Page 496 - Ultimate Visual Dictionary (DK)

ARCHITECTURE

The early 20th century EMPIRE STATE
BUILDING, NEW
YORK, USA, 1929-1931
(BY R. H. SHREVE,
T. LAMB, AND
ARCHITECTURE OF THE EARLY 20TH CENTURY is notable for radical new types of A. L. HARMON)
steel-and-glass buildings—particularly skyscrapers—and the widespread use of
Radio mast
steel-reinforced concrete. The steel-framed skyscraper was pioneered in Chicago
in the 1880s, but did not become widespread until the first decades of the 20th Circular lantern
century. As construction techniques were refined, skyscrapers became higher
and higher; for example, the Empire State Building (right) of 1929-1931 Art deco splayed
has 102 storeys. Many buildings of this period were constructed from Stepped seashell form
lightweight concrete slabs, which could be supported by cantilever plinth
Chamfered corner
beams or by pilotis (stilts), as in the Villa Savoye (below). The Colonnaded
early 20th century also produced a great variety of architectural story
styles, some of which are illustrated opposite. Despite their
Ornamentation
diversity, the styles of this period generally had one thing in Ziggurat-
common: they were completely new, with few links to past Set-back style
step-back
architectural styles. This originality is in marked contrast to 19th-
century architecture (see pp. 492-493), much of which was revivalist.
Steel
mullion
VILLA SAVOYE, POISSY, FRANCE, 1929-1931 (BY LE CORBUSIER)
Flush
TOP VIEW Fixed table Parapet window
Vertical pier
Slab floor Screen
Ramp
Regular
fenestration
Handrail
Windowsill
Flat roof Solid-panel
infill
Curved
Flat roof wall
Fanlike
art deco
decoration

Directional Terrace Raised Decorated Stone
skylight planting bed stone lintel structure line

SIDE Terrace Cement-rendered wall Limestone and
VIEW of lightweight granite cladding
Sliding pane of glass slabs Solarium Stepped
cornice
Mullion Flat roof
Parapet
Piano nobile Plinth
(first floor)

Reinforced-
concrete
pilotis (stilt)
Rooms Ribbon window of Curved Covered Ground-floor Square
for staff long living-room glazing driveway entrance Base bay

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