JAMES STIRLING

Leader of the great transition from the Modern Movement to the architecture of the New—

an architecture that once more has recognized historical roots, once more has close

connections with the buildings surrounding it, once more can be called a new tradition.

Sir James Frazer Stirling (1926-1992)

• Born in Glasgow, Scotland• Educated from Liverpool University• 1956-1992, architectural practice (with James Gowan

and later with Michael Wilford)• Works mainly in England, US and Germany• His classroom projects mainly based on Classicism of

Ecole des Beaux Arts• But he himself was concentrated on International style• 1970s Buildings in US show contextualism• His German projects, including Staatsgalerie are

postmodern• Pritzker Prize in 1981

Career and Design Philosophies

• Started with International style (1950s)-small scale houses and housing complexes all built with traditional bricks and traditional English forms of warehouses, factories, barns etc.

• Modern-functional, austere(no ornamentation) and with volumes defined by clean spaces and lines.

• But these were very humane in scale and style.• Communal vitality and integration in terms of space and

circulation.• “Architecture is not a question of style or appearance, it is how

you organize spaces and movement for a place and activity”• He was one of the earliest architects to use technology and new

materials in architecture, but he always believed that the humanistic approach has to be given more importance.

• The use of color was a characteristic of Stirling, who saw architecture as an expression of art, not merely of social planning and engineering.

• Stirling signature was mullioned glass, colored building materials (including green window frames, purple and turquoise moldings, and pink railings against yellow stucco and Portland stone), and simple geometric forms and apparently random fenestration punched and cut into the building.

• During the 1970s, the architectural signature of Stirling began to change as the scale of his projects moved from small and not very profitable to very large, as Stirling's architecture became more overtly neoclassical, though it remained deeply imbued with his powerful revised modernism. This produced a wave of dramatically spare, large-scale urban projects.

• Staatsgalerie’s powerful basic concept has a large number of architectural amusements and decorative allusions, which led many to mistakenly see it as an example of postmodernism.

• Worked with Lyons, Israel & Ellis in London for several years before he formed a partnership with James Gowan.

• Influenced by the later designs of Le Corbusier and the theories of the Smithsons, Stirling and Gowan produced several influential buildings which started a trend toward brick and exposed concrete.

• Early designs, especially for Cambridge and Oxford, often emphasized concept over aesthetic and utilitarian needs.

• Later works appeared more formal due to their influence from Post-Modern classicism.

• Criticized for his ability to continually alter his fundamental architectural principles.

• In 1971, Stirling began to work in association with Michael Wilford.

• From this point on, the scale and number of his projects broadened to include museums, galleries, libraries and theaters.

In an article written in 1979 for Contemporary Architects, Stirling said, "I believe that the shapes of a building should indicate—perhaps display—the usage

and way of life of its occupants, and it is therefore likely to be rich and varied in appearance, and its

expression is unlikely to be simple...in a building we did at Oxford some years ago, it was intended that you

could recognize the historic elements of courtyard, entrance gate towers, cloisters; also a central object

replacing the traditional fountain or statue of the college founder. In this way we hoped that students

and public would not be disassociated from their cultural past. The particular way in which functional-symbolic elements are put together may be the "art"

in the architecture."

..."If the expression of functional-symbolic forms and familiar elements is foremost, the expression of structure will be secondary, and if structure shows, it is not in my opinion, the engineering which counts, but the way in which the building is put together that is important."

Contextualism• Contextualism is a theory of design wherein modern building types are

harmonized with urban forms usual to a traditional city.• By the 1970s Stirling's work took another turn: his buildings began to show

a greater interest in their context, in symmetry, and in historical allusion.• The two examples of Stirling's completed commissions in America

appeared during this period.• The first, an extension of the School of Architecture at Rice University, was

commissioned in 1979 and completed in 1981; the second, the Sackler Museum at Harvard University, was also commissioned in 1979 and completed in 1985.

