Henry Ford

Henry Ford is a well-known engineer with the establishment of the well know company named after him the Ford Motor company, Ford has also created the first horseless carousel with gasoline power. Ford is also well known for his introductory to the revolutionary mass production method, creating the assembly line in the beginning of the 1900’s.

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Henry Ford was a key element in the automobile industry to date he improved upon many things, further on Henry elaborated the design and at that time his focus was upon improving the speed capacity within his models. This lead to competition with big brands such as Ferrari, Bugatti and more.

Ford at a young age of nineteen he was already a certified machinist, Ford started a new project he started working on an engine this was his first try before discovering his ability and creating the model T, After Ford was satisfied with his design he started working hands on the machine and created the first form of ‘car creation’. The Quadricycle was a key discovery in human history with a small engine and horizontal lever.

https://sites.google.com/a/imagineprep.com/theindustrialrevolution/inventors/henry-ford

By publishing the brand-new model T the market made a drastic change of choice in the automobile industry, this means that at the time Ford was on top of the food chain it is also important to mention that in over just 20 years Ford managed to build 15 million of the same model T. The model T was very successful due to the use of the assembly line this lead to a low cost in the manufacturing process, comparing to other brands this car was much more worth it in terms of cost, needs of repair and function, the only downside to this model was that it was being replicated at a fast pace for a long time that competitors evolved more on how and what people would like their vehicle. Henry Ford did not only change the fact that now a human being can go from point A to B in an automobile (which at the time that was the new trend), he has elaborated this ability to arrive at your desired destination in a more luxurious style and faster in terms of speed. Henry Ford’s success is partly owed to Thomas Edison were at the time they started in a small company called Edison Illumination company, after working in the same company Ford and Edison collaborated in a new company called Detroit Automobile were this was the start of a new foundation of the early American automobile manufacturing industry. 

The fact that Henry could live at the peak of the Industrial Revolution helped him in terms of resources and manufacture. In my opinion creating this automobile revalorized society, the fact that Henry was determined and opted to the level of society (working class) his inventions are serving as the base of the automobile industry till this day, meaning that still till this day it was a fundamental change to the American society especially.

https://sites.google.com/a/imagineprep.com/theindustrialrevolution/inventors/henry-ford

In my opinion Ford is a very important figure and his engineering skill sets are still fundamental till this day his determination of discovering and innovating things lead to a positive transition in the automobile industry, the urge behind his determination lead to creating innovative designs and most importantly improving the BHP of his models were key studies that lead to where we are today, Ford was also lucky to able to live in time of the industrial revolution as I mentioned earlier this helped in terms of manufacturing process (assembly line), resources and costings.

Bibliography:

https://sites.google.com/a/imagineprep.com/theindustrialrevolution/inventors/henry-ford

Henry Ford - The Industrial Revolution. 2017. Henry Ford - The Industrial Revolution. [ONLINE] Available at: https://sites.google.com/a/imagineprep.com/theindustrialrevolution/inventors/henry-ford. [Accessed 15 February 2017].

http://www.history.com/topics/henry-ford

HISTORY.com. 2017. Henry Ford - Facts & Summary - HISTORY.com. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.history.com/topics/henry-ford. [Accessed 15 February 2017].

http://www.ducksters.com/biography/henry_ford.php

Henry Ford Biography for Kids. 2017. Henry Ford Biography for Kids. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.ducksters.com/biography/henry_ford.php. [

Key designers in the Art Nouveau era'

Henry was a Belgian architect and interior designer, Alongside Paul Hanker and Victor Horta these well-known names can be represented as the founders of Art Nouveau in Belgium. In terms of Henry career he spent most of his time Germany and being able to influence German architecture.

As one may already know Brussels is the main attraction in terms of the Art Nouveau Architectural elements, Victor Horta is known that he had built the first existing Art Nouveau building (Hotel Tassel)

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‘At the time Belgian’s industry was growing in a rapid pace due to the richness of the ground coal’, Half of the people living within this city were speaking French the name ‘Art Nouveau’ was created in Belgium. Designers and artist developed their skill set in this era’, Major artists such as Henry Van de Velde, Paul Hanker and Victor Horta were the pioneers of developing this beautiful luxurious style in Belgium. In art Nouveau there are certain classes and architectural trends on should keep in mind as a guide to success, ‘Curve Art Nouveau’ was led by the famous Horta and ‘Geometrical Art Nouveau’ was led by Hanker.

Example of the Curve by Horta: Tassel House (image shown above), Saint Cyr’s House 

https://www.google.com.mt/search?q=hotel+tassel&biw=1536&bih=798&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjFtqS-srXSAhUFVhoKHVXeDfUQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=Saint+Cyr%27s+House&*&imgdii=522Sp0kKez9G_M:&imgrc=nK5fs1lFGyeAfM:

Examples of Geometrical Hanker: Personal House 

https://www.google.com.mt/search?q=hotel+tassel&biw=1536&bih=798&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&sqi=2&ved=0ahUKEwjFtqS-srXSAhUFVhoKHVXeDfUQ_AUIBigB#tbm=isch&q=personal+house+Hanker&*&imgrc=QfhLRDMJRrl-DM:

Van de Velde could be classified in both fields with producing furniture work shown a balance between geometry and elegant curves.

