6 Unit 6 Famous Architects

6.1Pretext exercises

6.1.1Warming-up

1)What famous architects do you know ?

2)Who is your favourite architect ?

3)What works of the world famous architects can you mention ?

4)Do you agree with the statement that an architect is a contemporary of the future?

6.1.2 Read the words. Pay attention to the letters in italics

[θ] authorship, authentic, seventeenth, cathedral, three, truth, theatre, third, mathematics

[ð] with, there, northern, although, them, that, this, another, then, these, they, their [ kw] banquet, queen, require, quiet, quickly, quire, equal

6.1.4 Read the following verbs. Mind their meaning. Pay attention to the principal forms

6.1.5 Find proper Russian words with the same roots as the following English words:

tradition, association, number, classic, banquet, form, ambitious, idea, compositional, literature, character, artist, constructor, period, activity, rector, genius, problem, astronomy, mathematics, professor, talent, assistant, interest, visit, plan, restoration, grandiose, commercial, master, standard, element, colossal, career, perspective, proportion, column, decoration, delicacy, adaptation, hospital, observatory, monument

6.1.6 Choose the proper English word :

6.1.7 Find English equivalents for the following Russian words :

A подлинный; огромный; подразумевать; требовать; утонченный; точный; потерпеть неудачу; быть обязанным; просторный; изумительный; обнаруживать; сдержанный; выдающийся; устанавливать; равный

В notable; spacious; to fail; to establish; authentic; to imply; to owe; refined; enormous; to reveal; to require; discreet; exact; marvelous; equal

6.1.8 Form all possible word combinations :

6.1.9 Read the following word combinations and translate them into Russian :

the greatest architect to date; to be traditionally associated with; exact evidence of one’s authorship; prevailing architectural ideas; to be influenced heavily; scarcity of recorded works; on the part of an architect; to break with established tradition; deviser of construction; the true greatness; to be obvious even in childhood; spectacular talent; to come to notice; plans for restoration; in a state of decay; to give the opportunity; to suggest grandiose schemes; a spacious master plan; powerful influence; church authorities; to be far from the standards; to include traditional elements; to approve the plan; to make in the shape of a cross; to begin under patronage; the third largest in the world; the greatest achievement; to be notable for; plain slab of stone

6.2 Read the text and tell about Inigo Jones’ and Christopher Wren’s creative activity

Text 6 A

The Great English Architects

Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren are the greatest English architects to date. Inigo Jones’ ( 1573 – 1652 ) early years are traditionally associated with a

number of neo-classic buildings, but there is no exact evidence of his authorship.

His first authentic building, and also his finest, was the Banqueting Hall in Whitehall intended to form part of ambitious royal palace. The design of Inigo Jones

for Whitehall Palace ( 1638 ) and Queen’s Chapel ( 1623 ) in London introduced English patrons to the prevailing architectural ideas of northern Italy in the late 16th- architects such as Palladio, Serlio, and Vincenzo Scramozzi, Jones approached the Baroque spirit in his works by unifying them with a refined compositional vigour. Queen’s House is an Italian villa sympathetically reinterpreted. The upper floor loggia is very Palladian, as is also the two-armed, curved open staircase to the terrace. The proportions and the general effect are long and low and very un-Italian. It must have required considerable courage on the part of the architect to break with established tradition. It is small wonder that the influence of Inigo Jones was enormous despite the scarcity of his recorded works. It is said that Inigo Jones is to architecture what Shakespeare is to literature.

The chief task of the architect is to create buildings of character; this implies that the architect should be an artist as well as a deviser of construction. The true greatness as an artist and constructor is revealed in the works of another famous English architect Sir Christopher Wren.

The period of Wren’s activity as an architect covers the last forty years of the seventeenth century and extends for twenty years into eighteenth. Wren was born in the quiet Wiltshire village of East Kroyle. He was the son of the rector who was late to become Dean of Windsor. He was educated at Wensminster School and Wadham College, Oxford. His genius was obvious even in childhood, though then it was turned more to the problems of mathematics and astronomy.

