Modern Architecture

Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style 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.

Origins

File:Crystal Palace.PNG, The Crystal Palace (1851) was one of the first buildings to have cast plate glass windows supported by a cast-iron frame
File:Maison François Coignet 2.jpg, The first house built of reinforced concrete, designed by François Coignet (1853) in Saint-Denis near Paris
File:Home Insurance Building.JPG, The Home Insurance Building in Chicago, by William Le Baron Jenney (1884)
File:Construction tour eiffel5.JPG, The Eiffel Tower being constructed (August 1887–89)

Modern architecture emerged at the end of the 19th century from revolutions in technology, engineering, and building materials, and from a desire to break away from historical architectural styles and to invent something that was purely functional and new.

The revolution in materials came first, with the use of cast iron, drywall, plate glass, and reinforced concrete, to build structures that were stronger, lighter, and taller. The cast plate glass process was invented in 1848, allowing the manufacture of very large windows. The Crystal Palace by Joseph Paxton at the Great Exhibition of 1851 was an early example of iron and plate glass construction, followed in 1864 by the first glass and metal curtain wall. These developments together led to the first steel-framed skyscraper, the ten-story Home Insurance Building in Chicago, built in 1884 by William Le Baron Jenney. The iron frame construction of the Eiffel Tower, then the tallest structure in the world, captured the imagination of millions of visitors to the 1889 Paris Universal Exposition.

French industrialist François Coignet was the first to use iron-reinforced concrete, that is, concrete strengthened with iron bars, as a technique for constructing buildings. In 1853 Coagent built the first iron reinforced concrete structure, a four-story house in the suburbs of Paris. A further important step forward was the invention of the safety elevator by Elisha Otis, first demonstrated at the New York Crystal Palace exposition in 1854, which made tall office and apartment buildings practical. Another important technology for the new architecture was electric light, which greatly reduced the inherent danger of fires caused by gas in the 19th century.

The debut of new materials and techniques inspired architects to break away from the neoclassical and eclectic models that dominated European and American architecture in the late 19th century, most notably eclecticism, Victorian and Edwardian architecture, and the Beaux-Arts architectural style. This break with the past was particularly urged by the architectural theorist and historian Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. In his 1872 book ''Entretiens sur L'Architecture'', he urged: "use the means and knowledge given to us by our times, without the intervening traditions which are no longer viable today, and in that way we can inaugurate a new architecture. For each function its material; for each material its form and its ornament." This book influenced a generation of architects, including Louis Sullivan, Victor Horta, Hector Guimard, and Antoni Gaudí.

Early modernism in Europe (1900–1914)

File:Schoolofart1.jpg, The Glasgow School of Art by Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1896–99)
File:25bis rue Benjamin-Franklin (25437741212).jpg, Reinforced concrete apartment building by Auguste Perret, Paris (1903)
File:Vienna - PSK Otto Wagner's Postsparkasse - 5977.jpg, Austrian Postal Savings Bank in Vienna by Otto Wagner (1904–1906)
File:Berlin AEG Turbinenfabrik.jpg, The AEG Turbine factory by Peter Behrens (1909)
File:Casa Steiner - Foto Fachada Trasera.jpg, The Steiner House in Vienna by Adolf Loos, main facade (1910)
File:Woluwe-St-Pierre - Hoffmann 050917 (1).jpg, Stoclet Palace by Josef Hoffmann, Brussels, (1906–1911)
File:Théâtre des Champs-Élysées DSC09330.jpg, The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris by Auguste Perret (1911–1913)
File:01Sauvage26rueVavin.JPG, Stepped concrete apartment building in Paris by Henri Sauvage (1912–1914)
File:Wrocław - Jahrhunderthalle5.jpg, The Centennial Hall in Wrocław by Max Berg (1911–1913)
File:Fagus-Werke-01.jpg, The Fagus Factory in Alfeld by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer (1911–13)
File:Taut Glass Pavilion exterior 1914.jpg, The Glass Pavilion in Cologne by German architect Bruno Taut (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 Mackintosh, had a façade 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 façade of the Casa Battlo in Barcelona (1904–1907) had no straight lines; it was encrusted with colorful mosaics of stone and ceramic tiles.

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. Henri Sauvage added another construction innovation in an apartment building on Rue Vavin in Paris (1912–1914); the reinforced concrete building was in steps, with each floor set back from the floor below, creating a series of terraces. Between 1910 and 1913, Auguste Perret built the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, a masterpiece of reinforced concrete construction, with Art Deco sculptural bas-reliefs on the facade by Antoine Bourdelle. Because of the concrete construction, no columns blocked the spectator's view of the stage.