Certain features and characteristics in this period were important in developing this style, certain things such as exchanging and getting influenced by architectural elements in various countries, both Vienna and Scotland were a major inspiration in this movement. The 3 designers also helped influence this style due to their travelling into different places such as Van de Velde going to Germany and the Nederland’s and foreign designers such as Josef Hofmann in Vienna.

This city holds a lot of architectural beauty from the Art Nouveau movement, this city is developed so much in this style due to the 3 designers mentioned above and inspiring sources such as Vienna and Scotland.

Art deco vs Art Nouveau: From the collected information now I am going to compare and contrast 2 Major movements in our history in brief.

Art Deco is a movement which was being developed and emerged as a reaction to major history events such as the WWI and Industrial revolution, Art Nouveau was merged in the middle of the 19^th century (at this time it was still premature) the peak of this movement was somewhere in between the 1870’s to 1910. Art Nouveau is a decorative and elegant movement which features some of the most beautifully crafted architecture and products. In terms of Art Deco it is based on streamlining and sleek design, showing a lot of curves long Horizontal lines and nautical elements. The same style (streamlining) was a connected movement that developed within the German Werkbund.

https://www.google.com.mt/search?q=art+nouveau+vs+art+deco&rlz=1C1CHBD_enMT705MT705&espv=2&biw=1536&bih=798&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiRtbXkubXSAhXGWRoKHZmXBRMQ_AUIBigB#imgrc=CIrVUdagz5fF7M:

Bibliography: http://www.art-nouveau-around-the-world.org/en/pays/belgium.htm

Art Nouveau in Belgium. 2017. Art Nouveau in Belgium. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.art-nouveau-around-the-world.org/en/pays/belgium.htm. [Accessed 01 March 2017].

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamline_Moderne

Wikipedia. 2017. Streamline Moderne - Wikipedia. [ONLINE] Available at: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Streamline_Moderne. [Accessed 01 March 2017].

https://www.google.com.mt/search?q=art+nouveau+vs+art+deco&rlz=1C1CHBD_enMT705MT705&espv=2&biw=1536&bih=798&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTj_zOvrXSAhXPhRoKHRJrALcQ_AUIBygA&dpr=1.25

art nouveau vs art deco - Fittex bil-Google. 2017. art nouveau vs art deco - Fittex bil-Google. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.google.com.mt/search?q=art+nouveau+vs+art+deco&rlz=1C1CHBD_enMT705MT705&espv=2&biw=1536&bih=798&source=lnms&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiTj_zOvrXSAhXPhRoKHRJrALcQ_AUIBygA&dpr=1.25. [Accessed 01 March 2017].

The face of Barcelona

Architect: Mies Van Der Rohe

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Project year: 1929

The Barcelona Pavilion was part of the International exposition which was held in the city of Barcelona, region Catalonia in the year 1929. About twenty European nations are believed to have formed part of this fair including the big nations such as Britain, Germany and Italy etc. The exposition is created to help the growth of the product and architectural industry, this exposition as one could notice lead to an urban change in the city of Barcelona developing architectural styles in the 20^th century. The Barcelona Pavilion was originally named German Pavilion, this was the face of German at the time of the First World War. Surpassing Germany’s modern culture that was still in the root of the classical history.

The Barcelona pavilion showed elegance and combined rich materials which showed a representation of architecture modernism. The design plan of the pavilion is purely based on grids which serve as a guideline to the people working the travine pavers, this also served as a repressed framework within. The real masterclass in this case would be the materials applied within the space as it represents what this pavilion really stands for pure elegance and sleek design.

Antoine Gaudi and Mies Van Der Rohe (Modernist vs Modernism)

Barcelona is a place where every corner of the city you’ll find a signature in design under Gaudi’s work, with works such as Sagrada Familia, Park Guell, Casa Mila and more. With
Mies Architectural project Barcelona Pavilion putting him under the spotlight of the architectural industry, a shame one should say that Gaudi was killed 3 years before Mies made a huge impact under his name and for the city of Barcelona as well. 

Comparing contrasting work between Barcelona pavilion and Gaudi’s Palau Guell; The pavilion is a well detailed simple but elegant piece for architecture, as for Gaudi’s Palau Guell you’ll find a balance between medieval and a hint of Moorish design within the project. The difference between the two compared works are that Mies project took him a few months to build and spend some time developing the highly detailed structures within the space, Gaudi on the other hand took years to navigate his project with various artisans who contributed in the project.

