Week 6: Emergence of Modernism

The emergence of modernism happened between the 1900s and the 1950s.  Within this time period many different events happened that changed the whole dynamic in the world.  WWI and WWII occurred during that time and when the world changed, so did the interiors of houses and offices.  In America, Frank Lloyd Wright was one of the biggest influences in design leading to modernism.  Many of his own works can still be seen today in Oak Park, Illinois.  Modernism affected more than just interiors and reached many things including music.  The idea behind this style was that they wanted to escape from the past.  Everyone needed something new and exciting, and by doing this the world as a whole was looking at the future and moving forward.  

The Bauhaus was one of the first major buildings that introduced modernism.  It was unique and it accomplished many difficult challenges.  The curtain wall was introduced in this structure which was a wall completely made out of glass.  With modern technology they were able to figure out a way to create a wall out of glass and not have the glass break.  Having this curtain wall opened up the building and provided natural sunlight throughout the entire thing.

 
The picture on the left is the famous Bauhaus that was built in Germany 1919.  Villa Savoye is on the right, and it was built by Le Corbusier in 1928.

 

Both of these interiors are great representations of modernism in the modern world.  Using a curtain wall inside and outside along with having expensive, textured wall coverings that exude elegance.

ONE STEP FURTHER:

For my one step further, I wanted to talk about Mies van der Rohe and how he made an impact on modernism in design.  He was a German-American architect.  I chose him because I appreciated his mindset of "less is more" and "God is in the details".  When he designed buildings, he would focus on the materials that were being used and how he could keep it simple and elegant.  One of his most famous structures was the Barcelona Pavilion in 1928.  He found a way to connect the interior and exterior and keep it free flowing.  Overlapping them was his way of solving the problem.  The Barcelona Pavilion did not have much ornamentation outside of the materials used against the walls, and it was considered quite abstract.  In 1937 he sailed to America and became the head of the architecture program at Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.  He was able to bring modernism over to the US.  It started becoming more popular.  Mies van der Rohe even left his own mark in the US.  It is the Farnsworth House that can be found in Plano, Illinois.

Mies van der Rohe

Barcelona Pavilion can be identified on the left and the Farnsworth House is on the right.