what is gesamtkunstwerk?

Victor Horta's tassel hotel in Brussels, 1894. this is one of the first examples of Art Nouveau. horta is obviously evoking the vital force of nature. the whiplash curves resembling vines literally overtake the house, and iron support columns are cast in the form of a stem or root that is bursting alive at the top. horta designed literally every element of the interior, including the window frames and stained glass, the metal radiator covers and the floral light fixtures, floor tiles and stair rails.

architect charles rennie mackintosh & his wife margaret mcconald on designing several interiors in their entirety, including their own home (1906). each room presented a different, unified color scheme, with furniture, light fixtures and wall paintings conceived by the couple.

frank lloyd wright's Robie House (1910) is just one example of the american architect's mastery of gesamtkunstwerk. wright took the concept even further than some of his peers by joining different interior elements into single pieces. in the Robie House's dining room the light fixtures are actually a part of the dining table. wright placed the sconces within the ceiling strapwork. 

 

The Barcelona Pavilion, an emblematic work of the Modern Movement, has been exhaustively studied and interpreted as well as having inspired the oeuvre of several generations of architects. It was designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich as the German national pavilion for the 1929 Barcelona International Exhibition. Mies writes: "The design was predicated on an absolute distinction between structure and enclosure—a regular grid of cruciform steel columns interspersed by freely spaced planes". The floor plan is very simple. The entire building rests on a plinth of travertine. A southern U-shaped enclosure, also of travertine, helps form a service annex and a large water basin. The floor slabs of the pavilion project out and over the pool—once again connecting inside and out. Another U-shaped wall on the opposite side of the site also forms a smaller water basin. This is where the statue by Georg Kolbe sits. The roof plates, relatively small, are supported by the chrome-clad, cruciform columns. This gives the impression of a hovering roof. A masterpiece!

 

in 1956, SAS commissioned arne jacobsen to build their royal hotel in Copenhagen. jacobsen not only designed the architecture of the building, but also the interiors, from the furniture to the flatware and the door hardware. it is for thisproject that he created his famous Egg and Swan sofas and chairs.