20 th century architecture

1. 20th
Century Architecture
and Design into the 21st Century
Modern to Post-Modern

2. Modernism
• After 1900 artistic innovation in Europe and the US increased in a
rapid succession of movements, or “isms”. The modern movement
lasted through the first half of the 20th
Century.
• Modernism rejects old, traditional ideas and styles in art and design
• Although Modernist styles are diverse, art moved toward abstraction
based on line, color, shape, space, and texture
• Modern architecture and design moved toward abstraction and
rejected historical styles and ornamentation
• Modern architecture reveals rather than conceals the inner structure
of the building

3. Art Nouveau
• Art Nouveau began in France
• (Late 19th
Century – Early 20th
Century)
• Art Nouveau incorporates Organic
and Natural Forms into the
decoration
• Architecture +Interior Design,
Fashion, Graphic Arts, Decorative
Arts

4. Louis Sullivan American
Louis Sullivan, Carson,
Pirie, Scott Building
(Chicago), 1899-1904

5. Louis Sullivan American
• Art Nouveau (organic /
natural motifs and
decoration
• Used Cast iron
decoration on first and
second floors
• Large display windows
Louis Sullivan, Carson,
Pirie, Scott Building
(Chicago), 1899-1904

6. Antonio Gaudi
Spanish
Antonio Gaudi, Casa Mila
(Barcelona, Spain), 1907

7. Antonio Gaudi
Spanish
• Apartment building
incorporating organic form (Art
Nouveau)
• Design inspired by the
discovery of the Altamira Caves
(Prehistoric Caves in Spain)
• Gaudi was trained as an
ironworker before he became
an architect
• Gaudi created buildings as
“living things”
Antonio Gaudi, Casa Mila (Barcelona,
Spain), 1907

8. De Stijl (The Style)
• Began in 1917 by a group of artists in Holland
• “balance between individual and universal values”
• Integration of Art and Life
• Geometric Forms / “Purity” and Simplicity

9. Gerrit Rietveld
Garrit Rietveld, Schroder House (Utrecht, Holland) 1924

10. Gerrit Rietveld
Garrit Rietveld,
Schroder House
(Utrecht, Holland) 1924
• Rietveld was a furniture maker
and architect
• Schroder House combines
geometric forms and primary
colors with black, white, grey
• simple, open spaces
• furniture designed by Rietveld

11. Art Deco
• Movement in 1920’s and 1930’s associated with “the
Jazz Age”
• Began in France, but spread to other parts of
Europe, USA, and around the world
• People still wanted decoration despite the de Stijl
and other modern movements eliminating all
unnecessary decoration
• Industrial Design Combined with Fine Art Elements
(industrial materials (metal) and objects + patterns and
repeated shapes)
• Industrial Design – cars, household appliances,
fashion, decorative objects, architecture
• Inspiration from Ancient Cultures, including Egypt

12. The Chrysler Building
New York
William van Alen (American), The Chrysler Building
(New York), 1928 - 1930

13. The Chrysler Building
New York
William van Alen
(American), The
Chrysler Building
(New York), 1928 -
1930
• Exterior made of
stainless steel
• Art Deco motifs –
repeated shapes
(triangles, etc.)
• Built for Car
Manufactuer, Chrysler
Automotive Company
• Monument to the
“Roaring 1920’s”

14. Prairie Style
• American Midwest Architect Frank Lloyd Wright invented the Prairie
Style in early 20th
Century
• Related to The Arts and Crafts Movement, using craft, including
stained glass windows, ceramics, and wood carpentry
• Wright preferred the countryside to the city
• Natural Materials / Natural Environment
• Inspired by Japanese Architecture (long, low buildings with open
interior spaces). Wright designed a hotel in Tokyo (now demolished)

15. Frank Lloyd Wright
American
Frank Lloyd Wright, Falling
water (Pennsylvania, USA) 1935
- 1937

16. Frank Lloyd Wright
American
Frank Lloyd Wright, Falling
water (Pennsylvania, USA) 1935
- 1937
• “harmony with
nature”
• Built over a
waterfall
•Natural materials
• Japanese influence

17. Frank Lloyd WrightFrank Lloyd Wright
designed everything for
the interiors of his
buildings (furniture, lamps,
stained glass windows, etc.)

18. The Bauhaus
• The Bauhaus was an important art and design school in Germany
opened in the 1920’s
• The Bauhaus focused on understanding Pure Form (color, shape,
line, composition, space, etc,)
• Many important artists and designers taught and studied there
• The Bauhaus trained artists, designers, and architects to accept
and anticipate the needs of the 20th
Century
• The Bauhaus greatly influenced modern design – “streamlined”
the look of architecture and design, including typography
• The Bauhaus was closed by the Nazis in 1933

19. The Bauhaus
Bauhaus
designers
invented new
simplified
forms of
typography
(sans serif)
The Bauhaus
designers
created
“streamlined”
design with
simple,
“clean lines”

20. Walter Gropius German
Walter
Gropius, the
Bauhaus
(Dessau,
Germany),
1925 - 1926

21. Walter Gropius German
• Main Building of Bauhaus
Art and Design School
• In 1919, Gropius, German
architect, was appointed
director of The Bauhaus
• Gropius focused on Formal
Elements (shape, color,
line, etc.)
• Gropius promoted the unity
of art, architecture, and
design
Walter Gropius, the Bauhaus (Dessau,
Germany), 1925 - 1926

22. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe German
Mies van der
Rohe,
German
Pavilion in
International
Exposition
(Barcelona,
Spain), 1929

23. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe German
• Director of Bauhaus
from 1930 - 1933
• Mies van der Rohe said
“Less is More”
•Simple, Open Space
and Quality Materials
• “Domino system” -
combine rectangles to
form architecture
Mies van der Rohe, German Pavilion in
International Exposition (Barcelona,
Spain), 1929

24. Barcelona Chair Mies van der Rohe
• Designed for King and
Queen of Spain to sit on in
German Pavilion
• Later, the design was mass-
produced and became a
status symbol in homes and
offices
Mies van der Rohe,
Barcelona Chair, 1929

25. Mid-Century Modern
Late 1940’s, 1950’s, into the Early 1960’s
• Organic Forms vs. Geometric Forms
• Fusion of Architecture and Sculpture
• Simplicity
• New Industrial Materials

26. Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright,
Guggenheim Museum
(New York), 1943 -
1959

27. Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright, Guggenheim
Museum (New York), 1943 - 1959
• Art Museum built for
Guggenheim family
(major American art
patrons)
• Concrete Building
• Shape inspired by the
spiral shaped shell of a
snail
• Building slopes down
from top to bottom (using
gravity)
• Central atrium with
natural light

28. Le Corbusier French
Le Corbusier,
Notre Dame du
Haut (Ronchamp,
France), 1950 -
1955

29. Le Corbusier French
Le Corbusier, Notre Dame du Haut
(Ronchamp, France), 1950 - 1955
• Small church
chapel which
replaced a building
destroyed in WWII
• Shape represents
praying hands or
wings of a dove
(symbol of peace)
• Reference to
Medieval Architecture
• Concrete over metal
structure

30. Eero Saarinen
born in Finland
Eero Saarinen, Terminal at
Kennedy Airport (New York),
1952 - 1956
• Airport Terminal in New York
• Futuristic
•Scandanavian Modernism
•Simple curved, organic shapes
• Theme of Motion / “Wings in Flight”
• Two concrete “shells”

31. Eero Saarinen
born in Finland
Eero Saarinen,
Terminal at Kennedy
Airport (New York),
1952 - 1956

32. Eero Saarinen, Tulip Pedestal Furniture, 1957
Tulip Table and Chairs

33. Tulip Table and Chairs
• Eero Saarinen wanted to
eliminate the “problem” of
too many legs on furniture
• Based on the shape of
tulip flower (organic shape)
• Made of Molded Plastic
(new material)
• “Clean” and simple
design
Eero Saarinen,
Tulip Pedestal
Furniture, 1957

34. Seagram Building
• International Style
• Simple and Pure
rectangular shape
• Mies van der Rohe
helped change the look
of cities – tall “glass
boxes” (design easily
imitated)
• Amber colored
windows and bronze
colored structureLudwig Mies van der Rohe
and Philip Johnson, Seagram
Building (New York), 1956 -
1958

35. Seagram Building
Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
and Philip Johnson, Seagram
Building (New York), 1956 -
1958

36. Comparison

37. Post-Modern Architecture
The Past 20 – 30 Years
• Belief that Early Modernist Architecture was impersonal and sterile
• Complex and Eclectic structures
• Post-Modern architecture accepts and embraces the “messy and
chaotic” nature of urban life
• References to architecture from the past

38. Pompidou Center
Paris
Richard Rogers
(British) and Renzo
Piano (Italian),
Pompidou Center
(Paris), 1977

39. Pompidou Center
Paris
Richard Rogers (British) and Renzo
Piano (Italian), Pompidou Center
(Paris), 1977
• Cultural Center and
Museum
• Building “turned inside out”
with the water, electrical, etc.
pipes, ducts, and tubes on the
outside
• Square in front of the
museum popular place to
“hang out”
• Reference to Eiffel Tower
(structure visible)

40. HSBC Hong Kong
Norman Foster, Hong
Kong and Shanghai
Bank (Hong Kong), (1979
- 1986)

41. HSBC Hong Kong
• High Tech Architecture
• Supporting skeleton on the outside
• Computer programmed sun track which
finds sun rays to bring into the space
• Client wanted the most beautiful bank in
the world
Norman Foster, Hong
Kong and Shanghai
Bank (Hong Kong), (1979
- 1986)

42. Frank Gehry
Canadian (lives in USA)
Frank
Gehry,
Guggenheim
Museum
(Bilbao,
Spain) 1997

43. Frank Gehry
Canadian (lives in USA)
Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum
(Bilbao, Spain) 1997
• Art Museum (built for
Guggenheim family – same as in
New York)
• Deconstructivist
Architecture (concept of “taking
apart”)
• Imbalanced and
Asymmetrical Forms
• Sculptural
• Structure is covered in
Titanium Steel

44. Comparison

45. Santiago Calatrava
Spanish
Santiago
Calatrava,
Milwaukee Art
Museum (USA),
2001

46. Santiago Calatrava
Spanish
Santiago Calatrava, Milwaukee Art
Museum (USA), 2001
• Art Museum
• Organic / Sculptural Form
(“bird-like” / “boat-like”)
• Kenetic Architecture (the
roof moves – opening and
closing according to the
weather conditions)
• Connects the building on
Lake Michigan to the city
with a bridge

47. Zaha Hadid
Born in Iraq / Lives in London
Zaha Hadid,
MAXXI Art
Museum (Rome,
Italy), 2009

48. Zaha Hadid
Born in Iraq/ Lives in London
• Only Woman to receive the Pritzer Prize
in Architecture (most important award for
architects)
• MAXXI refers to 21st Century (Roman
Numerals XXI)
• Contemporary Art Museum
• Overlapping of geometric shapes
• Deconstructivist / Postmodernist Zaha Hadid,
MAXXI Art
Museum (Rome,
Italy), 2009