist mechanical artillery, they now had to withstand, missiles shot with gunpowder. The clumsy bombards of the fifteenth century could be fired only a few times an hour. But by the early sixteenth century cast-iron cannonballs had replaced stone powder quality had improved and ordnance was generally smaller, reliable, and accurate. In 1386, Bodiam Castle in Sussex was among the first to replace archers loopholes with cannon and gun ports. The decline of feudalism also had its effect: enemies were more likely to be foreign than envious neighbor barons. Finished late in 1540 Deal, Walmer, and Sandown completed the metamorphosis from medieval castle to modern artillery emplacement. Each of these squat, powerful-lookingcastles in the Downsthey were still called castlescomprised rounded bastions radiating from a circular keep. Their thick walls were curved to deflect cannonballs, and their many gun ports were widely splayed for easy traverse. There were three tiers of cannon for long-range offense and two tiers of defensive armaments. Built by an army of workmen at a total cost of
Deal Castle, built in 1539 1540 to stand guard over the town of the same name on the Kent coast of southeast England, is a fine example of a new building type, created in response to major changes in politics and the technology of warfare. With others at Walmer and Sandown, it epitomized Henry VIIIs new forts by its assured and concentrated use of the design elements common to all. Deal is the largest, most impressive, and most complicated of the so-called Device forts. It probably looks just as was intended: crouching in wait low above the beach, stocky, powerful, and seemingly impregnable. In the turbulent years that followed Henry VIIIs accession in 1509 he twice made war on France, the second time as an ally of the Holy Roman Emperor. Charles V of Spain. When he realized that Frances defeat would give Spain too much power, Henry changed sides, joining France and the pope against the empire. England was financially ruined by the campaigns of 1527 1528, and six years later, Henrys divorce from Catherine of Aragon led to a break with the Catholic Church, isolating him from most of Europe. He tried to drive a diplomatic wedge between France and Spain, but in 1538 they signed a truce, arousing Henrys fear of a joint invasion. He urgently launched an ambitious defense program. Using funds plundered from the monasteries by his religiousreforms, in 1539 Henry initiated a chain of about thirty forts and batteries to defend Englands major ports and repel the expected invasion fleet. They included ten Device forts: Portland, Pendennis, and St. Mawes in southwest England Hurst, Calshott, and Sandgate around the Solent and Camber, Walmer, Sandown, and Deal on the southeast coast. The nature of warfare was changing, and the sophisticated defense systems of medieval castles had become obsolete. Built to resist mechanical artillery, they now had to withstand, missiles shot with gunpowder. The clumsy bombards of the fifteenth century could be fired only a few times an hour. But by the early sixteenth century cast-iron cannonballs had replaced stone powder quality had improved and ordnance was generally smaller, reliable, and accurate. In 1386, Bodiam Castle in Sussex was among the first to replace archers loopholes with cannon and gun ports. The decline of feudalism also had its effect: enemies were more likely to be foreign than envious neighbor barons. Finished late in 1540 Deal, Walmer, and Sandown completed the metamorphosis from medieval castle to modern artillery emplacement. Each of these squat, powerful-lookingcastles in the Downsthey were still called castlescomprised rounded bastions radiating from a circular keep. Their thick walls were curved to deflect cannonballs, and their many gun ports were widely splayed for easy traverse. There were three tiers of cannon for long-range offense and two tiers of defensive armaments. Built by an army of workmen at a total cost of
52. Deltaworks
The Netherlands
The Deltaworks comprises a series of audacious engineering projects that effectively shorten the coastline of the southwest Netherlands by about 440 miles 700 kilometers, seal outlets to the sea, and reinforce the countrys water defenses. Taking more than forty years to complete, the works involved the construction of huge primary dams totaling 20 miles 30 kilometers in length, in four sea inlets between the Western Scheldt and the New Waterway, Rotterdam. The Netherlands is located in the broad deltas of the Rhine, Maas, and Scheldt, and the small countrys history and geography have been greatly influenced by a continuous struggle against the rivers and the sea. Through the coincidence of several events in 1953, the southwestern provinces suffered huge floods in which nearly 2,000 people died and thousands of homes were destroyed. The central government quickly reacted, and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management set up the Delta Committee to devise measures to avert a future disaster. The plan informed the Delta Act of 1958, but its implementation, placed in the hands of a complex instrumentality known as Delta Service, took over four decades to complete. The major elements of the plan were achieved in the following order: the Hollandse IJssel storm flood barrier 1954 1958, the Zandkreekdam 1957 1960 the Veerse Gatdam 1958 1961 the Grevelingendam 1958 1965 the Volkerakdam 1955 1977 the Haringvlietdam 1956 1972 the Brouwersdam 1963 1972 and the Oosterschelde storm flood barrier 1967 1986. The vast scope of the Deltaworks cannot be fully described here, but it may be measured by a brief overview of the largest, most difficult, and most expensive phase: the Oosterschelde Eastern Scheldt storm, flood barrier, immodestly referred to by its builders asthe eighth world wonder. It was originally intended to close off the Oosterschelde with a permanent dam, and work started in 1967. By 1973 joining das between parts of the coast had closed 3 miles 4.8 kilometersmore than halfof the river mouth, and three sluices had been built. Then, in response to public protests, it was decided to construct a storm flood barrier instead of completely closing the estuary. Huge concrete pylons standing on the river bottom would support gates that could close to resist storm surges a concrete roadway would cross the structure. The government signed a contract with the consortium De Oosterschelde Stormvloedkering Bouwkombinatie in 1977. A 3,000-yard-long 2.78-kilometer access bridge was built to the 50-foot-deep 15-meter construction docks needed to fabricate the massive pylons. Commenced in April 1979, the first was finished early in 1983. In the meantime, work began on the sliding gates. Fifty-foot-deep foundations were prepared to support the pylons, and a special dredge was designed to secure the estuary floor against uneven scouring. By the end of 1982, the river bottom was secured by vast mats laid by purpose-designed vessels. All was ready for placing the pylons. The construction docks were flooded and the pylons, each weighing 21,600 tons 18,300 tonnes and between 100 and 135 feet 30 and 40 meters high, were floated into position, then sunk to the prepared floor. Sixty-five pylons formed the spine of the barrier: sixteen in the northern opening, seventeen in the central, and thirty-two in the southern. They were connected by prefabricated elements, and the sliding gates, each 150 feet 45 meters long and weighing 1,440 tons 1,220 tonnes, were then installed, a task that took a little under two years to complete. Then followed the fixing of each of the sixty-two 3,000-ton 2,270-tonne precast concrete elements that carried the roadway across the barrier. The Stormvloedkering Oosterschelde was officially opened on 4 October 1986. It cost about a sixth of the 11 billion guilder U.S.$5.5 billion total of the Deltaworks. The danger of overflowing rivers in the winter and early spring also threatens large parts of the Netherlands. Several inland engineering worksthe Philipsdam 1976 1987 the Oesterdam 1977 1988 the Markiezaatskade 1980 1983 and the Bathse Spuikanaal and Spuisluis 1980 1987were adjuncts to the primary dams of the Deltaworks. Hollands struggle against the water continues. Despite the pleas of regional and local water authorities for river dike reinforcement, the national government concentrated its funding for forty years upon the Deltaworks. Moreover, conservationists oppose any dike improvements that would spoil the landscape. The Boertien Commission was established early in the 1990s to address potential problems, and it produced the Great Rivers Delta Plan, which involved reinforcing nearly 190 miles 300 kilometers of river dikes and embankments. The first phase was completed by the end of 1996 the second, covering another 280 miles 450 kilometers, was finished by 2001. But that will not solve the problem if nothing else is done, the next generation of Hollanders will have to raise the dikes again. Climate changes, deforestation, urbanization, and drainage in their upper reaches mean that the river systems will carry increasingly large peak volumes. Cooperative policy and water management must be integrated internationally, from the sources to the deltas.
