Architecture of the Early 20th Century

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Architecture of the Early 20th Century
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Key Ideas

• Introduction of new building materials allowed
  architects to break from the traditional mold of
  building design structural steel skeleton
  ferroconcrete (concrete reinforced with steel)
• Reaction to modern art influences

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European Modernism

• Adolf Loos (Austria), Steiner House, 1910.
• Reaction against ornamental excess of Art
  Nouveau
• Loos saw ornament as a sign of a degenerate
  culture
• Stripped-down, severely geometric
• Exterior walls are merely to protect from the
  elements

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European Modernism/Bauhaus

• Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer(German), Fagus
  Shoe Factory, 1911-16.
• Window corners
• Purely functional building
• Good engineering equals good architecture
• Curtain wall
• Steel frame allows large windows to allow natural
  light to flood the interior
• Vertical bricks shows division of floors
• No embellishment beyond engineering necessities

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European Modernism/International Style

• Le Corbusier (French), Villa Savoye, 1929-30.
• Icon of the International Style
• Domino construction system use of ferroconcrete
  slab
• Simplified form of classical Doric architecture
  combined with machinery precision
• House elevated above ground on pilotis
• Curtain walls
• Ribbon windows
• Flat roofs for terraces

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European Modernism/Destijl

• Gerrit Rietveld, Schroder House, the Netherlands,
  1925
• International Style
• Radically asymmetric
• Horizontal/vertical accents
• Universal beauty
• Influenced by Piet Mondrian (below) rejection of
  organic style of Art Nouveau

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American Modernism

• Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House, Chicago, 1906-9.

• Prairie Style/International Style
• Cantilevered spaces
• Hearth central to home as psychological and
  physical center
• Horizontal lines
• Harmony in the house and out

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Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, Mill Run PA,
1937.
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American Skyscrapers

• Steel girders/beams
• Elevators
• Fire safety

• Cass Gilbert, Woolworth Building, New York,
  1911-13. Gothic worship of business.

• Empire State Building, Art Deco style, New York,
  1931.

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International Style

• Architecture
• Architects communicated globally
• Three common principles
• VOLUME rather than MASS
• REGULARITY rather than SYMMETRY (avoidance of
  classical symmetry)
• Rejection of arbitrary applied DECORATION