A History of Architecture: From Crystal Palace to Fallingwater

The Crystal Palace: Architectural Inspiration

The Crystal Palace incorporated standardized components such as bowstring trusses, 24-foot column intervals with large sheet glass panels for the roof and walls. However, in order to give an architecturally pleasing look, what element was incorporated inspired by the Renaissance Churches?

a. Barrel Vaults

The Modern Movement: A Global Perspective

The Modern Movement in architecture was truly an International Style in that it was adopted worldwide. Various architects viewed the building as an object or incorporated the building into its setting. This philosophy is exemplified by the quotes of the following:

  • Alvar Aalto said, “Nature, not the machine, is the most important model for architecture.”
  • Le Corbusier said, “A building is a machine for living.”

Who was the architect that said, “God is in the details and less is more”?

a. Mies Van Der Rohe

The Guggenheim Museum: Function and Form

What is the function of Frank Lloyd Wright’s final building, which is named after its benefactors the Guggenheims and is located in New York City?

c. A Museum

The Guggenheim’s Unique Skylight

What kind of skylight tops the Frank Lloyd Wright Guggenheim building?

a. A domed skylight (it should be a web-like skylight)

Vertical Circulation in the Guggenheim

What unique form of vertical circulation is dominant in the Frank Lloyd Wright Guggenheim building?

c. a ramp

The Architect of La Sagrada Familia

What was the name of the Spanish architect who designed the famous church in Barcelona, Spain called “La Sagrada Familia”?

b. Antonio Gaudi

The Crystal Palace: A Construction First

The Crystal Palace was a marvel of engineering and industrial progress. It was the first to use this type of construction technique:

c. prefabricated cast iron construction

Michael Graves: A Postmodern Architect

What is the name of the Postmodern architect that designed the Portland Office Building, and the Swan and Dolphin Hotels in Disney World in Orlando, Florida?

d. Michael Graves

Vertical Exploration in Villa Savoye

In Villa Savoye, what unique form of vertical circulation is utilized in order to perceive the entire building?

c. a ramp

Modern Elements in Villa Savoye

In Villa Savoye, Modern architectural elements are expressed, such as the banding of windows, the use of slender regularly spaced columns, and what form of construction?

d. Reinforced Concrete Construction

The Crystal Palace and Hyde Park

An important requirement for the Crystal Palace was that it achieve a space with sufficient height and width to save the important trees in what famous London Park where the Exposition took place?

b. Hyde Park

Architecture and the Machine Age

During the 19th century, the machine age drove architectural philosophies. Several key doctrines reinforced this point of view, such as the Communist Manifesto by Marx and Engel, and Darwin’s Theory of Evolution. Which doctrine exemplifies the machine age architectural philosophy?

d. Schinkel’s view of a building as a machine.

Reactions to the Industrial Revolution

As a reaction against the Industrial Revolution and the Machine Age, various movements in architecture were developed. Which was not developed as a reaction against the Industrial Revolution?

d. Post-Modern, USA

Frank Lloyd Wright and the Open Plan

Frank Lloyd Wright redefined the house form by creating what style of plan in which the various spaces flowed together?

b. the open plan

The Robie House: Wright’s Trademark Elements

What was the name of the 1910 Chicago house in which Frank Lloyd Wright implemented most of his trademark elements, such as horizontal brick banding, a fluid relationship of interior spaces, and dramatic horizontal cantilevered overhangs?

d. The Robie House

Fallingwater: Architecture in Harmony with Nature

What Frank Lloyd Wright building best depicts his thoughts that a building should be one with nature?

b. Falling Waters

The Glass House: An Architectural Philosophy

Mies Van Der Rohe’s Glass House is an example of what architectural philosophy?

a. The Building as an object

Alvar Aalto: Blending Nature and Modernism

What Finnish architect incorporated natural elements with modern form and techniques, such as in the 1938 Villa Mairea country house in Noormarkku, Finland?

c. Alvar Aalto

La Sagrada Familia: Structural Innovation

The Spanish church “La Sagrada Familia” has taken more than a century to complete because of its complexity and size at 590 feet in height. What unique elements conceived by its architect obviate the need for flying buttresses in order to resolve the lateral structural loads?

a. Nave Columns are dramatically inclined

Art Deco: From Interiors to Skyscrapers

The American Skyscrapers utilized what style, which was first used by French interior designers incorporating Egyptian and Mayan references and futuristic materials such as chrome, plastic, and glass?

c. Art-Deco

Neo-Traditionalism: A Return to Sustainability

What is the name of the current prevalent style of Architecture and Urban Design, which advocates a return to a sustainable environment in which the car is a component to be incorporated within an environment for people created by implementing elements at the?

c. Neo-Traditional

Mies Van Der Rohe’s Weekend Retreat

Mies Van Der Rohe set the trend for corporate office buildings using the minimalist modern approach of a structural steel frame and the transparency of the glass house. Name his weekend retreat glass house built in 1945 just outside of Chicago:

a. The Farnsworth House

The Central Core of the Glass House

In Mies Van Der Rohe’s glass house, what areas are housed in the “Central Core”?

d. Service and Storage Areas