A M

D O
V D
E E
N R
T N
I
O S
F M
GROUP MEMBERS
SHRIYA SAMMO
KISHAN SIROHI
AKANSHA AMBA
ABHISHEK SINGH PARWAL
MODERNISM-
PROGRESSIVE & OPTIMISTIC
DURATION: LATE 19TH- EARLY 20TH
CENTURY
PREDECESSOR: NORDIC
CLASSICISM
MAJOR CONCEPT: FORM FOLLOWS
FUNCTION
• COMBINATION OF POLITICAL,
CULTURAL AND ARTISTIC
MOVEMENTS
• THE TERM IS OFTEN APPLIED TO
MODERNIST MOVEMENTS AT THE
TURN OF THE 20TH CENTURY,
WITH EFFORTS TO RECONCILE
THE PRINCIPLES UNDERLYING
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN WITH
RAPID TECHNOLOGICAL
ADVANCEMENT AND THE
MODERNIZATION OF SOCIETY.
• Progress=Technology
IDEA OF MODERNITY ?
• HELD TO HAVE COME INTO BEING
WITH THE RENAIS­SANCE
• DEFINED IN RELATION TO ANTIQUITY
• CONTRASTED TO THE TRADITIONAL
ORDER
• IMPLIES THE PROGRESSIVE
ECONOMIC AND ADMINISTRATIVE
RATIONALIZATION
WHAT LED TO MODERNISM?
Principle of architecture
that states that the • WWI MASS CULTURE (IMPOSED VALUES RATHER THAN
shape of structures is PROVINCIAL THOUGHT)
dictated by
their function. It is • REACTION TO RAPID ADVANCEMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY
considered the driving (CARS, BOMBS, COMMUNICATION)
principle of modern
architecture. • WOMEN’S LIBERATION
Modernism was manifested as a series of
innovative cultural movements in the • COMMUNISM
following fields:
• THE GREAT DEPRESSION
• Applied arts
• Literature
• Arts • NEW MATERIALS FOR BUILDING
• architecture
• NEW TYPOLOGIES – RAILWAY STATION, DEPARTMENT
STORE, OFFICE, APARTMENT TOWERS, FACTORIES, DAMS
AND AIRPORTS…
• NEW CLIENTS – MUNICIPALITIES, COOPERATIVES,
INSTITUTIONS, SOCIAL GROUPS.
BIRTH OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE
Modern Architecture is Architecture that emerged
in the 1920s in Europe and the United States. It
began as a response by Architects to rapid
technological advances and greater urbanization of
society at the turn of the century.
 WHAT LED TO MODERNISM- TIMELINE

Red summer Charles A. Lindbergh completes the

first transatlantic solo flight

First commercial
television
broadcast in the
united states is WW II begins
WWI aired
Begins in Treaty of Versailles The jazz singer , one of the first
Europe ends WWI “talkies”, opens

1917 1920 1923 1929 1933

1914 1919 1927 1939
United states
KKK membership U.S. stock market crashes ,
enters WWI
rises to 4 million leading to the great depression
Eighteenth
amendment
(Prohibition)
First
Eighteenth Nineteenth
Commercial
amendment amendment is
Radio
(prohibition) ratified, granting
Broadcast in
goes into women the
the U.S. is
effect right to vote
aired
 THE GREAT WAR (WWI)
 PRIOR TO WWI, THE UNITED STATES WAS MAINLY
COMPRISED OF FARMERS AND MODEST, SMALL
TOWN LIVING.
 ONE OF THE BIGGEST WARS IN HISTORY, WWI
LEFT A HUGE MARK ON CULTURAL VALUES AND
BELIEFS
 ADVANCEMENTS IN TECHNOLOGY ALLOWED FOR
THE SOPHISTICATION OF WEAPONS, RESULTING
IN THE USE OF WEAPONS OF MASS
DESTRUCTION
 8.7 MILLION PEOPLE DIED.
 AMERICANS RETURNED TO THE UNITED STATES
SHAKEN UP AND DISILLUSIONED
 MANY LOST FAITH IN POLITICS, GOVERNMENT
AND SOCIETY

