Pracownia architektury wnętrz wykład: (4h/t) 4 sem

TU KOSZALIN – PPA, PIOTR SMIERZEWSKI – PAW – CZYTAĆ – BIBLIOTEKA II

Biblioteka-II



Leopoldo della Santa, 1816

St. Genevieve, Paris, 1838-1850

Glendali Rodriguez

Arch 8802

Special Topics in Architectural History and Theory

An Introduction to Modern Architecture and the Modern City: Paris

Pre-Modern/Transitional Buildings

Henri Labrouste BIBLIOTHEQUE SAINTE-GENEVIEVE (1839-50)
Post-Renaissance Europe- The 19th Century
Architecture becomes a profession. It is increasingly common to follow a more formal course of education in the fields of technical education and engineering. Such fields are rooted in the eighteenth century Ecole des Ponts et Chaussees and continued in the Ecole Polytechnique, the first school of general engineering.
The tradition of technical education and civil engineering is perhaps the strongest in France. The logic of construction and the truth of visible materials prevalently inform the French architectural culture.
The Galileo and Lodoli precepts of the constructive truth of materials are demystifying the Vitruvian myth of the metamorphosis of the tree trunk into a column of marble, surfacing the criterion of imitation. A new hierarchy of the orders based on materials appears: the order of wood, that of stone and with Labrouste, that of metal.
Iron becomes quite widely used for columns, roof supports and staircases. Where cast iron was too brittle, the availability of relatively cheap wrought iron after about 1820 is significant because its tensile properties are ideal for ties, bolts and trusses. These new materials are combined with the more monumental effects of conventional masonry at the Library of Sainte Genevieve, Paris.
The Architect- Henri Labrouste
Spends time in Rome, 1824-30, at the Academie de France, as a result of having won the Grand Prix. Labrouste is influenced by Hittorff’s studies on polychromatic architecture in Sicily, in which the importance of influence of oriental art is emphasized.
During his stay in Italy, his interests focused on the study of two principal and antithetical shells. On the one hand, the constructional aspects of the ruins, with a precision and fidelity of graphic representation, in keeping with the French theoretical tradition. On the other hand, he came to grips with historical cultures in which the surface values became more important than those of construction, seen as a mere support for a polychromatic covering that transfigures its material quality and logic.
The Building’s History- Bibliotheque St. Genevieve
Created on the basis of the donation, in 1624, of 600 volumes on the part of the Cardinal, the library was still located in the spaces in the attic of the abbey of the same name, behind the Pantheon. In 1837, the administration decided to open the collection to the public until 10:00pm, setting up a reading room with heating and gas lighting designed by Alphonse de Gisors. The reading room was opened in January 1838, and was an immediate success. Labrouste, commissioned to design the library on 6 June 1838, emphasized the insufficiencies of the spaces and the danger of fire due to their wooden structure. In December 1839, he presented a project for a new library to the minister of public works, based on the guidelines furnished in the commission, stating that the library should be near the abbey. The new structure is placed beside the Pantheon, on the site of the former college of Montaigu, transformed in 1793 into a prison and hospital and, in 1833, a military prison.
The Building- Bibliotheque St. Genvevieve
The First French Library to be designed as an individual building.

Externally the library is an example of Neo-Renaissance design. Internally, it consists of a complete iron frame. It is a long rectangular building (263ft x 75ft), with a rear projection containing a double staircase. A lofty main floor stands above a shallow ground floor, and is covered by two longitudinal barrel vaults with iron arch–ribs springing from the central line of columns, with panels between of thin, reinforced plaster. A low-pitched, metal outer roof spans the full width of the building and is supported by three rows of iron columns. The outer rows of columns are embedded in the masonry walls.

