International Style

Contemporary Architecture
Dr. Fahed A. Khasawneh
Lecture 8

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 International Style

• What is the International Style?

• A type of design that developed mainly in Germany, Holland
and France, during the 1920s, before spreading to America in
the 1930s
• Although it never became fashionable for single-family
residential buildings in the United States, the International
Style was especially suited to skyscraper architecture, where
its sleek "modern" look, absence of decoration and use of
steel and glass, became synonymous with corporate
modernism during the period 1955-70.
• It also became the dominant style of 20th century
architecture for institutional and commercial buildings, and
even superseded the traditional historical styles for schools
and churches.
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 International Style

• Origins and Development:

• The International Style emerged largely as a result of four
factors that confronted architects at the beginning of the 20th
century:
1. Increasing dissatisfaction with building designs that
incorporated a mixture of decorative features from different
architectural periods, especially where the resulting design
bore little or no relation to the function of the building
2. The need to build large numbers of commercial and civic
buildings that served a rapidly industrializing society
3. The successful development of new construction techniques
involving the use of steel, reinforced concrete, and glass
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 International Style

• Origins and Development:

4. A strong desire to create a "modern" style of architecture for
"modern man". This underlined the need for a neutral,
functional style, without any of the decorative features of
(say) Romanesque, Gothic, or Renaissance architecture, all
of which were old-fashioned, if not obsolete.
• These factors led architects to seek an honest, economical,
and utilitarian style of architecture that could make use of the
new building methods and materials being developed, while
still satisfying aesthetic taste.
• Technology was a critical factor here; the new availability of
cheap iron and steel, together with the discovery in the late
1880s and 1890s of the steel skeleton structure, made the
traditional brick and stone building techniques obsolete. 4
 International Style

• Origins and Development:

• In addition, architects began using steel-reinforced concrete
for floors and other secondary support elements, and
fenestrating the exteriors of buildings with glass.
• The resulting austere and disciplined architecture was thus
formed according to the principle that modern buildings
should reflect a clear harmony between appearance, function,
and technology.
• The phrase "International Style" was first coined in 1932 by
curators Henry-Russell Hitchcock (1903-1987) and Philip
Johnson (1906-2005), in literature for their show
"International Exhibition of Modern Architecture" (1932),
held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

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 International Style

• Origins and Development:

• The aim of the show was to explain and promote what they
considered to be an exemplary "modern" style of
architecture.
• As it was, all but two of the buildings showcased were
European.
• The only American structures on display were Lovell House,
LA (1929), by Richard Neutra; and the Film Guild Cinema,
NYC (1929), designed by Frederick John Kiesler (1890-
1965).
• The Lovell House was designed for the active, health
conscious Lovell family in the hills of Los Angeles. The
house evokes principles that were developed by Le
Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright.
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 International Style

• Origins and
Development:
• The house consists of a
series of overlapping planes
that do not stick to Wright’s
proportionality; rather they
are a hybrid of Wright’s
planar devices combined
with Le Corbusier’s stark,
streamlined aesthetic.

The Lovell House

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 International Style

• Origins and Development:

The Lovell House

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 International Style

• Origins and Development:

Lower level
The Lovell
House

Upper level
The Lovell
House
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 International Style

• Origins and Development:

The Film Guild Cinema

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 International Style

• Characteristics:
• The typical characteristics of International Style buildings
include:
1. Rectilinear forms
2. Plane surfaces that are completely devoid of applied
ornamentation
3. Open, even fluid, interior spaces.
4. Applying a form of minimalism
5. Had a distinctively "modern look"
6. Use of modern materials, including glass for the facade,
steel for exterior support, and concrete for interior supports
and floors.

