When people describe the modernist movement as a whole, they broadly reference the steel and glass skyscrapers which dot many of our cities’ skylines, or more specifically, the International Style that once emerged from Europe after World War I. The International Style represented technological and industrial progress and a renaissance of social constructs that would forever influence the way that we think about the use of space across all scales. Often designed as politically charged buildings seeking to make a statement towards totalitarian governments, many architects who influenced the style moved to the United States after World War II, paving the way for some of the most iconic buildings and skyscrapers to be built in the 20th century.
The International Style first emerged from an interest in building advancements and warehouse typologies in the early 1900s. These spaces demanded large, airy rooms that could allow for a variety of programs and required minimal interior and exterior ornamentation to signify their use. One of the famous architects who pioneered this style was Peter Behrens, who designed large turbine factories in Germany. Le Corbusier, who was one of his students and proteges in Behren’s practice, was inspired by these industrial structures and basic geometric forms. Corbusier became known for his geometric art and initially, his set of Domino Houses which illustrated how structural columns could make way for large, open floor plans. He would later further develop these ideas into his “Five Points of Architecture” manifesto, which were Piloti, Green Roof, Free Facade, Free Plan, and the Horizontal Window. Corbusier was also interested in the development of automobiles and industrialization, arguing during the design of Villa Savoye that “the house is a machine for living in.” Corbusier, and other architects of this time, saw the opportunities and efficiencies that industrial materials provided and sought to be a part of Europe’s much-needed reconstruction.
The pinnacle of the International Style in Europe came with the development of the Weissenhofseidlung, an exposition in Stuttgart, Germany. Organized by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the event featured 21 different examples of working-class apartment buildings designed by 17 renowned architects. A majority of the projects were significantly over budget, and unaffordable for the people they intended to serve, but the event widely promoted the International Style, and heavily influenced its movement to the United States.
After the war, many of the founders of the International Style designed buildings at prominent American Universities, including Harvard, MIT, and IIT. They also began to teach and disseminate ideals of the style, at a time when economic growth was at its peak. Many architects, including Mies, were able to quickly leave their iconic marks on major cities, with projects like the Seagram Building in New York, and the Farnsworth House in Illinois. The International Style became preferred in the United States as large, sleek, glass and steel structures were able to be constructed efficiently and cheaply using mass-production and fabrication methods. But as with all architectural styles over time, different ideas began to emerge, and designers began to create ways to provoke different emotional reactions and seek out new variations. Much of the International Style began to feel like much of the same and easily repeated, especially in taller buildings. In the 60s, architects started to turn away from glass towers, opting to flip Mies’ famous line of “less is more” into “less is a bore.” Widely, large buildings constructed in the International Style failed to accomplish what they sought to do- making the lives of people better and enhancing social and economic opportunities.
In the present day, the International Style’s influences and gestures can still be found, especially with the revitalization of new skyscraper construction in extremely dense cities across the world. Many designs today are returning to a more formal and industrialized aesthetic, often becoming synonymous with modern architecture, and still attempting a “one-size-fits-all” approach to the world’s most pressing problems.