The Deltaworks comprises a series of audacious engineering projects that effectively shorten the coastline of the southwest Netherlands by about 440 miles 700 kilometers, seal outlets to the sea, and reinforce the countrys water defenses. Taking more than forty years to complete, the works involved the construction of huge primary dams totaling 20 miles 30 kilometers in length, in four sea inlets between the Western Scheldt and the New Waterway, Rotterdam. The Netherlands is located in the broad deltas of the Rhine, Maas, and Scheldt, and the small countrys history and geography have been greatly influenced by a continuous struggle against the rivers and the sea. Through the coincidence of several events in 1953, the southwestern provinces suffered huge floods in which nearly 2,000 people died and thousands of homes were destroyed. The central government quickly reacted, and the Ministry of Transport, Public Works, and Water Management set up the Delta Committee to devise measures to avert a future disaster. The plan informed the Delta Act of 1958, but its implementation, placed in the hands of a complex instrumentality known as Delta Service, took over four decades to complete. The major elements of the plan were achieved in the following order: the Hollandse IJssel storm flood barrier 1954 1958, the Zandkreekdam 1957 1960 the Veerse Gatdam 1958 1961 the Grevelingendam 1958 1965 the Volkerakdam 1955 1977 the Haringvlietdam 1956 1972 the Brouwersdam 1963 1972 and the Oosterschelde storm flood barrier 1967 1986. The vast scope of the Deltaworks cannot be fully described here, but it may be measured by a brief overview of the largest, most difficult, and most expensive phase: the Oosterschelde Eastern Scheldt storm, flood barrier, immodestly referred to by its builders asthe eighth world wonder. It was originally intended to close off the Oosterschelde with a permanent dam, and work started in 1967. By 1973 joining das between parts of the coast had closed 3 miles 4.8 kilometersmore than halfof the river mouth, and three sluices had been built. Then, in response to public protests, it was decided to construct a storm flood barrier instead of completely closing the estuary. Huge concrete pylons standing on the river bottom would support gates that could close to resist storm surges a concrete roadway would cross the structure. The government signed a contract with the consortium De Oosterschelde Stormvloedkering Bouwkombinatie in 1977. A 3,000-yard-long 2.78-kilometer access bridge was built to the 50-foot-deep 15-meter construction docks needed to fabricate the massive pylons. Commenced in April 1979, the first was finished early in 1983. In the meantime, work began on the sliding gates. Fifty-foot-deep foundations were prepared to support the pylons, and a special dredge was designed to secure the estuary floor against uneven scouring. By the end of 1982, the river bottom was secured by vast mats laid by purpose-designed vessels. All was ready for placing the pylons. The construction docks were flooded and the pylons, each weighing 21,600 tons 18,300 tonnes and between 100 and 135 feet 30 and 40 meters high, were floated into position, then sunk to the prepared floor. Sixty-five pylons formed the spine of the barrier: sixteen in the northern opening, seventeen in the central, and thirty-two in the southern. They were connected by prefabricated elements, and the sliding gates, each 150 feet 45 meters long and weighing 1,440 tons 1,220 tonnes, were then installed, a task that took a little under two years to complete. Then followed the fixing of each of the sixty-two 3,000-ton 2,270-tonne precast concrete elements that carried the roadway across the barrier. The Stormvloedkering Oosterschelde was officially opened on 4 October 1986. It cost about a sixth of the 11 billion guilder U.S.$5.5 billion total of the Deltaworks. The danger of overflowing rivers in the winter and early spring also threatens large parts of the Netherlands. Several inland engineering worksthe Philipsdam 1976 1987 the Oesterdam 1977 1988 the Markiezaatskade 1980 1983 and the Bathse Spuikanaal and Spuisluis 1980 1987were adjuncts to the primary dams of the Deltaworks. Hollands struggle against the water continues. Despite the pleas of regional and local water authorities for river dike reinforcement, the national government concentrated its funding for forty years upon the Deltaworks. Moreover, conservationists oppose any dike improvements that would spoil the landscape. The Boertien Commission was established early in the 1990s to address potential problems, and it produced the Great Rivers Delta Plan, which involved reinforcing nearly 190 miles 300 kilometers of river dikes and embankments. The first phase was completed by the end of 1996 the second, covering another 280 miles 450 kilometers, was finished by 2001. But that will not solve the problem if nothing else is done, the next generation of Hollanders will have to raise the dikes again. Climate changes, deforestation, urbanization, and drainage in their upper reaches mean that the river systems will carry increasingly large peak volumes. Cooperative policy and water management must be integrated internationally, from the sources to the deltas.
53. Ditherington Flax Mill
Shrewsbury, England
The Industrial Revolution gave rise to a new building type: the factory, where a managed workforce could operate machines that were driven by steam power. The advent of machines also created a demand for iron to be produced on a large scale in addition to being used to build machines, it soon became apparent that iron could be used to construct industrial buildings. The forerunner was the prefabricated cast-iron bridge at Coalbrookdale, England, of 1775 1779. But the factories, especially textile mills, involved problems other than the structural ones. Because they handled large quantities of cotton, flax, and wool, and because their wooden floors were quickly saturated with the oil used to lubricate the machines, they presented a fire hazard. The earliest textile mills had timber floor and roof framing and solid masonry external walls. Cast iron was non-combustible, and it was believed that it offered, as well as greater strength, a measure of fire resistance. Designed in 1795 and built the following year by the engineer Charles Bage of the milling firm of Bennion, Bage, and Marshall, the Ditherington Flax Mill, in the Shropshire town of Shrewsbury, was the worlds first iron-framed building, the predecessor of most modern factories and even office blocks. Ditherington was the largest flax mill of its day and one of the largest textile mills of any kind in Britain. The five-story building has conventional load-bearing masonry external walls with very large windows. Internally, it is divided into four bays by three rows of slender, cruciform-section, cast-iron columns, extending for eighteen bays on a north-south axis. Each bay measures about 10 feet 3 meters square, and the average ceiling height is about 11 feet 3.4 meters. The columns support cast-iron beams spanned by the brick vaults that form the floor above. The nearby warehouse and cross mill, also iron framed, were built soon after. In 1846 Professor Eaton Hodgkinson published Experimental Researches on the Strength
The Industrial Revolution gave rise to a new building type: the factory, where a managed workforce could operate machines that were driven by steam power. The advent of machines also created a demand for iron to be produced on a large scale in addition to being used to build machines, it soon became apparent that iron could be used to construct industrial buildings. The forerunner was the prefabricated cast-iron bridge at Coalbrookdale, England, of 1775 1779. But the factories, especially textile mills, involved problems other than the structural ones. Because they handled large quantities of cotton, flax, and wool, and because their wooden floors were quickly saturated with the oil used to lubricate the machines, they presented a fire hazard. The earliest textile mills had timber floor and roof framing and solid masonry external walls. Cast iron was non-combustible, and it was believed that it offered, as well as greater strength, a measure of fire resistance. Designed in 1795 and built the following year by the engineer Charles Bage of the milling firm of Bennion, Bage, and Marshall, the Ditherington Flax Mill, in the Shropshire town of Shrewsbury, was the worlds first iron-framed building, the predecessor of most modern factories and even office blocks. Ditherington was the largest flax mill of its day and one of the largest textile mills of any kind in Britain. The five-story building has conventional load-bearing masonry external walls with very large windows. Internally, it is divided into four bays by three rows of slender, cruciform-section, cast-iron columns, extending for eighteen bays on a north-south axis. Each bay measures about 10 feet 3 meters square, and the average ceiling height is about 11 feet 3.4 meters. The columns support cast-iron beams spanned by the brick vaults that form the floor above. The nearby warehouse and cross mill, also iron framed, were built soon after. In 1846 Professor Eaton Hodgkinson published Experimental Researches on the Strength
54. Dome of the Rock Qubbat As Sakhrah
Jerusalem, Israel
Jerusalem is a city holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. At its center, the rocky outcrop known as Mount Moriah was the site of three successive Jewish temples, then a sanctuary of the Roman god Jupiter, before it was capped by the Arabic Dome of the Rock, which was for a short while Islams most important sacred site. During the Crusades it was commandeered as a Christian shrine before returning to Islamic hands. Today it is at the very core of bitter dispute between Palestinians and Israelis. Although sometimes referred to as the Mosque of Omar, the Dome of the Rock is in fact not a mosque. Nevertheless, as the oldest extant Islamic monument, it served as a model for architecture and other artistic endeavors across three continents for a millennium. About 1000 b.c. King David of Israel captured the Jebusite town of Urusalim. He renamed it Jerusalem, established his capital there, and chose Mount Moriahalready held sacred as the place where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaacas the site of a future temple. Solomons Temple was completed in 957 b.c., only to be destroyed by the Babylonians in 586. The Second Temple was completed by 515 and enlarged and refurbished by Herod the Great reigned 37 34 b.c.. It was leveled by the Roman legions of Titus in a.d. 70 and has never been rebuilt. The Roman emperor Constantine reigned a.d. 306 337 decriminalized Christianity in 313. Soon afterward his mother Helena visited Jerusalem, where, according to mythology, she identified the locations associated with Christ, generating a tradition of Christian pilgrimages that continued until the invading Persians destroyed all the churches in 614. Twenty-four years later Jerusalem was captured by Caliph Umar Ibn al-Khattab, who renamed it Al-Quds The Holy. Umar cleared the accumulated debris on top of Mount Moriah Haram al-Sharif and had a small wooden mosque built on the vast rectangular platform of the demolished Jewish temples. The Dome of the Rock was built between a.d. 688 and 692 for the tenth caliph, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. It is an elaborate canopy encircling the bare rock summit of the mount, the sakhra from which Mohammed was miraculously carried through the heavens