The Plan
A rectangle developed along the longitudinal axis, corresponding to the configuration of the terrain and, in part, to the desire to maintain certain organizational aspects of the original library.
Reference to the Greek cross plan of the library of the abbey, from which his design extends one of the arms.
Preliminary design is one of a masonry construction system for the shell, including the vaulted roofing. For the support structure arranged along the longitudinal axis composed, in the two halls of the ground floor, of a wall reinforced by perpendicular segments and replaced, in the vestibule, by two pillars and in the reading room, on the first floor, by fourteen pillars topped by arches.
For the roof, the design calls for a metal structure. The perimeter shell is composed of imposing pylons, functioning as buttresses for the vaults, and wall segments placed toward the exterior, making the façade into a continuous surface, on the ground floor, ribbed by the slight protrusion of pylons* and arches on the first floor. The metal structure of the vaults does not play an important stress-bearing role.
*The solution of pylons inside the edifice came into use in the early 1800s, following the indications in the two previous centuries on the need to conceal the buttresses and arches still required to bear the load of the masonry walls.
The Reading Room
To obtain a circular arrangement for the space of the reading room, Labrouste eliminates a pillar at each end of the central row, obtaining, along the short sides, a space as wide as that of a nave. Difficulties arise in connecting the vaults of the nave to that of the short side, in order to reflect the continuity of the plan in the roofing. Labrouste introduces an exposed metal structure in the reading room, resolving the central row of columns, the pitched ceiling and the roof. The columns are extended to the level of the slopes of the roofing, by means of a pillaring in Gothic ribbing. The composite beams, with an arched intrados, rest on the columns and are anchored to the springer of the arches of the perimeter pylons. The proportions of the slender columns are no longer those of the canons of the architectonic order they are merely its ornament, sized on the basis of calculation of the resistance of a cast-iron pier.
The Details
Labrouste specified that the support points in the center of the reading room should utilize slender columns, to allow air and light to circulate in all directions. Therefore, justifying the use of iron. Metal is further justified in terms of the economies in construction costs and of greater shelving space. The columns are similar to those in Pompeii murals, yet modeled for contemporary metal construction. Their design intent is to reflect the severe, serious character of the entire edifice.
The Central row of piers could be possibly eliminated due to the strength of the metal beams, allowing greater height for the Reading room. However, Labrouste stresses the inefficiency for heating such a large volume.
Le Conseil de Batiments Civils grants Labrouste the liberty of the design selection of a structural system in 1840. Construction begins July 31, 1843.
The Exterior
The wall shell consists of stonework with pylons inspired by the Greek hewn stone wall. Hard stone is used for the stress bearing masonry structure, and for those exposed to rain. Softer stone is used for the cladding and the first floor structures. Substructure is in Bagneux stone, variable in height in relation to the slope of terrain. Above this base are 13 courses of stones of different types and heights. The design of the joints makes visible, on the continuous cladding of the façade, the masonry ribbing of the interior.
The Façade is the transposition of the main parts of the structure of the Greek Temple. The substruction; the crepidine, and the wall of the cella are resolved in three contracted steps: Through the values of expression of the stonework, its sublimation in perfectly clean continuous surfaces, and the architectonic order. The top of the library joins these parts, in the form of a sima.
The transposition of wall and column of the temple takes place on the plane of the façade and produces a ribbed shell on two levels.
Ornament and Construction
The Columns of cast-iron are brought to the site and assembled. The attachment of column to beam is covered by a capital and different architectonic orders interpret dimensions and hierarchies of the parts of the metal structure.
Labrouste investigates two fundamental solutions of the relationship between ornament and construction. On the one hand, he tends to conserve the regular geometry of the rods, in some cases derived from engineering solutions, and to concentrate free ornamentation in particular points, always botanical in character. On the other hand, he experiments with a type of botanical ornament of a Byzantine character, with a geometry capable of taking place of the regular geometry of the rods in the definitive solution. The clusters take on a spiral configuration, with leaves forming approximately vertical rods alternating with spirals, replacing the structural geometry of circles placed inside squares.

In the proportioning of the parts of the structure the rules of construction dominate. In the solution of assembly of the parts it is the ornament that imposes its logic on the construction. Labrouste makes use of false attachment elements to conserve the design of the series.

Inscriptions engraved in the walls between the spans of the façade, in correspondence to the shelving inside the reading room, represent other forms of transfiguration of tectonic values through ornamentation. On the upper part of the walls of the vestibule between the pilasters against the walls dense vegetation is depicted; the color of the ceiling Is that of the sky. The vestibule and its structure become a metaphor for a garden in bloom with trees. Labrouste wanted a >>pass through on the way to a monument>>. The vestibule demonstrates a capacity to proceed beyond the truth of construction to arrive, through it, at the sublimation of the tectonics and materials in an ideal enclosure, or a space of the <>.
The dream of dominating technology and construction with ornament begins; nevertheless, to clash with the functional reasoning behind new systems, leading to that revolt against ornament that was to mark the end of a civilization. In the library this conflict can be seen in one detail. The air vents for the reading room are inserted in the shell in the form of vaults. The size of the openings, dictated by the reasoning of the ornament, turned out to be insufficient to prevent the formation of condensation. In the vault, large rectangular metal grills were placed, eliminating the design of the borders.
Served as a model for the Boston Public Library, by McKim, Mead and White.
The tectonic and the ephemeral, truth in construction and its sublimation in idealistic values, find an unparalleled lyrical synthesis in the new headquarter of the Sainte Genevieve library.
Influences
Schinkel’s Theater in Hambury

Felix Duban’s the Palais des Etudes

Job site organized to proceed with construction of the foundations in parallel to the demolition of the prison, making it possible to re-utilize materials without having to transport them and store them

Arched beams articulated in four main pieces. One of the most elaborate details of the metal structure.

