i remember in school we were taught that
modern architecture began around the
early 1920s with the rise of prominent
architects such as walter gropius mies
van der rohe and lecru bouzier and in a
way the image of their building styles
are probably what most people associate
with modern architecture sleek geometric
boxes of mostly glass and steel so for
many years i took this as fact however
the more i thought about it the more
this seemed questionable ongoing
developments in technological innovation
changing attitudes of society and the
shifting of architectural theories were
gradual processes that didn't always
coincide with each other so when did
modern architecture actually begin
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modernity is a complicated term to
define of course whether in architecture
art literature or philosophy however in
architecture many attribute the earliest
beginnings of modernization to the
industrial revolution which first took
place in britain from the mid 1700s to
mid-1800s the development of large-scale
iron productions resulted in a large
amount of iron making their way into
buildings by the late 1700s which
resulted in more efficient structural
elements wider beam spans better lateral
stability as well as less fire hazardous
structures due to metal being
non-combustible but of course while
buildings during this time used
technologically advanced materials for
practical reasons they still looked like
traditional buildings such as being clad
in traditional masonry and adhering to
classical proportions and visual styles
the building that is commonly accepted
by many to be the first example of
modern architecture is the crystal
palace which was a 990 000 square foot
building that hosted london's legendary
great exhibition of 1851. it was almost
entirely made of slender cast iron
frames that sustained large sheets of
plate glass by the 1830s technologies of
the industrial revolution made it
possible for windows to be made
significantly larger than ever before
however what made the crystal palace
revolutionary was not only that it was
tall light and open but it also seemed
to defy conventional structural
expectations prior to this all buildings
were expected to have a solid and sturdy
base with architectural elements getting
progressively lighter as it went up the
building this was not only true
physically but also aesthetically
classical architectural principles
emphasized this hierarchy of visual
elements to design a building that
looked top-heavy not only seemed to defy
the laws of physics but also defied
long-held aesthetic principles of
western architecture the home insurance
building in chicago completed in 1885 is
often credited as the world's first
skyscraper many construction projects in
chicago during this time opted to use
metal framing as opposed to timber due
to the fact that most of chicago was
destroyed during the great chicago fire
of 1871. the home insurance building
became the first tall building to be
entirely supported by a structural steel
frame steel is even stronger and more
lightweight than iron which not only
meant buildings could be much taller but
window openings could also be much
larger which is especially important at
the ground level where retail shop
fronts are typically located these early
skyscrapers paved the way for modern
office towers and retail buildings
so why are we generally taught that
modern architecture didn't begin until
the early 20th century well it comes
down to philosophy and theory even
though new revolutionary materials and
technologies were used in construction
throughout the 1800s and buildings were
starting to divert away from classical
aesthetics most of these design
decisions were made for practical and
economic reasons it took until the turn
of the 20th century for elements of
modern architecture to be rationalized
and standardized into a set of formal
principles in 1896 american architect
lewis sullivan published an essay titled
the tall office building artistically
considered this is the essay where he
coined the phrase form follows function
which would go on to influence
generations of architects and designers
in 1919 walter gropius founded the
bauhaus school in weimar germany bauhaus
teachings asserted that architectural
forms should be simplified to the bare
essentials of function and that a
building should not bear any
ornamentation that does not follow the
structural purpose of the building in
1920 swiss architect le corbusier
co-founded a journal called lesbrite
nouveau which advocated the idea that
architectural design should be divorced
from historical references and
associations he also introduced urban
planning theories arguing that
residential and commercial amenities
should be zoned entirely separate from
one another as you've probably noticed
these concepts were pretty radical while
there were significant groups of
architects and designers championing
these ideas around the world as early as
the 1920s and 30s most of the world was
not ready to get on board thus there are
some who argue that modern architecture
didn't really begin until the 1950s
in the aftermath of world war ii massive
reconstruction projects took place all
over the world and due to the
unprecedented scale of devastation that
occurred there was a demand for economic
construction processes and efficient
urban planning methods like never before
thus many public housing projects across
the world implemented modernist
construction and planning strategies but
modern concepts of sleek minimalism and
purity of form were also embraced by
capitalists and wealthy elites
especially in america shiny glass towers
would pop up left right and center
across city's skylines throughout most
of the 1950s and 60s thus from the
perspective of the masses the 1950s was
really when modern architecture began to
shape the lives of everyday people of
course the theories proposed by
modernists would go on to be heavily
criticized and in some cases entirely
rejected by other architectural
designers as well as the masses many
sub-movements and diverging
architectural styles would later emerge
as a response but those are topics for
another time so when did modern
architecture actually begin well what do
you think do you think it starts with
the departure from classical conventions
the first published paper theorizing
modern practice the founding of a school
or the spread of its ideas to the masses
let me know in the comments hey friends
thanks so much for watching this video
is obviously a very brief overview of
modern architecture so i put lots of
links to sources and further reading in
the description below if you're
interested in watching more videos like
this then here are a couple of my
suggestions okay bye for now
[Music]
this video is obviously a very brief
overview of modern architecture so i put