into the very presence of Allah to receive the tenets of the faith. There is a tradition that, by building the dome, Abd al-Malik was attempting to transfer the Islamic hajj pilgrimage to Jerusalem from Mecca, where his rival, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, had rebuilt the Kaaba in 684. It is also possible that Abd al-Malik wished to make some tangible statement about Islams superiority over Judaism and Christianity, a motive suggested by the form of his building. The Dome of the Rock is more Roman or Byzantine than Islamic, and the caliphs Byzantine Christian architects employed architectural language understood by Muslims and Christians alike. Because Islamic architecture had not yet established a tradition, they referred to the best Byzantine models, and the congruence in plan and decoration between the Dome of the Rock and the centrally planned church of San Vitale 525 548 at Ravenna, Italy, is not coincidental. The 60-foot-diameter 18-meter, timber-framed double dome, covered internally with colored and gilded stucco and originally roofed with lead covered in gold, rises 115 feet 35 meters over the holy rock. It is carried on a tall drum, originally faced with glass mosaics, that rests in turn upon a circular arcade of twelve Corinthian marble columns, set in threes between four large rectangular piers. At the top of the drum, sixteen colored glass windows light the central space. Surrounding the circle is an octagonal, marble-flagged, 30-foot-high 9-meter ambulatory of twenty-four piers and columns, reached from outside through four doorways with porticoes facing the cardinal directions. The ambulatory is screened from the sanctuary by half-height walls. The columns and most of the capitals were quarried from older buildings. The marble-faced outer walls of the building also describe an octagon each side is about 60 feet 18 meters long. Inside and outside, the Dome of the Rock was enriched with marble columns and facings and floral patterns of mosaic. The total effect must have been awesome:thousands of lights
Jerusalem is a city holy to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. At its center, the rocky outcrop known as Mount Moriah was the site of three successive Jewish temples, then a sanctuary of the Roman god Jupiter, before it was capped by the Arabic Dome of the Rock, which was for a short while Islams most important sacred site. During the Crusades it was commandeered as a Christian shrine before returning to Islamic hands. Today it is at the very core of bitter dispute between Palestinians and Israelis. Although sometimes referred to as the Mosque of Omar, the Dome of the Rock is in fact not a mosque. Nevertheless, as the oldest extant Islamic monument, it served as a model for architecture and other artistic endeavors across three continents for a millennium. About 1000 b.c. King David of Israel captured the Jebusite town of Urusalim. He renamed it Jerusalem, established his capital there, and chose Mount Moriahalready held sacred as the place where Abraham was prepared to sacrifice his son Isaacas the site of a future temple. Solomons Temple was completed in 957 b.c., only to be destroyed by the Babylonians in 586. The Second Temple was completed by 515 and enlarged and refurbished by Herod the Great reigned 37 34 b.c.. It was leveled by the Roman legions of Titus in a.d. 70 and has never been rebuilt. The Roman emperor Constantine reigned a.d. 306 337 decriminalized Christianity in 313. Soon afterward his mother Helena visited Jerusalem, where, according to mythology, she identified the locations associated with Christ, generating a tradition of Christian pilgrimages that continued until the invading Persians destroyed all the churches in 614. Twenty-four years later Jerusalem was captured by Caliph Umar Ibn al-Khattab, who renamed it Al-Quds The Holy. Umar cleared the accumulated debris on top of Mount Moriah Haram al-Sharif and had a small wooden mosque built on the vast rectangular platform of the demolished Jewish temples. The Dome of the Rock was built between a.d. 688 and 692 for the tenth caliph, Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan. It is an elaborate canopy encircling the bare rock summit of the mount, the sakhra from which Mohammed was miraculously carried through the heavens into the very presence of Allah to receive the tenets of the faith. There is a tradition that, by building the dome, Abd al-Malik was attempting to transfer the Islamic hajj pilgrimage to Jerusalem from Mecca, where his rival, Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr, had rebuilt the Kaaba in 684. It is also possible that Abd al-Malik wished to make some tangible statement about Islams superiority over Judaism and Christianity, a motive suggested by the form of his building. The Dome of the Rock is more Roman or Byzantine than Islamic, and the caliphs Byzantine Christian architects employed architectural language understood by Muslims and Christians alike. Because Islamic architecture had not yet established a tradition, they referred to the best Byzantine models, and the congruence in plan and decoration between the Dome of the Rock and the centrally planned church of San Vitale 525 548 at Ravenna, Italy, is not coincidental. The 60-foot-diameter 18-meter, timber-framed double dome, covered internally with colored and gilded stucco and originally roofed with lead covered in gold, rises 115 feet 35 meters over the holy rock. It is carried on a tall drum, originally faced with glass mosaics, that rests in turn upon a circular arcade of twelve Corinthian marble columns, set in threes between four large rectangular piers. At the top of the drum, sixteen colored glass windows light the central space. Surrounding the circle is an octagonal, marble-flagged, 30-foot-high 9-meter ambulatory of twenty-four piers and columns, reached from outside through four doorways with porticoes facing the cardinal directions. The ambulatory is screened from the sanctuary by half-height walls. The columns and most of the capitals were quarried from older buildings. The marble-faced outer walls of the building also describe an octagon each side is about 60 feet 18 meters long. Inside and outside, the Dome of the Rock was enriched with marble columns and facings and floral patterns of mosaic. The total effect must have been awesome:thousands of lights
55. Dover Castle
Kent, England
The science of medieval warfare and the design of castle architecture developed side by side until the latter reached its highest degree of sophistication in the almost impregnable concentric castle, exemplified in the royal castle at Dover, known as thekey of England, the first castle of its kind in western Europe. On a clear day the French coast, 21 miles 37 kilometers across the English Channel, can be seen from the ramparts above the famous white cliffs of Dover, Europes historical gateway to Britain. In 55 b.c. Julius Caesar landed his reconnaissance force nearby, and following a full-scale invasion in a.d. 43, the Romans built a walled town, Dubris from which Dover is derived. They built an 80-foot-high 25-meter flint pharos lighthouse on the nearby 375-foot 114-meter Castle Hill, the site of an Iron Age earthworks that had existed long before. It was inevitable that the commanding position would continue to be used for defense. In the fifth century the Angles and Saxons came in the wake of the Roman withdrawal and founded a fortified town on the hill, employing the ancient defenses. Once Christianized, they built the church of St. Mary-in-Castro St. Mary in the Fortress as a chapel for the castle garrison and adapted the Roman lighthouse as part of its bell tower. William I the Conqueror also recognized the strategic value of Dover. He instructed his half brother, Odo of Bayeux, should the Norman invasion succeed, to land there with building materials for a castle. It took just eight days in 1066 to construct the fortressprobably a motte and baileywithin the Anglo-Saxon earthworks. Nothing of it remains. The motte was an earth mound crowned with a wooden keep and guarded by a wooden palisade the bailey was a defensible area, also with a palisade and connected to the motte by a bridge. All was surrounded by a ditch. The earliest stone castles were organized in the same way. Castles multiplied in Britain after the Conquest, responding to the internal tensions created by the feudal system. Dover continued to be strategically important in an international context, aroyal castle that was not for a feudal baron but for the defense of the realm. Its evolution into a finely tuned concentric castle was a response to changes in medieval military technology and the science of war. Little is known of its earlier defensive works, but extensive rebuilding was undertaken after 1168. Most work was carried out in the 1180s under the supervision of King Henry IIs chief architect, a master mason known only as Maurice. Richard I the Lionhearted almost completed it in 1189 1190, and his brother John extended the outer curtain wall at the north side so that the outer bailey had been enlarged to include most of the hilltop. Thecompleted castle dates from about 1200. Repairs and extensions were necessary after a siege by rebel barons and their French allies in 1216, during which, despite the collapse of the east tower, it was successfully defended by a force of only 140 knights and men-at-arms. By 1256 Dover Castle reached its maximum strength and size, its outer walls then extending to the cliffs edge. Concentric castles comprised a carefully designed keep that was the last line of defense, surrounded by a curtain wall that enclosed a large bailey. Sometimes there was a second, slightly lower curtain wall as at Dover or even a third. Most functions were served by buildings in the bailey. Dovers daunting keepthe largest in Englandwas almost 100 feet 30 meters square and 95 feet 29 meters high in places its walls were 21 feet 6.5 meters thick. It was defended by an inner curtain wall with fourteen projectingmural towersthe first in Englandwhich allowed archers to shoot toward any point at the base. The outer curtain wall at Dover was nearly 1 mile 1.6 kilometers in circumference, with 20 similar towers. Each wall was interrupted only by fortified gatehouses with barbicans. When gunpowder was introduced into the country in the fourteenth century, cannon were developed that could shoot missiles 3 miles 5 kilometers. Given the thickness of its walls, that was of little consequence to Dover Castle. It has been involved in almost every conflict since the Middle Ages. Small wonder it has been called Englands greatest castle. Changes to artillery were not the main reason for the demise of castles rather, the feudal system gave place to centralized government and the power of the monarch. In Tudor times, the design of castles was to alter dramatically. As a royal castle, with an eye on the Spanish, Dover was heavily fortified with cannon in the reign of Elizabeth I. It continued to function well beyond that: it wasmodernized during the Napoleonic Wars. Caves were excavated to hide troops waiting in ambush should the French invade. The towers were truncatedsome say vandalizedto serve as gun platforms. The caves were again used as headquarters of the Dover Patrol in World War I and as bomb shelters and a hospital in World War II. The castle remained in the hands of the British army until 1958 five years later it was put in the custody of the Department of the Environment now English Heritage as a national monument. Conservation work continues.