In 1657, when Wren was 25, he was appointed Professor of Astronomy at Grasham College in London. His spectacular talents quickly came to notice of Charles II and in 1660 Wren was appointed assistant to the Surveyor General. To tell the truth, Wren never trained as an architect. His architectural career proper began under family patronage. His uncle commissioned him to design a couple of buildings at Cambridge ( Pembroke College Chapel ) and Oxford ( Sheldonian Theatre ). They are moderately successful and, at any rate, still stand. Wren’s interest in architecture was revealed after his visit to Paris in 1665. On his return to England he was asked by the King to produce plans for the restoration of old St. Paul’s which was in a state of decay. But the Great Fire of 1666 put an end to the possibilities of restoring the old cathedral. The Great Fire also gave Wren the opportunity to suggest two grandiose schemes: the rebuilding of the entire commercial heart of London to a spacious master plan with wide street, huge piazzas and long perspectives and the rebuilding of St.Paul’s. This first scheme failed because of the powerful influence of speculators and the second scheme was rejected by the church authorities as Wren suggested a Romanesque church dominated by a large rotunda covered by a dome. He wanted to make the cathedral in the shape of the so-called Greek cross with equal arms. This church would be far from the standards of usual Gothic church with quire, nave and aisles in the form of a cross with three short arms and one long arm. Wren was asked to make another plan which would include these traditional elements. This second plan was approved.

By 1666 Christopher Wren was appointed Surveyor General. It took much time of the architect. The colossal task of demolishing the old cathedral continued for 6 years. In November 1675 the rebuilding of St.Paul’s began. It was to go on for about 40 years.

Architecture, first and last and all the time, is proportion. Wren’s proportions – in his columns, his moldings, his decorations – all have delicacy. They are well-bred, well-mannered and discreet. His dome when he built it, was the thitd largest in the world. Yet such was Wren’s genius that he managed to give it an air of modesty. Wren’s greatest achievement, St.Paul’s Cathedral, London ( 1675 – 1711 ), owes much to French and Italian examples of the Baroque period; but the plan shows a remarkable adaptation of the traditional English cathedral plan to Baroque spatial uses.

Wren is also notable for his design of about 50 city buildings, marvelous for their beauty; Greenwich Observatory; Hampton Court Palace; Greenwich Hospital; Kensington Palace – the Grangery; Windsor Town Hall and others.

Wren died in 1723. He lies buried in St.Paul’s. His tomb is aplain slab of stone on which is written: “If you seek his monument, look around you”.

6.3 Exercises to the text

6.3.1 Find the false sentences using information from the text. Correct the false sentences:

1)Jones’ early years are associated with gothic buildings.

2)Jones’ first authentic building was Queen’s Chapel in London.

3)Jones greatly influenced the development of the English architecture.

4)Christopher Wren lived and worked in the 16th century.

5)Wren’s genius was obvious even in childhood.

6)Wren studied architecture at Grasham College.

7)Wren prepared designs for restoring the St.Paul’s.

8)Wren’s first scheme was too advanced to meet with approval.

9)Christopher Wren presented English Rococo.

6.3.2Complete the following sentences:

1)At the early stage of his creative activity Jones worked in … style.

a)gothic

b)neo-classic

c)rococo

2) Inigo Jones was heavily influenced by … architects.

a)Italian

b)Greek

c)Scandinavian

3)Wren's creative activity began in the … .

a)first half of the 18th century

b)second half of the 17th century

c)first half of the 17th century

4)At the age of 25 Wren was appointed … .

a)assistant to the Surveyor General

b)Surveyor General

c)Professor of Astronomy

5)St.Paul’s exhibits a brilliant example of English … .

a)Baroque

b)Gothic

c)Classicism

6)The rebuilding of St.Paul’s was to go on for about … .

a)4 years

b)14 years

c)40 years

7)Architecture is first of all … .

a)decoration

b)proportion

c)perspective

6.3.3Answer the following questions:

1)What are Jones’ early years associated with?

2)What is Jones’ first authentic and finest building?

3) What is the period of Wren’s creative activity?

4)Why is Wren considered to be a versatile man?

5)Why wasn’t Wren’s first design for rebuilding St.Paul’s met with approval?

6)How can we appreciate St.Paul’s cathedral?

7)What buildings were designed by Wren?