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
• Charles Édouard-Jeanneret , Swiss-French architect, urban
planner, designer, sculptor, painter, and writer and one of the
major originators of the International Style
• In his book Towards a New Architecture (1927), Le
Corbusier announced his” five points of a new architecture,”
1. Free standing supports – pilots
2. The roof garden
3. The free plan
4. The ribbon window
5. The freely composed façade

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
• Le Corbusier’s concept of a cube as a Cubist painter where he
saw vertical and horizontal planes in movement (flow of
space), this concept was explored in The project of Domino
House, 1914
• Although not particularly stunning in a visual sense, the
domino house was significant because it sparked the entire
prefabricated house movement
• The simplicity of design meant that the building could be
replicated easily; two levels connected by simple staircases.
• Flat roofs are convenient because they make possible a totally
free plan. In traditional architecture, pitched roofs must rest
on a wall; now you could put the walls wherever you liked.
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 International Style
• International Style:
Le Corbusier (1887-
1965)
• The steel frame meant
that no load bearing
walls obstructed the
living spaces, allowing
the interiors to be laid
out however the owners
desired.

The domino house

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
• The Villa Savoye at Poissy (1928-1931) fulfilled the
principles of the five "Points of a New Architecture" Le
Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret had formulated:
1. The pilotis (columns which raised the house above the
ground)
2. Free plan (due to free-standing walls, everything is optional)
3. Free façades (the exterior walls are no longer loadbearing)
4. Flat roof with roof garden (replacing land lost underneath
the building)
5. Ribbon windows.

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

The Villa Savoye

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

The Villa Savoye

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

The Villa Savoye

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

The Villa Savoye

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 International Style
• International Style:
Le Corbusier (1887-
1965)
• Le Corbusier’s Modular ,
a scale of architectural
proportions based on the
human body and the
golden section
• The Modular considered
the standard human
height as 1829 mm

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 International Style
• International Style: Le
Corbusier (1887-1965)
• The Pavillon Suisse at the Citè
Universitaire, Paris 1930;
1. Pilots and ribbon windows
2. He introduced the idea of
hierarchy of function: the 45
bedroom block is lifted up on
pilots
3. The communal areas at ground
level flow freely, enclosed by a
wall of random rubble stonework The Pavillon Suisse
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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

The Pavillon Suisse 22

 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)
• Unitè d’Habitation , Marseilles, 1946
• Carefully taken from the Modulor, it is formed of split-level
apartments in 23 different types
• Apartments entered from wide internal corridors or streets
There are 18 floors
• About third of the way up, the internal corridor is a two
storey shopping mall
• On the top floor there is roof garden/ fantastic landscape
(includes- gymnasium, running track, a nursery school,
tunnels and caves for children play in, a swimming pool,
seats, cantilevered balcony and a restaurant).
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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Unitè d’Habitation

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Unitè d’Habitation

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Unitè d’Habitation

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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Unitè d’Habitation
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 International Style
• International Style: Le Corbusier (1887-1965)

Unitè d’Habitation
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies
van der Rohe (1886-1969)
• German-american architect.
• Regarded as one of the pioneers of
modern architecture.
• Sought to establish a new architectural
style that could represent modern times;
glass was an expression of the current age
of industrialism
• Made use of modern materials such as
industrial steel and plate glass to define
interior spaces.
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)
• Created an influential twentieth-century architectural style,
stated with extreme clarity and simplicity. “Less is more”
• He called his buildings "skin and bones" architecture for their
emphasis on steel structure and glass enclosure.
• His work Characters include:
1. Simple rectangular forms.
2. Open, flexible plans and multi-functional spaces
3. Widespread use of glass to bring the outside in.
4. Mastered steel and glass construction
5. Exposed and very refined structural details.
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)
• Promoted the concept of fluid space:
1. Architecture should embody a continuous flow of space
2. Blurring the lines between interior and exterior:
– The use of glass compatible with this philosophy
– The glass provides enclosure, but does not diminish the
architectural idea of a series of perpendicular planes
beneath a flat roof.