• The Rice building, "a lesson in restraint," was the ultimate in contextual architecture. Both the materials and the design forms were the same as the original buildings, but Stirling used and interpreted them in witty and off-beat ways (for example, a two story arch on the main facade included a round window near the top set decidedly off-center) to give life and light to this addition.

• The Sackler Museum, on the other hand, was a free standing building, located on a small lot across from the Fogg Museum, with which it was intended to be connected by an enclosed catwalk over an entrance that some said recalls the ancient Lion Gate at Mycenae and others insisted was Superman's Fortress of Solitude. The exterior of the building was striped orange and grey brick, and the interior continued this color pattern.

Main façade of Rice University

Lovett Hall

Exterior of Sackler Museum

Interior of

Sackler

Museum

ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT, UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER

Architect : James StirlingLocation : Leicester University, Leicester, EnglandConstruction : 1959 - 1963periodBldg. type : AcademicConstruction : TrussessystemClimate : TemperateStyle : Modern

• This project was done with James Gowan.• Has large areas of glazing contrasted with heavy

masonry forms.• The auditoriums are cantilevered structures. Although

all of the materials look made of stock parts, the aesthetic power is striking.

• The balance of parts creates a memorable image.• The buildings cannot be understood from any one

viewpoint, and can by best understood on the basis of an isometric drawing.

• The Engineering Building was a strong contrast to earlier British post World War II work, and was the origin of James Stirling's international reputation.

Plans and Elevations

SITE PLAN

Axonometric View

HISTORY BUILDING, CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY

Architect : James StirlingLocation : Cambridge University, EnglandConstruction : 1964 - 1967periodBldg. type : Academic library and officesConstruction : Glass in steel frames, concrete with brick system claddingClimate : TemperateStyle : Modern

• Stirling's most controversial work consists of a great double-glazed sloping roof over the reading room contrasted with the multistoried structure containing enclosed spaces, which in turn are stepped to accommodate larger spaces on the lower floors.

• The stair tower is articulated as a separate element.• The powerful image caused an ambivalent response

from critics and the public.• The building design was violently attacked in the British

press, although defended by the history faculty.• In 1985 consideration was given as to whether the

building should be destroyed.• The building has suffered from lack of maintenance, but

has since been repaired.

Plans and Elevations

Axonometric View

ART GALLERY ADDITION, STAATSGALERIE, STUTTGART

Architect : James StirlingLocation : Stuttgart, GermanyConstruction : 1977 - 1983periodBldg. type : Art MuseumConstruction : Stone CladdingsystemClimate : TemperateStyle : Post-Modern

• This building was an addition to the existing Staatsgalerie.• It consisted of a new gallery extension, chamber theater and music school.• A feature of the site was a pedestrian walk diagonally across the property

to be incorporated in the plan without jeopardizing building security.• The design was not well-received in the German press.• Was disturbing because it was not a classically modernist design.• As it developed, it was recognized that James Stirling had brought off a

project which reinterpreted the past in a brilliant new way.• The complexity of the project, and its references to existing buildings both

old and new reward close study.• For instance, not far away from the site is the Weissenhofsiedlung, with

buildings by Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, and J. J. P. Oud.• A hint of this may be found in one elevation of the building, at the rear of

the chamber theater.• The more obvious source is the reinterpretation of the classical museum

such as Shinkel's Altes Museum in Berlin (1824), but in the Stuttgart building, the central domed rotunda is replaced with the open air circular court, a true public space.

Plans and Sections

Other Works

St Andrews University, Fife, United Kingdom, 1968

OLIVETTI TRAINING SCHOOL, HASLEMERE, SURREY (1969-1972)

THE ARTHUR M. SACKLER MUSEUM, HARVARD UNIVERSITY (1979-1985)

Plans and Section

THE CLORE GALLERY ADDITION TO THE TATE GALLERY (TURNER MUSEUM) MILLBANK, LONDON (1980-1987)

THE

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Submitted By –Arun Chauhan 2010 UAR 151Dikshit R. Vara 2010 UAR 145