MODERN ARCHITECTURE

facts......
Modern home architecture officially kicked off in southern California with the introduction of The Case Study House Program in 1945 in "Arts and Architecture" magazine. 

That program featured new designs of post-war homes designed by architects who embraced modern materials and broke away from traditional home styles. Each of the homes in the program was intended to be reproduced by builders all over the country to fill the post-war housing shortage for returning soldiers. History Although the Case Study House Program is considered by many to be the official start of modern home architecture, there is one home in particular built an entire decade before that combined traditional building materials with lines that exemplify modern design. That is the Fallingwater house, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

1. Features Prominent features of modern architecture include open interior floor plans with fewer walls, and exterior building materials of glass and steel. Lines of modern architecture are straight and angled rather than curved, gabled and carved.

   Effects The streamlined spare lines of modern architecture were designed to reflect modern lifestyles that have become more simplified with modern conveniences.

   Outdoors Modern architecture almost always incorporates the topography of the land it is built on within the home's design. An excellent example of this is Fallingwater. Other designs seamlessly connect the interior with the exterior through glass walls.

   Influences Major influences of modern architecture in the mid-twentieth century were aviation and space travel, which are seen in aerodynamic lines and bold use of steel.

    

   FACTS of MODERN ARCHITECTURE

   Modern architecture is often thought to be nearly identical from building to building. However, what is traditionally considered to be modern architecture is only a fraction of what is actually included within the modernist tradition. Modern architecture is in reality much more than black or gray steel and glass boxes with flat roofs. Even buildings that look nearly identical at first glance often have subtle and even radical differences from one another.

   1. Modernism in Architecture Defined Modernism is defined by buildings that range in date from the mid- 1950s to the mid-1970s, although many contemporary buildings are constructed in the modernist style as well. The most famous architect of the modernist era was Ludwig Mies Van Der Rohe, a refugee from Nazi Germany who settled in Chicago until his death in 1969. Modernism is also known as International style, because the buildings could be placed in nearly any urban landscape worldwide. Modernism is defined by three major elements, which are described below.

      Volume vs Mass The first major element of mdernism is the idea of volume versus mass. Modernist buildings typically have a ground level lobby that is both recessed from the street and transparent. This gives many modernist buildings a sense of being lifted from the ground. With their typical wide panes of glass, modernist buildings could be viewed as providing an envelope for the space they occupy. Traditionally constructed buildings are viewed more as containing the space they occupy with a heavy, closed structure.

      Minimal Applied Exterior Ornamentation Most traditional buildings constructed before the Modernist period were adorned with classically influenced ornamentation such as columns and friezes. These ornamental elements disappeared with modernism, which emphasized a machine-made look. However, modernist buildings are not always devoid of exterior ornamentation -- a famous exception includes the Inland Steel building in Chicago, which is clad with ornamental stainless steel to reflect the name of the developer.

      Regularity vs Symmetry Traditionally constructed buildings before the modernist period emphasized symmetry, or a balance of elements on either side of a building. For instance, a doorway was typically situated in the middle of a wall, with windows and other structures spaced equally on either side of the doorway. With modernism, symmetry gives way to regularity, which can be seen in the regular lines of windows. However, entrances are not always located in the middle of a wall.

      Variations on Modernism Some modernist-influenced architects diverged from the strict modernist style of rectangular buildings with steel and glass facades and flat roofs. Many famous examples of modernist buildings that vary from the strict Mies-ian style include Chase Tower, which curves inward from a wide base to a narrow top and has granite cladding, and the Metropolitan Correctional Center, which is triangular in shape and constructed of reinforced concrete. Both buildings are located in Chicago, which is the home of many architecturally distinctive buildings.

      (source:http://www.ehow.com)