Otto Wagner, in Vienna, was another pioneer of the new style. In his book ''Moderne Architektur'' (1895) he had called for a more rationalist style of architecture, based on "modern life". He designed a stylized ornamental metro station at Karlsplatz in Vienna (1888–89), then an ornamental Art Nouveau residence, Majolika House (1898), before moving to a much more geometric and simplified style, without ornament, in the Austrian Postal Savings Bank (1904–1906). Wagner declared his intention to express the function of the building in its exterior. The reinforced concrete exterior was covered with plaques of marble attached with bolts of polished aluminum. The interior was purely functional and spare, a large open space of steel, glass, and concrete where the only decoration was the structure itself.

The Viennese architect Adolf Loos also began removing any ornament from his buildings. His Steiner House, in Vienna (1910), was an example of what he called rationalist architecture; it had a simple stucco rectangular facade with square windows and no ornament. The fame of the new movement, which became known as the Vienna Secession spread beyond Austria. Josef Hoffmann, a student of Wagner, constructed a landmark of early modernist architecture, the Palais Stoclet, in Brussels, in 1906–1911. This residence, built of brick covered with Norwegian marble, was composed of geometric blocks, wings, and a tower. A large pool in front of the house reflected its cubic forms. The interior was decorated with paintings by Gustav Klimt and other artists, and the architect even designed clothing for the family to match the architecture.

In Germany, a modernist industrial movement, Deutscher Werkbund (German Work Federation) had been created in Munich in 1907 by Hermann Muthesius, a prominent architectural commentator. Its goal was to bring together designers and industrialists, to turn out well-designed, high-quality products, and in the process to invent a new type of architecture. The organization originally included twelve architects and twelve business firms, but quickly expanded. The architects include Peter Behrens, Theodor Fischer (who served as its first president), Josef Hoffmann and Richard Riemerschmid. In 1909 Behrens designed one of the earliest and most influential industrial buildings in the modernist style, the AEG turbine factory, a functional monument of steel and concrete. In 1911–1913, Adolf Meyer and Walter Gropius, who had both worked for Behrens, built another revolutionary industrial plant, the Fagus Factory in Alfeld an der Laine, a building without ornament where every construction element was on display. The Werkbund organized a major exposition of modernist design in Cologne just a few weeks before the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914. For the 1914 Cologne exhibition, Bruno Taut built a revolutionary glass pavilion.

Early American modernism (1890s–1914)

File:William H. Winslow House Front Facade.jpg, William H. Winslow House, by Frank Lloyd Wright, River Forest, Illinois (1893–94)
File:Oak park house2.jpg, The Arthur Heurtley House in Oak Park, Illinois (1902)
File:LarkinAdministrationBuilding1906.jpg, Larkin Administration Building by Frank Lloyd Wright, Buffalo, New York (1904–1906)
File:Unity Temple - Oak Park IL 9 (3224132995).jpg, Interior of Unity Temple by Frank Lloyd Wright, Oak Park, Illinois (1905–1908)
File:Frederick C. Robie House.JPG, The Robie House by Frank Lloyd Wright, Chicago (1909)

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.

Early skyscrapers

File:Home Insurance Building.JPG, Home Insurance Building in Chicago by William Le Baron Jenney (1883)
File:Prudential buffalo louis sullivan.jpg, Prudential (Guaranty) Building by Louis Sullivan in Buffalo, New York (1896)
File:Detroit Photographic Company (0645).jpg, The Flatiron Building in New York City (1903)
File:Carson Pirie Scott building, Chicago, Illinois - Louis Sullivan.jpg, The Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Building in Chicago by Louis Sullivan (1904–1906)
File:Woolworth Building and City Hall Park, New York City 1910s retouched.png, The Woolworth Building and the New York skyline in 1913. It was modern on the inside but neo-Gothic on the outside.
File:WoolworthBuilding crop.jpg, The neo-Gothic crown of the Woolworth Building by Cass Gilbert (1912)

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 to be nicknamed the "Cathedral of Commerce".

Rise of modernism in Europe and Russia (1918–1931)

After the first World War, a prolonged struggle began between architects who favored the more traditional styles of neo-classicism and the Beaux-Arts architecture style, and the modernists, led by Le Corbusier and Robert Mallet-Stevens in France, Walter Gropius and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in Germany, and Konstantin Melnikov in the new Soviet Union, who wanted only pure forms and the elimination of any decoration. Louis Sullivan popularized the axiom ''Form follows function'' to emphasize the importance of utilitarian simplicity in modern architecture. Art Deco architects such as Auguste Perret and Henri Sauvage often made a compromise bet