Marcel Breuer, a brief look into

Marcel Breuer, and a look into one of his most famous works, St. John's Abbeys Church.

1. Mar
cel
Bre
uer
1902-1981
r aj i v babu
r no 30

2. Most celebrated for his tubular steel furniture
and bold imposing architecture
In 1925, in other words at the tender age of
only 23, he “invented” tubular steel furniture,
a quite revolutionary development and
considered his core contribution to the history
of design.
the Wassily armchair-
represented the
industrial aesthetic
and formal simplicity
of the Modernist
period.
the Bauhaus stool

3. Begrisch Hall, the ‘University Heights’
campus at New York University, N.Y.
Breuer began his career as first a student, then
a teacher at the Bauhaus, a position that he
secured in 1925.
In 1937 - invited by instructor and colleague
Walter Gropius to become a faculty member at
Harvard University in Cambridge.
In 1941, Breuer split off from Gropius and
opened his own practice.

4. Breuer’s career made a turning point when he was
commissioned in 1953 to design the UNESCO
(United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization) Headquarters in Paris.
This public and monumental building
marked the beginning of a phase in his
career marked by the Brutalist style and
the use of concrete as his primary medium.
UNESCO Headquarters, Paris

5. In 1963, Breuer began work on
the Whitney Museum of Art in New
York City, probably one of his best-
known public projects
The museum clearly speaks to Breuer’s
Brutalist design tendencies – the
primary use of concrete, the top-heavy
form, and minimal glazing.
Whitney Museum of Art, New York

6. Over the next few decades, Breuer designed
housing projects, various buildings in
universities and schools across the country,
museums, research centers, the US Embassy in
the Netherlands, and several buildings for the
United States government in Washington
Church of St Francis of Sales, Muskegon, Michigan

7. St. John’s Abbey Church
the cast-in-place concrete marvel,

8. The plan aims at a clear division between the
monastic living quarters and the educational
facilities.
The two are connected by the important
structures they both share; the church,
auditorium, library, and administration
building.
The church and its bell banner are the
dominant structures of St. John’s.

9. The main floor plan reflects the basic liturgical
concepts of the Order. One enters the symbolic
center doorway, down the center aisle to the
altar and abbot’s throne, around which is placed
the very large choir.

10. The relation of the abbot’s throne and
monks’ choir to the congregation defines
the shape of the plan with the altar near
the center of the church in plain view of
congregation, choir, and large balcony.

11. Reference
http://www.archdaily.com/255902/ad-classics-st-johns-abbey-church-marcel-
breuer/janmikeuy-2/
http://www.archdaily.com/128627/ad-classics-whitney-museum-marcel-breuer/
http://www.yatzer.com/Marcel-Breuer-design-architecture

12. Thank You!