MODERN STYLE
Modern architecture is a term given to a number of building styles with similar characteristics, primarily the simplification of form and the elimination of ornament, that first arose around 1900. By the1940s these styles had been consolidated and identified as the International Style and became the dominant architectural, particularly for institutional and corporate building, for several decades in the twentieth century.
Functionalism in architecture is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern architecture.
FUTURIST ARCHITECTURE
Futurist architecture began as an early – 20th century form of architecture characterized by anti-historicism and long horizontal lines suggesting speed, motion and urgency. Technology and even violence were among the themes of the Futurists. The movement was founded by the poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and attracted not only poets, musicians, artists but also a number of architects. Among the latter there was Antonio Sant’Elia who, though he built little, translated the Futurist vision into bold urban form.
EXPRESSIONIST ARCHITECTURE
Expressionist architecture was an architectural movement that developed in Northern Europe during the first decades of the 20th century in parallel with the expressionist visual and performing arts.
The style was characterized by an early-modernist adoption if novel materials, formal innovation, and very unusual massing, sometimes inspired by natural biomorphic forms, sometimes by the new technical possibilities offered by the mass production of brick, steel and especially glass. Many expressionist architects resulted in a Utopian outlook and a romantic socialist agenda. Economic conditions severely limited the number of built commissions between 1914 and the mid 1920s, resulting in many of the most important expressionist works remaining as projects on paper. Ephemeral exhibition buildings were numerous and highly significant during this period. Scenography for theatre and films provided another outlet for the expressionist imagination and provided supplemental incomes for designers attempting to challenge conventions in a harsh economic climate.
INTERNATIONAL STYLE
The International Style was a major architectural trend of the 1920s and 1930s. The term usually refers to the buildings and architects of the formative decades of a book by Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Philip Johnson which identified and expanded upon characteristics common to modernism across the world. As a result, the focus was more on the stylistic aspects of modernism. The basic design principles of the international style thus constitute part of modernism.
POSTMODERN ARCHITECTURE
Postmodern architecture is an international style whose first examples are generally cited as being from the 1950s, and which continuous to influence present-day architecture. Postmodernity in architecture is generally thought to be heralded by return of “wit, ornament and reference” to architecture in response to the formalism of the International Style of modernism. As with many cultural movements, some of postmodernism’s most pronounced and visible to the seen in architecture.
Classic example of modern architecture is the Lever House and the Seagram Building in commercial space. Transitional examples of postmodern architecture are the Portland Building in Portland and the Sony Building in New York City, which borrows elements and references from the past symbolism to architecture. A prime example of inspiration for postmodern architecture lies along the Las Vegas Strip.
Ex. I. Characterise each architectural style in brief.
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