The International Style Architecture - 2073 Words

The international style is a major architectural style that came out in 1920s and 1930s in the form of a modern architecture, with an emphasis more on architectural style, form and aesthetic than the social aspects of the modern movement. The international style is a modern form of architecture because it reduces the cultural traditional decoration, introduces the use of glass and steel and creates an open interior. It relied on pure geometric forms, with ornamentation stripped from facades to reveal the essential line and curve that defines space. The term international style was first used in 1932 by the historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock and architect Philip Johnson for exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art and mentioned it in their†¦show more content†¦However, the third factor was using steel, reinforcing concrete and using glass and it was a successful development of the new construction techniques. The fourth factor was the strong desire for a neutral, functional styl e without the decorative features of architecture like Romanesque, Gothic or Renaissance and that led to create a modern style of architecture for modern man. However, the reason for this new shift was that the culture of 1920s and early 1930s was huge and increasingly machine driven culture and period as well. The machines challenged design and it was valued for its service, its aesthetic was encouraged by the people who saw beauty in machines and its appearance and function. The machines helped producing mirrored glasses and shiny steel and molded plastic that became important as decorative materials in modern style. â€Å"Modern Architecture: International Exhibition† is the title of an exhibition that took place in 1932 at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. Organized by Philip Johnson and Henry-Russell Hitchcock, the exhibition introduced an emerging architectural style characterized by simplified geometry and a lack of ornamentation; known as the â€Å"Internati onal style,† it was described by Johnson as â€Å"Probably the first fundamentally original and widely distributed style since the Gothic.† The exhibition, became like a catalogue,that laid the principles