Palau Guell. Gaudi

Mies showed the world that although it was the time of modernist that Gaudi’s work so much influenced the city, Mies tried to revolutionize the architectural elements within the city which in my opinion speaking only on his work he had accomplished that, by that being said it is impossible to revolutionize what Gaudi created throughout his career, the works that Gaudi left behind are the significate and the heart of Catalonia. 

We sit here almost 90 years have passed from then, in general I think that Mies work is more applicable to where we sit today. The Modernism style has won over Gaudi if one could see the whole picture, the fact that hand crafted materials and projects today are outdated and we seek more fast and effective manufacturing that is why I am concluding that in terms of the Modernism style Mies envisioned well what we are still trying to design till this date.

Gaudi's work Primary sources:

Bibliography: http://www.payette.com/post/2647604-modernista-and-modernism-in-barcelona-part

Modernista and Modernism in Barcelona, Part 2. 2017. Modernista and Modernism in Barcelona, Part 2. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.payette.com/post/2647604-modernista-and-modernism-in-barcelona-part. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

http://www.archdaily.com/109135/ad-classics-barcelona-pavilion-mies-van-der-rohe/54c6a195e58eced670000007-mies4-jpg

ArchDaily. 2017. Gallery of AD Classics: Barcelona Pavilion / Mies van der Rohe - 1 . [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.archdaily.com/109135/ad-classics-barcelona-pavilion-mies-van-der-rohe/54c6a195e58eced670000007-mies4-jpg. [Accessed 16 February 2017].

Thonet and his influences in the 19th and 20th century

History:

Thonet was a skilled German craftsman whom discovered the limitation of bending wood and creating an interesting composition, the strengths of his furniture making was that certain features such as the exploration at that time of the technical properties of wood is what lead him to great success and aesthetically pleasing design.

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From woodworking shop to industrial production:

Thonet was first experimenting with bending plywood and creating designs with the same material. The year 1841 was an important year for Thornet were he first exhibited his work at Koblenz, this exhibition was a great success were he catches the eye of people which eventually he was asked to relocate his workshop in Vienna. Thonet had a breakthrough in 1859 were he designed chair no.14, it was at the same time that due to the exploration and fundamental achievement by Thonet lead to the possibility to mass produce the bending technique. In reality what lead the well-known chair no14 to such importance? It was a successful to the ability dissembling the design into few components, this lead to the ability of ‘work-sharing processes. The ability to export this design to any country at that time was fascinating and saving a lot of material and packaging it is said that about 36 chairs could be dismantled and fit in an area of 1 cubic metre. Some designing that today we see revolutionary followed in the Thonet’s footsteps such as the rocking chair (1860), Thonet no.209 the chair that was produced at the break of the century (1900).

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This kind of technique and production of certain models such as shown above helped inspire the art Nouveau era at a later stage, which inspired artist such as Le Corbusier. The peak of Thonet’s company was at 1912, two(2) million different design productions were sold worldwide.

A new material: One of the most important materials at that time was Tubular steel, in the 1930’s the same company was one of the world’s biggest producer in tubular steel in furniture design, this helped a lot of big names in design at that era.

https://www.google.com.mt/search?q=cantilever+chair&rlz=1C1CHBD_enMT705MT705&biw=1536&bih=748&tbm=isch&imgil=-HhQWC0PtjwyEM%253A%253BeH-yYyyFKQnOkM%253Bhttps%25253A%25252F%25252Fwww.pinterest.com%25252Fjulesjoliver%25252Fdesign-cantilever-chairs%25252F&source=iu&pf=m&fir=-HhQWC0PtjwyEM%253A%252CeH-yYyyFKQnOkM%252C_&usg=__yUU4wAabRPSEZij6aCACicBRTx0%3D&ved=0ahUKEwibmcvSsMLSAhVIPxQKHXeWCA8QyjcILQ&ei=KZm9WNvgI8j-UPesong#tbm=isch&q=cantilever+chair+marcel+breuer&*&imgrc=FTVt-G-0Ksk8sM:

The most iconic and eye catching design after the discovery of tubular steel was the cantilever chair that caught the eye by the tubular steel frame that was a one continuous piece of design. This design is defined as one of the most important designs in the 20^th century designed by Marcel Breuer. At the end of the 1920’s Thonet taught of an entirely new fabrication technique, he opted for removing new material and started producing tubular steel in his facility. Due to this idea tubular steel took a new form and dimension with the ability of Thonet’s commitment to distribute and expand this material worldwide.

Thornet’s product’s today: After the WWII the same Thonet lost a major part of his production facilities, After his son rebuilt the lost facilities in Europe the company quickly regained the success thanks to their outstanding designers within the company and the company’s structure.

Bibliography: http://en.thonet.de/fileadmin/media/meta/presse/Basispressemappe/Thonet_Basispressemappe_Nov_2013_EN.pdf

http://www.thonet.com.au/history/

History - thonet. 2017. History - thonet. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.thonet.com.au/history/. [Accessed 06 March 2017].