MODERN ARCHITECTURE

THIS ARTICLE IS ABOUT MODERN MOVEMENT ARCHITECTURE. FOR ARCHITECTURE IN THE PRESENT DAY, SEE CONTEMPORARY ARCHITECTURE.

CHANDAN GUPTA
chandang9719@gmail
.com
https://www.slideshare.net/Chand
anGupta209/
WHAT IS MODERN ARCHITECTURE?

 Modernism in architecture is
characterized by its emphasis
on form over ornament;
appreciation of materials and
structure instead of idyllic
revival constructions; and the
adroit, methodical use of
space.
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was based upon new and innovative
technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel and reinforced
concrete; the idea that form should follow function (functionalism); an embrace
of minimalism; and a rejection of ornament.
It emerged in the first half of the 20th century and became dominant after world war
II until the 1980s, when it was gradually replaced as the principal style for
institutional and corporate buildings by postmodern architecture.
FACTS
 Several different styles of modern architecture in the United States developed between
1930 and 1970 such as the International, Expressionist, Brutalist, New Formalist, and
Googie movements.
 The roots of modern architecture can be traced to the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair, which
was composed entirely of cutting-edge buildings and cemented the United States’ role as a
world leader in art, architecture, and technology.
 One of the many young architects inspired by the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair was Frank
Lloyd Wright, the leading force in shaping modern American architecture in the 20th
century.
 The Bauhaus was a German school of architecture, sculpture, painting, design, and craft,
led by Walter Gropius, in operation from 1919 to 1933 that brought the modern movement
to international prominence.
FALLINGWATER

 AMERICAN MODERNISM: FRANK LLOYD

WRIGHT. THE KAUFMANN HOUSE KNOWN
AS , MILL RUN, PA, 1939. PHOTO BY
WALTER BIBIKOW.
BAUHAUS

 EUROPEAN MODERNISM: WALTER
GROPIUS. EXTERIOR OF THE BAUHAUS,
DESSAU, SAXONY-ANHALT, GERMANY,
1925-1926. PHOTO BY GILI MERIN.
LEVER HOUSE

 INTERNATIONAL STYLE: GORDON
BUNSHAFT, SKIDMORE, OWINGS &
MERRILL, LEVER HOUSE, MANHATTAN,
NEW YORK, 1952.
OPERA HOUSE

 EXPRESSIONIST: JØRN UTZON, SYDNEY

OPERA HOUSE, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA,
DESIGNED 1957, COMPLETED 1973
WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART

 BRUTALIST: MARCEL BREUER, WHITNEY

MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART, MANHATTAN,
NEW YORK, 1966.
UNITED STATES EMBASSY, NEW DELHI

 NEW FORMALIST: EDWARD DURRELL

STONE, UNITED STATES EMBASSY, NEW
DELHI, INDIA, 1959-1960.
TWA FLIGHT CENTER

 GOOGIE: EERO SAARINEN, TWA FLIGHT

CENTER, QUEENS, NEW YORK, 1962.
HOW DO I SPOT A MODERN BUILDING?
IT’S EASY! FIRST, LOOK FOR THE BIG 3 MODERN CHARACTERISTICS:

1. CLEAN LINES LACKING ORNAMENT

2. EMPHASIS ON LOW, HORIZONTAL MASSING WITH HORIZONTAL PLANES AND BROAD ROOF OVERHANGS
3. GENEROUS USE OF GLASS TO ALLOW NATURAL LIGHT INTO OPEN, FLOWING FLOORPLANS

Here are a few more common features of modern

architecture:
• Emphasis on well-defined, rectangular forms
• Use of modern materials and systems like steel columns, exposed concrete
block, stained concrete floors, column-free spaces, and radiant heating systems
• Innovative use of traditional materials like wood, brick, and stone in simplified
ways that showcase their natural features and are installed in large smooth
planes
• A thoughtful relationship between the site and the building where interior space
is planned to best compliment the surrounding natural environment
EARLY MODERNISM IN EUROPE (1900–1914)

At the end of the 19th century, a few architects began to challenge the traditional Beaux
Arts and Neoclassical styles that dominated architecture in Europe and the United States.