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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)
• The Barcelona Pavilion (1929) was designed by Ludwig
Mies van der Rohe and Lilly Reich as the German Pavilion
for the Barcelona International Exhibition
• Though temporary, it was still made of permanent materials;
steel, glass, marble, and travertine.
• Like a Greek temple, the pavilion is raised on a base, in this
case of travertine. The main building is on the right half of
the base; a rectangular reflecting pool and smaller building
are on the left half.
• The plan is asymmetric and fluid with a continuous flow of
space. Wall partitions are made glass and marble
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

The Barcelona
Pavilion
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

The Barcelona
Pavilion

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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

The Barcelona Pavilion

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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)
• The Farnsworth House (1945) has beautiful architecture,
functional living spaces enclosed in a light, pure, fragile-
seeming glass envelope with an extended terrace hovering
above the building’s setting in Plano, Illinois.
• It is designed as a weekend getaway, the single-story, open-
plan building was pared down to the simplest elements
needed for services and accommodation. The house was
intended for the use of one person, so interior privacy was not
a consideration. The huge site initially guaranteed seclusion.
Later drapes had to he fitted to shut out sightseers fascinated
by the architect’s visionary concept.
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

The Farnsworth House

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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

The Farnsworth House

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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

The Farnsworth
House
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)
• The Seagram Building was designed by Ludwig Mies van der
Rohe (and Philip Johnson) in 1957
• This logical and elegant 38-story skyscraper (160 meters
Height) has alternating horizontal bands of bronze plating
and bronze-tinted glass and decorative bronze I-beams which
emphasize its verticality.
• Placed to the rear of its site and set back from Park Avenue, it
incorporates a large plaza in the front as part of the design--
thus avoiding the need for set-backs. It uses granite pillars at
the base and has a two-story glass-enclosed lobby.

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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

The Seagram
Building
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

The Seagram
Building
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)
• Crown Hall (1956) is found on the Illinois Institute of
Technology campus, both the building and the master plan of
university (1940) were designed by Mies van der Rohe
• Crown Hall, home to the College of Architecture, represents
his architectural concepts and theories in their most complete
and mature form.
• The column-free open plan allows individual classes to be
held simultaneously without disruption while maintaining
creative interaction between faculty and students.
• The interior is divided by free-standing oak partitions that
demark spaces for classes, lectures and exhibits.
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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

Crown Hall

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 International Style
• International Style: Ludwig Mies van der Rohe
(1886-1969)

Crown Hall
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd
Wright (1867-1959)
• American architect, interior designer,
writer, and educator.
• Designed more than 1,000 structures, 532
of which were completed.
• Believed in designing structures in
harmony with humanity and environment;
a Philosophy called organic architecture.
– Best exemplified by Falling water
(1935)
– Called "the best all-time work of
American architecture"
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• Designed many building types : offices, churches, schools,
skyscrapers, hotels and museums. Also designed many of the
interior elements of his buildings, furniture and stained glass.
• Was recognized in 1991 by the American Institute of
Architects as "the greatest American architect of all time"
• Character of Works:
1. Strong eastern influences
2. Use of natural material, bricks, stone and wood
3. Use of textured concrete
4. Designs that blend well in its environment
5. Focused more on residential designs.
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• Prairie style Characteristics:
1. A broad, overhanging roof
2. Horizontal window bands.
3. A free plan developed around a central chimney
4. Low proportions (not very high), which was related to the
ground.
5. Gently sloping roof. All these formed the characteristic
features of domestic architecture.

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• Prairie style helped to form a new language in architecture.
1. The open plan : the development of the plan of the house
which had a plenty of open spaces separated from one
another by simple architectural devices instead of partitions,
walls or doors.
2. The integration of building with nature
3. This helped Frank Lloyd Wright to develop the concept of
organic architecture.

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• The Winslow house (1893) was his first major commission as
an independent architect, described as the first 'prairie house
• Reflects simplicity and mastery of form and materials,
sheltered beneath a gently sloping roof and wide eaves,it
stands as a symmetrical monolithic block, made of cast stone,
golden Roman brick, and a terracotta frieze of ornament.
• In contrast to the classical front elevation, the private, rear of
the house is a dynamic mass of irregularly sized geometric
forms comprising a stair tower, chimney, conservatory, and
second floor sitting room. On the interior, an inglenook
fireplace at the center, around which a library, entrance hall,
living room and dining room are arranged.
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