White color separates the shell from the support structure, contributing to its appearance as a velarium. Shells in the form of drapes.

Labrouste ornamentation plays a role of connecting two tectonics- stone and metal- with opposing formal values.

Synthesis between modern technologies and ornament derived from the historical repertory achieved in complex terms. Symbolic ornamentation that tends to transform the real structure into poetic image. Ornamentation as an expression of technical considerations.

The new construction from a historical perspective
It was in the late XVIIIth century when iron, until then used solely as an architectural accessory (door hinges, balconies, etc.), began to replace timber in certain structural frames. This practice, initially restricted to a few public monuments, heralded a far more extensive use in the following century, which was to culminate in the symbolic construction of the Eiffel Tower for the Exposition of 1889. When he was commissioned to erect a new building for the Bibliothčque Sainte-Genevičve, Labrouste was doubtless familiar with the mainly Parisian constructions incorporating this new material, and doubtless also knew of the handful of libraries that had been built in France since the beginning of the century, not to mention the major achievements of the previous period. However, he cast a highly selective eye over all the examples before him, adapting their features to suit the specific task in hand, with the result that the project he undertook proved to be innovative in very many areas.
Labrouste's work can be placed in a very local historical context, one aspect of this being the conflict between the library, which had been housed on the top floor of the buildings of the former abbey since before the French Revolution, and the lycée, which had occupied the lower storeys since the turn of the century. In 1838, it was decided to relocate the library and Labrouste was placed in charge of the operation. In October 1842, the most heavily-used collections were moved to part of the former Collčge de Montaigu - at one time a prison -, which had been specially converted for the purpose. The remaining buildings were demolished to make way for the new construction.
Another local aspect was the huge development scheme centred on the Church of Sainte-Genevičve, renamed the Panthéon. Soufflot himself had sketched the layout of a square that would show his monument to best advantage. The relevant planning regulations, laid down in the act of 1844, provided above all for the creation of the Rue Soufflot and the erection of a Town Hall matching Soufflot's Faculty of Law. The new library was also cited as part of the scheme. The rest of the square on its south side, mainly in the hands of private developers, was to have a very different fate.
The building's foundation stone was laid in August 1844, and the main construction work was completed in 1847. The facade has a classical aspect, with a relatively "closed" ground floor giving an impression of solid might, in contrast to the far more "open" first floor. This external distinction corresponds to an internal functional reality, as the ground floor contains relatively little-used books and precious documents. Its exterior is adorned by scarcely more than a garland, discreetly recalling the facades of the Panthéon, while the windows, like the main entrance, are simple openings in the massive wall, their shape being their chief decoration. The first floor, destined to house the reading room, is lit by an almost continuous row of forty-two windows.
The list of the 810 famous authors, drawn up and engraved in 1848, reinforces this symbolism. Beginning with Moses, the pillar of the age of belief, it ends with the name of Berzelius, a Swedish scholar who died in 1848. This list can be compared to the Positivist Calendar, which Auguste Comte published shortly afterwards. The names on the facade correspond to the books placed just behind it in the reading room. The height of the first-floor entablature was designed to match the proportions of Soufflot's Faculty of Law, resolutely incorporating the library into the overall layout planned for the square.
The Entrance Hall
Labrouste would have liked to have laid out a garden along the main facade of the building, "to distance the noise of the public thoroughfare and prepare the persons visiting it for due reverence". His project never saw the light of day, due to a lack of space. Instead, Alexandre Desgoffe transposed the garden into paintings in the entrance hall, which enable visitors to enjoy the sight of trees from every corner of the world permanently clad in leaves, whatever the season. This rather dark room can be lent a Comtian interpretation, whereby the entrance hall becomes a dark cavern of ignorance, from which readers escape as they climb the staircase towards the reading room, a temple of knowledge. Rather more conventionally, the walls are decorated with busts of the great figures of the different branches of science represented in the establishment's collections. These sculptures, an inevitable feature of all major buildings, were entrusted in this particular instance to Carle Elshoecht, Louis-Parfait Merlieux and Nicolas Mallet. Several of them were exhibited at the Salon of 1849.
The Ground-Floor Rooms
The area to the left, formerly known as the Theology Rooms and Duplicates Rooms, has partially retained its vocation of bulk storage, indeed, this role was reinforced in 1931-2, when the establishment installed metal stacks, inspired by the famous print stacks designed by Labrouste for the Bibliothčque Nationale. Well before the end of the XIXth century, it was deemed necessary to install offices here, these having been omitted from the original plans.
