The Industrial Revolution
• Industrial Revolution, widespread replacement of manual labor by machines that began in Britain in the 18th century and is still continuing in some parts of the world. The Industrial Revolution was the result of many fundamental, interrelated changes that transformed agricultural economies into industrial ones. The most immediate changes were in the nature of production: what was produced, as well as where and how. Goods that had traditionally been made in the home or in small workshops began to be manufactured in the factory. Productivity and technical efficiency grew dramatically, in part through the systematic application of scientific and practical knowledge to the manufacturing process. Efficiency was also enhanced when large groups of business enterprises were located within a limited area. The Industrial Revolution led to the growth of cities as people moved from rural areas into urban communities in search of work.
His famous axiom, "Form follows function," became the touchstone for many in his profession.
The Bauhaus School
Dessau, Germany
The ideas of the German Bauhaus school of architecture and applied arts have greatly influenced the development of architecture and design in the 20th century. Founder Walter Gropius designed the unadorned, functional buildings for its quarters in Dessau in 1925.
The Eiffel, wrought-iron tower in Paris, a landmark and an early example of wrought-iron construction on a gigantic scale. It was designed and built by the French civil engineer Gustave Alexandre Eiffel for the Paris World's Fair of 1889.
The Bauhaus was a school of design founded in Germany by architect Walter Gropius in 1919. Many outstanding artists and architects served on its faculty. In 1933 the school was shut down by Germany's Nazi government, and many of its faculty members, including Gropius, immigrated to the United States.
1. How do you think the Industrial Revolution changed the way Architecture looked? (form)
2. How do you think the purposes for Architecture changed? (function)
The Wainwright Building
Sullivan, Louis Henri (1856-1924), American architect, whose brilliant early designs for steel-frame skyscraper construction led to the emergence of the skyscraper as the distinctive American building type. Through his own work, especially his commercial structures, and as the founder of what is now known as the Chicago School of architects, he exerted an enormous influence on 20th-century American architecture. His most famous pupil was the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, who acknowledged Sullivan as his master. The Wainwright Building stands 10 stories high, has a metal frame and was completed in 1891 in St. Louis, Missouri.