MODERN ARCHITECTURE

BARCELONA PAVILION
Aditi Shaw
190695005
CONTENT

§ INTRODUCTION

§ ABOUT THE ARCHITECT-

• Overview
• Phliosophy

§ BARCELONA PAVILION-
• Overview
• History
• Concept
• Site
• Building Design
• Materials
INTRODUCTION

MODERN ARCHITECTURE:

Modern architecture is a style of building that emphasizes function and a

streamlined form over ornamentation. This design aesthetic is a departure
from more elaborate and decorated style.

Characteristics:
• Clean, minimal lines
• Broad roof overhangs
• Walls of glass and large windows
• Open and well-defined floor plans
• Modern and traditional building materials
• A relationship to the outside environment
• Asymmetrical design
MODERN ARCHITECTS:

The birth of modern design came with the thought that form should follow
function. This idea started with architect Louis Sullivan.

Other famous modern archirtects include Frank Lloyd Wright, Staatliches

Bauhaus, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and Le Corbusier. 

Louis Sullivan Frank Lloyd Wright Le Corbusier Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
ABOUT THE ARCHITECT
OVERVIEW:
• Ludwig Mies was born in Aachen, Nordhein
Westfalen ,Germany, on March 27 1886.

• No formal training in architecture

• Worked under Peter Behrens

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
• Succeeded Gropius as Bauhaus Director

• Migrated to US and taught architecture at the Illinois Institute

of Technology

• Designed Skyscrapers Of Steel And Glass which became models

of skyscraper design throughout the world.
ARCHITECT’s PHILOSOPHY:

“Less is more”
‘Less is more…’ This phrase, not invented by, but often used by Mies van der Rohe,
represents the ideal of creating something so beautiful it cannot be further reduced.
CHARACTER OF WORKS:

• Simple rectangular forms

• Open, flexible plans and multi-functional spaces

• Widespread use of glass to bring the outside in

• Mastered steel and glass construction

• Exposed and very refined structural details

BARCELONA PAVILION
OVERVIEW:

• Type - Exhibition Building

• Architectural Style- Modernism

• Location - Barcelona, Spain

• Construction Started - 1928 Barcelona Pavilion (Re-built)

• Construction System - Steel frame with glass and polished stone

• Completed- 1929

• Demolished- 1930 (rebuilt in 1986)

• Client- Government of Germany

• Architect- Ludwig MiesVan de Rohe

HISTORY:

• After several architectural triumphs in

Germany, Mies was commissioned to design
the German Pavilion for the International
Exposition in Barcelona, Spain.
Barcelona Pavilion 1929

• The pavilion was intended to be the face of the German section that
would host King Alphonso XIII of Spain and German officials at the
inauguration of the exposition.

• The pavilion for the International Exhibition was supposed to represent

the new Weimar Germany: democratic, culturally progressive,
prospering, and thoroughly pacifist; a self-portrait through architecture.
• After the closure of the Exhibition, the Pavilion was
disassembled in 1930.Given the significance and reputation of
the Pavilion, thoughts turned towards its possible
reconstruction.

• In 1980 Oriol Bohigas, as head of the Urban Planning

Department at the Barcelona City Council, set the project in
motion, designating architects Ignasi de Solà-Morales, Cristian
Cirici and Fernando Ramos to research, design and supervise
the reconstruction of the Pavilion.

• Work began in 1983 and the new building was opened on its
original site in 1986.
CONCEPT:

The main idea or concept Ludwig Mies van der Rohe employed in the designing of the
German Pavilion is “less is more.” This is expressed using the least amount of components
and resources but they emit multiple situations, a fluid organizational sequence and
functional spaces, highlighted by sets of orthogonal planes and traditional pure elements.
The routing is one of the most impotant features in the
pavilion. The planning in circulation can be seen as the
visitor first moves up, to enter the actual pavilion, once
on the podium, one will follow the defined circulation
loops, almost naturally. This has everything to with the
fluent spatial arrangements and the open floor plan.
The vertical elements guide the view axes towards
another direction.
 The fluent spacces expresses itself
through three conditions-
vertical open, horizontally open, and
the addition of both, everywhere
open. The arrangement of walls
define the spatial arrangements, the
movement and the views.
SITE:

