Legislative Assembly Chandigarh, India - Architect: Le Corbusier
The Parliament or Legislative Assembly (1955) was designed as a large box with the entrance portico on one side, concrete piers on the other, and a repetitive pattern on the façade. Sculptural forms on the roof, a dramatic ‘funnel’ top light over the Assembly, and a tilted pyramid over the Senate chambers completed the composition. The Assembly Hall has a square plan. The Assembly chamber, in the form of a hyperbolic shell, is surrounded by ceremonial space. This circulation space is planned as a dimly lit, triple height, columned hall for informal meetings and discussions. The side of the hall facing the high court has a great portico and has eight thin piers. These piers frame a view of glimpses of the Shivalik Hills. A ceremonial pivoting door is placed in an off-centre bay of the portico. Le Corbusier was inspired by the form of the cooling towers of a power station near Ahmedabad. The architect designed the hyperbolic shell of the Assembly chamber with a base diameter of 39.6 m. This shell is 38 m and terminates in an oblique section with a metallic framework at the top. This framework directs the interplay of natural and artificial lighting, ventilation, and acoustics. The hyperbolic shell is only 15 cm thick, which helped in reducing the cost and the weight of structure. The Assembly chamber has a seating capacity for 252 persons. Additional galleries are provided for ladies, journalists, and officials. Acoustical treatment has been given to the Assembly Chamber to modulate and control the sound levels by providing sound absorbing panels in bright colours and random curvilinear shapes. The Council chamber, with a capacity of 70 seats is crowned by a pyramid, which admits light from the north into its interior. A ladies gallery with 90 seats, a men’s gallery with 104 seats, and a press gallery with 24 seats are also provided in this chamber. Staircases, lifts and ramps provide various means of circulation and access to different levels of the building. The construction of the entire structure is in exposed reinforced concrete.

Tags:   Legislative Assembly Chandigarh India architecture Corbusier corbu Parliament portico Sculptural forms roof pyramid offices pool beton brut rough concrete[x] brutalism

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Amiens France

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Legislative Assembly Chandigarh, India - Architect: Le Corbusier
The Parliament or Legislative Assembly (1955) was designed as a large box with the entrance portico on one side, concrete piers on the other, and a repetitive pattern on the façade. Sculptural forms on the roof, a dramatic ‘funnel’ top light over the Assembly, and a tilted pyramid over the Senate chambers completed the composition. The Assembly Hall has a square plan. The Assembly chamber, in the form of a hyperbolic shell, is surrounded by ceremonial space. This circulation space is planned as a dimly lit, triple height, columned hall for informal meetings and discussions. The side of the hall facing the high court has a great portico and has eight thin piers. These piers frame a view of glimpses of the Shivalik Hills. A ceremonial pivoting door is placed in an off-centre bay of the portico. Le Corbusier was inspired by the form of the cooling towers of a power station near Ahmedabad. The architect designed the hyperbolic shell of the Assembly chamber with a base diameter of 39.6 m. This shell is 38 m and terminates in an oblique section with a metallic framework at the top. This framework directs the interplay of natural and artificial lighting, ventilation, and acoustics. The hyperbolic shell is only 15 cm thick, which helped in reducing the cost and the weight of structure. The Assembly chamber has a seating capacity for 252 persons. Additional galleries are provided for ladies, journalists, and officials. Acoustical treatment has been given to the Assembly Chamber to modulate and control the sound levels by providing sound absorbing panels in bright colours and random curvilinear shapes. The Council chamber, with a capacity of 70 seats is crowned by a pyramid, which admits light from the north into its interior. A ladies gallery with 90 seats, a men’s gallery with 104 seats, and a press gallery with 24 seats are also provided in this chamber. Staircases, lifts and ramps provide various means of circulation and access to different levels of the building. The construction of the entire structure is in exposed reinforced concrete.

Tags:   Legislative Assembly Chandigarh India architecture Corbusier corbu Parliament portico Sculptural forms roof pyramid offices pool beton brut rough concrete[x] brutalism

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Villa Tugendhat Brno – the interiors

The inner furnishings of the house were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe along with his colleagues Lilly Reich and Sergius Ruegenberg. The furniture was primarily from tubular and strip steel as well as from noble woods (rosewood, zebra wood and Macassar ebony). Three 'Tugendhat' armchairs stood in front of the onyx wall upholstered in silver-grey 'rodion' material, three 'Barcelona' armchairs and a stool in emerald green leather, a glass table and a white bench. A colour accent was provided by a reclining chair with ruby red velvet upholstering. 'Brno' chairs made from tubular steel and upholstered in white sheepskin were situated around the round dining table from black polished pear wood. Chairs were placed next to the glazed milk wall and in the library. Two 'MR 20' wicker armchairs faced one another next to the writing desk behind the onyx wall. The majority of the metal furniture was produced in Germany. The built-in furniture and part of the free-standing items were produced in the Brno firm Standard Flat Company which at the same time realized part of the interiors of the Müller Villa in Prague by Adolf Loos. Vaňek's firm apparently also installed the curved inner wall from Makassar ebony.

