also, I happened to write this interesting piece on modernist architecture one year ago (2008) and I stumbled upon it since this semester my culture subject started to focus on modernism as well. I did this presentation slides on three modernist architects which are le corbusier, mies van der rohe and richard rogers.
p/s: apparently richard rogers’ centre pompidou falls into post-modernism and not exactly pure modernist
the work below isn’t a detailed analysis on modern architecture, but nevertheless it is a review of a method to effectively research on huge chronology of modernist architecture using famous phrases and keywords such as;
- form follows fuction by louis sullivan
- ornament is crime by adolf loos
- less is more by mies van der rohe
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1.1 RESEARCHING STRATEGY
Only two sources has been identified to search for relevant articles for the selected topic, the first being the books from the library, and the second as the online journals and articles through Internet. Important modernism figures such as Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright were entered as keywords through the library catalogue to search for articles regarding rationalities behind the modernist movement. In addition, other modernist landmarks such as the Seagram Building and the Bauhaus school of architecture were emphasized while skimming through table of contents and index section of the books.
Google search engine was particularly used to search online articles, together with its features such as scholar and books search application. As each and every words of the article was indexed in the search engine, this enables the findings on famous citations and quotations, an advantage compared to only book titles in the library catalogue search. Citations and keywords such as “form follows function”, “ornament is crime” and “opposing traditional forms” were used to search through online database of scholarly journals and articles. It should be noted that only fully available or out of copyright texts were included in the search to avoid results on partially available or limited preview articles.
1.2.2 LIST OF REFERENCES
Heynen, H. 1999. Architecture and Modernity: A Critique.
United States: MIT Press.
Gropius, W. 1965. The New Architecture and the Bauhaus.
Great Britain: Faber and Faber Limited.
Neumeyer, F. 1991. Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art.
United States: MIT Press.
Leupen, B., G. Christopher, K. Nicola, L. Marc, and Z. Peter. 1997. Design and
Analysis. Netherlands: 010 Publishers.
Doremus, T. 1985. Frank Lloyd Wright: The Great Dialogue.
United States: Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Michl, J. 2007. Form Follows WHAT? The modernist notion of function as a carte blanche.
February 21. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2360/jm-eng.fff-hai.html
1.2.3 EVALUATION
The New Architecture and the Bauhaus by Walter Gropius
The Bauhaus school of architecture generally upholds the principle of disassociation of certain architectural styles or period. Being influenced by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the director of Bauhaus, Walter Gropius disapproves the usage of ornamentation in architecture, thus rejecting the idea of “art for art’s sake” to a certain degree. Instead, beauty is to be found in the structural compilation of buildings itself. The rationality behind this principle is to stop the repetition of historical, traditional styles that changes periodically, but to come out with a new architecture that is universal, global- that is permanent, standing against time.
The writings were done by Walter Gropius, director of Bauhaus itself, thus the representing ideas and thinking could be understood from the primary source, although being lapsed in time. The modernism movement then was afresh and new, undisturbed by present bias- confirming the reliability of the source. The Bauhaus perception of modernism is great in importance as being one of the leading pioneers of modernism. The idea was then radical and critical, opposing other rising architectural styles such as Art Deco and Beaux Art movement. Therefore, understanding the concept of modernism in architecture, the opposing of traditional styles would be greatly enforced through Walter Gropius and his Bauhaus perception.
1.2.3 EVALUATION
Form Follows WHAT? The modernist notion of function as a carte blanche by Jan Michl
Two famous modernist phrases are “form follows function” and “ornament is crime”, projecting the idea of opposing the emergence of useless, functionless forms in architecture. This article discusses how one of the phrases, “form follows function” cited by the architect Louis Sullivan was adopted into the modernism movement. The idea has its similarities between Le Corbusier’s “buidings as machines”, that the sole purpose of buildings was direct responsibilities to the inhabitants, providing shelter and comfort. After being disgusted with overuse of both ornamentation and decoration in previous and traditional architectural periods, modernists dictated that nothing should appear without the name of function in buildings.
The research on the historiography of “form follows function” is most recently updated, being around 2007. This offers an overall view of modernism and functionalism in architecture, well before and during the prevalence of modernism. The same goes to both the acceptance and result of modernism, which can be well answered with the recent speculations. In addition, how modernism paved way to contemporary architecture could also be understood, despite a distinctive separation line with traditional and classically categorized architecture. Nevertheless, the main idea of the phrase “form follows function” was the role it played in modernism, with the rejection of traditional form of ornamentation and decoration in architecture, both exterior and interior.
1.3 SYNTHESIS
Before the era of Modern movement, architecture style of the day was deemed to be more of Neo-Classical style, a reduced version of Rococo period (Kaufmann 1944, Kaufmann 1982). However, both Neo-Classical and Rococo styles were prominent in the usage of decoration, which were described as overuse of ornamentation by Lodoli (Rykwert 1976), who is an influential architect in Venice during 1750s. It was to be concluded that Lodoli preached that there should not be anything functionless or purposeless to appear in the works of architecture. In other words, architecture forms should only be functional or rational (De Zurko 1957). This theory was later taken by father of Modernism, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe that stripped his buildings from virtually all coverings and additions; instead introducing this idea as new architecture of which the forms that are independent from previous styles (Neumeyer 1991, 111). Therefore modernism continuously contradicts with the traditional, with increasing calls for change (Heynen 1999, 9).
“Form ever follows function,” the dictum by Louis Sullivan (Michl 2007, 2) became one of the most famous quotes lauded by the Modernist movement. He claimed everything within the universe was the result of the law with “form ever follows function”, therefore architectural forms of buildings, external or internal, should go after the purpose of the structure. Instead of hiding the ugly constructional structures, beauty is to be found within the honesty of construction and function (Mies n.d.). His tall buildings never include “straitjacket of historical style imitation,” without “any compromise with formal solutions borrowed from the building art”. Rejecting any influences from the ancient, Modernism is expressed as a splitting point between the present and the tradition (Heynen 1999, 9).
As time is deemed as continuous, irrevocable dimension, the cyclical model that far future would somehow return or refer to its original classical style is abandoned, Modernism only allows progressive model where the course timeline could only move forward (Paz n.d.).
1.3 SYNTHESIS: LIST OF REFERENCES
Kauffman, E. 1979. At an Eighteenth Century Crossroad: Algarotti vs. Lodoli. Journal of the
Society of Architectural Historians IV: 23-29. Quoted in Michl 2007, 2.
Kauffman, Jr. E. 1982. In search of Modern architecture: A Tribute to Henry-Russel Hitchcock
United Kingdom: Cambridge. Quoted in Michl 2007, 2.
Rykwert, J. 1976. Lodoli on Function and Representation.
Architectural Review: 21-6. Quoted in Michl 2007, 2.
De Zurko, E. R. 1957. Origins of Functionalist Theory.
United States: New York. Quoted in Michl 2007, 2.
Heynen, H. 1999. Architecture and Modernity: A Critique.
United States: MIT Press.
Neumeyer, F. 1991. Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art.
United States: MIT Press.
Michl, J. 2007. Form Follows WHAT? The modernist notion of function as a carte blanche.
February 21. http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2360/jm-eng.fff-hai.html
an architectural student from malaysia, studying in limkokwing university of creative technology, pursuing his degree in architectural science
