DESIGN MOVENT POST INDUSTRIALIZATION

VICTORIAN ERA (1830 TO 1880) AGE OF REVIVAL

• Age of revival is also called as Age of innovations. Major developments in construction &
planning with stylistic revival. Industrial revolution was at its beginning. There was Rise in
population with rapid Urbanization. It also created Acute problem of public health.

• On brighter side growing industrial areas supported by new transport systems like canals &
railways. Building materials like brick & slate became cheap & easily available .

• In addition to conventional buildings like houses & churches, completely new types of buildings
such as railway station, town hall, hospitals, public banks, ware houses, departmental stores,
town & country houses, swimming baths, police stations, fire stations, exhibition halls,
university buildings, prisons, art galleries & many examples of buildings for the transport &
industry suddenly started spring up giving impetus to innovations & new construction
technology.

• Steam power generated power for transport & industry. Coal gas invention led to gas lighting in
factories from 1807 onwards. Street lighting followed. Later electrical power was made
available. Telegraph, telephone, wireless telegraphy were the new inventions. Cast iron for the
columns replaced heavy wood section & gave more floor space & greater flexibility in design.
Combination of cast iron & glass led to development of novel buildings looking like green house
effect. Crystal palace London was important structure for exhibitions .

• Hybrid buildings combining traditional masonry structures & iron & glass became popular in
Victorian era. Wrought iron was being used for its tensile strength for ties, bolts, trusses. Steel
was made by Bessemer process. Rolled sections of steel replaced wrought iron. Portland
cement led to invention of reinforced cement concrete. Advent of reinforced cement concrete
could withstand great compressive & tensile loads. This gave freedom to architects to overcome
traditional rectilinear plan. Though concrete buildings came big way after 1 st world war.

• New house started having electricity. Public buildings started having central heating. Central
heating made larger windows possible. Plate glass was made by new mechanical process. Large
windows made the interiors look lighter. Great advance in drainage & sanitation by introduction
of water closet, effective main drainage & provision of pure water. Invention of lift made the tall
building accessible.

• The new patrons of the buildings were newly emerging middle class of professionals. Architect
was no more master mason or contractor but had to clear exams by Royal Academy of Arts. The
most celebrated architectural magazine of the century Builder appeared in 1842. Wealth,
commerce & technical inventiveness characterize the Victorian era in Briton. Briton became
the leading architectural nation which led to material prosperity of which Victorian architecture
is so significant an expression.
• Diverse use of historical styles in the form of Classical & Gothic revival. Multi coloured strongly
textured buildings of highly informal design. Spirit of eclecticism was seen during revival
period. Revivalism was flexible to contemporary needs. English architecture from 1830 to 1914
was loosely described as Regency, Victorian & Edwardian. Later on Arts & Craft movement
glorified the Medieaval era & its hand made techniques. Combination of tradition & innovation
produced new forms with traditional material during revival period at the beginning of 19 th
century.

• Crystal palace London

• It was designed by Sir Joseph Praxton. One of the most remarkable buildings of 19 th century
Britain built for the exhibition belonging to the high Victorian Epoch. It was first constructed in
Hyde park & later moved to Sydenham. It had cast iron frame & entire roof was glazed. The
cross section of the building resembled double isled basilica rising in 3 tiers. This was the
colossal project of prefabricated building requiring vast quantities of iron & glass & other
materials. The project got completed in 9 months by the assistance of engineer Sir Charles Fox
The entire structure got destroyed in great fire of 1936.

• ART & CRAFT MOVEMENT

• The Arts and Crafts movement is a major English and American aesthetic movement occurring
in the last years of the 19th century and the early years of the 20th century. It was Inspired by
the writings of John Ruskin, it was at its height between approximately 1880 and 1910. The
movement began in England as a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, with the inherent
understanding that culture included craft as well as fine art. This led to the creation of the Arts
and Crafts Exhibition Society in 1887. Members including William Morris and John Ruskin.

• There was economic depression phase in Europe for some time & parallel movement was being
run by Karl Marks & writers like John Ruskin & William Morris criticizing the ill effects of
industrialization. English social & aesthetic movement of latter half of the 19th century i.e. Art &
Craft Movement was aimed to reassert the importance of craftsmanship in the face of
mechanization and mass production. Art & Craft movement gives important to handmade,
hand painted, handiwork which had more refinement & joy of making for artisan. So it is time
consuming & very expensive.