The science of medieval warfare and the design of castle architecture developed side by side until the latter reached its highest degree of sophistication in the almost impregnable concentric castle, exemplified in the royal castle at Dover, known as thekey of England, the first castle of its kind in western Europe. On a clear day the French coast, 21 miles 37 kilometers across the English Channel, can be seen from the ramparts above the famous white cliffs of Dover, Europes historical gateway to Britain. In 55 b.c. Julius Caesar landed his reconnaissance force nearby, and following a full-scale invasion in a.d. 43, the Romans built a walled town, Dubris from which Dover is derived. They built an 80-foot-high 25-meter flint pharos lighthouse on the nearby 375-foot 114-meter Castle Hill, the site of an Iron Age earthworks that had existed long before. It was inevitable that the commanding position would continue to be used for defense. In the fifth century the Angles and Saxons came in the wake of the Roman withdrawal and founded a fortified town on the hill, employing the ancient defenses. Once Christianized, they built the church of St. Mary-in-Castro St. Mary in the Fortress as a chapel for the castle garrison and adapted the Roman lighthouse as part of its bell tower. William I the Conqueror also recognized the strategic value of Dover. He instructed his half brother, Odo of Bayeux, should the Norman invasion succeed, to land there with building materials for a castle. It took just eight days in 1066 to construct the fortressprobably a motte and baileywithin the Anglo-Saxon earthworks. Nothing of it remains. The motte was an earth mound crowned with a wooden keep and guarded by a wooden palisade the bailey was a defensible area, also with a palisade and connected to the motte by a bridge. All was surrounded by a ditch. The earliest stone castles were organized in the same way. Castles multiplied in Britain after the Conquest, responding to the internal tensions created by the feudal system. Dover continued to be strategically important in an international context, aroyal castle that was not for a feudal baron but for the defense of the realm. Its evolution into a finely tuned concentric castle was a response to changes in medieval military technology and the science of war. Little is known of its earlier defensive works, but extensive rebuilding was undertaken after 1168. Most work was carried out in the 1180s under the supervision of King Henry IIs chief architect, a master mason known only as Maurice. Richard I the Lionhearted almost completed it in 1189 1190, and his brother John extended the outer curtain wall at the north side so that the outer bailey had been enlarged to include most of the hilltop. Thecompleted castle dates from about 1200. Repairs and extensions were necessary after a siege by rebel barons and their French allies in 1216, during which, despite the collapse of the east tower, it was successfully defended by a force of only 140 knights and men-at-arms. By 1256 Dover Castle reached its maximum strength and size, its outer walls then extending to the cliffs edge. Concentric castles comprised a carefully designed keep that was the last line of defense, surrounded by a curtain wall that enclosed a large bailey. Sometimes there was a second, slightly lower curtain wall as at Dover or even a third. Most functions were served by buildings in the bailey. Dovers daunting keepthe largest in Englandwas almost 100 feet 30 meters square and 95 feet 29 meters high in places its walls were 21 feet 6.5 meters thick. It was defended by an inner curtain wall with fourteen projectingmural towersthe first in Englandwhich allowed archers to shoot toward any point at the base. The outer curtain wall at Dover was nearly 1 mile 1.6 kilometers in circumference, with 20 similar towers. Each wall was interrupted only by fortified gatehouses with barbicans. When gunpowder was introduced into the country in the fourteenth century, cannon were developed that could shoot missiles 3 miles 5 kilometers. Given the thickness of its walls, that was of little consequence to Dover Castle. It has been involved in almost every conflict since the Middle Ages. Small wonder it has been called Englands greatest castle. Changes to artillery were not the main reason for the demise of castles rather, the feudal system gave place to centralized government and the power of the monarch. In Tudor times, the design of castles was to alter dramatically. As a royal castle, with an eye on the Spanish, Dover was heavily fortified with cannon in the reign of Elizabeth I. It continued to function well beyond that: it wasmodernized during the Napoleonic Wars. Caves were excavated to hide troops waiting in ambush should the French invade. The towers were truncatedsome say vandalizedto serve as gun platforms. The caves were again used as headquarters of the Dover Patrol in World War I and as bomb shelters and a hospital in World War II. The castle remained in the hands of the British army until 1958 five years later it was put in the custody of the Department of the Environment now English Heritage as a national monument. Conservation work continues.
56. Durham Cathedral
England
Durham Cathedral, built principally between 1093 and 1133 to house the relics of the Northumbrian evangelist St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne and the Venerable Bede, is the finest example of Early Norman architecture in England. Its significance in the development of Western architecture lies in the use of rib-and-panel vaulting, the pointed arch, and flying buttresses in the gallery roofsall prophetic of the elegant structural system that we now know as the Gothic. The cathedral stands in a hairpin bend of the River Wear in County Durham. William I the Conqueror selected the naturally defensive site, and by 1072 a castle was commenced on the neck of the steep-sided peninsula to defend the northern region of Norman Britain against the Scots. In 1091 an earlier Saxon church was demolished, and two years later work commenced upon the great building dedicated to Christ and the Virgin Mary. It was to form part of the Benedictine monastery that had been started about a decade before, and the whole precinct soon became the seat of the powerful feudal prince-bishops of Durham. Early in the twelfth century the peninsula was encircled by a wall, much of which survives. Serious attempts to buildin the Roman manner, with semicircular stone arches, vaults, and domesits architecture has been categorized as Romanesquedate from the second half of the eleventh century. The earliest examples saw barrel or wagon vaults used in such churches as Santiago de Compostela, Spain begun 1078, and St. Sernin, Toulouse begun 1080. These roofs exerted continuous sideways thrust on the side walls, creating the need to build those walls thicker to prevent overturning windows were small, in case they diminished the strength of the walls. Sometimes the walls were braced with arches above their piers. Experiments were also made with the Roman cross or groin vault, in which the church was divided into square bays, each of which was covered with a ceiling made by intersecting two barrel vaults at right angles. Although the groin vault transmitted the loads to the walls at equidistant points thus allowing for thinner side walls with more and larger openings, braced at intervals with massive piers, most of the stress in the vault itself was at its weakest part: the groin. The system can be seen in parts of Durham and in Speyer Cathedral, Germany originally 1030 1065. Instead of groin vaults, the nave and choir ca. 1104 of Durham Cathedral are covered using a revolutionary technique: the bays are framed by lateral, transverse, and diagonal beams orribsforerunner of the steel- or concrete-framed buildings of modern timeswith panels of stone spanning the much smaller areas between them. The most exciting innovation among several at Durham, these are the first known examples of pointed ribbed vaults. The ribs carry their own weight and that of the stone roof to collection points above the piers, and the complex dynamic nature of the loads is thus cleverly resolved. It seems that the northern Italian clerics behind the development of Norman Christianity knew something of ribbed-vault construction, which the invaders took to England. Some sources believe that Lombard experiments mayand only mayhave been as early as 1080, but there are certainly no examples on such a large scale as Durham, which therefore preempts by almost a century the key to the dramatic Gothic constructional system. The church consists of a western galilee, or Lady Chapel an aisled nave with two western towers transepts flanking a taller tower above the crossing and an aisled chancel which was reduced in length during the thirteenth century. The eight bays of the nave are divided by piers disguised as clusters of columns, alternating with massive circular columns. The same articulation can be found in the choir and transepts. On the face of each pier is a tall shaft rising from the floor that appears to carry the slightly pointed transverse arches that support the vault, nearly 80 feet 24 meters above. At the triforium second level, each arch of the arcade is subdivided into two, and on the clerestory the highest level, arches are supported by a pair of freestanding columns. The nave vault is laterally braced by quadrant archesheralding the flying buttress of Gothic architectureconcealed in the triforium galleries. The substructures of the 218-foot-high 65.4-meter central tower and much of the transepts were begun before 1096. The 155-foot-high 47-meter vault of the crossing, not completed until the fifteenth century, is carried by four huge arches. The original roof of the choir was replaced by the present vault around 1250. Like many medieval churches, Durham Cathedral has undergone alterations and additions and, on occasion, what passed for restoration through almost nine centuries. None has diminished the first impression of overwhelming power and stability experienced by the modern visitor when entering thisfortress of God at the frontier of the Normans domain.
