Auguste Perret

(1874 –1954)
AUGUSTE PERRET (1874 –1954)
Auguste Perret was a French architect and entrepreneur. He was one of the pioneers of the
architectural use of reinforced concrete.
Perret born in Belgium where his father had taken refuge after the Paris Commune. He received
his early education in architecture in the family firm.
He was accepted in the architecture course of the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, where he learnt
architecture under a neo-classic architect.
Perret's particular interest was the structure of buildings and the use of new materials, such as
concrete rather than into neo-classism.
He left School without obtaining a diploma and went to work for the family firm. Soon he began
experimenting with concrete.
These two early experiences shaped two stylistic characteristics of Perret’s work:
1) His use of classical proportion and symmetry
2) His functional approach to design and construction in reinforced concrete
Modern cement-based concrete was patented in 1867 by the French gardener Joseph Monier, but
during the Victorian period it remained hidden behind stone façades and veneers because it was
considered a crude building material.
In the 1890s Francois Hennebique
introduced the trabeated structural system
of reinforced concreting, but it was with
Auguste Perret that this new, industrial
material became expressed architecturally
on the facade of buildings.
He was only 28 when he built his first major building, his family-owned
apartments Paris in 1902, where the concrete structure, instead of being
concealed, was clearly visible and was a part of the exterior design.
 Up till 1908 the young Le Corbusier worked in Perret’s architectural practice.
From him Le Corbusier learned about:
▪using reinforced concrete to create skeletal structures for building
▪using classical proportions and composition in modern design
▪using standardized components in design and construction
Le Corbusier ▪a geometric approach to design and the flat roof as living space
As a pioneer of the architecturally expressed reinforced concrete frame, Perret’s buildings feature
large areas of glazing on the non-weight-bearing walls. Internal spaces are open and generous and
often lit by skylights.

Perret’s buildings are often described as ‘stripped classical’. They have the symmetrical, balanced
and harmonious proportions and rhythms of classical architecture, often with abstract references to
columns and cornices. He stripped away the ornament and detailing indulged in by the Beaux Arts
classical-revival architects of the day. These qualities give his buildings formality and dignity.

Perret’s buildings have a rational functionalism. Concrete is

left raw, though sometimes with coloured or patterned elements
to them. His designs arose out of modern functional
considerations rather than aesthetic ones.
 Apartments, 25 bis Rue Franklin, Paris, 1902
This apartment building is
not only for its explicit and
brilliant use of the
reinforced concrete frame
but also for the way in
which its internal
organization.

Perret deliberately made the apartment partition walls non-

structural throughout and their partial removal would have yielded
an open space, punctuated only by a series of free-standing columns.

Each floor is organized with the main and service stairs to the rear
(each with its own elevator) the kitchen to one side and the principal
rooms to the front. These last are divided up from left to right into
rooms assigned to smoking, dining, living, sleeping and reception.
 The rectangular frame allows for roof terraces
on setbacks of upper apartments.
U-shaped front façade inspired by statutory light
courts at the rear of Parisian apartment
buildings.

The trabeated, rectangular concrete frame

throughout building is not exposed directly,
but is expressed by the plain tiles on the
façade.

The non-weight-bearing walls are expressed as

slightly-recessed infill panels of floral
patterned ceramic tile.

At street level the Perrets had their architecture

studio. This large, open space exposed the
uprights of the concrete frame and became
forerunners of Le Corbusier’s pilotis.
Glazed openings are as large as zoning laws allowed.

The concrete frame allows for thin wall partitions and

maximum interior space.

Dining room Drawing room Bedroom

At the sixth storey apartment a reinforced concrete frame
breaks free of the wall surface. This looks forward to the
airy, transparent effects of the International Style.
A full appreciation of the building’s form can be gained only by
moving across its entire façade. This experiential dimension to
architectural form and space is modernist.
 The Mobilier Nationale, Paris (1937)
The Théatre Des Champs-élysées

The Church Of Notre-dame Du Raincy (1922–23) The French Economic, Social And Environmental
Council Building, Paris (1937–39)
Adolf Loos
(1870 – 1933)
 Adolf Loos was an Austrian and Czech architect and influential European theorist of modern
architecture.
 Loos was born on 1870, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire. He had hearing impairment and was
significantly handicapped by it throughout his life. Loos had graduation in technical education.
 At age 23, Loos travelled to the United States and stayed there for three years. Loos returned to
Vienna in 1896 and made it his permanent residence.
 After briefly associating himself with the Vienna Secession in 1896, he rejected the style and
advocated a new, plain, unadorned architecture. A utilitarian approach to use the entire floor plan
completed his concept.
 His essay Ornament and Crime advocated smooth and clear surfaces in contrast to the lavish
decorations.
 Loos became a pioneer of modern architecture and contributed a body of theory and criticism
of Modernism in architecture and design.
Café Museum

• The first example of Loos’ work is the Café

Museum(1899). Designed at the peak of the Art
Nouveau period.
• The building affirms his aesthetic equation of
beauty and utility. The walls are painted a cool green,
whilst the Loos- designed chairs are of a dark red
timber. These contrasting colours are synonymous
with many of Loos’ interiors.
• They are balanced in the Café Museumby a vaulted
ceiling that is painted plainly in white whilst a
pattern is created by brass strips that, in line with
their utilitarian function, also served as electrical
conduit to chain- suspended lighting.
The Loos haus in Vienna (The Goldman & Salatsch Building)
• Loos had used ornament where he felt
appropriate to preserve the cultural integrity of the
building, but where there was no perceived
purpose, he was not compelled to provide
decoration.
• Loos observed that "on the ground floor and
mezzanine, where the shop has established itself,
that is where modern commercial life demands a
modern solution" yet at the same time "modern
man, who hurries through the streets, sees only
that which is that his eye-level.
•Thus the residential suites in the upper portion of the Goldman & Salatsch building was
deliberately left unadorned, with only three- pane windows piercing the smooth stucco walls,
making the building a combination of these two different zones, residential and commercial, as
two materially autonomous halves. Loos was being highly specific in his treatment of each space
and demonstrating an honesty.

'house without eyebrows'.

Villa Steiner

Built in 1910, Hugo Steiner's house is one of

Loos's most significant and well-known
works. Because of its severe and advanced
modernity of form it has been adopted in
the histories of contemporary architecture
as an example of the phase of transition and
an anticipation of the language of
Rationalism.

• Architect is owner of walls and build-in furniture. The remaining furniture to be manufactured
by craftsman in the spirit of modern period – everyone has right to buy them alone, based on own
demands and preferences (different from art neavou) - Villa Steiner