6.3.4With your partner, make up a dialogue about the activity of Inigo Jones and Christopher Wren using the information from the text and your own knowledge of the subject

6.4 The year 2003 marks the 265th anniversary of Matvey Feodorovich Kazakov, one of the greatest Russian architects of the 18th century. Kazakov’s genius and prolific creativity contributed to the formation of a distinctively neoclassical style in Moscow. Read the text and tell about the works of the famous Russian architect

Text 6 B

Matvey Kazakov

Matvei Kazakov (1738-1812) was fortunate in his teachers, beginning with Dmitry Uktomsky whose school of architecture he attended, then with Peter Nikitin who directed the school after 1760. In 1768 Kazakov’s work came to the attention of Vasily Bazhenov. Thus, Kazakov was educated by the best Russian architects.

Kazakov’s first masterpiece was the Petrovskii Transit Palace (1775-82) (now Zhukovsky Air Force Academy).The palace combinated the fashion for the Gothic revival with motifs drawn from medieval Russian architecture.In 1776-87 Kazakov’s classical training produced one of the most important state buildings of Catherine’s reign – the Senate in the Kremlin. Kazakov’s task was to incorporate a new building

into the established ensemble. An accurately organised neo-classic structure was set off against the picturesque grouping and stylistic diversity of the Kremlin buildings. The Senate is crowned with a dome. The rotunda also overlooks Red-square. The rotunda was one of Kazakov’s favourite motifs. Kazakov’s skillis integrating the rotunda form into a large structure is evident in many of his designs including the Demidov mention at Petrovskoe. Kazakov applied the classical rotunda to church dezign. One of the earliest ecsamles of it is his church of the Metropolitan Philip (1777-88) on Vtoraya Meshanskaya Street(now Prospect Mira).

In addition to his imperial commissions and churches Kazakov aloso built to Moscow’s cultural and charitable institutions such as the university and the hospital. The urban context was important for the architect. The university, of 1782-93, largely destroyed in fire of 1812 and subsequently rebuilt by Domenico gillardi on Mokhovaya Street and Golitsyn Hospital of 1794-1801, now the First Municipal Hospital on Kaluzhskaya Street, are examples of it. The façade of the universitywhich faces the Kremlin with adorned with Ionic porticoes and the centre was topped with high attic, the sculpture on which made an effective show against the dome.

For all Kazakov’s prodigious output, his greatest contribution to the neoclassical décor of Moscow lay in his design of city mansions. Most typical of Kazakov’s urban houses in the three–storied mansion built in 1793-9 for merchant M. P. Gubin. Kazakov proved particulary successful in resolving the problem of creating a monument yet balanced structure within the confines of Moscow’s narrow central streets. The houses were set along the street, forming an ansamble with teir subsidiary buildings. Kazakov embellished Tverskaya Street with Y. I. Kozitskaya’s house(1790). It was remoulded into a grand department store by its later owners, the Yeliseyevs. Through the variation of individual devices Kasakov designed an astonishing range of urban houses. Thus, although the façade of A. N. Golitsyn’s house of the 1770s on Lubyanka Street lacks columns, its decoration is supplied by a balcony on elegant brackets and the delicate patterning of the window surroundings. Matvey Kazakov was an excellent teacher. In the 1780s he headed the school of architecture and devoted much time to teaching. Kazakov maintained the school under the auspices of theKremling Building Office, and in 1805 it got an official status as the College of Architecture.

Born in Moscow, Kazakov died in Ryazan in October/November of 1812 where the stick architect was taken by his family when the army of Napoleon was marching on Moscow. Matvey Kazakov could not survive the great fire of 1812 in Moscow and the destruction of his works.

6.4.1 Increase your vocabulary. Make some sentences of your own using the following phrases:

to be fortunate in teachers

to come to attention of somebody

to incorporate buildings into the established ensemble picturesque grouping and stylistic diversity of buildings to be one of favourite motifs

to be evident in many designs to make an effective show

to form an ensemble with subsidiary buildings to head the school of architecture

6.4.2Ask your partner the following questions:

1)Whom was Kazakov educated by?

2)What was Kazakov’s first masterpiece?

3)What was one of Kazakov’s favourite motifs?

4)What was Kazakov’s greatest contribution to the neo-classical décor of Moscow?

5)What official buildings were built in Moscow by Kazakov?