Durham Cathedral, built principally between 1093 and 1133 to house the relics of the Northumbrian evangelist St. Cuthbert of Lindisfarne and the Venerable Bede, is the finest example of Early Norman architecture in England. Its significance in the development of Western architecture lies in the use of rib-and-panel vaulting, the pointed arch, and flying buttresses in the gallery roofsall prophetic of the elegant structural system that we now know as the Gothic. The cathedral stands in a hairpin bend of the River Wear in County Durham. William I the Conqueror selected the naturally defensive site, and by 1072 a castle was commenced on the neck of the steep-sided peninsula to defend the northern region of Norman Britain against the Scots. In 1091 an earlier Saxon church was demolished, and two years later work commenced upon the great building dedicated to Christ and the Virgin Mary. It was to form part of the Benedictine monastery that had been started about a decade before, and the whole precinct soon became the seat of the powerful feudal prince-bishops of Durham. Early in the twelfth century the peninsula was encircled by a wall, much of which survives. Serious attempts to buildin the Roman manner, with semicircular stone arches, vaults, and domesits architecture has been categorized as Romanesquedate from the second half of the eleventh century. The earliest examples saw barrel or wagon vaults used in such churches as Santiago de Compostela, Spain begun 1078, and St. Sernin, Toulouse begun 1080. These roofs exerted continuous sideways thrust on the side walls, creating the need to build those walls thicker to prevent overturning windows were small, in case they diminished the strength of the walls. Sometimes the walls were braced with arches above their piers. Experiments were also made with the Roman cross or groin vault, in which the church was divided into square bays, each of which was covered with a ceiling made by intersecting two barrel vaults at right angles. Although the groin vault transmitted the loads to the walls at equidistant points thus allowing for thinner side walls with more and larger openings, braced at intervals with massive piers, most of the stress in the vault itself was at its weakest part: the groin. The system can be seen in parts of Durham and in Speyer Cathedral, Germany originally 1030 1065. Instead of groin vaults, the nave and choir ca. 1104 of Durham Cathedral are covered using a revolutionary technique: the bays are framed by lateral, transverse, and diagonal beams orribsforerunner of the steel- or concrete-framed buildings of modern timeswith panels of stone spanning the much smaller areas between them. The most exciting innovation among several at Durham, these are the first known examples of pointed ribbed vaults. The ribs carry their own weight and that of the stone roof to collection points above the piers, and the complex dynamic nature of the loads is thus cleverly resolved. It seems that the northern Italian clerics behind the development of Norman Christianity knew something of ribbed-vault construction, which the invaders took to England. Some sources believe that Lombard experiments mayand only mayhave been as early as 1080, but there are certainly no examples on such a large scale as Durham, which therefore preempts by almost a century the key to the dramatic Gothic constructional system. The church consists of a western galilee, or Lady Chapel an aisled nave with two western towers transepts flanking a taller tower above the crossing and an aisled chancel which was reduced in length during the thirteenth century. The eight bays of the nave are divided by piers disguised as clusters of columns, alternating with massive circular columns. The same articulation can be found in the choir and transepts. On the face of each pier is a tall shaft rising from the floor that appears to carry the slightly pointed transverse arches that support the vault, nearly 80 feet 24 meters above. At the triforium second level, each arch of the arcade is subdivided into two, and on the clerestory the highest level, arches are supported by a pair of freestanding columns. The nave vault is laterally braced by quadrant archesheralding the flying buttress of Gothic architectureconcealed in the triforium galleries. The substructures of the 218-foot-high 65.4-meter central tower and much of the transepts were begun before 1096. The 155-foot-high 47-meter vault of the crossing, not completed until the fifteenth century, is carried by four huge arches. The original roof of the choir was replaced by the present vault around 1250. Like many medieval churches, Durham Cathedral has undergone alterations and additions and, on occasion, what passed for restoration through almost nine centuries. None has diminished the first impression of overwhelming power and stability experienced by the modern visitor when entering thisfortress of God at the frontier of the Normans domain.
57. Eames House
Pacific Palisades, California
The architect Charles Ormand Eames 1907 1978 and his designer wife Ray Kaiser Eames 1912 1988 moved to southern California in 1941 into a new apartment building designed by Richard Neutra. Between 1945 and 1949 they designed and built their family home at Pacific Palisades. Known simply as the Eames House, the unconventional residence can be considered an architectural feat in that it was economically constructed entirely fromoff-the-peg components, most of which were available at any building materials suppliers. In the difficult years immediately after World War II, the designers thus demonstrated to the United States that good design need not be expensive, a mission they continued to fulfill for the rest of their lives. The house was commissioned as part of the Case Study House Program, sponsored by John Entenzas West Coast journal Arts and Architecture. The periodical, setting out to promote good design, was seeking ideas for the creative application of the new technologies and materials developed during the war. Of course, as thousands of GIs were demobilized, one of the objectives of the program was to buildhomes fit for heroes. Each house had a hypothetical client, and the Eameses designed one that combined a living space and studio for their own family setup, a working couple with grown children. The first version was produced through a collaboration between Charles and the Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, under whom he had studied at Cranbrook Academy, Michigan. They also worked together on Entenzas Bridge House for the lot next door. Then the Eameses together developed their own house, first proposing a single-story box on stilts, typical of theInternational Style brought to the United States by European emigres. Receiving permission to build, they had the structural steel delivered to the site. But concerned that the house would look too much like the minimalist houses being provided by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, they revised the design. By 1949 they had generated a proposal for two full-height pavilions, separating the living and studio functions by means of an open courtyard. They managed to enclose a much greater volume of space with the need for only one more steel beam. This design was eventually built. The standard 7.5-foot 2.25-meter bays of framing were assembled mostly from industrially made, black-painted steel window and door modules. They held clear panels of wired or translucent glass and other opaque ones of aluminum, timber, fiberglass, asbestos cement, or stucco, painted white, blue, red, or black. Some were even covered in gold leaf. There was a full-height living room at the south end, whose sliding windows opened to decks made of railroad ties. A spiral ships stair ordered from a marine catalog led to bedrooms on a mezzanine under the mezzanine was a small alcove with built-in seats and bookcases, and a kitchen. Charles and Ray Eames lived in theirhouse of parts for the rest of their lives.By precept and practice, and by the exploitation of technology, they made an invaluable social contribution by promoting the awareness of good design throughout the United States. Their design partnership encompassed many fields: architectural works from houses to exhibitions innovative plywood, aluminum, or fiberglass chairs graphics toy animals and even a carousel. They also produced more than 120 films. Recently, an international exhibition of their achievements was mounted at Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Vitra was the European manufacturer of their furniture for more than thirty years. The show, The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention, traveled to Bilbao, Paris, Copenhagen, and London before beginning its American tour at the Library of Congress in May 1999, after which it moved to New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
The architect Charles Ormand Eames 1907 1978 and his designer wife Ray Kaiser Eames 1912 1988 moved to southern California in 1941 into a new apartment building designed by Richard Neutra. Between 1945 and 1949 they designed and built their family home at Pacific Palisades. Known simply as the Eames House, the unconventional residence can be considered an architectural feat in that it was economically constructed entirely fromoff-the-peg components, most of which were available at any building materials suppliers. In the difficult years immediately after World War II, the designers thus demonstrated to the United States that good design need not be expensive, a mission they continued to fulfill for the rest of their lives. The house was commissioned as part of the Case Study House Program, sponsored by John Entenzas West Coast journal Arts and Architecture. The periodical, setting out to promote good design, was seeking ideas for the creative application of the new technologies and materials developed during the war. Of course, as thousands of GIs were demobilized, one of the objectives of the program was to buildhomes fit for heroes. Each house had a hypothetical client, and the Eameses designed one that combined a living space and studio for their own family setup, a working couple with grown children. The first version was produced through a collaboration between Charles and the Finnish-American architect Eero Saarinen, under whom he had studied at Cranbrook Academy, Michigan. They also worked together on Entenzas Bridge House for the lot next door. Then the Eameses together developed their own house, first proposing a single-story box on stilts, typical of theInternational Style brought to the United States by European emigres. Receiving permission to build, they had the structural steel delivered to the site. But concerned that the house would look too much like the minimalist houses being provided by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, they revised the design. By 1949 they had generated a proposal for two full-height pavilions, separating the living and studio functions by means of an open courtyard. They managed to enclose a much greater volume of space with the need for only one more steel beam. This design was eventually built. The standard 7.5-foot 2.25-meter bays of framing were assembled mostly from industrially made, black-painted steel window and door modules. They held clear panels of wired or translucent glass and other opaque ones of aluminum, timber, fiberglass, asbestos cement, or stucco, painted white, blue, red, or black. Some were even covered in gold leaf. There was a full-height living room at the south end, whose sliding windows opened to decks made of railroad ties. A spiral ships stair ordered from a marine catalog led to bedrooms on a mezzanine under the mezzanine was a small alcove with built-in seats and bookcases, and a kitchen. Charles and Ray Eames lived in theirhouse of parts for the rest of their lives.By precept and practice, and by the exploitation of technology, they made an invaluable social contribution by promoting the awareness of good design throughout the United States. Their design partnership encompassed many fields: architectural works from houses to exhibitions innovative plywood, aluminum, or fiberglass chairs graphics toy animals and even a carousel. They also produced more than 120 films. Recently, an international exhibition of their achievements was mounted at Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, Germany. Vitra was the European manufacturer of their furniture for more than thirty years. The show, The Work of Charles and Ray Eames: A Legacy of Invention, traveled to Bilbao, Paris, Copenhagen, and London before beginning its American tour at the Library of Congress in May 1999, after which it moved to New York, St. Louis, Los Angeles, and Seattle.
