Structure Diagram of Furnace inferred from photographs

STRUCTURE AND SCALE

Skin (Brick Cladding)

Structure (Iron)

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1

PETER BEHRENS

GA

SWER

KSFR

AN

KFUR

T, G

ERM

AN

Y (1

911)

G

I

H

F

E

D

J B

B

B

A

CAMMONIA PLANT

PURIFICATION PLANTMACHINE HOUSE

TOWERSAPPARATUS BUILDINGFURNACE

COAL STORAGE

OFFICE AND SERVICE BUILDINGSGATE

GAS CONTAINER

G

IH

FED

J

BA

C

PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION

Unlike Kahn’s design for a single roof housing the entire Ford Motor Co., Behren distinguished each program to a building and lay them on the edge of the site. This action, as seen in the site plan, created a lack of a central presence, usually done with a monumental building--one can contrast this centrality in Ledoux’s Roayal Saltworks (1773) at Arc-et-Senans.

Construction sequence of the iron structureTower Elevation

907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1915

A.E

.G. F

AC

TORY

GA

SWER

KSFR

AN

KFUR

T, D

E.

BERL

IN, D

E.

TREVOR NYE //THOMAS YEHSPRING 2012

Detail of Brick work of Gaswerks

view from internal courtyardAEG Turbine Factory window detail

ORNAMENTATION (or lack of)

Fenestration, panel joints, and expressed structure on the AEG Factory (1910) visually break up

the facade, acting like ornamentation. However, as

Behren’s progressed, there was a diminution of these expressive

qualities. Behrens limit the ornamentation on Gasworks

(1911) to mere fenestrations and let the whole building’s geometry

express his intent.

Through the little ornamentation the complex possessed, Behrens

used different colored brick, yellow and dark red, to distinguish

the domestic programs and industrial programs, respectively.

(Not photographed) The director’s house is of yellow brick with dark red accents at the

capitals of the piers

The proportion of yellow brick in the welfare buildings and offices are less than that of the director’s house, indicating its dual relationship with both dometic and

industrial programs

The workshop and other buildings are all dark red brick, indicating its industrial

programming. (No yellow)The iconic projected stuccoed tank encloser and conical roof allude to late medieval construction

STRUCTURE and SCALE Model T

Assembly Line Mock-up

Finished Model Ts

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 11900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1

PAC

KARD

AUT

O P

LAN

TD

ETRO

IT, M

I.

ALBERT KAHN

High

land

Par

k, M

ichi

gan

(190

9)

Much like Gaswerks, the size and scale of the buildings and complex are not proportional to human beings, but rather to the machines they house. In this age of industrialization, the scale began to reflect mechanization and the reality of mass-production. These large span buildings were meant to house assembly lines, not just workers.

FORM/SCALE FOLLOWS FUNCTION

Exposed Reinforced Concrete Frame

Large Glass Windows

Red Brick Infill (Shear)

Ford

Mot

or C

ompa

nyHi

ghla

nd P

ark Packard's was the first factory building of reinforced concrete

construction in Detroit. Julius Kahn became his chief engineer. At this time, architects had considered factory design beneath them, and relegated the task to junior draughtsmen. Kahn felt no such compunction. The burgeoning automobile industry in Detroit demanded more factories such as the Packard building, and Chalmers, Hudson, and Dodge all called on Kahn. Importantly, Henry Ford had him design his Highland Park Plant.

At Highland Park in the four-story main building, concrete-slab girder-beam construction was prevalent throughout. Different buildings had different structural and lighting systems, which were dictated by the use and which step in the assembly process that the building was used for. In 1912-1915, the continuously moving assembly line was perfected at the Highland Park Plant.

At 517,000 square-feet, the building’s length runs for a quarter mile and it can house about 10 regulation-sized football fields

Existing

Demolished

Red Brick

907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1915907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1915

HIG

HLA

ND

PA

RK, M

I. FO

RD M

OTO

R C

O.

ARCH382-ARCH HISTORY IVBUILDING ANALYSIS

ORNAMENTATION and MATERIAL (or lack of)

PROGRAM LIGHTING

ORIENTATION

The facades of Highland Park are dominated brick infill and large expanses of glazing and are broken up by the rhythmic reinforced concrete frame characteristic of Kahn industrial buildings. Most of the buildings have little or no ornamention except for signage and occasional

The buildings on the site are oriented and organized using the existing city grid. Although it is not solar oriented, some buildings are sensitive to light exposure in north facing saw tooth roofs that allow soft light and ventilation

The saw tooth roof allows for soft north light while also catering to ventilation.

Ford, himself conceived of the idea to have an entire plant under one roof with no open courts and no dividing walls. This was radically different from previous designs where every process was housed in a separate building.

The office building received more formal architectural treatment: beneath the cornice there was a frieze of glazed tiles.

Rooftop Raceway

Original Building

Aerial View The Industrial Aesthetic

REFE

REN

CES

Anderson, Stanford, Peter Behrens and a New Architecture for the Twentieth Centry. Cambridge, Mass., MIT Press, 2000.

Buddensieg, Tilmann. "Il Gaswerk di Peter Behrens: Documenti di architettura." Casabella. 46.479 (1982): 38-45.

