HISTORY

MARCEL LAJOS BREUER

BORN ON MAY 21 , 1902
HUNGARIAN ARCHITECT AND
FURNITURE DESIGNER
1920 – 1928 : STUDIED AND
TAUGHT AT THE BAUHAUS
SCHOOL OF DESIGN
1928 : STARTED PRIVATE
PRACTICE
1937 : TAUGHT AT HARVARD
UNIVERSITY
1946 : MOVED TO NEW
YORK AND ATTRACTED
NUMEROUS MAJOR
COMMISIONS
1976 : RETIRED
1981 : DIED
 PRINCIPLE
APPLYING NEW FORMS AND
USES TO NEWLY DEVELOPED
TECHNOLOGY AND MATERIALS
IN ORDER TO CREATE AN ART
EXPRESSIVE OF AN
INDUSTRIAL AGE
WASSILY CHAIR
GELLAR HOUSE , NEW YORK
PLAN
VIEW
 GELLER HOUSE IS LOCATED IN LONG ISLAND AT
NEW YORK
 IN 1943,MARCEL HAD DEVELOPED A PLAN FOR A
HOUSE WHICH HE TERMED AS
“BINUCLEAR”SEPERATING THE LIVING DINING
KITCHEN AREA FROM THE SLEEPING AREA
 THE TWO WINGS OF THE HOUSE ARE
CONNECTED BY AN ENTRANCE HALLWAY
 THE GELLER HOUSE WAS THE FIRST OF THESE
TO BUILT AND IS AN EXISTING COMPLEX
 BOTH THE HOUSE AND GUEST HOUSE HAVE
“BUTTERFLY ROOFS” WHICH SLOPE INWARDS
AND ARE CENTRALLY DRAINED
 THE MAIN HOUSE AND GUEST HOUSE ARE
POSITIONED THAT THEY CREATED SEMI
ENCLOSED COURTYARD
 MANY OF THE MARCEL HOUSES HAVE EMPLOYED
THIS “BINUCLEAR PRINCIPLE”
 PRINCIPLE
 “….THE ART OF ARCHITECTURAL COMPOSITION
LIES IN ASSEMBLING SIMPLE ELEMENTAL FORM
TO ARRIVE AT BASIC SOLUTION. THE SPACE
BOUNDED BY SUCH ELEMENT CAN BE FREE AND
FLUENT CONNECTED BOTH VERTICALLY NAD
HORIZONTALLY,BUT THE COMPONENTS
ENCOMPASSING IT WILL BE CRYSTALLIC,MAN
MADE FORM THAT DIFFER FROM OTHER
NATURAL FORMS
 THOUGH THEY ARE PART OF THE SAME
COMPOSITION:WOOD AGAINST METAL,SPACE
AGAINST VOID,A CUBE AGAINST A TREE”
INTERIOR
INTERIOR
Whitney Museum
of American Art
IS A NEW YORK CITY ART
MUSEUM WITH A FOCUS ON 20
– 21ST CENTURY AMERICAN ART
WORKED WITH HAMILTON
SMITH , CREATING A STRONG
MODERNIST STATEMENT
LOOKED LIKE AN INVERTED
FORM OF A ZIGGURAT
ACCORDING TO A CRITIC
RECOGNISED AS DARING
STRONG AND INNNOVATIVE
ONE OF NEW YORK CITY’S
MOST NOTABLE BUILDINGS
THE EXTERIOR IS COMPOSED
OF ENORMOUS STEEL PANELS
THE ENTRANCE ACROSS A
BRIDGE OVER AN OPEN
GARDEN LEADS TO THE LOBBY
AREA
IT AND THE BASEMENT CAFÉ
PREPARE THE VISITOR FOR THE
GALLERY SPACES -
BRIDGE
 ONE LARGE WINDOW ASSYMETRICALLY PLACED ,
ALLOWS THE VISITOR A GLMPSE OF THE OUT-
OF-DOORS AND THE OUTSIDE WORLD A GLMPSE
INTO THE GALLERIES
IT IS A THREE STROREYED
BUILDING
HAS WALLS OF
CONTINUOUS GLASS
A CIRULATION SPACE
FOLLOWS THE GLASS WALLS
 WORK STATION ARE GROUPED WITHIN SO THAT
ALL WORKERS HAVE EQUAL ACCESS TO THE
LIGHT AND VIEWS OF THE PLEASANT EXTERIOR
SPACE
 HAS A SPCE FRAME STRUCTURE AT THE TOP
WITH THE EXTERIOR WALLS AS GLASS