Late Modern Architecture

Bagsvaerd Church, Jorn UtzonChurch of Light, Tadao Ando

Late Modern Architecture

Toward the end of the Modern period, the international style experienced two notable trends.•One was more extensive use of curved walls•The other was brutalism: harsh, bulky concrete structures, often with unfinished surfaces.

These trends have been interpreted as the transitional phase to Postmodern architecture, as architects grew impatient with the severe simplicity of the international style.

An understanding

Late Modern Architecture

1989Ibaraki, Osaka, Japan

Tadao Ando

Less is more

Abstract nature

Timeless Quality

Rejects the surrounding metropolis

Critical Appreciation

Church of the Light

Section

Plan

1976Copenhagen, Denmark

Jorn Utzon

Critical Appreciation

Bagsvaerd church

Outside-InsideOutside-Inside

Concept

The Bagsværd Church was conceived by Utzon when he was lying on the beach in Hawaii, staring into the sky. He was awed by the regular passage of clouds above him, imagining it to be the ceiling of the new church.

The Vitruvian Man

•Cold appearance, unfriendly, uncommunicative

•Totalitarian

•Urban decay appearance

•Disregarding the social, historic, and architectural environment of its surroundings

The New Brutalism Ethic or Aesthetic?

1950s to mid 1970s

•Very linear, repetitive angular geometries

•Mostly predominance of Concrete Construction

•Rough blocky appearance

•Expression of materials and services in exterior

Socialist Utopian Ideology

•Idolization of the concrete walls•Structure as the ornamentation•Limited Budget

“…everything was eliminated except the unadorned structure,”

Tadao Ando

•Scaffolding planks employed for floor and benches•Finished with black oil stain

•Simple forms

http://yamadaarchiblog.blogspot.in

• Brutalist exterior and the curved ceiling in the interiors has been used together in the building by Jorn Utzon.

• Radical and new design.• No ornamentation• Repetitive blocks

• Brutalist exterior and the curved ceiling in the interiors has been used together in the building by Jorn Utzon.

• Radical and new design.• No ornamentation• Repetitive blocks

Late modern in Bagsvaerd

The breath-taking qualities of the ceiling immediately emulate a feeling of transcendence to heaven.

Distinct depart from Modern Architecture

Critical Regionalism

Tries to counter ‘placeless’ness and lack of identity in Modern Architecture

by using the geographical context of the building.

Not regionalist or vernacular architecture

Rather the same in the backdrop of hegemony of modernism and pastiche scenography of post modernism, both of which have failed to address the human condition due to their extreme stances towards historicism.

1980s

Defamiliarization

Emphasis should be on the tactile sense rather than the visual.Architecture suited to light and touch

Architecture suited to light

Striking similarity

Traditional Japanese

Shoji

Glass sliding screen and

gateway to the room

Connect to nature

Zen gardenThe traditional tea house

Japanese musicZen Buddhist Temples

Haiku poetry

Critical Regionalism

In context

Architecturalmoleskine.blogspot.in

The exterior is constructed following the universal technique of rational, modular, economic, prefabricated concrete, versus the interior that expresses the culture of the region with a specifically designed, organic, reinforced concrete shell that manipulates the Scandinavian sky and has multiple cross-cultural references.

Critical Regionalism

In context

Continued…

• What is present in Bagsvaerd Church is the juxtaposition of the interior and the exterior and it’s relationship to the female and male.

• “Sharp angled male architecture in contrast to the sensuous”

• Due to its spiritual nature, the interior space in the church, sacristy and chapel, these spaces emit a sense of calm and peacefulness while the exterior exudes a feeling of security and protection.

Nordic concrete Architecture is:

- Architecture where concrete is used as a dominating and visible material and/or-Architecture where concrete is expressed through the geometry.

In Bagsvaerd Church, the roof structure in concrete shows some of the possibilities to show the plasticity of the concrete.

www.nordicinnovation.org

Is Tadao Ando a Critical Regionalist?

In question

•How does he address regionalism?•Mere constructions?•Evocative domestic elements?

•Revitalizing the Japanese feelings•Interplay of light, materials and details

•Ando is clearly regional. But is he critical?

•Isn’t ‘Critical Regionalism’ in itself an oxymoron?•Can a place be regional yet not associate itself with nostalgia?

• ‘Concrete Regionalist’ ?

Concrete Resistance: Ando in the context of critical regionalism ; Xianghua Wu

The Architect: Jorn Utzon •Nature is architecture’s best teacher

•“The Innermost Being of Architecture”

•Additive Architecture

•Modest to monumental

•Nordic Sensibility

•Influenced by the architecture of the ancient Mayan civilisation, as well as the Islamic world, China and Japan.

The Architecture of Jorn Utzon. Kenneth Frampton, Pritzker Prize 2003 Speech

•

Additive Architecture is an approach by Jorn Utzon to describe his development of architectural projects on the basis of growth patterns in nature.

Additive Architecture

Additive Architecture

Additive Architecture in Bagsvaerd Church

Thank you