Modernism

Modernism is the broad movement that emerged in the early 20th century to free architecture from the repetition of past styles. It embraced new technology such as reinforced concrete, steel and large areas of glass, and argued that a building’s form should follow from its function and the logic of how it is built. The Bauhaus school, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Walter Gropius are among the names most closely tied to it.

The core ideas

Le Corbusier’s “five points of a new architecture” read almost like a summary of the movement: buildings raised on pilotis, the free plan, the free facade, horizontal ribbon windows and the roof garden. Moving the structure onto columns released walls from carrying loads, and both plan and facade became free. Plain surfaces, clear volumes and plenty of daylight replaced ornament. These ideas were applied at every scale, from houses to factories, schools and offices, and spread worldwide as the International Style. In time the movement was criticised for monotony and indifference to place, and postmodernism grew out of those criticisms.

What modernism left behind

Open plans, large windows, flat roofs and restrained detailing remain the basic vocabulary of contemporary architecture. When visualizing modernist buildings, crisp shadows and clean geometry do the talking, and choosing a sun angle that separates each surface is the best way to show their sculptural quality.