DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.45213#0096
92
Structural solutions
Big industry should get involved in construction and start to manufacture elements for houses, l/l/e must
create the spirit for mass-production, the spirit of constructing mass-produced houses and the spirit of
living in mass-produced houses. The spirit of conceiving the mass-production of houses.[...] over the last
fifty years where steel and concrete brought developments foretelling the monumental aggrandizement
of construction underwent a complete transformation of the rules of architecture. For us, the styles of the
past no longer exists, the style of our times has been born. A revolution has come.
Le Corbusier231
New structural solutions worked out by engineers and architects were meant first of all to facilitate
the production of industrialised living units. The introduction of frame construction to domestic
architecture was a truly revolutionary change. Not only did this type of construction initiate the in-
dustrial production of residential buildings but it also enabled the architects to carry out their ideas
of modern unified living space and freedom of form. The frame relieved the external walls of their
former load-bearing function and allowed for a modern, flexible approach to elevation design unin-
hibited by structural requirements. It is in the 1920's that large expanses of glazing appeared in the
form of horizontal strips of windows set against plain elevations.
Although structural use of reinforced concrete dated back to the mid-19th century, it is only in
the 20th century that it became widely used and employed in domestic architecture. Le Corbusier
played an instrumental and pioneering role in its propagating in the first decades of the 20th cen-
tury. As early in 1914 he developed the concept of the cost-efficient Maison Dom-ino: the name was
derived from the Latin domus (house) and the reinforced-concrete column-grid that recalled the
patterns of domino-piece, and analysed the structural possibilities it offered. The conclusions led
him to formulate the famous Five Points Towards a New Architecture. Lifting the bulk of the structure
off the ground with reinforced-concrete stilts (pilotis) supporting floor-slabs, leaving the ground
floor space under it completely open, the open plan (frame construction) gave freedom in matters of
room arrangement as non-structural partitions could be placed wherever desired. Free facade (free-
dom of elevation treatment provided by the frame's autonomous structural system and non-sup-
porting walls), horizontal windows (a new mode of construction facilitated long, continuous strips
of windows spanning the full width of the external walls) and a rooftop garden terrace compensated
for the area taken up by the building on the ground and making this new type of floor slab construc-
tion possible.
231 Szczesny RUTKOWSKI, op.cit., p.81-82.
Structural solutions
Big industry should get involved in construction and start to manufacture elements for houses, l/l/e must
create the spirit for mass-production, the spirit of constructing mass-produced houses and the spirit of
living in mass-produced houses. The spirit of conceiving the mass-production of houses.[...] over the last
fifty years where steel and concrete brought developments foretelling the monumental aggrandizement
of construction underwent a complete transformation of the rules of architecture. For us, the styles of the
past no longer exists, the style of our times has been born. A revolution has come.
Le Corbusier231
New structural solutions worked out by engineers and architects were meant first of all to facilitate
the production of industrialised living units. The introduction of frame construction to domestic
architecture was a truly revolutionary change. Not only did this type of construction initiate the in-
dustrial production of residential buildings but it also enabled the architects to carry out their ideas
of modern unified living space and freedom of form. The frame relieved the external walls of their
former load-bearing function and allowed for a modern, flexible approach to elevation design unin-
hibited by structural requirements. It is in the 1920's that large expanses of glazing appeared in the
form of horizontal strips of windows set against plain elevations.
Although structural use of reinforced concrete dated back to the mid-19th century, it is only in
the 20th century that it became widely used and employed in domestic architecture. Le Corbusier
played an instrumental and pioneering role in its propagating in the first decades of the 20th cen-
tury. As early in 1914 he developed the concept of the cost-efficient Maison Dom-ino: the name was
derived from the Latin domus (house) and the reinforced-concrete column-grid that recalled the
patterns of domino-piece, and analysed the structural possibilities it offered. The conclusions led
him to formulate the famous Five Points Towards a New Architecture. Lifting the bulk of the structure
off the ground with reinforced-concrete stilts (pilotis) supporting floor-slabs, leaving the ground
floor space under it completely open, the open plan (frame construction) gave freedom in matters of
room arrangement as non-structural partitions could be placed wherever desired. Free facade (free-
dom of elevation treatment provided by the frame's autonomous structural system and non-sup-
porting walls), horizontal windows (a new mode of construction facilitated long, continuous strips
of windows spanning the full width of the external walls) and a rooftop garden terrace compensated
for the area taken up by the building on the ground and making this new type of floor slab construc-
tion possible.
231 Szczesny RUTKOWSKI, op.cit., p.81-82.