From the very outset, the area to the right was intended to house the precious collections, hence the naming of the Manuscript and Print Rooms. It continues to perform the same function today, though it is now known as the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books. Much of the oak panelling and most of the book cupboards were produced by the Mathérion workshop during Labrouste's time, in two stages (1850 and 1866), while a major programme of restructuring was undertaken in 1933. Two vestibules containing collections of objets d'art were replaced by a single reading room. The former reading room overlooking the Rue Valette, judged to be too far from the entrance hall, was divided into three, to house the literary collection of Jacques Doucet. The furniture and objets d'art from the abbey library are now displayed in these rooms.
The Main Staircase
Although numerous projects were devised for this part of the building, the overall design of the main section featured in the early sketches eventually prevailed. The result is both noble and spacious and perfectly corresponds to the staircase's above-mentioned vocation as a path of initiation. Two busts on the intermediate landings recall the role of "refounder" played by Cardinal de la Rochefoucauld in the XVIIth century and by Labrouste himself, who provided them with such a splendid setting. The busts were executed by Raymond Barthélemy (1878) and Eugčne Guillaume (1881) respectively. The decorative paintings were inspired by drawings brought back from Italy, also the source of copies of Raphael by the brothers Paul and Raymond Balze. The School of Athens boasts impressive dimensions (9.6 x 6 m), but perfectly complements the huge windows overlooking the reading room, illustrating as it does the delights in store for those who cross its threshold.
The Main Reading Room
As Labrouste did not have any suitable precedents to follow, he needed to give a great deal of thought to this aspect of the project. However, the earliest sketches in our possession show that once again, the overall layout was quickly established. Consisting of two naves, it is thought by some to have been inspired by the refectory of the former abbey of Saint-Des-Champs, which his friend Vaudoyer was then converting into a library. To determine the exact proportions, Labrouste drew mainly on observations he had carried out in the former library, during the brief period he was in charge of its upkeep.
A ceiling supported by pillars had initially been envisaged. However, in 1840, the open attitude of the General Council of Civil Buildings enabled Labrouste to replace it in his designs with a cast-iron structure on columns. Initially, this was to support a coffered ceiling, but the architect subsequently changed his mind and constructed a vault, in the belief that it would allow the light flooding in through the forty-two windows to reach the furthest corners of the room.
The council had let Labrouste choose between a vault or an iron structure to support the floor and he opted for the latter solution. This part did not present any major difficulties in its construction. However, the casting of the large arches, for the first time looked upon as an integral part of the room's decoration, turned out to be quite a different matter. Labrouste worked on the designs and cast patterns with the help of the locksmith Roussel and the founder Calla. Several prototypes were built and their strength tested using weights, before the final choice was made.
The iron roof structure rests directly on each of the large arches. In between the arches, a network of joists and a wire mesh provide a base for the stucco. The painted decor remains discreet, sufficiently present to highlight the books but not enough to deflect attention away from them. The sculpted decor, equally modest, is restricted to the eight heads of Day and Night, placed by Louis Desprez on terms next to the end and central pillars. Four columns decorated with stuccowork stand rather forlornly in the corners of the gallery.
Only the sides of the large oak cupboards made by the Mathérion workshop were given a modicum of decoration. Some of those that originally occupied the spaces between the columns running the length of the gallery have disappeared. Similarly, the tables have been turned round to provide more seating. There remain several hundred chairs, made according to the architect's design, both classical in their decoration of turned wood and modern in their proportions. Two key rooms characterize the entrance : the lobby, designed around the tapesty Night Taking Study by Surprise (woven in 1853 at the Gobelins after a cartoon by the Balze brothers), and the librarian's office, where various additions have considerably altered its original appearance.
The Administrative Building
In his early plans, Labrouste had included accommodation for the administrator and various outbuildings to the left of his library. However, the Collčge Sainte Barbe expressed a desire to possess an entrance giving onto the square and in 1845 had a small building erected, whose facade has survived to this day, as the entrance to the Bibliothčque Cujas. Labrouste therefore moved the building most clearly intended to house the personnel who had been living above the lycée to the other side of the Rue des Sept Voies (Valette). The relative continuity of the facades of the three successive buildings defined the whole of this part of the square - an example which was poorly followed in the years to come.
The New Buildings
Labrouste's projections, which had been vigorously contested even before the delivery of the building, rapidly proved to be woefully inadequate. Even so, it took a century for a small storage room to be built next the main staircase. As the period was a prosperous one, this provided momentum for a second construction, completed in 1961. Although poorly planned in relation to existing buildings, it did make it possible to add not only public rooms but offices and storage areas, too, all of which had been equally badly needed. Today, the entire site would benefit from an in-depth restructuring, in accordance with likely changes in the workings of the institution.

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 1854-75