6.4.3Compare Kazakov’s residential houses and official buildings

6.5 Read the text to find answers to the questions

Text 6 C

Charles-Edouard ( Jeanneret ) Le Corbusier

1)What are the formulas of Le Corbusier’s new architecture?

Le Corbusier ( 1887 – 1966 ) was the most influential and the most brilliant of 20th century architects. He published and publicized a number of total plans for cities with a centre of identical skyscrapers, symmetrically arranged in a park setting, with lower buildings and complex traffic routes between. The formulas

of Corbu’s architectural typology, his “five points for a new architecture”: the slab, the split-level dwelling unit, the sunbreaker, the pilotis and the roof garden were to be the essential elements of the new aesthetic.

2) What does Le Corbusier’s “Le Modulor” mean?

He proposed the “Modulor”, a system of proportions grounded on the golden section or the Fibonacci series using the human figures as its basis, formulated the famous definition of architecture as ‘the masterly correct and magnificent play of masses brought together in light’. His comparisons with engineering constructions and with modern forms of transportation were formulated into such oft-misunderstood postulates as ‘the house is a machine for living in’ and that it should be as practically constructed as a typewriter. By this he meant not a mechanistic ‘machine aesthetic’ but rather complete rationality in plan, capacity for serial-production and function.

3) What were Le Corbusier’s expressions of luxury in architecture?

Le Corbusier’s works have become monuments of modern architecture with their general independence of terrain as well as a rich variety of interior and exterior spaces achieved by means of ‘double-height rooms, gallery floors, bridges and ramps with views into the interior as well as ‘framed’ views looking out, all expressions of a genuine luxury in architecture.

4) Why is Le Corbusier thought to be a leading figure in modern architecture?

Le Corbusier’s long period as a leading figure in modern architecture – for nearly half a century – was unique among architects of his time and is, finally, a reflection of his capacity to endow architecture with an expression which evokes the spirit of his epoch. In this sense he was at once the ‘terrible simplificateur’ in the

tradition of the rationalist enlightenment a creator of forms which endure well beyond his time.

Among his works are Villa Savoye, Poissy ( 1929 -1931 ); Pavillon Suisse, Cite Universitaire, Paris ( 1930-2 ); The Clarte apartment house in Geneva ( 1930 – 1932 ); Unite d’Habitation, Marseilles ( 1947 – 1952 ); the urban planning schemes for large North African and South American cities ( 1930s ); the Pilgrimage church of Notre Dame-du-Haut at Rouchamp ( 1950 – 1954 );the Carpenter Centre for the Visual Arts at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts ( 1961 – 1964 ); the plan of the city of Chandigarh, India ( 1950 – 1951 ), and others.

Notes to the text: slab – плита

split-level dwelling unit – жилая единица в разных уровнях sunbreaker – солнцерез

pilotis – столбы-ходули, поднимающие здание над землей terrain – местность

capacity – способность

ramp – уклон, наклонная плоскость to endow – наделять

to evoke – вызывать

to endure – выдерживать испытание временем

6.6 Read the text and write the summary of it in Russian

Text 6 D

English Neoclassical Architects

Robert Adam is one of the outstanding representatives of Neoclassicism in England. His executed works consisted mainly of the remodeling of existing houses, the most important of which were Osterly Park, Middlesex ( 1761 – 80 ); Syon House, Middlesex ( 1762 – 69 ); and Kenwood House, Hampstead, London ( 1767 – 69 ). At Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire ( 1765 – 70 ), He completed James Paine’s plan and added a garden front in which the central portion ( centerpiece ) is clearly derived from an ancient Roman triumphal arch, the first use of this form in domestic architecture. This use of antique forms in a new context is e recurring characteristic of Neoclassical architecture. Adam’s planning, to which he devoted considerable attention, was based on a variety of contrasting room shapes, each geometric in itself and contained within an overall geometric plan yet creating a sense of movement, variety, and surprise. Such play with shapes and spaces was to characterize Neoclassical planning, particularly in France.

Of the next generation the leading architects were George Dance the Younger, Henry Holland, and James Wyatt. Dance’s Newgate Prison, London ( 1769; demolished 1902 ), was among the most original English buildings of the century, a grim, rusticated complex combining the romantic drama of Piranesi with the discipline