Modernism in Architecture

By Keira Des Vignes

• To be modern is not a fashion it is a state.
It is necessary to understand history, and
he who understands history knows how to
find continuity between that which was, that
which is and that which will be.
- Le Corbusier
Questions to Consider
• Is it possible we got the concept of modernism wrong?
• Why was the vernacular so important to Le Corbusier ?
• Did this newfound perspective change his initial thoughts of
modernism?
 • It was associated with an analytical approach to the
function of buildings,
• a strictly rational use of (often new) materials,

What is • structural innovation

• and the elimination of ornament.
modernism? • It was also known as International Modernism or
International Style, after an exhibition of modernist
architecture in America in 1932 by the architect Philip
Johnson.
 One Of The Fathers of modernism?

Le Corbusier

• Swiss-French Architect, designer, painter, urban

planner and writer. The Art of Architecture

Villa Savoye

Le dejeuner pres du pare 1928

 Voyage d’orient

Was there danger in the routine of things? Is the vernacular Disappearing?

Hera II, Paestum, c. 460 B.C.E. (Classical period), tufa, 24.26 x 59.98 m Hera II, Paestum, c. 460 B.C.E. (Classical period), tufa, 24.26 x 59.98 m
 Voyage d’orient

How are precedents important? How can we use relationships to create good design?

Nepal: the eldest son holding a candle for his mothers spirit.
Apartment Building, Aircraft & Railway. Img Credit National Geographic
Img Credit Google images
 Voyage d’orient

How are precedents important? How can we use relationships to create good design?

Villa Savoye Chapelle Notre-Dame-du-Haut

Img Credit Mary Ann Sullivan 2006 Img Credit Ph Cemal Emden
 Identity

Curacao
Img Credit Google images Identity missing connections
Img Credit Google images
 Conclusion
• We often get lost in our design process and trying to make something look like something else.
• And while that is an aspect of it, we must really evaluate who we are designing for, what significance
will this have to them and how can I create something that will be both sensitive to the client but
also to the society and culture in which they live.
• Although modernism tends to be this image of no ornamentation and universal design. We have the
ability to reshape this idea like le Corbusier did.
• There is such a thing as modern vernacular and we should strive to create parallel like it, not just for
ourselves but for the future of society and architectural history as we know it.
 References

Ali, F. A. (2018). The influence of Le Corbusier on the emergence of the aesthetic values in the modern architecture of cyprus. Journal of Contemporary Urban Affairs, 2(1),

1–12. https://doi.org/10.25034/ijcua.2017.3651

Chitham, R. (2015). The classical orders of Architecture. Routledge.

Gropius, W., & Shand, P. M. (1998). The new architecture and the Bauhaus. M.I.T. Press.

Passanti, F. (1997). The vernacular, modernism, and Le Corbusier. Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, 56(4), 438–451.

https://doi.org/10.2307/991313

Saler, M. T. (2001). The avant-garde in interwar England: Medieval modernism and the London Underground. Oxford Univ. Press.