An essay describing the similarities and differences between Berlage's Commodities Exchange in Amsterdam, Netherlands and Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art in Glasgow, Scotland.
Academy of Art University Student: Gregory F. Shue | ID #: 03790412 ARH 641 | Instructor: Sagan | Module 3 | Assignment 3.1 Similarities and Differences: Berlage Exchange and Glasgow School of Art In the late nineteenth century, several European architects found themselves at a cultural crossroads, which was leading them away from established architectural styles, due largely to political upheaval and the resulting artistic exploration. Architects, like their artistic counterparts, they attempted to find a new architectural language that, while embracing technological innovations, also represented a departure from “weak and arbitrary uses of the past, and... dead cultural forms.” (Curtis, 53) This essay seeks to find similarities and differences between two representative European buildings of the late 1890s by different architects in different cities, which were designed in response to similar cultural, political, and artistic contexts. The buildings are Hendric Petrus Berlage's Stock Exchange (the BvB) (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1896-1903) and Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art (the GSoA) (Glasgow, Scotland, 1899-1909). To begin, both buildings were subjects of architectural competitions. Berlage placed fourth in the competition for the BvB, but was selected as the building's architect twelve years later. (Frampton, 71) Mackintosh, however, won the competition for the GSoA outright. The sites chosen for the two buildings are quite different, although both are located in cities with major commercial waterways. The BvB is on relatively flat site, with a public square - replete with large trees - on one end and a commercial marina across the street on the opposite end. The GSoA is on a steep incline, hemmed in by streets and adjacent city blocks on all sides. Illustration 3: Stock Exchange Site, Amsterdam, Netherlands (image: Google maps) Illustration 1: Stock Exchange, Amsterdam, Netherlands, Berlage, 1903 Illustration 4: Glasgow School of Art Site, Glasgow, Scotland (image: Google maps) Illustration 2: Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, Mackintosh, 1909
Transcript
Academy of Art UniversityStudent: Gregory F. Shue | ID #: 03790412ARH 641 | Instructor: Sagan | Module 3 | Assignment 3.1
Similarities and Differences: Berlage Exchange and Glasgow School of Art
In the late nineteenth century, several European architects found themselves at a cultural crossroads, which was leading them away from established architectural styles, due largely to political upheaval and the resulting artistic exploration. Architects, like their artistic counterparts, they attempted to find a new architectural language that, while embracing technological innovations, also represented a departure from “weak and arbitrary uses of the past, and... dead cultural forms.” (Curtis, 53) This essay seeks to find similarities and differences between two representative European buildings of the late 1890s by different architects in different cities, which were designed in response to similar cultural, political, and artistic contexts. The buildings are Hendric Petrus Berlage's Stock Exchange (the BvB) (Amsterdam, Netherlands, 1896-1903) and Charles Rennie Mackintosh's Glasgow School of Art (the GSoA) (Glasgow, Scotland, 1899-1909).
To begin, both buildings were subjects of architectural competitions. Berlage placed fourth in the competition for the BvB, but was selected as the building's architect twelve years later. (Frampton, 71) Mackintosh, however, won the competition for the GSoA outright. The sites chosen for the two buildings are quite different, although both are located in cities with major commercial waterways. The BvB is on relatively flat site, with a public square - replete with large trees - on one end and a commercial marina across the street on the opposite end. The GSoA is on a steep incline, hemmed in by streets and adjacent city blocks on all sides.
Illustration 3: Stock Exchange Site, Amsterdam, Netherlands (image: Google maps)
Illustration 4: Glasgow School of Art Site, Glasgow, Scotland (image: Google maps)
Illustration 2: Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, Mackintosh, 1909
Both buildings, however, are designed to have three public-facing facades. While the GSoA was designed with one primary facade (the North facade), Berlage carefully composed at least two facades (the South, facing the park, and the West, along Damrak, the primary adjacent street).
