The Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Rohe
The Barcelona pavilion was designed in 1928 by a German architect by the name Ludwig Mies Van de Rohe. The building design was established as a show of transformation in the German architecture after the First World War. The actual design was implemented in the following year (1929) and the building was built of simple structure which consisted of marble, red onyx and travertine (Berger, 2007). This building had certain unique features that attracted architects in the century. Though the building was destroyed in the year 1930, it was later re-constructed and its attributes, concepts, materiality and spatial distribution were used. It is a masterpiece in much architectural advancement due to these features. This makes this piece of architecture design to be a modern type of design till today (Weston, 2004). Some photographs of this famous building are shown below.
These pictures show the floating room concept (first picture and second picture) and the free plan in the third picture.
1. The concept behind Barcelona pavilion
The main concept behind this building appeared to be construction of a modern house which was constructed from simple and elegant materials. The main master piece was made of marble, red onyx and travertine. This made the building much simple and elegant without incurring much cost. An analysis of this concept seems the main behind contemporary building designs. This is due to the high demand for classic buildings yet the cost should be minimised. This idea has led to adoption of some designs which appear vague leading to disqualification of the design. For a better understanding, look at this picture of the building.
This picture shows a pillar used to support the ceiling allowing the floor to have an open plan.
The concept used was the free plan which allows a building designer to use the columns and ceiling only for the main building support without the idea of placement of walls for support. In this plan, the walls placement is not an issue thus the designer has an open floor plan for the building. This type of plan has become the most common design of tall buildings and glass walled buildings (Rubio, 1993). The other concept employed in the design, is the floating room concept. The concept allows a designer to use dotted lines to show rooms that appear to be floating in the air or water without reasonable support from the building’s foundation. The floating rooms may be supported by a column or even no physical attachment to the foundation though its weight is transmitted to the main foundation using the walls and pillars that support the central building. This concept was rooted at mainly expressing the German expertise in architecture (Lapunzira, 2005).
Critically examining the concepts used, free plan is one of the best building designs to use especially when constructing tall buildings. This concept allows the pillars and the ceiling to dry and become firm to support the weight of the building. This makes the building strong and less likely to collapse as a whole. It also encourages the construction of glass walls. Another advantage is the open floor layout. This allows the designer to place walls according to the use of the building and not a regular pattern as it is the case in fixed wall plan. One disadvantage of this concept is the uneven location of walls making the weight of the walls mainly to be on the pillars and the ceiling. This may stress the pillars and the ceiling to a point of collapsing. Another disadvantage is the uneven drying of the concrete and the pillars or ceiling. This results in the non-uniform structure of the pillar and the walls(Fechner, 2003). Thus, upon an earthquake, the walls can easily fall off the pillars leading to the demolition of the building.
2. The use and materiality of the pavilion
The main use of the pavilion was not directly depicted by its structure but by analysing its plan, the building had high acoustical aspects that made it an ideal hall for music concerts. The concerts were also aided by the open floor layout which allowed use of a space as the performance stage. The materiality of the building is expressed by use of steel, marble, travertine and glass in its structure. Steel is used as a supporting element in the pillars and the ceiling. Marble is used to decorate walls which are concrete. Travertine is used as a filling element in the design making the curves and edges appear perfect and full of reality. Glass is used as a wall where the weight of the building has to be controlled. This arrangement makes the pavilion an elegant expensive and modern building of the century (Fechner, 2003). On analysis, the materials used in the construction alongside the concrete make the building basically elegant but not as strong. Its main strength can be rooted in its steel pillars and concrete ceilings which are reinforced by the steel railings. The building can easily get destroyed by great pressure differences between its walls making it a vulnerable to collapsing in case strong winds blow across it. On the contrary, the light weight of the building can make it withstand strong earthquakes. This is mainly because comparing the weight of glass and the weight of concrete, it is easier for a concrete wall to collapse under same conditions as a glass wall when subjected to the same magnitude of earthquake.
3. The spatial aspect depicted by the Barcelona pavilion
The spatial arrangement of the pavilion is the most significant aspect of the building. The spatial aspect is described by giving significance to aspects that describe the space. In the pavilion, the interior special arrangement does not follow any particular pattern. This makes the interior appear void and the vision in the interior is blurred (Dodds, 2005). The interior and exterior space appears to be continuous depicting that the door connecting the interior and exterior is independent. When open, the space is continuous which is depicted by the lack of colour variation which may depict a difference in space.
Analysing this aspect, the building’s geometry is strategic making the structure appear serene as it has been described by the architects. The sculpture of the building shows that the simple appearance easily deceives that the place is small but the space scale is comfortable for the people using it.
The spatial arrangement of the building and the compound depicts the rectilinear geometry that appears in the building itself. There is a pool which is also rectangular and is accessible from the building by use of verandas. The internal layout is open plan meaning that no particular organisation or details were considered in the interior design. A circulation space is also considered and placed between two walls. The space arrangement also shows no clear edges or lines to a wall or any other part of the building (Berger, 2007).
Analysis the space arrangement, the arrangement is serene but due to some formality, it is advisable to use a fixed wall layout. This open plan employed in this particular case can be said to be faulty since there should be clear differences between the interior and the exterior of a building.
In conclusion, the Barcelona pavilion though a masterpiece in building design requires some improvement in spatial arrangement so as to have an ideal master piece. If the interior design can be modified such that there is a difference in the interior and exterior spaces, the pavilion would appear ideal. In case the open plan has to remain, then the doors should not be used as a connection between the interior and exterior. Instead, it should be a boundary differentiating the two spaces. Also, an improvement in the shape of the pool to oval may augur well with the differentiated space. Therefore, the masterpiece is modern and updated and may be used even today to improve the contemporary building designs.
References
Fechner, G. 2003. The History of Psychology: Fundamental Questions. New York: Oxford University Press.
Weston, R. 2004. Key Building of the Twentieth Century. W.W. Norton and Company.
Berger, U. 2007. Barcelona Pavilion. Berlin. Broose Publications.
Lapunzina, A. 2005. Architecture of Spain. Westport: Greenwood Press
Rubio, I. 1993. Mies Van Der Rohe: Barcelona Pavilion. New York: Watson-Gustily Publications.
Dodds, G. 2005. Building Desire. New York: Routledge.