58. Eiffel Tower
Paris, France
The Eiffel Tower was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch to the International Paris Exhibition, held to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. Conceived in 1882 by Gustave Eiffels chief research engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, and constructed in collaboration with architect Stephan Suavestre, the tower is a graceful and imaginative puddled iron lattice pylon. It soars to 1,020 feet 312 meters, the first building in almost 5,000 years to surpass the height of the Great Pyramid Preliminary sketches were made in June 1884 and in September Eiffel, suddenly interested in the project, registered a patentfor a new configuration allowing the construction of metal supports and pylons capable of exceeding a height of 300 meters. A careful and innovative assembly of over 18,000 small lightweight parts, the Eiffel Tower demonstrated to fullest advantage the structural possibilities of wrought iron. The worlds tallest structure until the Chrysler Building was constructed in 1929 in New York City, it became and still is a landmark synonymous with Paris. Intended as a temporary exhibit and scheduled for demolition in 1909, it was saved by its tourist potential and its usefulness as a communication antenna. A radio tower added in 1959 increased its height by 56 feet 20 meters. Eiffel had specialized in metal construction during his studies at the ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris. Prior to the acceptance of his design for the tower, he had built in iron and steel, notably the Maria-Pia railway bridge over the Douro River in Oporto, Portugal the Truyere Bridge near Carabit, France locks on the Panama Canal and the internal frame for the Statue of Liberty. Whilst the Parisian tower drew on the outcomes of these projects, it was nonetheless a unique scientific and engineering challenge: its great height meant that wind loads had to be calculated in the design as well as the effects of gravity, Eiffel chose open lattice and splayed legs so that the wind would pass through the structure. In gale-force winds the movement of the tower is estimated to be a mere 4.5 inches 11 centimeters. Speedy and safe transportation of workers and materials and later of visitors was another challenge. Eiffel installed elevators that ran on inclined tracks within the towers legs the guide rails were used as tracks for climbing cranes during construction. The Eiffel Tower weighs over 13,200 tons 11,180 tonnes, more than 70 percent of which is metal. Its 412-foot-square 126-meter base is defined by the four huge masonry foundation piers set in bedrock each supports a leg, and the legs converge to form the shaft. Eiffel employed a team of 50 engineers to prepare 5,300 drawings to his specifications, 100 workers to fabricate the components in the Eiffel factory at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris, and between 150 and 300 site laborers. His calculations were so precise that no revisions were required during construction. Work began on 1 July 1887 and the project was finished in a little over twenty-six months. Eiffel was awarded the French Legion of Honor. On the towers completion, opposition to its erection was silenced. An earlier protest published in Le Temps had been signed by such illustrious Frenchmen as the writers Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas Jr. and the architect Charles Garnier. Others had described the proposal as atruly tragic street lamp and acarcass waiting to be fleshed out with freestone or brick, a funnel-shaped grill, a hole-riddled suppository. But it was an instantaneous popular success. In the last five months of 1889, over 1.9 million people visited it. Each paid an entrance fee to help defray the costa little under Fr 8 million about U.S.$1.5 million. Three viewing platformsat 186, 376, and 900 feet 57, 115, and 276 meterswere provided for visitors. At the first, where there were restaurants and a theater, arches linked the four legs applied after the construction of the legs and platform, they were purely ornamental. Visitors were taken to the first and second platforms in double-deck, glass-enclosed hydraulic elevators. Stairs led to the third platform, and an elevator gave access to the top of the tower, where Eiffel originally had his studio and office now restored. Each level offered a panoramic view of Paris and beyond for about 50 miles 80 kilometers. From the Eiffel Tower, people were afforded, for the first time, the unique opportunity of seeing the earth from far above. When the Societe de la Tour Eiffels original operating concession expired in 1980, the city of Paris assumed direct control of the tower through a company called Societe Nouvelle dExploitation de la Tour Eiffel. From 1980 to 1984 it undertook a restoration and renovation program. The tower was reinforced in places, 1,560 tons 1,320 tonnes of excrescences were removed, and the elevators were replaced. It requires regular maintenance, including painting every seven years. The Eiffel Tower continues to be a prime tourist attraction, with over 6 million visitors annually. Each of the viewing platforms is accessible and Eiffels office has been opened to tourists. The exclusive Le Jules Vernes restaurant occupies the second level. During the Paris millennium celebrations of 2000, the tower was covered with thousands of small lights that nightly illuminated the graciousiron lady of Paris
The Eiffel Tower was built between 1887 and 1889 as the entrance arch to the International Paris Exhibition, held to celebrate the centenary of the French Revolution. Conceived in 1882 by Gustave Eiffels chief research engineers Maurice Koechlin and Emile Nouguier, and constructed in collaboration with architect Stephan Suavestre, the tower is a graceful and imaginative puddled iron lattice pylon. It soars to 1,020 feet 312 meters, the first building in almost 5,000 years to surpass the height of the Great Pyramid Preliminary sketches were made in June 1884 and in September Eiffel, suddenly interested in the project, registered a patentfor a new configuration allowing the construction of metal supports and pylons capable of exceeding a height of 300 meters. A careful and innovative assembly of over 18,000 small lightweight parts, the Eiffel Tower demonstrated to fullest advantage the structural possibilities of wrought iron. The worlds tallest structure until the Chrysler Building was constructed in 1929 in New York City, it became and still is a landmark synonymous with Paris. Intended as a temporary exhibit and scheduled for demolition in 1909, it was saved by its tourist potential and its usefulness as a communication antenna. A radio tower added in 1959 increased its height by 56 feet 20 meters. Eiffel had specialized in metal construction during his studies at the ecole Centrale des Arts et Manufactures in Paris. Prior to the acceptance of his design for the tower, he had built in iron and steel, notably the Maria-Pia railway bridge over the Douro River in Oporto, Portugal the Truyere Bridge near Carabit, France locks on the Panama Canal and the internal frame for the Statue of Liberty. Whilst the Parisian tower drew on the outcomes of these projects, it was nonetheless a unique scientific and engineering challenge: its great height meant that wind loads had to be calculated in the design as well as the effects of gravity, Eiffel chose open lattice and splayed legs so that the wind would pass through the structure. In gale-force winds the movement of the tower is estimated to be a mere 4.5 inches 11 centimeters. Speedy and safe transportation of workers and materials and later of visitors was another challenge. Eiffel installed elevators that ran on inclined tracks within the towers legs the guide rails were used as tracks for climbing cranes during construction. The Eiffel Tower weighs over 13,200 tons 11,180 tonnes, more than 70 percent of which is metal. Its 412-foot-square 126-meter base is defined by the four huge masonry foundation piers set in bedrock each supports a leg, and the legs converge to form the shaft. Eiffel employed a team of 50 engineers to prepare 5,300 drawings to his specifications, 100 workers to fabricate the components in the Eiffel factory at Levallois-Perret on the outskirts of Paris, and between 150 and 300 site laborers. His calculations were so precise that no revisions were required during construction. Work began on 1 July 1887 and the project was finished in a little over twenty-six months. Eiffel was awarded the French Legion of Honor. On the towers completion, opposition to its erection was silenced. An earlier protest published in Le Temps had been signed by such illustrious Frenchmen as the writers Guy de Maupassant and Alexandre Dumas Jr. and the architect Charles Garnier. Others had described the proposal as atruly tragic street lamp and acarcass waiting to be fleshed out with freestone or brick, a funnel-shaped grill, a hole-riddled suppository. But it was an instantaneous popular success. In the last five months of 1889, over 1.9 million people visited it. Each paid an entrance fee to help defray the costa little under Fr 8 million about U.S.