20th century architecture

De Stijl (style)• Dutch “The style”, 20th century art

movement founded by painter Piet Mondrian who promoted utopian ideals and developed a simplified geometric style

• Open plan, flat color, geometric rectangular shape (like Mondrian’s paintings)

• Mondrian

De Stijl architecture:Gerrit Rietveld, Schroder House, Netherlands, 1924

Bauhaus (style)

• A school of art and design, promoting unity between architecture, art and design

• Like de stijl, bauhaus was rooted in utopian principles

• Avoids all embellishments• Simple and geometric

BauhausGropius, Shop Block at the Bauhaus, Germany, 1925-1926

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, model for glass skyscraper, Germany, 1922

International Style

• Bauhaus eventually became known as the International Style due to widespread popularity

• “machine for living”

Le Corbusier, Villa Savoye, France, 1929

Art Deco (America)

• America embraced Bauhaus, which rejected ornament, but also embraced other styles

• Universal term that applies to architecture, interior, furniture, jewelry, fashion etc.

• Streamlines, elongated look, symmetrical, simple flat shapes

• Chrysler Building has a diminishing fan design, streamlined and flat, popular design in 1920’s

William van Alen, Chrysler Building, NY NY 1928-1930

Prairie Style

• Associated with Frank Lloyd Wright, who believed architecture was natural and organic

• Roofs extend beyond the walls, non-symmetrical design, interacts with its natural surroundings

• Wandering plan, captures the expansive, natural environment

Frank Lloyd Wright, Robie House, Chicago, 1907-1909

Frank Lloyd Wright, Fallingwater, Bear Run, Pennsylvania, 1936-1939

Modernism

• Architecture style that developed after WWII• Concerned with formalism and simplicity• Buildings have intriguing organic sculptural

qualities

Frank Lloyd Wright, Guggenheim Museum, NY NY 1943-1959

Le Corbusier, Notre Dame du Haut, France, 1950-1955 (mountain top chapel, reflects the shape of praying hands, a doves wing and a ships prow)

Saarinen, TWA terminal, Kennedy Airport, NY, NY (design suggests expansive wings, movement and flight)

Utzon, Sydney Opera House, Australia, 1959-1972 (clusters of concrete shells, suggest buoyancy of seabird wings, billowing

sails on a ship)

Minimalist style of modern architecture

• Based on bauhaus style less is more• Powerful and heroic looking buildings in an

urban landscape• Giant corporate skyscrapers• Sleek, rigid, geometric

Mies van der Rohe & Philip Johnson, Seagram Building, NY, 1956-1958

Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, Sears Tower, Chicago, 1974

PostModernism (style)

• A rejection of the conservative style of modernism

• More expansive and inclusive in design• Can draw in some inspiration from the past,

such as Rome, temple designs etc.

Charles Moore, Piazza d’Italia, New Orleans, 1976-1980

Philip Johnson & John Burgee, AT&T (now Sony) Building, NY, 1978-1984 (more granite than glass, variation of a classical

pediment at the top)

Deconstructivism (style)

• Disorients the observer• Unstable, imbalance, assymmetry, irregularity

Behnisch, Hysolar Institute, Germany, 1987

Frank Gehry, Guggenheim Museum Bilbao Spain, 1997