What is modern architecture?
The A-Z of Modern Architecture. Excerpt from the introduction by Peter Gössel.
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The history of modernism begins, to cut a long story woefully short, with the emergence of the notion of an individual acting with sole responsibility. This happened against a background of the loss of the churches' cultural dominance, and a situation driven by the contradictions of a productive sphere geared towards profit. This radical change, often equated with the "revaluation of all values" (Nietzsche), finds its technical and social expression in the industrialization that drastically altered the lifestyles of humankind and, with the intensive development of urban areas, had a very direct impact on architecture.
The engineer, by profession, considers just the functionality of materials and uses them, wherever possible, only in the absolutely necessary quantity and size, relying in particular on standardized calculations. This rational principle soon pervaded the building industry and even became compulsory for "architects". By contrast, not all engineers adhered to the purely functional and necessary, creating bold and even aesthetically innovative buildings that made a radical impact on the idea of what was humanly possible.
Therefore, industrialization laid the foundations for a new architecture,"at a time when craftsmanship was metamorphosing into the industrial production process" (Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc). And yet, this transformation was by no means direct and deliberate. Many circuitous routes were taken towards modernism, which can still be said to be "a work in progress". Modernism is neither an epoch nor a tide of events that points a way forward from any particular historical point in time. Rather, it is on the one hand equated with technological progress and rationalization, but on the other with the loss of traditional values and aesthetics. From this standpoint, modernism must be regarded as a never-finished project concerned with harmonizing Enlightenment hopes for self-determined individuals with social and technological changes. This is quite specifically reflected in the requirements demanded of individual designers: the job specifications for engineers and architects describe specialists not merely assigned to technical projects, but those to whom social responsibility is also entrusted.
This can be explained by the special role architecture plays in our lives, as, among all the arts—if we still categorize it like this, although perhaps not necessarily in the most serious sense—it certainly ranks among those that most influence people, yet in the subtlest manner. In fact, it is so much a part of the perception of our daily reality that the whole of our activity in perceived space is also activity in formed space: each person has an architecturally defined home. Even for those of us who, because they have no house, have to sleep under a bridge, every building is associated with the function of protection and warmth. As a living space, the city is defined by architecture. Even the countryside is structured by culturally typical settlements, representing residences and destinations according to which our world view is established. That our perception of the world is linked with the structuring of space—and time—and that these factors have changed with industrialization, has been common knowledge, at least since Wolfgang Schivelbusch's The Railway Journey. The fact that the processing of this transformation in the cultural context takes time complicates our consideration of causes and effects. Here we can no longer speak of the inertia of the human being who is still, as in Richard Neutra's biorealistic theory, carrying round the genes of life on the steppes. The artist, as for example in Theodor Fontane's poem "The Tay Bridge", is allowed to make mistakes, but when the iron structure of a collapsed bridge mutates down to the frame, the architect must immediately prove fitness for function.
Page [1] [2] [3]
Page [1] [2] [3]
The history of modernism begins, to cut a long story woefully short, with the emergence of the notion of an individual acting with sole responsibility. This happened against a background of the loss of the churches' cultural dominance, and a situation driven by the contradictions of a productive sphere geared towards profit. This radical change, often equated with the "revaluation of all values" (Nietzsche), finds its technical and social expression in the industrialization that drastically altered the lifestyles of humankind and, with the intensive development of urban areas, had a very direct impact on architecture.
The engineer, by profession, considers just the functionality of materials and uses them, wherever possible, only in the absolutely necessary quantity and size, relying in particular on standardized calculations. This rational principle soon pervaded the building industry and even became compulsory for "architects". By contrast, not all engineers adhered to the purely functional and necessary, creating bold and even aesthetically innovative buildings that made a radical impact on the idea of what was humanly possible.
Therefore, industrialization laid the foundations for a new architecture,"at a time when craftsmanship was metamorphosing into the industrial production process" (Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc). And yet, this transformation was by no means direct and deliberate. Many circuitous routes were taken towards modernism, which can still be said to be "a work in progress". Modernism is neither an epoch nor a tide of events that points a way forward from any particular historical point in time. Rather, it is on the one hand equated with technological progress and rationalization, but on the other with the loss of traditional values and aesthetics. From this standpoint, modernism must be regarded as a never-finished project concerned with harmonizing Enlightenment hopes for self-determined individuals with social and technological changes. This is quite specifically reflected in the requirements demanded of individual designers: the job specifications for engineers and architects describe specialists not merely assigned to technical projects, but those to whom social responsibility is also entrusted.
This can be explained by the special role architecture plays in our lives, as, among all the arts—if we still categorize it like this, although perhaps not necessarily in the most serious sense—it certainly ranks among those that most influence people, yet in the subtlest manner. In fact, it is so much a part of the perception of our daily reality that the whole of our activity in perceived space is also activity in formed space: each person has an architecturally defined home. Even for those of us who, because they have no house, have to sleep under a bridge, every building is associated with the function of protection and warmth. As a living space, the city is defined by architecture. Even the countryside is structured by culturally typical settlements, representing residences and destinations according to which our world view is established. That our perception of the world is linked with the structuring of space—and time—and that these factors have changed with industrialization, has been common knowledge, at least since Wolfgang Schivelbusch's The Railway Journey. The fact that the processing of this transformation in the cultural context takes time complicates our consideration of causes and effects. Here we can no longer speak of the inertia of the human being who is still, as in Richard Neutra's biorealistic theory, carrying round the genes of life on the steppes. The artist, as for example in Theodor Fontane's poem "The Tay Bridge", is allowed to make mistakes, but when the iron structure of a collapsed bridge mutates down to the frame, the architect must immediately prove fitness for function.
Page [1] [2] [3]
The A-Z of Modern Architecture
Hardcover, 2 Vol. in Box, 29.2 x 36.5 cm (11.5 x 14.4 in.), 1072 pages
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$ 300.00
An unprecedented architecture encyclopedia
MVRDV, Apartments for elderly people, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 1994-1997
Steven Ehrlich, Robertson Branch Library, Los Angeles, California, USA, 1993–1997. Photo (c) Tom Bonner