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Modernism Essay Assignment
Modern architecture, as the name suggests is the latest architecture that dissociates itself from the earlier architectures. Modern architecture dates back to the late 19th century when technology came in. The modern era architecture began towards the end of the 19th century when architects started to reconcile architectural principles to the emerging technology. This resulted from the modernist movement that sought to bring newer designs to suit the technologically growing society with the intention of creating buildings that follow a function. In addition, more ideas of how one should live in the industrializing society were changing. With technology, new architects such as Frank Lloyd Wright were able to design better buildings that would consider functionality as their basic philosophy, among other ideas (Mcrae, 2009).
Modern architecture is characterized by simplified structures. The difference between the modern architecture and preceding architecture is simplification of the buildings, and elimination decoration to follow function. Modern architecture is more designed to suit function or purpose of the structure. The other difference is the materials used (Mcrae, 2009). Due to technological advancement, steel and glasses were used in building of the houses, which was not there before. It is during this time that the famous phrase ‘form follows function’, was heard, where the architects were able to build buildings that would serve specific purposes. The principle is that the shape of the building should be determined by what it is intended for, such as offices, industrial, or residential. The phrase was derived from the Architect Sullivan in 1896 when he sought to differ from the previous form of architecture where function was determined by the form. In his idea, form should come after the function has been considered.
On the other hand, during the pre-modern period, houses were built using stones, bricks, and stained glass. More so, design was much or almost the same in shapes, and the function of the building was not considered before the houses were constructed. The traditional architects designed buildings according to how they perceived them best, giving many details to the finish. Any person who wanted the house would have to fit their function inside the already built house or building. Therefore, it was easy to note that all functional buildings, whether offices or factories, had little difference.
Another characteristic of form of the modern architecture is the lack of ornamenting the buildings. In the pre-modern period, all buildings would be decorated with finely finished patterns crafted by hand. In the modern era, the architectures sought to realize optimal utilization of machines in architectural work. While human beings would be pleased to see well-crafted or ornamented finishes in their buildings, technology did not need to do that. Rather, technology sought the simplest form; therefore, could not make such carvings. It is for this reason that modernistic architecture looks simple since there are no complicated decoration in the finishing of buildings, rather, they are made of straight smooth and definite shapes. With the modern era, ornamented buildings look superfluous rather than appealing.
During the early stages of modern architecture, an understanding of the phrase that forms follows functions increased tremendously. People knew that buildings are supposed to be determined by the function they will be serving and the materials in order to have an intrinsic value and beauty, without needing to be ornamented like the traditional structures. There was a different perspective concerning buildings, where people drew away form the traditional forms where buildings were heavy structures made of bulky materials. Instead, the modern architects viewed buildings as voluminous spaces enclosed in light with thinner curtain walls supported by thin pier. This was inspired by the ability of machinery to make such walls. The modern houses are made of the basic materials that include concrete and stone, glass and metal, which allowed simpler structures. The space of the house was designed for the basic things that a person would need. They also differ in style form the traditional structures that used gabled roofs with stained windows that allowed minimal light. Instead, the modern architecture sought to allow in more light through the windows, while roofs were flat, making the buildings resemble boxes. The philosophy here was to have just enough space for the basic needs of the person. Without ornamenting, the materials used to build would be left bare making it even simpler to build.
The basic form of a modern house has been a simplified, leaving space that does not require ornamenting, and allows in more light through windows designed so. The basic shapes are rectangular and square, making them look like boxes (Mcrae, 2009). However, with more advancement, many designs of the modern architecture have resulted, with houses not only being designed to follow function, but also the landscape of the area, especially for residential houses. In addition, the structures are designed to include curved walls inside to allow smooth distribution of air, but still maintain the basic forms of the basic modern architecture.
With this idea, that form should follow function, which became the adopted philosophy concerning architecture, many architects were able to design houses according to the needs of their customers. In addition, the modern architecture also changed the way people lived through coming up with independent designs from the traditional ones that considered culture. With houses designed according to function, they could not follow all cultures and traditions of people since the architects had a view that people should fit to their work, rather than follow their traditional values (thinkquest.org, 2011). Modern architects believed that all human beings have the same basic needs.
The philosophy of modern architecture follows on five factors that define the art. The first philosophy of modern architecture is the popular phrase that form follows function as mentioned (mysticmadness.com, 2012). This suggests putting the purpose of the house the first priority during planning. The building should consider easy access of the most important parts of the house such as the living room. It also means that function of the house such as the living room should be designed to fit its purpose, while the bedroom should also be designed to meet function. With the bedroom, since it a place to sleep required small space while the living room will require more space.