 The Glasgow School of Art (1896–99) designed by Charles Rennie MacIntosh, had a facade

dominated by large vertical bays of windows.
 The Art Nouveau style was launched in the 1890s by Victor Horta in Belgium and Hector
Guimard in France; it introduced new styles of decoration, based on vegetal and floral
forms.
 In Barcelona, Antonio Gaudi conceived architecture as a form of sculpture; the facade of
the Casa Battlo in Barcelona (1904–1907) had no straight lines; it was encrusted with
colorful mosaics of stone and ceramic tiles 
REVOLUTION OF MATERIALS USED:

 Architects also began to experiment with new materials and techniques, which gave them
greater freedom to create new forms.
 In 1903–1904 in Paris Auguste Perret and Henri Sauvage began to use reinforced concrete,
previously only used for industrial structures, to build apartment buildings.
 Reinforced concrete, which could be molded into any shape, and which could create
enormous spaces without the need of supporting pillars, replaced stone and brick as the
primary material for modernist architects.
 The first concrete apartment buildings by Perret and Sauvage were covered with ceramic
tiles, but in 1905 Perret built the first concrete parking garage on 51 rue de Ponthieu in
Paris; here the concrete was left bare, and the space between the concrete was filled with
glass windows.
AUSTRIAN POSTAL SAVINGS BANK IN VIENNA BY OTTO
WAGNER (1904–1906)
STEPPED CONCRETE APARTMENT BUILDING IN PARIS
BY HENRI SAUVAGE (1912–1914)
THE FAGUS FACTORY IN ALFELD BY WALTER
GROPIUS AND ADOLF MEYER (1911–13)
THE GLASS PAVILION IN COLOGNE BY GERMAN
ARCHITECT BRUNO TAUT (1914)
EARLY AMERICAN MODERNISM (1890–1914)

 Frank Lloyd Wright was a highly original and independent American architect who refused
to be categorized in any one architectural movement; like Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe, he had no formal architectural training.
 In 1887–93 he worked in the Chicago office of Louis Sullivan, who pioneered the first tall
steel-frame office buildings in Chicago, and who famously stated "form follows
function".Wright set out to break all the traditional rules.
 He was particularly famous for his Prairie Houses, including the Winslow House in River
Forest, Illinois (1893–94); Arthur Heurtley House (1902) and Robie House (1909); sprawling,
geometric residences without decoration, with strong horizontal lines which seemed to
grow out of the earth, and which echoed the wide flat spaces of the American prairie.
 His Larkin Building (1904–1906) in Buffalo, New York, Unity Temple (1905) in Oak Park,
Illinois and Unity Temple had highly original forms and no connection with historical
precedents.
WILLIAM H. WINSLOW HOUSE, ILLINOIS (1893–94) AND
THE ROBIE HOUSE, CHICAGO (1909)  BY FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT.
LARKIN ADMINISTRATION BUILDING, BUFFALO, NEW YORK (1904–1906) AND
INTERIOR OF UNITY TEMPLE, OAK PARK, ILLINOIS (1905–1908) BY FRANK
LLOYD WRIGHT
EARLY SKYSCRAPERS
 At the end of the 19th century, the first skyscrapers began to appear in the United States.
 They were a response to the shortage of land and high cost of real estate in the center of the fast-
growing American cities, and the availability of new technologies, including fireproof steel frames
and improvements in the safety elevator invented by Elisha Otis in 1852.
 The first steel-framed "skyscraper", The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, was ten stories high.
It was designed by William Le Baron Jenney in 1883, and was briefly the tallest building in the
world. 
 Louis Sullivan built another monumental new structure, the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company
Building, in the heart of Chicago in 1904–06.
 While these buildings were revolutionary in their steel frames and height, their decoration was
borrowed from Neo-Renaissance, Neo-Gothic and Beaux-Arts architecture.
 The Woolworth Building, designed by Cass Gilbert, was completed in 1912, and was the tallest
building in the world until the completion of the Chrysler Building in 1929. The structure was purely
modern, but its exterior was decorated with Neo-Gothic ornament, complete with decorative
buttresses, arches and spires, which caused it be nicknamed the "Cathedral of Commerce."
 Prudential (Guaranty)
Building by Louis
The Flatiron Building in New York Sullivan in Buffalo, New
City (1903) York (1896)
The Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Home Insurance Building in
Building in Chicago by Louis Chicago by William Le Baron
Sullivan (1904–1906) Jenney (1883)
The Woolworth Building and the New York skyline The neo-Gothic crown of
in 1913. It was modern on the inside but neo- the Woolworth
Gothic on the outside. Building by Cass
Gilbert (1912)
THANK CHANDAN GUPTA
https://www.slideshare.net/ChandanGupta209/

YOU!
[email protected]