The Winslow house

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

The Winslow house

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• In 1901, the magazine ”Ladies’ Home Journal” published an
article entitled “A Home in a Prairie Town.” Wright not only
sent the drawings, but also the text, summarizing some of his
earliest ideas on the “Prairie House” concept.
• Its appearance reflected influence of the prairie, it is firmly
and clearly linked to landscape, with its quiet extension.
• The low and wide terraces and sloping roof accentuate the
character of complete calm and harmonious relationship
• Plans, sections and views of the house suggest its possible
use as part of a four block (in which each of the four houses
were clustered around the center) so that each one occupies
one of the angles, preserving privacy with respect to other.
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

A Home in a Prairie Town

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Larkin Building

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Larkin Building
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Unity temple
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Robie House
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Robie House

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Robie House
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• Organic architecture:
• Architecture should reflect nature and exhibit the same
amount of unity as prevails in nature.
• Grew from the ideas of his mentor, Louis Sullivan “Form
Follows Function.”
• Frank argued “FORM AND FUNCTION ARE ONE.”
• Strives to integrate space into a unified whole
• Frank was not concerned with architectural style because he
believed that every building should grow naturally from its
environment.

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• Frank defined organic architecture as that in which all the
parts are related to the whole and the whole is related to the
parts.
• To explain the concept of unity in nature, the architect used a
living organism as an example:
– Harmony of the part in relation to the whole.
– The parts are made according to the function of the
organism.
– The form of the organism decides the character of the
organism.

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• Applying these concepts , his building designs emphasize the
following principles:
– Integration of parts to the whole.
– Design of parts controls the design of the whole.
• Use of materials in organic architecture:
– Wright had a deep knowledge of and a lot of respect for
natural materials such as wood and stone.
– In his works, these materials were always used in the
natural form, by allowing for instance, the use of masses
of stone as the natural feature of the building.

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• Falling water house (1939) that redefined the relationship
between man, architecture, and nature
• Wright integrated the design of the house with a waterfall
found in the plot, placing it right on top of it to make it a part
of the Kaufmanns' lives, this was inspired by Japanese
architecture in which harmony with nature is important
• The power of the falls is always felt, not visually but through
sound, as the breaking water could constantly be heard
throughout the entire house.
• Wright revolved the design of the house around the fireplace,
the hearth of the home which he considered to be the
gathering place for the family
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)
• The rooms relate towards the house's natural surroundings,
and the living room has steps that lead directly into water
• The exterior enforces a strong horizontal pattern with the
bricks and long terraces. The windows on the facade open up
at the corners, breaking the box of the house and opening it to
the vast outdoors.
• The house used a definite masonry form to relate it to site
• The circulation consists of dark, narrow passageways, so that
people experience a feeling of compression when compared
to that of expansion the closer they get to the outdoors. The
ceilings of the rooms are low, in order to direct the eye
horizontally to look outside
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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Falling water house

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Falling water house

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Falling water house

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Falling water house

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 International Style
• International Style: Frank Lloyd Wright (1867-
1959)

Falling water house

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 International Style

• Decline:
• By the 1970s, the International Style was so dominant that
innovation was dead.
• Mies continued to design beautiful buildings, but was copied
everywhere. As the saying went: "You got off an airplane in
the 1970s, and you didn't know where you were."
• As a result, many architects felt dissatisfied with the
limitations and formulaic methodology of the International
Style. They wanted to design buildings with more individual
character and with more decoration.
• Modernist International Style architecture had removed all
traces of historical designs: now architects wanted them
back.
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 International Style

• Decline:
• All this led to a revolt against modernism and a renewed
exploration of how to create more innovative design and
ornamentation.
• As Postmodernism took hold, building designers began
creating more imaginative structures that employed modern
building materials and decorative features to produce a range
of novel effects.
• By the late 1970s, modernism and the International Style
were finished.
• Modern architecture died in St. Louis, Missouri on July 15,
1972 at 3.32 pm (or thereabouts) when the infamous Pruitt-
Igoe scheme, or rather several of its slab blocks, were given
the final coup de grâce by dynamite.
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 International Style

• Decline:
• Previously it had been
vandalized, mutilated
and defaced by its black
inhabitants, and
although millions of
dollars were pumped
back, trying to keep it
alive (fixing the broken
elevators, repairing
smashed windows,
repainting), it was Demolition of buildings in the
Pruitt-Igoe housing project, St.
finally put out of its Louis, Missouri, 1972
misery.
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