Week 6: Emergence of Modernism

Barcelona Pavillion, Barcelona, Spain by Mies van der Rohe. 1929

Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA by Frank Lloyd Wright. 1937

Modernism was a purposeful, futuristic and functional design which began in Germany. Its emergence happened between 1900 and the 1950s during the heart of the industrial revolution.  Industrialization and technology brought a lot of changes in human affairs at the beginning of the 20th century. This along with the increasing population growth, increase in urban poverty and other problems like the rise of communism and fascism and the suffering that emerged after World War I rendered the past traditions and styles irrelevant to the modern world.

The leaders of modernism were revolutionaries in a sense with new ideas that disturbed and frightened major elements of society. What was most important in developing the early 20th-century design was developing a design vocabulary that suited

Villa Savoye, Poissy, France by Le Corbusier, 1929

the modern world of advanced technology and all the changes to patterns of life that came with it and modernism was the name given to all the arts.

There were four architects (3 Europeans and 1 American) who were the 'modern movement' originators. They also engaged in designs of interiors and other objects and elements of the 20th-century modernism. They were Walter Gropius, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe who were German, French/Swiss  Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright who was American.

E1027 By Eileen Gray. 1927
Medium: Polished Chromium Plated Tubular Steel and Polished Glass

The International Style is a major architectural style that emerged in the formative decades of Modern Architecture. The term originated from a book that explained characteristics common to Modernism around the world and its stylistic aspects. The three principles of Modernism are the expression of volume rather than mass, the emphasis on balance rather than preconceived symmetry, and the expulsion of applied ornament. Other characteristics include simplification of forms, rejection of ornamentation,  transparency of buildings and adoption of glass steel and concrete as preferred materials.

The merits of international style modernism can be best appreciated by visiting the buildings and although design has moved somewhat beyond them in recent years, the modernist pioneers retain their stature as the inventors of a design vocabulary for the 20th century.

Current Applications

Gallello Residence, Los Altos Hills, CA by Curt Cline of Modern House Architects. 2013

Ribbon Rocking Chair by Katie Wlker
Medium: Leather, Stainless Steel and Rippled Ash

One Step Further...

Stillman House in Litchfield, CT. 1950-51

Marcel Bruener (1902-1981) was a Hungarian born Architect and designer. He was mentored by Walter Gropius and his design style, especially for furniture, was inspired by the curved tubular steel on the hands of his bicycle. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna after his high school education to study painting. He didn't really like the program so he dropped out some weeks after he started school to begin an apprenticeship with a Viennese architect. He soon joined the cabinet-making studio of the architect's brother as he was eager to work with his hands. 

Long Chair. 1936. Material: Birch.

When he was 18, he moved to Germany and enrolled at the Bauhaus and Walter Gropius, the founder immediately recognized Bruener's talent and promoted him within a year to the master of the carpentry shop. He produced a lot of furniture while at the Bauhaus and even after that.

Hooper House in Baltimore County, MD. c. 1959.

As suggested by his mentor, Gropius who was his mentor till 1941,

Wassily Chair. 1925.
Medium: Chrome-plated tubular steel and canvas

he relocated to London in 1936 and was employed by Jack Pritchard at the Isokon company He experimented a lot with molded plywood in designs like the long chair. He moved to New York City in 1946 to establish a practice that was centered there for the rest of his life. He partnered with a number of Architects throughout his almost 30-year career on nearly 100 buildings and insistently shared design credit with them.