Chicago Illinois is top on the list of my favorite cities,
not because it is in the vicinity of my hometown, nor for their delicious
cuisines, but for its architecture and many skyscrapers thanks to a man named
Louis Sullivan, one of the fathers of the Chicago School of tall buildings. He
redefined the organization and hierarchy of the exterior and interior of tall
office buildings through these three words “form follows function” or “form vs.
function.” He gained this ideology about architecture by studying the concepts
and philosophies of Ville le Duc and his beliefs on tectonic expression,
Schelling and the Schlegel brothers and their view on works of art representing
the product of an inner force, and the New England philosophical school of
Transcendentalism and their organic principals, “all things in nature have
shape…tell us what they are…distinguishes them from ourselves and from each
other (
Colquhoun, 2002pg. 111).” But was the refinement of skyscrapers
really a necessity or was Sullivan nit picking and trying to define himself as
an architect during career?
Standards for Tall Office Buildings
Architects of Sullivan’s time including himself in the beginning
of his career, as seen in the Auditorium Building in Chicago, was designing
skyscrapers using the following method. The 1
st story, which is
below ground, will usually contain the mechanical equipment such as the
boilers, heating, cooling, lighting and other various machines. The 2
nd
story, the ground or main floor, is normally devoted to commercial and retail
use, providing an ample amount of space, lighting, and a huge entrance access.
The 3
rd story, which is the second story of the building, is
accessible by stairs or elevator, is usually sectioned into large subdivisions,
“with corresponding liberality in structural spacing and expanse of glass and
breadth of external openings
(Sullivan, 1988pg. 105).” The 4
th story,
consist of a couple of floors that house offices, one floor of offices stack on
another floor of offices, one office looks just like all the other offices in
this building. The 5
th story, the attic, was located at the very top
of the tall building, normally grand expressing the metaphor of ascending and
descending. This space is also normally filled with pipes, tanks, valves,
sheaves, and other mechanical equipment
(Sullivan, 1988pg 105).
Sullivan's Critiques
Two buildings which Sullivan criticized about its exterior
and interior designs flaws as a result of following the above design method,
was the Auditorium Building by Dankmar Adler and himself and the Tacoma
Building by William Holabird and Martin Roche:
Sullivan felt that if the Auditorium Building had a weakness,
it would be that the building failed to reflect its programs since every floor functioned
the same
(Colquhoun, 2002pg. 39). This building was a mixed
use building (the first mixed use building), housing a theater, hotel, and
offices under one roof
(University). Base off the buildings
appearance you would never guess that an auditorium was in this building or
where it might be located, even though most might say its location would be
near the front because of the detail on the entrance but it is actually located
a couple of floors below the tower, according to this section cut of the
building. When comparing the building to the section, by people who pass by
this building would never had guest that the building consist of these
different programs, shifts, and functions. This section cut definitely is more
visually interesting and upholds more information about the building than its
exterior.
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Auditorium Building, Chicago, IL by Adler and Sullivan |
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Floor plan of the Auditorium Building |
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Section View of the Auditorium Building |
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Interior View of the Auditorium's Theater |
According to Sullivan, Tacoma Building suffered a fault
opposite of the one seen in the Auditorium Building, the similarity of
functions was expressed but it lacked this expression on the exterior of the building
making it seem like it is just a succession of floors found in the interior
(Colquhoun, 2002pg. 39). I agree the building really
does look like a succession of floors, it has some unique qualities but it
seemed like whatever the unique quality was on the first floor was replicated
on all of the other floors, leaving no hierarchy among the building. The only
floors that seem to be different on the exterior were the main floor and the
top floor or the attic.
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Tacoma Building by William Holabird and Martin Roche, Chicago, IL |
The Critics View on His Concept
Many adored Sullivan’s theories and ideas on structural
organization and hierarchy, form vs. function but was not found about the facade
of the building displaying all of these elements, they thought it would cause
confusion to the visual eye. “the tall office building should not, must not, be
made a field for the display of architectural knowledge in the encyclopedic
sense; that too much learning in this instance is fully as dangerous, as
obnoxious, as too little learning; that miscellany is abhorrent to their sense;
that the sixteen story building must not consist of sixteen separate, distinct
and unrelated buildings piled one upon the other until the top of the pile is
reached
(Sullivan, 1988pg 110).” For those who knew little
about architecture design, felt that they would not be able to understand the
visual appearance of Sullivan’s buildings. After listening to their critiques
on Sullivan’s concepts, readers would infer that his design would mostly be
used to define himself as an architect and not the era or to solve the social
problems of society.
The Perfect Skyscraper
Sullivan thought yes architects of tall office buildings
have been given a organization principal to follow while designing buildings of
these sort, but why can it not be a functional maybe even a structural reason
behind these standards? In his Wainwright Building in St. Louis he really
executed this idea of form vs. function within the typical organization of
skyscrapers. He focused on emphasizing two main stories the base, which is the
main floor, and the attic and piling floors in the middle. Instead of following
the structural principals of the column spacing he reduced the spacing size of
the pilaster to the width size of a single window. “In doing this, he produce a
phalanx of verticals that could be read simultaneously as columns and as
mullions, as structure and as ornament
(Colquhoun, 2002pg 41-42).” His manipulation with the
columns did away with expectation of classical mathematical proportions and
meaningless ornamentation among tall office buildings. His design truly made this
building seems like it was ascending and descending from the heavens. By
allowing the interior influencing the shape of the exterior, the building
looked more structurally sound and even the people outside his profession could
understand structure, materiality, and ornamentation that develop this
building.
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Wainwright Building by Adler and Sullivan |
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ornamentation as an extension of structure |
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floors stacked on top of these steel columns/mullions |
Was it Necessary?
Toward the end of his career he ended his partnership with
Adler, who consistently brought in new business and partnerships for their firm,
and as a result building commissions began coming in slow. Many of his projects
reduced to smaller scale designs like banks and small shopping malls, but his
ideas on form vs. function continued to live, inspiring other architects and
design movements like Frank Lloyd Wright, who work for Sullivan in his early career
and Art Nouveau with the Wainwright Building (first modern skyscraper) and
Carson Pirie Scott building. No longer do architects design according to an
exterior organization that has nothing to do with the space, function, and activities
of the interior of the building. No longer will a building seem like a waste, a
lost canvas full off meaningless work of art, nor unpleasing to the eye since
it does not match its inner organs, its natural system. Nature is the essences of
beauty to us because its organic form matches its complex functions; it tells
us what it is before we know its function or story. Based off those facts, the
organization and hierarchy of these extremely tall buildings needed to be
redefined to become a true essence of beauty in its presence and solution to
social problems when placed in our world. Sullivan was truly trying to better
the social conditions of urban life through natural beauty and function; not
defining himself as an extraordinary architect of his time.
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Carson Pirie Scott store, Chicago, IL by Sullivan |
Citations:
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