$1.5 million. Three viewing platformsat 186, 376, and 900 feet 57, 115, and 276 meterswere provided for visitors. At the first, where there were restaurants and a theater, arches linked the four legs applied after the construction of the legs and platform, they were purely ornamental. Visitors were taken to the first and second platforms in double-deck, glass-enclosed hydraulic elevators. Stairs led to the third platform, and an elevator gave access to the top of the tower, where Eiffel originally had his studio and office now restored. Each level offered a panoramic view of Paris and beyond for about 50 miles 80 kilometers. From the Eiffel Tower, people were afforded, for the first time, the unique opportunity of seeing the earth from far above. When the Societe de la Tour Eiffels original operating concession expired in 1980, the city of Paris assumed direct control of the tower through a company called Societe Nouvelle dExploitation de la Tour Eiffel. From 1980 to 1984 it undertook a restoration and renovation program. The tower was reinforced in places, 1,560 tons 1,320 tonnes of excrescences were removed, and the elevators were replaced. It requires regular maintenance, including painting every seven years. The Eiffel Tower continues to be a prime tourist attraction, with over 6 million visitors annually. Each of the viewing platforms is accessible and Eiffels office has been opened to tourists. The exclusive Le Jules Vernes restaurant occupies the second level. During the Paris millennium celebrations of 2000, the tower was covered with thousands of small lights that nightly illuminated the graciousiron lady of Paris
59. Empire State Building
New York City
For forty-one years from 1931, the Empire State Building was the tallest tower in the world. That distinction has since been wrested and rewrested by a series of successors. The 102-story building, covering its 2-acre 0.8-hectare Park Avenue site and soaring to 1,252 feet 417 meters, was completed in the incredibly short time of 1 year and 45 days in fact, the time from the decision to build to the letting of office space was only 27 months. Because of the precise planning and exacting project management that achieved such efficiency, this most familiar of all skyscrapers is one of the great architectural feats of the twentieth century. The Empire State Company was formed in 1929 by John Jacob Raskob General Motors chief executive, the industrialist Pierre S. du Pont, the politician Coleman du Pont, Louis G. Kaufman, and Ellis P. Earl. Raskob invited Alfred A. Smith, the New York State governor until 1929, with whom he had political ties, to become president of the corporation. The two men became the prime movers of the project. The 35-year-old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, was bought for about $16 million from the Bethlehem Engineering Corporation and demolished to make way for the new building. The architects Richmond H. Shreve, Arthur Loomis Harmon, and William Lamb who did much of the design work were initially commissioned to create a 50-story, 650-foot-high 195-meter office block. But the scheme would go through more than 15 revisions before emerging as an 86-story, 1,252-foot 375-meter tower. Last-minute revisions would further increase it to 102 floors and a height, including its mast, of 1,472 feet 450 meters. The structural engineers were H. G. Balcom and Associates. Shreve, Harmon, and Lamb produced a steel-framed, art deco tower whose marble-clad, five-story base covered the whole site. From a 60-foot 18-meter setback at the fifth floor, it rose uninterrupted to the 86th floor. The upper levels were faced with silver buff Indiana limestone and granite, and the verticality of the facade was emphasized by continuous mullions of chrome-nickel steel. The office floors were served by seventy-three elevators. The esthetics of the design were hardly remarkable, and the building was either ignored or criticized by the aficionados of the sterile European Modernismso-called international architecturethen being touted in North America. For the present purpose, the Empire States artistic qualities are inconsequential, because its significance lies in the fact that the architects made a design that, in the contractors words, wasmagnificently adapted to speed in construction. And speed was of the essence: the clients announced an 80-story building in August 1929 and forecast the completion date: 1 May 1931. The firm of Starrett Brothers and Eken won the contract, estimated at $50 million. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was demolished within a month, and site excavation began on 22 January 1930, digging 55 feet 16.7 meters below ground to the gray Manhattan bedrock. Construction started just under two months later, and through the meticulous construction scheduling of the chief engineer, Andrew Eken, it proceeded at record pace. Materials suppliers were asked to deliver goods as they were needed, so there was no need for on-site storage in the downtown area. When materials arrived on-siteat the busiest time, that meant almost 500 deliveries dailythey were immediately hoisted to the appropriate floor and transported by railways to their final location for fixing. The steel frame rose an average of four and a half floors a week, on a forest of 210 steel columns. One fourteen-story section was completed in a week! Altogether, 69,600 tons 58,930 tonnes of structural steel were placed in only six months. By the middle of November 1930 the buildings masonry skin was fixed. This unprecedented logistical feat was achieved by an average workforce of 2,500, which at times reached 4,000. Together, they worked 7 million carefully monitored man-hours, including Sundays and public holidays, to meet the deadline. In fact, the building was completed a few days ahead of its rigorous schedule. On 1 May 1931 President Herbert Hoover pressed the switch in Washington, D.C., that turned on the skyscrapers lights. The Empire State was one of the last gasps of New Yorks real-estate boom. From late in the 1800s more than 180 tall buildings, none under twenty stories, had been erected in Manhattan. As that phase was drawing to a close about thirty years later, New York City saw what might be described as a three-sidedskyscraper war. The antagonists were the Empire State, the Bank of Manhattan, and the Chrysler Building. Thecold and nondescript Bank of Manhattan, designed by H. Craig Severance and completed in April 1929, was, at 927 feet 278 meters, the worlds tallest buildingat least momentarily. The Chrysler Building, then being built for the automobile tycoon Walter P. Chrysler, was originally planned to be crowned with a dome, bringing it to within 2 feet 0.6 meter of the height of the bank. Its architect William van Alen obtained permission to add the spire that is now recognized as the buildings most distinctive feature. Its components were prefabricated inside the upper floors, and it was placed in just one and a half hours in November 1930, bringing the height of the Chrysler Building to 1,048 feet 314 meters. With the advantage of playing a little behind the game, Raskob and Smith had their architects add six stories to the 1000-foot 300-meter Empire State Building, originally intended to terminate in a flat observation deck. Above it all soared a 200-foot 60-meter tower, bringing its total height to 1,250 feet 375 meters. It was mooted that this tower would serve as a mooring mast for airships. The 86th floor would house passenger lounges, airline offices, and baggage rooms, and the vessels would be moored at the 106th level. One attempt to moor a dirigible succeeded for just three minutes, and a near disaster with a U.S. Navy blimp in September 1931 finally led to the abandonment of the schemea decision tragically validated by the fiery destruction of the Hindenberg at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937. The two observation decks remained just that, and the mast later formed the base of a television tower. The Empire State Building cost $24.7 million. Optimistically conceived during a real-estate boom, the success of the venture was dashed by the Wall Street crash of 1929. When the building was opened its owners were hard-pressed to find tenants for the 2.1 million square feet 199,000 square meters of office space, and some witty New Yorker coined the nicknameEmpty State Building. Apart from the impact of the Great Depression, the 350 Fifth Avenue address was too far from the central business district. Eighteen months after opening, only a quarter of the space had been rented six months later, there were still fifty-six vacant floors and the problems continued throughout the 1930s. After World War II the commercial center of gravity of New York was the Rockefeller Center, the last of whose nine towers was completed in 1940. Although the Empire State achieved 85 percent occupancy by 1944, even now it has a vast number of tenants renting small areas. Over 15,000 people work in it, and up to 20,000 clients, shoppers, and tourists visit daily. Every year, over 3.8 million sightseers and tourists visit the observation levels. In 1955, the American Society of Civil Engineers named the Empire State Building one of theSeven Modern Wonders of the Western Hemisphere, and on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee in 1981 it was, not without reason, designated an official New York City landmark.
