Architecture as a science and as an art evolves with time. It is saturated with innovations and improvements that benefited everyone when it is adapted in creating and in building of new structures and buildings. However, there are ideas and functions that are discarded overtime to pave way for a better functional design. One of the most innovative architects of the modern times is Louis Sullivan. Sullivan is known as the father of modern art. He was the first architect to ever built skyscrapers that are more than 10-story high. He is also fond of incorporating intricate ornamental designs in the structures that he had made of which he had coined the phrase “form over function. He incorporated function and unity in his works which made him distinct from his contemporaries. For Sullivan, nature is always part of every edifice that he had created for he considers it as an art which provides mystery and individuality to the structures that he had made.
Every structure or building ever erected is made and designed by its creator to last for eternity if nature and circumstances will allow it. Architects created works of art with the buildings that they have made with this intention. Most of them are inspired by objects, intangible or intangible in creating works of art that is truly distinct and innovative. Sullivans main inspiration in his work is nature and art in the form of a poem. He wants his work to flow just like a prose and he wants the public to interpret the ornaments that he had incorporated the way literature scholars interpret a poem. His building is his way of expressing his art and his individuality as an artist and as a builder. That is to say, a building which is truly a work of art (and I consider none other) is in its nature, essence and physical being an emotional expression. This being so, and I feel deeply that it is so, it must have, almost literally, a life. It follows from this living principle that an ornamented structure should be characterized by this quality, namely, that the same emotional impulse shall flow throughout harmoniously into its varied forms of expression-of which, while the mass-composition is the more profound, the decorative ornamentation is the more intense. Yet must both spring from the same source of feeling. (Mallgrave 2005) He is a passionate and complex artist and it shows in his art.
Sullivans buildings are incorporated with ornaments that made of terracotta and steel. These ornaments are made of simple geometric designs that he had embellished with organic materials such as that of flowers and plants that made the ornament to become complex yet intricate. These ornaments are placed at the exterior portion of the building that he had built which is either incorporated in the upper portion of the wall, at the top portion of the edifice or at the entrance of the buildings. It had made the building created by Adler and Sullivan to become distinct and unique. His time spent studying in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts had truly influenced his work. Uniqueness and distinctiveness is trait that every building should have of which form follows functions. “The impact of a building-that is, its connection with an observer-must be established in terms of an integration of visual movements into a unified whole-not simply a bald denotation of mechanical use. (Murphy) The ornaments of the buildings had created an air of mystery and aura to the edifice which provides a sense of curiosity and bewilderment to those who have viewed it. It can drive the public who sees the building for the first time to ask about the building and will become curious to what is inside of it. Buildings with ornaments are a far cry from the skyscrapers of the contemporary time that is saturated with chrome and glass. Ornamentation had also made the building to become not just an ordinary edifice but a work of art. The Auditorium Theater in Chicago is one of the most innovative designs made by Sullivan. The cone shape of the structure and the curves of its balcony seating will enable theater enthusiasts to watch and hear the play vividly. His other works such as Guaranty Building in Buffalo New York is a remarkable work of art too. To Sullivan, building facades were symbols for the life cycle-birth, growth, maturity, decline, death and renewal. The age of industrialization presented the architect not only with new techniques and materials encapsulated in the steel frame, but it confronted them also with a new purposeSullivan was a visionary with a sometimes romantic notion of what his architecture should look like and the place it should occupy in the urban world. (Cashman) Unfortunately, the rise of new and talented architects in the Neo-classical era had outshone him. His works remain unappreciated in the modern times. Countless buildings that he had designed and built were torn down and become neglected. Instead of it being preserved just like the other buildings made by other famous architects.
Incorporating nature has made Sullivans work truly distinct. It should be a trait that every building should have in order for it to become distinct and extraordinary. An architect should know how to incorporate function and aesthetic quality without sacrificing the true purpose of its creation. An architect is not just a builder or a designer of an edifice but an artist who expresses his art through the buildings that he had made. Sullivan was one great artist and he had was able to live up to his name.
Great article