Villa Tugendhat - the materials
Not only due to his architectural vision, but also in light of the placement of the building on a slope, Mies finally elected the supporting structure of a steel skeleton with backing masonry. The delicate supporting columns of a cross-section with riveted angles are from German steel. The columns on the terraces have brass cladding with patina coating to a bronze in copper colour, the columns in the main living area have brass chromium plating with a bright lustre. All of the window frames and a number of the doors are made from steel. All of the plastering was carried out in the natural colour tone of sand (they did not have a white coating). The internal plaster had a velvet lustre thanks to the final layer (stucco lustro).

The Italian almost white travertine (Tivoli locality) ranks among the original stone elements. This was employed in the interiors on, for example, the floors of the entrance hall and the staircases, and in the exteriors on the parapet and the bases of the upper terrace and the garden terrace with the stairs (this was replaced during the restoration of the Villa over the years 1981-85 with Spiš travertine from Slovakia). The so-called onyx wall is a truly remarkable decorative and at the same time functional stone element in the interior of the Villa. The honey-coloured, yellow rock with white veins was mined from the Atlas Mountains in former French Morocco in North Africa and is actually aragonite sediment (calcium carbonate).

The exclusive exotic woods came from south-east Asia. The wall cladding in the entrance hall, doors and built-in closets in the parent's rooms were from veneered palissander. The children's rooms made use of zebra veneer. The main living area contained the impressive ebony veneer from the region of Makassar on the island of Celebes. The dark brown and yellow veined ebony wood for the half-cylinder in the dining room and for the built-in library (preserved up until the present in its original state) was apparently chosen by Mies in Paris where he found sufficiently long veneer which would reach from the floor all the way to the ceiling.

Tags:   Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Rohe Villa Tugendhat Brno Czech Republic modernist architecture functionalism house garden white period international style

© All Rights Reserved

Villa Tugendhat Brno – the interiors

The inner furnishings of the house were designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe along with his colleagues Lilly Reich and Sergius Ruegenberg. The furniture was primarily from tubular and strip steel as well as from noble woods (rosewood, zebra wood and Macassar ebony). Three 'Tugendhat' armchairs stood in front of the onyx wall upholstered in silver-grey 'rodion' material, three 'Barcelona' armchairs and a stool in emerald green leather, a glass table and a white bench. A colour accent was provided by a reclining chair with ruby red velvet upholstering. 'Brno' chairs made from tubular steel and upholstered in white sheepskin were situated around the round dining table from black polished pear wood. Chairs were placed next to the glazed milk wall and in the library. Two 'MR 20' wicker armchairs faced one another next to the writing desk behind the onyx wall. The majority of the metal furniture was produced in Germany. The built-in furniture and part of the free-standing items were produced in the Brno firm Standard Flat Company which at the same time realized part of the interiors of the Müller Villa in Prague by Adolf Loos. Vaňek's firm apparently also installed the curved inner wall from Makassar ebony.

Villa Tugendhat - the materials
Not only due to his architectural vision, but also in light of the placement of the building on a slope, Mies finally elected the supporting structure of a steel skeleton with backing masonry. The delicate supporting columns of a cross-section with riveted angles are from German steel. The columns on the terraces have brass cladding with patina coating to a bronze in copper colour, the columns in the main living area have brass chromium plating with a bright lustre. All of the window frames and a number of the doors are made from steel. All of the plastering was carried out in the natural colour tone of sand (they did not have a white coating). The internal plaster had a velvet lustre thanks to the final layer (stucco lustro).

The Italian almost white travertine (Tivoli locality) ranks among the original stone elements. This was employed in the interiors on, for example, the floors of the entrance hall and the staircases, and in the exteriors on the parapet and the bases of the upper terrace and the garden terrace with the stairs (this was replaced during the restoration of the Villa over the years 1981-85 with Spiš travertine from Slovakia). The so-called onyx wall is a truly remarkable decorative and at the same time functional stone element in the interior of the Villa. The honey-coloured, yellow rock with white veins was mined from the Atlas Mountains in former French Morocco in North Africa and is actually aragonite sediment (calcium carbonate).

The exclusive exotic woods came from south-east Asia. The wall cladding in the entrance hall, doors and built-in closets in the parent's rooms were from veneered palissander. The children's rooms made use of zebra veneer. The main living area contained the impressive ebony veneer from the region of Makassar on the island of Celebes. The dark brown and yellow veined ebony wood for the half-cylinder in the dining room and for the built-in library (preserved up until the present in its original state) was apparently chosen by Mies in Paris where he found sufficiently long veneer which would reach from the floor all the way to the ceiling.

Tags:   Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Rohe Villa Tugendhat Brno Czech Republic modernist architecture functionalism house garden white period international style

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