Hyde, Charles K. "Assembly-Line Architecture: Albert Kahn and the Evolution of the U. S. Auto Factory, 1905-1940." IA, the Journal of the Society for Industrial Archaeology. 22.2 (1996): 5-24.

Sanders, Walter B. “The Legacy of Albert Kahn.” Detroit: Wayne State University Press, 1987.

Structure Diagram of Furnace inferred from photographs

STRUCTURE AND SCALE

STRUCTURE and SCALE

Skin (Brick Cladding)

Model T

Assembly Line Mock-up

Finished Model Ts

Structure (Iron)

At 517,000 square-feet, the building’s length runs for a quarter mile and it can house about 10 regulation-sized football fields

Existing

Demolished

Red Brick

1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 19151900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1915

A.E

.G. F

AC

TORY

PAC

KARD

AUT

O P

LAN

TD

ETRO

IT, M

I.

HIG

HLA

ND

PA

RK, M

I. FO

RD M

OTO

R C

O.

GA

SWER

KSFR

AN

KFUR

T, D

E.

BERL

IN, D

E.

PETER BEHRENS

ALBERT KAHN

TREVOR NYE //THOMAS YEHSPRING 2012

ARCH382-ARCH HISTORY IVBUILDING ANALYSIS

GA

SWER

KSFR

AN

KFUR

T, G

ERM

AN

Y (1

911)

High

land

Par

k, M

ichi

gan

(190

9)

G

I

H

F

E

D

J B

B

B

A

CAMMONIA PLANT

PURIFICATION PLANTMACHINE HOUSE

TOWERSAPPARATUS BUILDINGFURNACE

COAL STORAGE

OFFICE AND SERVICE BUILDINGSGATE

GAS CONTAINER

G

IH

FED

J

BA

C

PROGRAM DISTRIBUTION

Unlike Kahn’s design for a single roof housing the entire Ford Motor Co., Behren distinguished each program to a building and lay them on the edge of the site. This action, as seen in the site plan, created a lack of a central presence, usually done with a monumental building--one can contrast this centrality in Ledoux’s Roayal Saltworks (1773) at Arc-et-Senans.

Much like Gaswerks, the size and scale of the buildings and complex are not proportional to human beings, but rather to the machines they house. In this age of industrialization, the scale began to reflect mechanization and the reality of mass-production. These large span buildings were meant to house assembly lines, not just workers.

Construction sequence of the iron structureTower Elevation Detail of Brick work of Gaswerks

view from internal courtyardAEG Turbine Factory window detail

ORNAMENTATION (or lack of)

ORNAMENTATION and MATERIAL (or lack of)

FORM/SCALE FOLLOWS FUNCTION PROGRAM LIGHTING

ORIENTATION

Fenestration, panel joints, and expressed structure on the AEG Factory (1910) visually break up

the facade, acting like ornamentation. However, as

Behren’s progressed, there was a diminution of these expressive

qualities. Behrens limit the ornamentation on Gasworks

(1911) to mere fenestrations and let the whole building’s geometry

express his intent.

Through the little ornamentation the complex possessed, Behrens

used different colored brick, yellow and dark red, to distinguish

the domestic programs and industrial programs, respectively.

(Not photographed) The director’s house is of yellow brick with dark red accents at the

capitals of the piers

The proportion of yellow brick in the welfare buildings and offices are less than that of the director’s house, indicating its dual relationship with both dometic and

industrial programs

The workshop and other buildings are all dark red brick, indicating its industrial

programming. (No yellow)

The facades of Highland Park are dominated brick infill and large expanses of glazing and are broken up by the rhythmic reinforced concrete frame characteristic of Kahn industrial buildings. Most of the buildings have little or no ornamention except for signage and occasional

The buildings on the site are oriented and organized using the existing city grid. Although it is not solar oriented, some buildings are sensitive to light exposure in north facing saw tooth roofs that allow soft light and ventilation

The saw tooth roof allows for soft north light while also catering to ventilation.

The iconic projected stuccoed tank encloser and conical roof allude to late medieval construction

Exposed Reinforced Concrete Frame

Large Glass Windows

Red Brick Infill (Shear)

Ford

Mot

or C

ompa

nyHi

ghla

nd P

ark Packard's was the first factory building of reinforced concrete

construction in Detroit. Julius Kahn became his chief engineer. At this time, architects had considered factory design beneath them, and relegated the task to junior draughtsmen. Kahn felt no such compunction. The burgeoning automobile industry in Detroit demanded more factories such as the Packard building, and Chalmers, Hudson, and Dodge all called on Kahn. Importantly, Henry Ford had him design his Highland Park Plant.

Ford, himself conceived of the idea to have an entire plant under one roof with no open courts and no dividing walls. This was radically different from previous designs where every process was housed in a separate building.

At Highland Park in the four-story main building, concrete-slab girder-beam construction was prevalent throughout. Different buildings had different structural and lighting systems, which were dictated by the use and which step in the assembly process that the building was used for. In 1912-1915, the continuously moving assembly line was perfected at the Highland Park Plant.

The office building received more formal architectural treatment: beneath the cornice there was a frieze of glazed tiles.

Rooftop Raceway

Original Building

Aerial View The Industrial Aesthetic