AMERICANS RETURNED TO THE UNITED STATES SHAKEN UP AND DISILLUSIONED
AT LARGE SOME COMMITTED THEMSELVES TO
REBUILDING AMERICAN IDEALS (8.7 MILLION DIED)
 OTHERS STROVE TO CREATE A NEW,
PROGRESSIVE CULTURE THAT REFLECTED THE
FRAGMENTED SOCIETY THAT SURFACED AFTER
THE WAR
AMERICANS RETURNED TO THE UNITED
STATES SHAKEN UP AND DISILLUSIONED
(8.7 MILLION DIED)
 TECHNOLOGY   URBANIZATION,
INDUSTRIALIZATION, AND
 COMMUNICATION ADVANCEMENTS, INCLUDING IMMIGRATION
THE TELEPHONE, RADIO, PHONOGRAPH AND
MOTION PICTURE, INCREASED CONNECTIVITY  MODERN AMENITIES DREW PEOPLE INTO
AND INFLATED MASS, POPULAR CULTURE THE CITY
 THE INVENTION OF THE AUTOMOBILE  CAPITALISM GREW AND, CONSEQUENTLY,
(NINETEENTH-CENTURY) INCREASED MOBILITY PEOPLE LIVING AND WORKING IN POOR
BUT MASS PRODUCTION NOT ONLY MADE CONDITIONS REACTED
AUTOMOBILES MORE ACCESSIBLE BUT HELPED
CHANGE THE INDUSTRIAL LANDSCAPE  COMMUNISM BECAME A BIG ANXIETY WITHIN
THE AMERICAN BORDERS AND LEAD TO
 JOBS WERE CREATED IN AUTOMOBILE IRRATIONAL ACTIONS
FACTORIES, GAS STATIONS, MECHANIC SHOPS,
ROADSIDE RESTAURANTS, MOTELS ETC
 AS CITIES GREW, SMALL TOWNS DIED
 LITERATURE AND ART OFTEN EXPLORED
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS AND
REACTED TO THE MECHANICAL, ROBOTIC
TENDENCIES THEY IMPOSED.
THE GREAT DEPRESSION
 BLACK TUESDAY (OCTOBER 29, 1919) - THE
STOCK MARKET CRASHED
 HAD A GLOBAL IMPACT AND FURTHER
AMPLIFIED ANXIETIES SURROUNDING
GOVERNMENT
 QUESTION CAPITALISM AND, AS A RESULT,
SUPPORT FOR COMMUNISM INCREASED
NEW REQUIREMENTS GENERATED NEW
ARCHITECTURAL STYLE
 Technological and scientific advancements
changed approaches to the body, redefining
possibilities and potential, allowing for an
extension of the senses.

Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier (1923 )
CLEAN STRUCTURES WITH
UNORNAMENTED SURFACES
NATIONAL FARMERS’ BANK DESIGNED BY
LOUIS SULLIVAN IN 1908
HISTORY OF MODERNISM IN ARCHITECTURE
ITS HISTORY CAN BE DIVIDED INTO THREE PERIODS AT
WHICH THE MOST FAMOUS MOTTOS OF ARCHITECTURE
WERE COINED.
EARLY MODERNISM (1650 - 1914)
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY
THE MODERNIST MOTTO ''A HOUSE IS A MACHINE FOR
LIVING IN'', STATED BY LE CORBUSIER IN 1921, REFERS
TO A BUILDING AS
• HAVING THE PURITY OF FORM OF A WELL-DESIGNED THE CRYSTAL PALACE, 1851, WAS ONE OF
MACHINE THE FIRST BUILDINGS TO HAVE CAST
• AN ARCHITECTURE THAT IS FUNCTIONAL AS PLATE GLASS WINDOWS SUPPORTED BY
A CAST IRON FRAME
MACHINE PARTS.
LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY
• EARLY MODERNIST ADOLF LOOS HAD AN IMPACT ON MODERNISM, TOO.
• HIS ESSAY PUBLISHED IN 1908 CREATED THE SLOGAN ''ORNAMENT IS A
CRIME''.
• WITH CRIME, LOOS MEANT THE WASTE OF MONEY, LABOR, AND
MATERIALS THUS THE ECONOMICS OF BUILDING.
• AS MODERN MAN APPRECIATED SIMPLICITY, ORNAMENT HAD NO
MEANING, PLACE, OR VALUE WITHIN 'MODERN' SOCIETY.
EARLY TWENTIETH CENTURY
• FATHER OF MODERNISM, LOUIS SULLIVAN COINED ANOTHER FAMOUS
MOTTO ''FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION'' IN 1918.
• MODERNIST ARCHITECTS LIKE MIES VAN DER ROHE WERE HIGHLY
INFLUENCED BY SULLIVAN'S SLOGAN EXPRESSING THE PURPOSE OF
THE BUILDING BY EMPHASIZING FUNCTION AND DESIGN FROM INSIDE
OUT.
• IN MODERNISM, PRIORITY WAS GIVEN TO FUNCTION, AND FUNCTION
WAS THE BASIS OF FORM.
 
FUNDAMENTAL ART MOVEMENTS THAT SHAPED THE WORLD -
• ART MOVEMENTS ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENT TYPES OF ART THAT SHAPE MODERN HISTORY.
• BY LOOKING BACK AT SOME OF THE MOST IMPORTANT ART MOVEMENTS IN HISTORY, WE HAVE A CLEARER UNDERSTANDING OF HOW FAMOUS
ARTISTS HAVE REVOLUTIONIZED THE ART WORLD.