The other philosophy was ornamenting being a crime. This was to mean ornamenting of buildings should be eliminated, and buildings left with space. People now preferred the geometrical voluminous shaped buildings without ornaments. Ornaments in the modern architecture are considered out of fashion, and only make a building too complicated as well as hard to maintain. Traditional architecture used ornaments to conceal the structure of the buildings. Without the ornamentation, the buildings were easier to maintain, and easier to follow function as well as avoiding unnecessary details. The walls of modern houses are straight and boxy without any decorations that conceal them (mysticmadness.com, 2012).
Use of new materials is another philosophy suggesting drawing away from the traditional materials. The modern architecture is characterized by use of new materials different from the traditional ones. Modern architecture is characterized by modern materials that use reinforced concrete and steel as well as wood. The modern architecture uses sincere materials where wood is used just as it is and looks the same way on the building, while concrete should look as concrete. In addition, these materials are used in a large scale with concrete having the capability of being poured into any form. The new materials are stronger than the traditional materials, which were stones and bricks. Though they are still used today, they are used minimally (mysticmadness.com, 2012).
The other philosophy of modern architecture is the sowing off the structure where there is more emphasis on the structure of the building. Traditionally, structure of the buildings was hidden as much as possible through ornamenting. Traditional architecture had no value for the structure of the building; rather, they considered the ornamenting as the center of the buildings. Modern architecture focuses on the structure as its central part. The structure becomes the beauty of the house. With modern architecture, people are concerned with how their houses look both from the exterior and interior (mysticmadness.com, 2012).
Finally, modern architecture uses the philosophy of breaking away from history. The philosophy suggests that anything traditional is out of value. The modern architecture did not have value for anything that was done before, which enables the architects to bring down traditional buildings to replace them with modern high-rise buildings in the urban centers. This was a break from the historical architecture, where the architects sought to create an entirely new way of designing buildings (mysticmadness.com, 2012).
The social ideas of the modern architecture are focusing on how people should live, instead of looking at the current situation people are living in. Modern architecture tends to change people’s views on living. The architects of this era focused on the idea of human beings having the same basic needs. The modern architects do not consider the differences of people’s needs, including cultural and social differences. The modern architects used their own creation to design houses with an aim of making people adopt the new designs. With their own ideas and designing houses to follow function, they forgot that a culture does determine function. For instance, building a house in India requires having a room to make a shrine. There were ideas such as living in apartment houses would be better for social meetings, and that detached houses may be good, but do not provide solutions for how a modern person should live.
Frank Lloyd Wright was among the pioneers of modern architecture. He was born in 1867, and contributed to the ‘Prairie’ and ‘Usonian’ styles in American residential houses. Works of Frank are very much consistent with the modern architecture considering he was among the pioneers. He is famous for many works such as the ‘Falling Water House’, which he designed partly on a waterfall. Just like modern architecture, this building uses reinforces concrete and steel to support it above the waterfall. From its interior, light penetrates easily without difficulty, and has no ornamentation. Its structure from outside looks like several rectangular shaped boxes and vertical walls placed on each other with simple walls. In addition, to represent his organic style, the house conforms to the landscape and its walls look much as the stones around. The building falls away completely from the traditional styles. Slabs of the building are supported by concrete with the walls between using more glass and steel.
Another building built by Frank is the ‘LarkingAdministrationBuilding’ in New York. The building, built in 1906 is one of the public works done by Frank considering he did few public works. The building id characterized by reinforced concrete, steel and glass. Although the concrete is more than the glass, the building takes the basic form of a modern building with definite rectangular shapes and smooth flowing walls. The building takes sincere style where the materials used are not concealed using ornamenting. The building looks relatively simple with straight flowing walls and piers.
Frank introduced a philosophy of his own, known as organic in 1908. Organic architecture in his description was architecture to represent principles of nature as seen through the intelligence of men. He sought to build natural looking buildings (Elman, n.d). Organic architecture involves respecting the building materials, and harmony between form, design and function of the building. The meaning of his philosophy was that a building has a natural relationship with the site as well as time. His philosophy suggested that a building was a product of its site and time. His idea was to design buildings that blended with the place they were built and during which time it was built (Elman, n.d).
Two years before his death, Frank published a book concerning his philosophy in architecture. In his book, he claimed that buildings should have a relationship with the land upon which it is built. He also addressed the issue of a relationship between human beings to the landscape, use of newer materials that included glass and steel with a focus to come up with a spacious architecture to develop a character for buildings. This was his notion of style in architecture. His philosophy and ideas have been used by many people to design houses (Elman, n.d).
Work cited
Elman, Kimberly. Frank Lloyd Wright and the Principles of Organic Architecture. pbs.org, n.d. Web. February 18, 2012.
Mcrae, Shelly. Characteristics of modern architecture. helium.com, November 02, 2009. Web. February 18, 2012.
Mysticmadness.com. Characteristics of modern architecture. 2012. Web. February 18, 2012.
Thinkquest.org. Modern Architecture and its impact on social structures. thinkquest.org, 2011. Web. February 18, 2012.
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