Giedion's aim was not only analyzing the
past, but also evaluating the present and anticipating the future.
Industrialization brought about both new materials and new usages for old materials. For example iron, which was not so much preferred until the nineteenth century because of its poor resistance to corrosion, lack of classical precedents, and difficulty to produce except in relatively small quantities, became much popular in the nineteenth century with the development of new techniques in construction.
According to him, the architecture of the present is not the product of a few of protagonists appeared in the beginning of the twentieth century, but it is rooted in the nineteenth century with the beginning of industrial revolution.
The Chicago School had an important place in American architecture especially for the development of the high-rise buildings in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. This engineeringbased architecture school under the pioneering of William Le Baron Jenney, an École Polytechnique graduated French engineer-architect, achieved notable novelties in architectonic detail and ornament, and trained many remarkable architects such as Louis Sullivan. The muddy ground of Chicago led the local architects to invent the floating foundation. The high-rise buildings were erected with the help of iron skeleton, and the iron skeleton brought about the horizontally elongated window.
The sixth chapter, „Space-Time in Art, Architecture, and Construction‟, the reader encounters with the birth of new art and architecture in Europe. But first of all, one needs to know the factors that affect the human activities, which are social, economic, and functional, as well as human feelings and emotions.
While Cubism reinterpreted space-time conception through spatial representation, Futurism reinterpreted it through movement. Gradually, the Bauhaus was under the effect of the abstractionists and De Stijl group, but it was never affected by the expressionists. Bauhaus was established to melt art, science and industry in the same pot using architecture as the medium
As Giedion mentions, Germany was quite welcoming to the ideas of every kind until the thirties. For those years, while the Austrian architects Adolf Loos and Otto Wagner were active in Germany, Peter Behrens was accepted as the representative of the German architecture; some of the protagonists of modern architecture worked in his office, such as Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier.
Giedion draws attention to the feature of the new architecture that the approach in design tend to resemble each other; however by keeping the regional characteristics, – such as it does in Brasil or in Finland – and by representing the spirit of the age they are able to remain unique.
The usage of glass and the attention to the proportions can be considered as the main aspects of his design. His skyscraper apartments represent the next generation of the Chicago School –now with a combination of artist‟s creativity and the immense means of industrialization. Giedion is quite satisfied with the idea of creativity and mechanization operating together. On the other hand, the integrity of form becomes important. Mies van der Rohe‟s design concept is evolved just according to this principle. With every building he designed, he approaches the pure form. Without differentiating his style, he treated every project even; and as Giedion claims, Mies van der Rohe‟s working methods brought a „deep moral influence‟ upon current American architecture.
The book is considered as a praiser of modern architecture, yet what distinguishes it from the other books on modern architecture is the way Giedion took in order to analyze the evolution of the modern architecture. He suggested exploring the roots of modern architecture beginning with the Renaissance, and sought for a common denominator to unite the factors that composed the true architecture. The examination of the tendencies throughout the periods since the Renaissance, the revelation of the hidden facts –which are of cardinal importance for an accurate architecture-, the cooperation of science and arts on the behalf of the human‟s sake should be investigated through the way Giedion handled.
Kostof assesses Giedion as an appropriate and sufficient collaborator of the modern movement, who was a devoted spokesman of the case through his publications and being the secretary of CIAM. Kostof introduces the reader the notion of „ Giedionesque thought‟, which champions a rather democratic approach towards the small items of everyday life and towards the society in its most expanded meaning. Yet, he concludes that Giedion‟s approach, the way he examined the modern movement is the most valuable and worthwhile aspect of Space, Time and Architecture. Space, Time and Architecture is accepted by Kostof as Giedion‟s “next major step in the historical rehabilitation of the Modern Movement” after being involved with CIAM and the publication of Building in France. 279 What Kostof underscores is the insistence of Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock with their proclamation of the International Style, in spite of the rejection of the word "style" by Giedion.
