Modern Architecture in Short
What is modern architecture?
Modern architecture is an architectural style that refers to a large group of similar buildings that emerged in many countries by the practice of many architects between the 1920s and 1950s. Modern architecture first took off in Europe and then made its way into the American style.
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe as a leading figure of the Modernist Movement promote “Less is more.” The concept of minimalism and use of modern materials that could represent modern time.
Others, by Louis Sullivan who promote “form follow function” which lead Modernists views where that a building should be purely functional and machine like which worked well but didn’t leave a lot of an imagination for design features and all the buildings began to have a lot of the same features.
What we can learn from modern architecture?
“modernism” usually refers to the minimalism and use of modern materials as typified by the architect Mies Van der Rohe. The Jacques Tati’s “Playtime” is comedy movie that use modernism in European city to portray the absurdities of the modern world instead a humorous conversation. The carousel cars and clean minimalism of the modern European city belies its deep irrationalities that Tati cleverly highlights for comedic effect.
Others, the functionalism which is closely associated with modern architecture implies that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. Louis Sullivan’s slogan “form follow function” and Le Corbusier’s “a house is a machine for living” reflect the insistence of the modern architect that the process of design begins with an analysis of the building’s function and the use of technical aspect as aesthetic character. It can be said, the emphasis on Functionalism in modern architecture implies a reunion of architecture and engineering to an extent, solved some design problems by keeping abreast of technology.
Why modern architecture was failing?
Many modernist architects believe they are the representatives of the March of History, that modernism is a successful revolution of the 20th century. To win political and societal support for modernist design, modernist architects frequently use non sequiturs. Modernist buildings are praised for being “progressive” or “optimistic about the future.”
However not all modernist projects were as successful: many were demolished from the 1970s due to large-scale failure. The ultimate example of the failure of the modernist utopia is the now infamous international style Pruitt-Igoe urban housing development in St. Louis, Missouri, completed in 1955 then later be demolished in 1973. The Pruitt-Igoe maintenance was poor and drove out more tenant, a lot of criminal activity, and only 600 residents had been left when the order came, a far cry from the 10,000 originally expected to fill the complex. The fall of Pruitt-Igoe ultimately came to signify not only the failure of one public housing project, but arguably the death knell of the entire Modernist era of design.
Perhaps the reason the modernist utopia is so often cited as a failure is because of its unrealistic ambitions, universal, eliminating the value of locality and history, and the architects only rely on their personal experience in designing without paying attention to the users of the building.
Why post-modern architecture was begun to emerge?
Post-modernism was devised from its previous movement modernism and first began to emerge around the states of America in the 1960s but really took off around the early 1970s when it came to England and Europe and became a movement. Post-modernism came about when modernist views were being rejected by many people and architects although there was still some whom in favour of the current modernist ideas.
The most influential change came from Robert Venturi famously wrote the book ‘Complexity and Contradiction in architecture’ in 1966 which attacked the modernism of international style, with his strong views on his dislike for modernism. In the writing he replaces Miles van der Rohe’s (a modernist architect) modernist phrase “less is more” with:
“less is a bore. Blatant simplification means bland architecture.”
As is with most post-modernist architecture different organic and bold shapes are a big feature of the building making every design unique unlike the similar designs of the modernist era.
References:
http://www.inquiriesjournal.com/articles/1687/the-rise-and-fall-of-modernist-architecture
https://www.britannica.com/art/Functionalism-architecture
https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/history-of-modern-architecture-through-movies/