History of Architecture and Urbanism

Ludwig Mies van der Rohe’s Tugendhat House (1928-1930) in Brno, Czech Republic is one of the pioneering examples of modern architecture in Europe that featured in the Modern Architecture: International Exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1932 curated by Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Alfred Barr, and Philip Johnson for its exquisite ahead-of-its-time architecture that is still relevant even today.

Hitchcock wrote: “The most central question that lies open today in architecture is that of the relation between technics and aesthetic expression” , emphasizing his thesis on the necessity of universality instead of local identity. Remembering the International Gothic, Barr suggested this new movement be termed the International Style . The trio considered Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier, J.J. Oud, Walter Gropius, and Lurcat amongst the ‘New Pioneers’ that composed in “values of volume” rather than in “values of mass”; sought a “strenuous unification” rather than “complexity as a means of interest”; strove for “monotony and even poverty in order that the idea of the surface as the geometrical boundary of the volume may be most clearly stressed” rather than “diversity and richness of the surface”.

Le Corbusier believed “to create architecture is to put in order. Put what in order? Function and objects.” His expression “a house is a machine for living in” suggests his mechanical and logical approach that is clearly translated into his designs of a human scaled assembly line. His admiration for the “pure, neat, clear, clean and healthy” architecture of steam liners is articulated through the efficient arrangement of spaces and a minimalistic aesthetic we see in the design of his villas. His fascination with the contrast between the solids and voids, and the powerful masses and slender elements, brought together in light in liners lead to the formation of a revolutionary concept we now know as the ‘International Style’.

The interdependence of technics and aesthetics in architecture is evident in the “absolute regularity of steel construction, cantilevering, steel columns placed free from the partitions, great expanses of glass walls” in Mies’ architectural work. The industrial revolution resulted in developments spread across all the artistic fields in order to comply and acknowledge the latest technological advancements of machines, automation and urban design, leading to the industrial manufacturing of new materials such as glass, steel, and concrete. Modern designers showed an inclination towards designing functional buildings, approaching from an analytical perspective, exploring new materials, rejecting historical precedents, simplifying forms by reduced ornamentation, and examining structural innovations, making these standard norms for the ‘International Style’. Mies recognized architectural technology, especially standardization and mechanization, as unavoidable, value-blind forces, arguing “What is decisive is only how we assert ourselves toward these givens. It is here the spiritual problem begin”.

The naturally patterned walls in the Tugendhat House, be they made of stone or wood, are entitled to be viewed as minimal works of art or at least as ornament objects beyond the function of space partitioners. Mies considered stone and wood as ornamental materials, while using concrete and steel as structural materials.

The steel structural members form a light tectonic structure emphasizing the ‘skin and bone’ structure covered with transparent reflective glass skin to create an enclosed inner space. Mies’ built space is more dynamic and characteristic since he established new principles of material use and demonstrated an ornamental level of material choice, composition, and finishing in making material freestanding walls.

The Museum of Modern Art Exhibition from 1932 responded to a group of scholars who globalized the term ‘Modern Architecture’, and severely influenced the progress of this style in America. Hitchcock outlines the ideologies of the International Style as “emphasis on volume”, “regularity as opposed to symmetry”, and “dependence upon the intrinsic elegance of materials, technical perfection, and five proportions as opposed to applied ornament” . These ideas were translated into buildings through the implementation of architectural elements such as glazed walls, flat roofs, non-load bearing partitions, and screen walls along with a distinct play of color and geometry. I believe modern architecture should be viewed in aesthetic and functional terms as is evident in Hitchcock’s path where he is drawn towards the definitive expression of rational modern construction.

REFERENCES

Harrouk, Christele. “The Creative Process of the Four Pioneers of Modern Architecture.” ArchDaily, 2019. https://www.archdaily.com/925464/the-creative-process-of-the-four-pioneers-of-modern-architecture.

Hitchcock, Henry-Russell. Modern Architecture, Romanticism and Reintegration. New York, Payson & Clarke, 1929.

Hitchcock, Henry-Russell & Johnson, Philip. The International Style: Architecture Since 1922, 1966 edn. New York, W. W. Norton, 1932.

Hitchcock, Henry-Russell, Philip Johnson, Alfred H. Barr, and Lewis Mumford. “Modern Architecture: International Exhibition, New York, Feb. 10 to March 23, 1932, Museum of Modern Art.” New York: The Museum of Modern Art, 1932.

Le Corbusier. Towards a New Architecture. New York, Dover Publications Inc, 1923.

Neumeyer, Fritz. The Artless Word: Mies van der Rohe on the Building Art. Trans. Mark Jarzombek. Cambridge: The MIT Press. 1991.

Matthews, Henry. “The Promotion of Modern Architecture by the Museum of Modern Art in the 1930s.” Journal of Design History 7, No. 1 (1994): 43-59. http://www.jstor.org/stable/1316056.

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