Art Nouveau: Architecture

In Architecture, the Art Nouveau style particularly shows the synthesis of ornament and structure. This type of architecture was characterized by a liberal combination of materials – glass, iron, ceramic and brickwork – which was employed in the creation of interiors in which beams and columns became thick vines with spreading tendrils and the windows became both opening for air and light and membranous outgrowths of the organic whole. It’s safe to say that this approach was surely directed opposed to the traditional architectural values of clarity and reason of structure.

Constanta city at Black Sea

Art Nouveau art and architecture flourished in major European cities between 1890 and 1914.

In the United States, Art Nouveau ideas were expressed in the work of Louis Comfort Tiffany, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Art Nouveau buildings have many of these features:

• Asymmetrical shapes
• Extensive use of arches and curved forms
• Curved glass
• Curving, plant-like embellishments
• Mosaics
• Stained glass
• Japanese motifs

Gaudi, Barcelona, Spain

Metro Entrance, Paris

Some examples of Art nouveau can be seen in these buildings...

The Wainwright Building in St. Louis, Missouri, by Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adlel

• Parque Güell in Barcelona, Spain by Antoni Gaudí

• Majolika Haus in Vienna, Austria by Otto Wagner

• The Municipal House in Prague, Czech Republic

Art Nouveau architects

Hector Guimard was born in Lyon, France, but he studied decorative arts and architecture in Paris, where he later established his own practice. Inspired by some of the new architectural theories circulating in late 1800s, he produced some exceptional avant-garde works. In particular, the radical ideas of French architect Viollet-le-Duc and the sinuous architecture of Belgian Victor Horta greatly influenced his designs. 

In 1895, after visiting the first Art Nouveau building, Victor Horta's "Hotel Tassel" in Brussels, Guimard proceeded to a complete re-evaluation of his artistic approach; furniture and interior decoration of a house had to become parts of a total work of art. From 1898 to 1905 he designed and created the station entrances of Paris subway " Le Métropolitain"; they were a fabulous expression of Art Nouveau, the new art, which was discovered during the 1900 World Exposition in Paris.

The architectural and decorative works of Hector Guimard are characterized by fluid, unusual lines, vibrant curves inspired by nature, essential shapes underlined by light and contrast of the different materials used, such as wood, iron and stone. They are the most representatives of the organic and floral Art Nouveau Style in France, and his would later be known as the "Guimard Style". Otto Wagner (1841-1918) studied architecture at the School of Architecture at Vienna Academy, Austria, where he later became a teacher. Among his students were the some renowned art nouveau architects. From 1895 he was influenced by new art styles, more suited to the needs of modern way of life and developed his theories on architecture, relating to function, material and construction, in the book "Modern Architecture" (1895). In 1898, he built his first Art Nouveau building, the Majolica House in Vienna, a functional structure with the facade covered in multicolored majolica tiles. He also designed in 1894, the Vienna metropolitan railway system. Otto Wagner was one of the founding members of the Vienna Secession, with fellow artists Klimt, Hoffmann and Olbrich, in 1899. He was one of the most influential artists of the turn of the century : architect, urnbanist, applied artist and theoretician, his writings laid the groundwork for Modernism in architecture. In his architectural works, he was receptive to the use of modern methods of building (steel frame construction) and new materials (thin marble slabs for the façades).

Louis Henri Sullivan (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 son of a dancing teacher, Sullivan was born in Boston on September 3, 1856. After studying architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, he spent a year in Paris at the École des Beaux-Arts and in the office of a French architect. Settling in Chicago in 1875, he was employed as a draftsman, then in 1881 formed a partnership with Dankmar Adler. Together they produced more than 100 buildings. Adler secured the clients and handled the engineering and acoustical problems, while Sullivan concerned himself with the architectural designs. 

One of their earliest and most distinguished joint enterprises was the ten-story Auditorium Building (1886-89) in Chicago. This famous showplace incorporated a hotel, an office building, and a theater renowned for its superb acoustics. The Wainwright Building, also ten stories high, with a metal frame, was completed in 1891 in St. Louis, Missouri. 

In 1895 the Sullivan-Adler partnership was dissolved, leading to a decline in Sullivan's practice. The Carson Pirie Scott (originally Schlesinger & Mayer) Department Store, Chicago, regarded by many as Sullivan's masterpiece, was completed in 1904. His architectural practice declined alarmingly after that; his last buildings are a series of small banks in the Midwest. All are admired for their superb fusion of bold architectural forms with Sullivan's characteristic sumptuous ornament. Outstanding are the Security Bank (originally National Farmers' Bank; 1908) in Owatonna, Minnesota, and the People's Savings Bank (1911) in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Concerned with aesthetics as well as being a working architect, he expressed his ideas in lectures and writings, including the classic Autobiography of an Idea (1924, reprinted 1956). His famous axiom, “Form follows function,” became the touchstone for many in his profession. 

Sullivan, however, did not apply it literally. He meant that an architect should consider the purpose of the building as a starting point, not as a rigidly limiting stricture. He himself employed a rich vocabulary of ornament, even on his skyscrapers. 

Sullivan's designs often used masonry walls with terra cotta designs. Intertwining vines and leaves combined with crisp geometric shapes. This Sullivanesque style was imitated by other architects, and his later work formed the foundation for the ideas of his student, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Louis Sullivan believed that the exterior of an office building should reflect its interior structure and its interior functions. 

Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868 – 1928)

was one of eleven children, and he suffered from a limp and other health problems. Encouraged to spend time in the country, he developed a love of nature that later found expression in his Art Nouveau designs.

With his wife, Margaret MacDonald, Charles Rennie Mackintosh pioneered modern design in Scotland, and their Art Nouveau works helped lay the foundation for the Arts & Crafts movement in Britain.

Buildings designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh are praised for their elegant detailing and skillful use of light and space.

During his time at the Glasgow School of Art, Mackintosh was part of "The Four," a group of designers that included the sisters Margaret and Frances MacDonald and follow artist Herbert McNair.

"The Four" exhibited posters, graphic designs, and furniture in Great Britain and Europe. Along with other artists and designers, they developed the Glasgow Style, known for strong lines and graceful, symbolic shapes.