• In art and craft movement attempts were made to design buildings rationally rather than to cast
them in bygone moulds. And to allow ornament to proceed naturally from structure. The art
and craft movement generated ‘Art Nouveau’ (1892 to 1905) which assumed the consequence
of an architectural phase. It is not possible to draw any strict line between art nouvo and art &
craft movement. Both had some effect upon buildings of all classes. Whatever their types of
expression be it gothic, classical, Romanesque revival.
• Asymmetrical plan, first seen only in domestic architecture seems to have been originated with
architects associated with Arts & Crafts movement in England, whose ideas were taken by
young Frank Lloyd Wright in America. He is considered to be a link between Art & Craft
movement & Art Nouveau movement. He got America on the international scene . Art & Craft
gave rise to Art Nouveau & played a major part in arousing a new social conscience among
architects.

• ART NOUVEAU

• Art Nouveau is an elegant decorative art style characterized by intricate COMPLICATED)

patterns of curving lines. Its origins somewhat rooted in the British Arts and Crafts Movement
of William Morris, Art Nouveau was popular across Europe and in the United States as well.
Leading practitioners included Alphonse Mucha, Aubrey Beardsley, Gustav Klimt and the
American glassmaker Louis Comfort Tiffany. Art Nouveau remained popular until around the
time of World War I, and was ultimately replaced by the Art Deco style.

• Art nouveau existed in ornamental to almost abstract. It was full of freshness as designers were
using their own imagination to produce new design.

• Schools of thoughts practiced in Art Nouveau

• Direct representation of nature

• First school of thought was taking inspiration from nature or organic design which was practiced
by architects like Vector Hugo, Antoni Gaudi. As direct representation of organic motives like
tendrils, creepers, whiplashes,etc., for example legs of furniture pieces were like a bones and
flooring were made to look like plant form which rose from floor & reached ceiling.

• Indirect representation of nature

• Other school of thought was practiced by architects like ‘Charles Renie Machintosh’ believed in
indirect representation of nature in his design. His work was basically geometrical with straight
lines & slight curve to give it a organic look.

• It was the style of the age - seen on public buildings and advertisements, inside private homes
and outside street cafés - adorning the life of the city. Art Nouveau was a response to the
radical changes caused by the rapid urban growth and technological advances that followed
the Industrial Revolution.

• Thus ART NOUVEAU existed from absolute ornamental to abstract. Art nouveau is the modern
movement where artist always took inspiration from nature. Art nouveau existed in total
interior, graphics, book illustrations, industrial products as well as total architecture. Antonio
gaudi designed entire Barcelona on the principles of Art nouveau in a direct representation of
nature. He has taken inspiration from creepy animals, lizards etc . While Charles Rennie
 Mackintosh has designed Glasgow school of design based on indirect representation of nature
in Art Nouveau style of design..

• ART DECO MOVEMENT IN DESIGN

• The period termed "art deco" was a popular design movement & manifested itself roughly
between the two world wars, or 1910 to 1939. Art Deco buildings with their surface Treatment
of projected vertical & horizontal banding in contrast colour Suggest attractive gift wrapping of
The building. Motifs of traditionalism were married to Modern techniques of construction .

• In art Deco the influence of Far and Middle Eastern design, Greek and Roman themes, and even
Egyptian and Mayan influence. Modern elements included echoing machine and automobile
patterns and shapes such as stylized gears and wheels, or natural elements such as sunbursts
and flowers. The dominant style of the twenties and thirties, its exuberance and eclecticism
were reactions to the austerity of the war years. In many ways the exhibition consisted of
‘modern’ versions deriving from earlier periods, e.g. Egyptian or Roman, but given a less ornate,
almost geometric style as could be seen in the twentieth century art movements: Cubism,
Futurism. Art Deco remains one of the most popular movements of the twentieth century.

• Design influences were expressed in fractionated, Crystallined, faceted forms of Decorative

cubism & futurism. Other popular themes in Art Deco were trapezoidal, zigzag Geometric &
jumbled shapes which can be seen in many Early pieces. Art Deco is characterized by Use of
materials such as Aluminum, stainless steel, Lacquer, inlaid wood, sharkskin (shagrin), zebraskin

• It also features the bold use of Zigzag stepped forms & sweeping Curves unlike the sinuous
curves of Art Nouveau, chevron patterns & sunburst motifs. Sunburst motif is used in spire of
Chrysler Tower & auditorium of radio city music hall