What is the International Style?

International Style

What is the International Style?

In architecture, the term "International Style" describes a type of design that developed mainly in Germany, Holland and France, during the 1920s, before spreading to America in the 1930s, where it became the dominant tendency in American architecture during the middle decades of the 20th century.

The Villa Savoye

Although it never became fashionable for single-family residential buildings in the United States - despite the efforts of William Lescaze (1896-1969), Edward Durrell Stone (1902-78), Richard Neutra (1892-1970) - the International Style was especially suited to skyscraper architecture, where its sleek "modern" look, absence of decoration and use of steel and glass, became synonymous with corporate modernism during the period 1955-70.

Pennsylvania Historical and International Style 1930 - 1950

It also became the dominant style of 20th century architecture for institutional and commercial buildings, and even superceded the traditional historical styles for schools and churches.

Origins and Development of International Style

The International Style emerged largely as a result of four factors that confronted architects at the beginning of the 20th century: 

1. Increasing dissatisfaction with building designs that incorporated a mixture of decorative features from different architectural periods, especially where the resulting design bore little or no relation to the function of the building.
2. The need to build large numbers of commercial and civic buildings that served a rapidly industrializing society.
3. The successful development of new construction techniques involving the use of steel, reinforced concrete, and glass.
4. A strong desire to create a "modern" style of architecture for "modern man". This underlined the need for a neutral, functional style, without any of the decorative features of (say) Romanesque, GOTHIC, or Renaissance architecture, all of which were old-fashioned, if not obsolete.

Characteristics of International Style:

The typical characteristics of International Style buildings include rectilinear forms; plane surfaces that are completely devoid of applied ornamentation; and open, even fluid, interior spaces. This early form of minimalism had a distinctively "modern look", reinforced by its use of modern materials, including glass for the facade, steel for exterior support, and concrete for interior supports and floors.

Design principle of International Styles are:

1)

Assembly building (1955) Chandigarh, India.

Asymmetric, Rhythm, simplicity, emphasis, repetition.

2)

Hines colleges of architecture, At the university of Houston, Texas in (2007).

Asymmetric, Rhythm, Simplicity, Repetition.

3)

PPG place in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (2007)

Symmetric, Asymmetric, Rhythm, Repetition.

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❤Thank you❤

Writer: Pankaj Sonwane.

Bibliography:

 1) Photos and figures from google photos.

 2) Information from books.

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