   RENAISSANCE Baroque REALISM

DOME

GRAND
SCALE
BUILDING

BRICK

REAL ACTIVITIES
INDIVIDUALISM

HUMANIST
PORTRAIT
Heavy ornamentation

• MICHELANGELO AND LEONARDO DA
VINCI, FOUND INSPIRATION IN CLASSICAL
ART LIKE BALANCE, NATURALISM, AND
PERSPECTIVE.
• APPROACH MATERIALIZED AS HUMANIST
PORTRAIT PAINTING, ANATOMICALLY
CORRECT SCULPTURE, AND
HARMONIOUS, SYMMETRICAL
ARCHITECTURE.
intricate
carving • REALIST PAINTERS FOCUSED ON
• Baroque art showcased
s artistic SCENES OF CONTEMPORARY
interests in realism and rich PEOPLE AND DAILY LIFE. 
color • THIS PHASE EXPERIENCED
REJECTION OF ROMANTICISM.
• drama through their treatment
of light and depiction of
movement.
•  architects across Europe
embellished.
IMPRESSIONISM
VISIBLE BRUSHSTROKES
NATURALISTIC DEPICTION
• ARTISTS BROKE WITH ACADEMIC
TRADITION BY PAINTING WHEN MOST
LANDSCAPE PAINTERS EXECUTED THEIR
WORK INDOORS IN A STUDIO.
•  VISIBLE BRUSHSTROKES, VIVID COLORS
WITH LITTLE MIXING, AND OPEN
COMPOSITIONS TO CAPTURE THE
EMOTION OF LIGHT AND MOVEMENT.
Cubism
Rigid form
repetition
• Pablo Picasso was the most
famous artist that began
cubism in 1920’s
• minimal lines and shapes was
part of the Cubist quest for
simplification.
• Neutral color palette.
Lack of color
Contrast of texture
ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM
AND POP ART
• DARK MOOD OF TRAUMA THAT LINGERED
POST-WAR.
• SPONTANEOUS CREATION AND
GESTURAL PAINT APPLICATION THAT
DEFINES THE GENRE.
•  INCLUDING IMAGERY FROM
ADVERTISING, COMIC BOOKS, AND
EVERYDAY OBJECTS. 
• OLD, VIBRANT WORK IS AN EXCELLENT
EXAMPLE OF HOW PARODY AND POP
CULTURE MERGED WITH FINE ART TO
MAKE ACCESSIBLE ART
OTHER FAMOUS CONTEMPORARY MODERNISM CONCEIVED OF AS A REBELLION
MOVEMENTS ARE INSTALLATION ART,
KINETIC ART AND PHOTOREALISM
• AGAINST TRADITIONS AND CULTURAL ABSOLUTISM, ON THE GROUNDS
THAT EMERGED AFTER 1950’S THAT THE "TRADITIONAL" FORMS OF ART

• THE MOVEMENT WAS INITIALLY CALLED "AVANT-GARDE", DESCRIPTIVE

OF ITS ATTEMPT TO OVERTHROW SOME ASPECT OF TRADITION .
INSTALLATION ART
• THREE-
DIMENSIONAL
CONSTRUCTIONS
• PLAY WITH SPACE
TO INTERACTIVELY

KINETIC ART

• EXPERIMENT
FURTHER WITH ART
IN MOTION.
• SCULPTURES AND THE MOVEMENT BASICALLY STRESSED 
INSTALLATIONS  FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION, 
 EXPERIMENTATION, 
 RADICALISM 
 PRIMITIVISM
 ITS DISREGARD FOR CONVENTIONAL
EXPECTATIONS
PHOTOREALISM
 MEANT STARTLING AND ALIENATING 
AUDIENCE WITH BIZARRE AND
UNPREDICTABLE EFFECTS
• FOCUSED ON
IMAGERY RELATED TO
CONSUMER CULTURE.
CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERN ARCHITECTURE:

USE OF MODERN MATERIALS

AND SYSTEMS EMPHASIS OF RECTANGULAR FORMS AND HORIZONTAL
AND VERTICAL LINES
GENEROUS USE OF GLASS AND
NATURAL LIGHT

LARGE EXPANSES OF FLOOR TO CEILING

GLASS PROVIDING DRAMATIC VIEWS
AND INTRODUCING NATURAL LIGHT
DEEP INTO THE INTERIOR OF HOMES

LACK OF ORNAMENTS
LOW, HORIZONTAL MASSING, FLAT
DECORATIVE MOLDINGS AND ROOFS, EMPHASIS ON HORIZONTAL
ELABORATE TRIM ARE ELIMINATED PLANES AND BROAD ROOF
OR GREATLY SIMPLIFIED OVERHANGS

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INTERIOR USE OF SUN AND SHADING TO ENHANCE

SPACES AND SITES HUMAN COMFORT

USE OF LARGE EXPANSES OF GLASS IN NEUE NATIONALGALERIE

EFFECT BRINGS THE BUILDING’S SITE USE OF TRADITIONAL MATERIALS IN
BERLIN NEW WAYS
INTO THE BUILDING

EMPHASIS ON HONESTY OF MATERIALS:

WOOD IS OFTEN STAINED RATHER THAN PAINTED TO
EXPRESS ITS NATURAL CHARACTER.

EMPHASIS ON OPEN, FLOWING INTERIOR SPACES

SPACES TEND TO FLOW TOGETHER AS PART OF ONE
CONTIGUOUS INTERIOR SPACE, REFLECTING A MORE
CASUAL AND RELAXED WAY OF LIFE

BEKO, ZAHA HADID NATIONAL ASSEMBLY WALES