For forty-one years from 1931, the Empire State Building was the tallest tower in the world. That distinction has since been wrested and rewrested by a series of successors. The 102-story building, covering its 2-acre 0.8-hectare Park Avenue site and soaring to 1,252 feet 417 meters, was completed in the incredibly short time of 1 year and 45 days in fact, the time from the decision to build to the letting of office space was only 27 months. Because of the precise planning and exacting project management that achieved such efficiency, this most familiar of all skyscrapers is one of the great architectural feats of the twentieth century. The Empire State Company was formed in 1929 by John Jacob Raskob General Motors chief executive, the industrialist Pierre S. du Pont, the politician Coleman du Pont, Louis G. Kaufman, and Ellis P. Earl. Raskob invited Alfred A. Smith, the New York State governor until 1929, with whom he had political ties, to become president of the corporation. The two men became the prime movers of the project. The 35-year-old Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, on the corner of Fifth Avenue and Thirty-fourth Street, was bought for about $16 million from the Bethlehem Engineering Corporation and demolished to make way for the new building. The architects Richmond H. Shreve, Arthur Loomis Harmon, and William Lamb who did much of the design work were initially commissioned to create a 50-story, 650-foot-high 195-meter office block. But the scheme would go through more than 15 revisions before emerging as an 86-story, 1,252-foot 375-meter tower. Last-minute revisions would further increase it to 102 floors and a height, including its mast, of 1,472 feet 450 meters. The structural engineers were H. G. Balcom and Associates. Shreve, Harmon, and Lamb produced a steel-framed, art deco tower whose marble-clad, five-story base covered the whole site. From a 60-foot 18-meter setback at the fifth floor, it rose uninterrupted to the 86th floor. The upper levels were faced with silver buff Indiana limestone and granite, and the verticality of the facade was emphasized by continuous mullions of chrome-nickel steel. The office floors were served by seventy-three elevators. The esthetics of the design were hardly remarkable, and the building was either ignored or criticized by the aficionados of the sterile European Modernismso-called international architecturethen being touted in North America. For the present purpose, the Empire States artistic qualities are inconsequential, because its significance lies in the fact that the architects made a design that, in the contractors words, wasmagnificently adapted to speed in construction. And speed was of the essence: the clients announced an 80-story building in August 1929 and forecast the completion date: 1 May 1931. The firm of Starrett Brothers and Eken won the contract, estimated at $50 million. The Waldorf-Astoria Hotel was demolished within a month, and site excavation began on 22 January 1930, digging 55 feet 16.7 meters below ground to the gray Manhattan bedrock. Construction started just under two months later, and through the meticulous construction scheduling of the chief engineer, Andrew Eken, it proceeded at record pace. Materials suppliers were asked to deliver goods as they were needed, so there was no need for on-site storage in the downtown area. When materials arrived on-siteat the busiest time, that meant almost 500 deliveries dailythey were immediately hoisted to the appropriate floor and transported by railways to their final location for fixing. The steel frame rose an average of four and a half floors a week, on a forest of 210 steel columns. One fourteen-story section was completed in a week! Altogether, 69,600 tons 58,930 tonnes of structural steel were placed in only six months. By the middle of November 1930 the buildings masonry skin was fixed. This unprecedented logistical feat was achieved by an average workforce of 2,500, which at times reached 4,000. Together, they worked 7 million carefully monitored man-hours, including Sundays and public holidays, to meet the deadline. In fact, the building was completed a few days ahead of its rigorous schedule. On 1 May 1931 President Herbert Hoover pressed the switch in Washington, D.C., that turned on the skyscrapers lights. The Empire State was one of the last gasps of New Yorks real-estate boom. From late in the 1800s more than 180 tall buildings, none under twenty stories, had been erected in Manhattan. As that phase was drawing to a close about thirty years later, New York City saw what might be described as a three-sidedskyscraper war. The antagonists were the Empire State, the Bank of Manhattan, and the Chrysler Building. Thecold and nondescript Bank of Manhattan, designed by H. Craig Severance and completed in April 1929, was, at 927 feet 278 meters, the worlds tallest buildingat least momentarily. The Chrysler Building, then being built for the automobile tycoon Walter P. Chrysler, was originally planned to be crowned with a dome, bringing it to within 2 feet 0.6 meter of the height of the bank. Its architect William van Alen obtained permission to add the spire that is now recognized as the buildings most distinctive feature. Its components were prefabricated inside the upper floors, and it was placed in just one and a half hours in November 1930, bringing the height of the Chrysler Building to 1,048 feet 314 meters. With the advantage of playing a little behind the game, Raskob and Smith had their architects add six stories to the 1000-foot 300-meter Empire State Building, originally intended to terminate in a flat observation deck. Above it all soared a 200-foot 60-meter tower, bringing its total height to 1,250 feet 375 meters. It was mooted that this tower would serve as a mooring mast for airships. The 86th floor would house passenger lounges, airline offices, and baggage rooms, and the vessels would be moored at the 106th level. One attempt to moor a dirigible succeeded for just three minutes, and a near disaster with a U.S. Navy blimp in September 1931 finally led to the abandonment of the schemea decision tragically validated by the fiery destruction of the Hindenberg at Lakehurst, New Jersey, in 1937. The two observation decks remained just that, and the mast later formed the base of a television tower. The Empire State Building cost $24.7 million. Optimistically conceived during a real-estate boom, the success of the venture was dashed by the Wall Street crash of 1929. When the building was opened its owners were hard-pressed to find tenants for the 2.1 million square feet 199,000 square meters of office space, and some witty New Yorker coined the nicknameEmpty State Building. Apart from the impact of the Great Depression, the 350 Fifth Avenue address was too far from the central business district. Eighteen months after opening, only a quarter of the space had been rented six months later, there were still fifty-six vacant floors and the problems continued throughout the 1930s. After World War II the commercial center of gravity of New York was the Rockefeller Center, the last of whose nine towers was completed in 1940. Although the Empire State achieved 85 percent occupancy by 1944, even now it has a vast number of tenants renting small areas. Over 15,000 people work in it, and up to 20,000 clients, shoppers, and tourists visit daily. Every year, over 3.8 million sightseers and tourists visit the observation levels. In 1955, the American Society of Civil Engineers named the Empire State Building one of theSeven Modern Wonders of the Western Hemisphere, and on the occasion of its Golden Jubilee in 1981 it was, not without reason, designated an official New York City landmark.
60. Engineering Building
Leicester University, England
The Scots architect James Frazer Stirling 1926 1992 formed a partnership with James Gowan b. 1923 in 1955 after winning a commission for a low-rise housing development in Ham Common, Middlesex 1955 1958. The design started a trend in England for broadly finished brick and exposed concrete. There followed a couple of domestic scale projects, and in July 1959 their more influential work: the Engineering Building at Leicester University completed 1963, which has been called thepinnacle of their mutual achievement. The seminal building, which juxtaposes a glazed office tower with red-tile facings on the massive cantilevered lecture theaters and a single-story workshop, was unlike any postwar architecture elsewhere and broke the hold of Le Corbusier upon British architects. The critic Reyner Banham coined the nameNew Brutalism to describe the new style, which exposed concrete, steel, and brick and rejected the polished and elegant finishes and geometric regularity of the International Modern Movement. The character of the Engineering Building was quickly and widely emulated in Britain its influence persisted even longer in Japan. Leicester University was founded as a university college in 1921 and granted its Royal Charter in 1957. The administration appointed the Cambridge engineer Edward Parkes to set up a new engineering faculty, to commence with 200 students. The university also commissioned Leslie Martin to produce a master plan for developing the 9-acre 3.6-hectare campus Stirling and Gowans building was its first major postwar facility. By the end of 1959 they had produced two alternative preliminary designs. The final scheme was approved in March 1960, although the two architects disagreed over the glazing of the tower block. In fact, their partnership was dissolved as soon as the building was completed. The building has two main elements: a complex, multistory main building that houses two lecture theaters, laboratories, and offices, and a lower level housing workshops. Two cantilevered reinforced concrete lecture theaters attributable to the structural engineers, their sloping seating expressed on the outside of the building, are set at right angles to each other and are joined by a diagonal ramp. Four stories of laboratories rise beside the smaller theater on tall concrete columns surfaces are faced with deep red Accrington brick and red Dutch tiles. Above the larger theateralso brick and tile cladis a six-story, fully glazed office tower, its narrow rectangular form modified by cut-off corners, crowned by a water tank. The spiral staircase that serves it penetrates the cantilevered block. The adjacent ground-level heavy-machinery workshops, covering over two-thirds of the site and designed mainly by Gowan, are clad in part with translucent glass and roofed with long, diagonal, north-facing glass trapezoidal prisms. One historian has commented thata mannerist taste for distortion and paradox permeates the building, and that thediversity of forms 1/4 is a pretext for the liveliest interplay of masses. Such a cynical view undervalues the work of one of Britainsthe worldsgreatest twentieth-century architects indeed, a winner of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize 1981 anda leader of the great transition from the Modern Movement to the architecture of the New.
The Scots architect James Frazer Stirling 1926 1992 formed a partnership with James Gowan b. 1923 in 1955 after winning a commission for a low-rise housing development in Ham Common, Middlesex 1955 1958. The design started a trend in England for broadly finished brick and exposed concrete. There followed a couple of domestic scale projects, and in July 1959 their more influential work: the Engineering Building at Leicester University completed 1963, which has been called thepinnacle of their mutual achievement. The seminal building, which juxtaposes a glazed office tower with red-tile facings on the massive cantilevered lecture theaters and a single-story workshop, was unlike any postwar architecture elsewhere and broke the hold of Le Corbusier upon British architects. The critic Reyner Banham coined the nameNew Brutalism to describe the new style, which exposed concrete, steel, and brick and rejected the polished and elegant finishes and geometric regularity of the International Modern Movement. The character of the Engineering Building was quickly and widely emulated in Britain its influence persisted even longer in Japan. Leicester University was founded as a university college in 1921 and granted its Royal Charter in 1957. The administration appointed the Cambridge engineer Edward Parkes to set up a new engineering faculty, to commence with 200 students. The university also commissioned Leslie Martin to produce a master plan for developing the 9-acre 3.6-hectare campus Stirling and Gowans building was its first major postwar facility. By the end of 1959 they had produced two alternative preliminary designs. The final scheme was approved in March 1960, although the two architects disagreed over the glazing of the tower block. In fact, their partnership was dissolved as soon as the building was completed. The building has two main elements: a complex, multistory main building that houses two lecture theaters, laboratories, and offices, and a lower level housing workshops. Two cantilevered reinforced concrete lecture theaters attributable to the structural engineers, their sloping seating expressed on the outside of the building, are set at right angles to each other and are joined by a diagonal ramp. Four stories of laboratories rise beside the smaller theater on tall concrete columns surfaces are faced with deep red Accrington brick and red Dutch tiles. Above the larger theateralso brick and tile cladis a six-story, fully glazed office tower, its narrow rectangular form modified by cut-off corners, crowned by a water tank. The spiral staircase that serves it penetrates the cantilevered block. The adjacent ground-level heavy-machinery workshops, covering over two-thirds of the site and designed mainly by Gowan, are clad in part with translucent glass and roofed with long, diagonal, north-facing glass trapezoidal prisms. One historian has commented thata mannerist taste for distortion and paradox permeates the building, and that thediversity of forms 1/4 is a pretext for the liveliest interplay of masses. Such a cynical view undervalues the work of one of Britainsthe worldsgreatest twentieth-century architects indeed, a winner of the prestigious Pritzker Architecture Prize 1981 anda leader of the great transition from the Modern Movement to the architecture of the New.
