Ideas that changed the course of architecture

Exploring the Impact of Innovation on Architecture: From Ancient Fire to Modern Tech.

All changes that created a revolution can only be analyzed in relation to time. While discovering fire was something that changed the course of human civilizations, so was the introduction of the internet. Even though both are spread across a millennia, the impact they created can only be truly understood in relation to the past before the innovation, and the changed future after it. Imagine a world where timelines of innovations were jumbled. Confusing to even think about!

Here's another thought to tickle your brain: what if some innovations, not essential ones like finding fire but like the wheel, had not been embraced by the public users at that time and had faced a delay?

In the book "100 ideas that changed architecture" by Cardiff University architecture professor Richard Weston and British publisher Laurence King, we get chronological insight into how elements of architecture and its discoveries paved the way for a different future.

In his book, Weston quotes, "Surprisingly few of the ideas are philosophical or theoretical in character; indeed, some readers may wonder whether some of them — like Fireplace with which the book begins, and Wall and Brick which quickly follow — are ideas at all…."

“‘Ideas’ that really change the practical art of architecture are not just the relatively few grand philosophical bodies of thought that shape civilizations, but frequently altogether more humble ideas like a brick or reinforcing concrete with rods of steel. Everything that humans make begins, ultimately, with an idea: not, perhaps, those we think of as patentable — the kind cartoonists like to represent as a bulb flashing in a scientist’s head — but as a guiding concept that, for example, tells a stonemason how to shape and place stone on stone to create an arch which, as if by magic, makes it possible to defy gravity and make an opening in a wall.”

Many such ideas must have occurred independently to different people in different places and the moment when the metaphorical bulb first flashed will never be known — but this does not diminish their importance.

Let us go through some of the ideas Richard Weston quotes in his book.

Idea # 5: DOOR

“‘Places made for an occasion,’ from Gaudi’s Casa Milà in Barcelona and Michel de Klerk’s housing in Amsterdam to medieval doors in San Gimignano, the design of openings and doors offers rich, expressive possibilities.”

‘A door,’ observed the Dutch architect Aldo van Eyck, ‘is a place made for an occasion.’ The language is personal, but the thought universal: although necessary for security, privacy, and climatic protection, doors transcend the demands of function by mediating the moment of entering and leaving a building or room.

Idea # 15: ATRIUM

“Right: Glass-covered atria—seen here on the grand scale at Rafael Viñoly’s Tokyo International Forum—offer numerous environmental and energy-saving advantages and have become common in offices, hotels, and many other buildings since the 1980s.”

Nowadays, it can be hard to imagine large shopping malls or commercial centers without their inner plaza being devoid of any natural lighting systems. The prominence of atriums in designs has been vital to how modern buildings have shaped into containers of large volumes.

Weston observes: It takes only a few moments’ reflection to realize that many of the most potent ideas that have changed architecture are of this seemingly prosaic character. One of the most celebrated in Modern architecture, the free plan, for example, would have been impossible without the development of the central heating systems that liberated architects from the discipline of accommodating fireplaces and chimneys and, in time, teenagers from the constraints of continual parental supervision — just as the chimney had previously enabled the development of grand houses with many private rooms or apartments.

Idea # 97: BIGNESS

“In 1994, the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas, founder and principal of the Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), wrote that ‘In a landscape of disarray, disassembly, dissociation, disclamation, the attraction of Bigness is its potential to reconstruct the Whole, resurrect the Real, reinvent the collective, reclaim maximum possibility.’”

Some other notable ideas that have shaped the modern realm of global architecture could be the most obvious ones.

Concrete

While the Irish Concrete Society claims “Concrete has been in existence in varying forms for thousands of years. The oldest concrete discovered was in the floor of a hut in Israel, dated around 7000BC. The concrete used for the floor was made by burning limestone to produce quicklime which was then mixed with water and stone and left to set.” In the 19th Century, concrete was used mainly for industrial buildings. The first widespread use of Portland cement in home construction was in England and France between 1850 and 1880 by Francois Coignet, who added steel rods to prevent exterior walls from spreading.

Now we can hardly imagine structures devoid of concrete and the results of this idea can be observed all around us.

Elevators

Maybe if the innovation of the elevator took a delay, the construction industry would not have seen many skyscrapers but instead creepers that spread across more areas. While the pulley systems have been in use for millennia, the modern elevator or its predecessor was first introduced by Elisha Otis in New York in the year 1853 without which high rise buildings that we see now would have been impossible.

It would only be possible to finish this article by talking about the innovation in software that saw architects ride a wave of technological innovation, especially the usage of CAAD (Computer-Aided Architectural Design) software. While some of you might have gone through the transition, or had been at least made to in college, we knew times were getting better when we did not have to scrape off lines from sheets and instead could use an undo or erase command.

In the ever-evolving world of architecture, innovation remains the driving force that shapes our built environment. From ancient times to the present day, architects and designers continue to push the boundaries of what is possible, transforming our cities and landscapes in the process. As we look to the future, one thing is clear: the power of ideas will always be at the heart of architectural innovation.