Early 20th Century Research Paper

From Embodying Ornament to Functional and Aesthetic Space in Early-20th-Century Architecture.
"If people never did silly things nothing intelligent would ever get done." Despite the risk of sounding cliché by opening with a Ludwig Wittgenstein quote, this is where we shall begin. It is something that relates back to a basic human instinct that is so deeply rooted in our DNA. Why do we yearn so intuitively for ideas that are silly and nonsensical? The answer is balance. Everything in the universe, including us is constantly striving for equilibrium. The Industrial Revolution was an expression of human logic and innovation. We wanted to produce more quantity, with less resources. This is a exceptionally serious, logical concept that at times
Man could spend a lifetime becoming an expert of the hand craft of a single item. Let us exemplify a chair. An expert craft's man could spend an entire year producing an extremely high quality chair with lovely detailed ornamental carvings on every linear span of wood. All of this quality and personal care usually meant this chair would literally last so long, you could write it into your will for future generations. This was the general, extremely slow paced scale of time under which humans operated until the early 1700's. The Industrial Revolution was the result of the widespread innovation of mechanics and was catalyzed by the invent and application of the steam-engine. This new era worked in a extraordinarily different scale of time than that of previous generations. Goods were being produced easier, quicker and in much higher quantity. The mentality of this generation would say "Why spend the time and resources to produce a chair that will last 100 years, when you're going to be sick of looking at it in a year?" The brains of this movement wanted to forget the extra nonsense, and the unpredictability of a personal craftsman. They figured out how to do it in a fraction of the time and cost if we use simple, smooth, uniform surfaces. By the middle of the 1800's, the industrial revolution was in full swing. Every industry sought automation by the use of
Public opinion of architecture, among countless other industries, was that it had begun taking on a lifeless, utilitarian aesthetic. This machine-driven architecture lacked creativity. Yes, you can produce more, but is it at the expense of quality and design? The right-brain of society was feeling a lack of individuality. Sure, they could perceive the brains behind what was going on, but where was the heart of it all? Consequently the Arts and Crafts movement was born as a rebellion to the negative impact of industry.2 The red house, designed by Philip Morris Webb, is a quintessential representation of everything Arts and Craft stood for. Each aspect of the structure has various minute, unique details in order to emphasize the true craft. Every window is slightly different and a touch of gothic influence is apparent in the wall arches above the windows, as to suggest a memory of a more ornamented time. This movement was about bringing the theory and expression back into architectural design of space. Antonio Gaudi, a forerunner of the Arts and Craft era was equally inspired by the theories of Ruskin as he was by the music-dramas of