architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

, a free plan is an

open plan Open plan is the generic term used in architectural and interior design for any floor plan that makes use of large, open spaces and minimizes the use of small, enclosed rooms such as private offices. The term can also refer to landscaping of h ...

with non-

load-bearing A load-bearing wall or bearing wall is a wall that is an active structural element of a building, which holds the weight of the elements above it, by conducting its weight to a foundation structure below it. Load-bearing walls are one of the ea ...

walls dividing interior space. In this

structural system A structure is an arrangement and organization of interrelated elements in a material object or system, or the object or system so organized. Material structures include man-made objects such as buildings and machines and natural objects such as ...

, the building structure is separate of the interior partitions. This is made possible by replacing interior load-bearing walls with moving the structure of the building to the exterior, or by having

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member. ...

that are free from space dividing partitions.

Definition

Free plan, in the architecture world, refers to the ability to have a

floor plan In architecture and building engineering, a floor plan is a technical drawing to scale, showing a view from above, of the relationships between rooms, spaces, traffic patterns, and other physical features at one level of a structure. Dimensio ...

with non-load bearing walls and floors by creating a structural system that holds the weight of the building by ways of an interior skeleton of load bearing columns. The building system carries only its columns, or skeleton, and each corresponding ceiling. Free plan allows for the ability to create buildings without being limited by the placement of walls for structural support, and enables an architect to have the freedom to design the outside and inside

façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a Loanword, loan word from the French language, French (), which means 'frontage' or 'face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often t ...

without compromise.

Influences

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , , ), was a Swiss-French architect, designer, painter, urban planner, writer, and one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture. He was ...

became the pioneer of free plan during the 1914 through 1930s with his "Five Points of New Architecture" and his adoption of the Dom-ino System. This heavily influenced the importance of free plan and its role in the "

modern era The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...

" of architecture.

Dom-ino Structural System

The Dom-ino system refers to the structural system that allows a free floor and wall plan, due to the load bearing columns within the skeleton of the structure. Originally conceived as a two story building, six vertical columns held the two concrete, steel reinforced floors in space. This allowed for exterior walls that accommodate to the aesthetic and compositional features of the building. This also created a free floor plan, moving from the previous ideology of load bearing walls. This new technology allowed for long strips of windows that could wrap corners and stretch greater lengths, something that was never seen before in architecture. This building system became a staple for high production buildings because of its cheap and fast production rate. Ways could be fashioned in any way, restrained only by technological advancements of the time.

Le Corbusier and the Five Points of a New Architecture

adopted what he considered to be the most important five architectural points in his architecture:

pilotis Pilotis, or piers, are supports such as columns, pillars, or stilts that lift a building above ground or water. They are traditionally found in stilt and pole dwellings such as fishermen's huts in Asia and Scandinavia using wood, and in elev ...

, free plan, horizontal windows, a free façade and roof top gardens. The ideas all surface around the main point of free plan and the use of the Dom-ino system. The piloti system carries all the weight allowing for a free plan as well as a free façade. The free exterior façade allowed for vast openings and horizontal strips of windows creating aesthetic value. All of the five points work together, being based on the premises of the Dom-ino system, varied to a degree for aesthetic purposes.

Examples

Although Corbusier had become the pioneer of free plan in his own architecture, some other notable architects continued to follow in his footsteps, using free plan in their architecture as well. Two notable architects include

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Ludwig Mies van der Rohe ( ; ; born Maria Ludwig Michael Mies; March 27, 1886August 17, 1969) was a German-American architect. He was commonly referred to as Mies, his surname. Along with Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Frank Lloyd ...

and

Eduardo Catalano Eduardo Fernando Catalano (December 19, 1917 – January 28, 2010) was an Argentine architect. Life and career Born in Buenos Aires, Catalano went to the United States on a scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Graduate ...

. Three of Van Der Rohe's most notable buildings that portray the use of free plan are the Barcelona Pavilion and the

New National Gallery The Neue Nationalgalerie (New National Gallery) at the Kulturforum is a museum for modern art in Berlin, with its main focus on the early 20th century. It is part of the National Gallery (Berlin), National Gallery of the Berlin State Museums. Th ...

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

and the

Crown Hall S. R. Crown Hall, designed by the German-American Modernist architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, is the home of the College of Architecture at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, Illinois. History Before the building of Crown Hall, t ...

building at the

Illinois Institute of Technology Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT) is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Tracing its history to 1890, the present name was adopted upon the merger of the Armour Institute and Lewis Institute in 1940. The university has prog ...

. All three of these buildings show great expanses in floor plan due to the freedom from use of free plan. Notably, the Barcelona Pavilion expresses free plan by having glass walls and large expanses and openings in the outside façade of the building. It also has a completely open free floor plan in the interior with sections divided by walls lower than ceiling height to distinguish rooms and areas, something that can be done in any fashion through the use of free plan. Of Corbusier's architecture, the

Villa Savoye Villa Savoye () is a modernist villa and gatelodge in Poissy, on the outskirts of Paris. It was designed by the Swiss- French architect Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, and built between 1928 and 1931 using reinforced concrete.Courla ...

demonstrates his five points in the most successful way, including free plan. By using free plan, the exterior façade of the building has large horizontal window bands to help achieve greater amounts of light reach the inside of the building. The interior also demonstrates free plan by not being limited by load bearing walls, but instead having large, openings and rooms in the inside façade of the building. Eduardo Catalano achieves the ultimate free plan in his Catalano residence in

Raleigh, North Carolina Raleigh (; ) is the capital city of the state of North Carolina and the List of North Carolina county seats, seat of Wake County, North Carolina, Wake County in the United States. It is the List of municipalities in North Carolina, second-most ...

in 1955 by using thin shield concrete to achieve a completely free floor plan. By using the concrete in his roof, he designs a hyperbolic parabolic roof that is self-supporting with only two points touching the ground. No other points of contact support the roof. In doing this he achieves a floor plan that is completely independent of its roof structure. The roof stands by itself, and creates its own structure. This achieves, by definition, a completely independent free plan.

References

{{reflist Architecture