Industrial Revolution and Architecture

During the middle of the 19th century and into the 20th century the world started to see vast changes. As a society the Industrial evolution is one of the vast changes that effects our lives on a daily basis. From transportation, computers, and many other parts of our daily lives. Architecture was not absent from the inventions and changes influenced from the industrial revolution. From the dislike of the revolution in the Arts and Crafts movement in the late 19th century to the full participation of the Bauhaus movement during the 1930s.

William Morris

The arts and craft movement was taking place at the same time as the start of the industrial revolution. The artist, architects, and designers had a strong disliking for the revolution. With the belief that the industrial revolutions would destroy the skills and crafts of the craftsman designing and building the structures. Designers feared the quality of materials being manufactured to the hand made craftsmanship. One of the major architects of the time William Morris believed that the decline of craftsmanship would also influence the decline of social and moral standards.

Hotel Tassel - Victor Horta

Following the arts and craft movement the art nouveau movement, starting in 1890, was the first of its kind to accept the industrial revolution manufacturing process. Like the arts and craft movement art nouveau wanted to incorporate ornamentation into its design. Art nouveau was different in wanting to use wrought iron technology, a material that was not readily available before the industrial revolution. The movement was vastly influenced by the works of Viollet-Le-Duc. VLD was a major influence on Victor Horta. Horta considered one of the most appreciated architects during the art nouveau movement. One of his more famous works was the Hotel Tassel which incorporated the use of wrought iron into his design. After the turn of the century the art nouveau movement become unpopular and by the 1920s it was no longer in existence.

Bauhaus

When the arts nouveau movement starts its decline, the Bauhaus movement starts its incline in popularity at the start of the 1920s. The movement was the first to fully appreciate the industrial revolution and the products it manufactures. With the design characteristics of transparency, clean simple forms, steel, glazing, concrete, and the expression through form. Bauhaus movement did not believe in ornamentation but the architecture should be expressed in the form and function of the structure.



Architecture was greatly influenced by the industrial revolution through the different movements. As an architecture student 100 years after the industrial revolution I can appreciate the changes that happened. I believe that architecture is going through another movement today that people will be communicating about 100 years from now. That is the technology movement and the use of computers and 3d printing within the industry. This has become a major influence in architecture despite some negative publicity, in a similar way as the industrial revolution. Architecture will go through similar phases in the technology revolution much like it did 100 years pryer in the industrial revolution.