• The asymmetrical qualities of the

Barcelona Pavilion stand out in stark
contrast to its surroundings.
• The plot of land consists of a
horizontal face and a slope. It is right
next to the mainroad.
• The genius loci of the situation is the
contrast between the closed slope-
area on the southwest and the open
charakter of the square on the
northeast.
• The pavilion is surrounded by green
areas.
BUILDING DESIGN:

The pavilion’s design is based on a formulaic grid system developed by Mies that not only
serves as the patterning of the travertine pavers, but it also serves as an underlying
framework that the wall systems work within.
The covered portion of the pavilion, one story high, occupied roughly the north half of the
podium. Beneath its flat roof ran the series of interwoven spaces.

This open plan, with its intimation of an infinite freedom of movement, was at the same
time qualified by two rows of equally spaced, cruciform columns that stood in martial
formation amid the gliding walls.
The roof rested on walls, or more properly wall planes, placed asymmetrically but always
in parallels or perpendiculars, so that they appeared to slide past each other in a space
through which the viewer could walk more or less endlessly, without ever being stopped
within a cubical area.
The overall impression is of a luxurious space created by perpendicular planes in three dimensions.
The interior of the pavilion is composed of places created by the walls that work together with the
low roof planes to stimulate movement and to turn the architectural promenade Mies, in which
framed views will induce movement through the narrow passage that opens at a higher volume.
 The additive and subtractive shows another state of balance within the pavilion, the
roof structure is the addictive part of the whole of the pavilion while the reflecting pools
are the subtractive part that counterbalances the additive parts.
 By raising the pavilion on a plinth in conjunction with the narrow profile of the site, the
Barcelona Pavilion has a low horizontal orientation that is accentuated by the low flat roof that
appears to float over both the interior as well as the exterior.
Inside the pavilion can identify three areas:

• The front yard, defined by the area of access

and where the water body is located. Here is
an interesting relationship between the
opacity of the walls, the reflection of the
water and the transparency of the glass
pavilion, a corner that marks the entrance to
the site is created. In the opposite corner is a
small enclosure services.
• The built kernel, determined by the planes
of the walls built with different materials,
while maintaining control of the view
through the management of the opacities,
transparencies and empty.
• The backyard. This enclosed by walls and
the presence, again, of a body of water on
which the statue Alba, by Georg Kolbe is.
Even though it’s visually a simple floor plan its complexity comes from the strategic layout of
walls. Unforced direction of visitor’s movements throughout the space happens naturally
without clear knowledge of the visitor. Walls are not there as bare structural support but
rather spatial dividers and “directors” of the space.
 The structure is created with eight steel pillars in a cross holding a flat roof. Complete the
work a relieved from large glass structure and interior walls. The regular grid system
developed by Mies not only serves as a pattern for laying travertine pavers , but also serves as
an underlying framework of working systems for interior walls.
MATERIALS:
For the reconstruction of the
pavilion glass, steel , reinforced
concrete and four different types of
marble , Roman travertine , green
Alpine marble , ancient green
marble from Greece and doré onyx
Atlas in Africa were used , all with
the same characteristics and
provenance, as originally used by
Mies. The stunning piece of golden
onyx placed in the main space
significantly more expensive to
build, becoming the focus of
attention for visitors, not only for
its size and thickness, and also for
his colourful drawing.
 MARBLE:

Roman travertine Roman travertine green Alpine marble doré onyx Atlas
• When exposed to the sun, the travertine is illuminated as if it had a secondary
light source that dissolves the natural stone and full of light on the space.

• These bright qualities inherent in travertine, and the use of material without
cracks in the outer socket added to the solution of the territorial demarcation
transforming the pavilion into one continuous volume rather than two
separate entities.

• The canopy is supported on a base of classical Roman travertine marble, a

material that is repeated throughout the front yard, both on the floor, the walls
and the long bench that runs around the wall parallel to the pond.

• The glass and steel give frame and cover the walls built with large blocks of
marble, which themselves become the "work of art " pavilion , with its
gorgeous colors and patterns.

• The eight cruciform pillars are covered in chrome.

• Flat cover was made with reinforced concrete.

THANK YOU!!