Berlage essentially summed up his approach to the design of the Stock Exchange when he said, “The fact is that we live in an age of chaotic confusion... We have no traditional style... [T]his is a situation that leads us to to expect the emergence of something great.” (Berlage, 8) His exploration for a new style is evidenced by his four revisions to the original scheme, all seeking to pare down the design to its essential components. (Frampton, 71) While the BvB essentially represents Berlage's development of an architectural theory that seeks to do away with ornament, Mackintosh's belief that “construction should be decorated, and not decoration constructed” (Bernard, 11-12) demonstrates a more prominent influence of Viollet le Duc. “Mackintosh's School of Art, in answer to the Governor's request for a plain building, is an austere statement, a bold breakaway from the traditional methods of architectural adornment.” (Cooper, 20)
While both buildings were designed with a sense of austerity, their aesthetic expression was somewhat different. Berlage's design has many similarities to other buildings of the time, such as St. Pancras Station in London and H.H. Richardson's Albany City Hall in Albany, New York. These possible precedent buildings both have square clock towers made of brick. Albany City Hall may have inspired Berlage's triple-arch entry and gable parapets, while St. Pancras may have inspired the architectural handling of expansive brick facades.
Mackintosh's design for the GSoA, however, seems to have come out of a much more nationalistic provenance. The architectural aesthetic seems very in tune with the Scottish Baronial style. One example that seems to have much in common with the GSoA is Dixon Halls by Frank Stirrat, also in Glasgow, 1878. Its stone masonry exterior, ganged windows, very narrow single windows, gabled stone parapets, arched doorways, and accentuated stone window surrounds can all be seen in components of Mackintosh's work.
In terms of the plan configurations, the buildings are quite dissimilar past the overall proportions. The BvB plan is trapezoidal overall, conforming almost literally to the shape of its site. Internally, it is comprised of large internalized rooms (the trading floors) connected by a network of smaller rooms, hallways, and stairs. Conversely, Mackintosh's GSoA has a distinct “E” shape in plan, with the primary rooms being located along the exterior of the north facade
Illustration 5: St. Pancras Station, London, William Henry Barlow, 1868
Illustration 6: Dixon Halls, Glasgow, Scotland, Frank Stirrat, 1878
Illustration 7: Albany City Hall, Albany, New York, H.H. Richardson, 1883
and a corridor configuration for circulation located along the south facade. Mackintosh's design took up about half of the city block on which it is located. Regarding massing, while both buildings are primarily blocky masonry forms that are oriented along one axis, the BvB is much larger, has a 40-meter clock tower (as well as other, smaller, tower elements), and has internal spaces that dwarf the GSoA's largest spaces. The GSoA, while taller along the sloped east and west facades, has no tower element, with the exception of the diminutive octagonal element on the top floor above the main entry.
Regarding details, both architects used stone in fairly traditional ways around doors and windows, primarily creating a frame that expresses the head of the opening. However, Mackintosh used steel lintels above the large windows on the north side of the GSoA. Both buildings utilize arches to express entryways on the main level, while keeping all window heads flat. Additionally, both buildings utilize large skylights to naturally light large interior spaces. The BvB uses complete circles at the top of the shorter towers along Damrak, a pure geometric expression not present at the GSoA, and segmental-arched openings at the top of the clock tower, the tallest element. Regarding ornamentation, as mentioned previously, Berlage made four revisions to his original scheme to reduce ornament and simplify the design. The only remaining vestige of ornament at the BvB come by way of the iron truss-work of the trading floors, and the expressive design of the masonry supporting them. Mackintosh's GSoA, on the other hand, took a more expressive direction with the ornamentation. Decorative ironwork can be found at the large studio windows and fencing along the north facade. In addition, Mackintosh designed the GSoA library with a European
Illustration 9: First Floor Plan, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Scotland, Mackintosh, 1909
Arts & Crafts stylistic sensibility, the counterpart for which can't be found at the BvB.In closing, while both architects were practicing in nearby European countries, at the
same time, with similar political and artistic influences, and with similar artistic goals, these two buildings represent a fairly divergent perspective regarding stylistic expression. While both buildings were architectural explorations into a new national style for their respective countries, neither succeeded in that lofty goal. And for as much as they have in common, these two building have many more differences upon closer inspection.
Bibliography
Berlage, Hendrik Petrus, from P. Singelenberg, G Schwartz, translator. H.P. Berlage: Art and Architecture in the Netherlands. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff, 1969.
Bernard, Barbara, "Introduction" in Jackie Cooper, ed. Mackintosh Architecture, the Complete Buildings and Selected Projects. New York: Rizzoli Press, 1980.
Cooper, Jackie, Mackintosh Architecture: The Complete Buildings and Selected Projects. New York: Rizzoli Press, 1980.
Frampton, Kenneth, Modern Architecture: A Critical History. London: Thames & Hudson, 2007.