Industrialization brought about both new materials and new usages for old materials. For example iron, which was not so much preferred until the nineteenth century because of its poor resistance to corrosion, lack of classical precedents, and difficulty to produce except in relatively small quantities, became much popular in the nineteenth century with the development of new techniques in construction.
According to him, the architecture of the present is not the product of a few of protagonists appeared in the beginning of the twentieth century, but it is rooted in the nineteenth century with the beginning of industrial revolution.
The Chicago School had an important place in American architecture especially for the development of the high-rise buildings in the last two decades of the nineteenth century. This engineeringbased architecture school under the pioneering of William Le Baron Jenney, an École Polytechnique graduated French engineer-architect, achieved notable novelties in architectonic detail and ornament, and trained many remarkable architects such as Louis Sullivan. The muddy ground of Chicago led the local architects to invent the floating foundation. The high-rise buildings were erected with the help of iron skeleton, and the iron skeleton brought about the horizontally elongated window.
The sixth chapter, „Space-Time in Art, Architecture, and Construction‟, the reader encounters with the birth of new art and architecture in Europe. But first of all, one needs to know the factors that affect the human activities, which are social, economic, and functional, as well as human feelings and emotions.
While Cubism reinterpreted space-time conception through spatial representation, Futurism reinterpreted it through movement. Gradually, the Bauhaus was under the effect of the abstractionists and De Stijl group, but it was never affected by the expressionists. Bauhaus was established to melt art, science and industry in the same pot using architecture as the medium
As Giedion mentions, Germany was quite welcoming to the ideas of every kind until the thirties. For those years, while the Austrian architects Adolf Loos and Otto Wagner were active in Germany, Peter Behrens was accepted as the representative of the German architecture; some of the protagonists of modern architecture worked in his office, such as Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Le Corbusier.
Giedion draws attention to the feature of the new architecture that the approach in design tend to resemble each other; however by keeping the regional characteristics, – such as it does in Brasil or in Finland – and by representing the spirit of the age they are able to remain unique.
The usage of glass and the attention to the proportions can be considered as the main aspects of his design. His skyscraper apartments represent the next generation of the Chicago School –now with a combination of artist‟s creativity and the immense means of industrialization. Giedion is quite satisfied with the idea of creativity and mechanization operating together. On the other hand, the integrity of form becomes important. Mies van der Rohe‟s design concept is evolved just according to this principle. With every building he designed, he approaches the pure form. Without differentiating his style, he treated every project even; and as Giedion claims, Mies van der Rohe‟s working methods brought a „deep moral influence‟ upon current American architecture.
The book is considered as a praiser of modern architecture, yet what distinguishes it from the other books on modern architecture is the way Giedion took in order to analyze the evolution of the modern architecture. He suggested exploring the roots of modern architecture beginning with the Renaissance, and sought for a common denominator to unite the factors that composed the true architecture. The examination of the tendencies throughout the periods since the Renaissance, the revelation of the hidden facts –which are of cardinal importance for an accurate architecture-, the cooperation of science and arts on the behalf of the human‟s sake should be investigated through the way Giedion handled.
Kostof assesses Giedion as an appropriate and sufficient collaborator of the modern movement, who was a devoted spokesman of the case through his publications and being the secretary of CIAM. Kostof introduces the reader the notion of „ Giedionesque thought‟, which champions a rather democratic approach towards the small items of everyday life and towards the society in its most expanded meaning. Yet, he concludes that Giedion‟s approach, the way he examined the modern movement is the most valuable and worthwhile aspect of Space, Time and Architecture. Space, Time and Architecture is accepted by Kostof as Giedion‟s “next major step in the historical rehabilitation of the Modern Movement” after being involved with CIAM and the publication of Building in France. 279 What Kostof underscores is the insistence of Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock with their proclamation of the International Style, in spite of the rejection of the word "style" by Giedion.
