When Did Modern Architecture Actually Begin? | ARTiculations

Did modern architecture really begin in the 1920s with the founding of the Bauhaus school? Perhaps. But perhaps the changing landscape of architectural practice and theory throughout the last 200 years is not as straight forward as it seems.

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[carlosromanikaoss]

Nice video, and very interesting.

Just one comment: iron and steel structures are actually less fire resistant than timber, paradoxically. Iron is not combustible, but looses strenght with temperature and is a very good thermal conductor. Which means that in a fire, iron structures will colapse quickly.

Timber structures burn from outside to inside, the outside layer carbonizes and carbonization progreses towards the core, but it takes longer to colapse than bare iron. Construction codes allow timber structures to be "naked" while metal structures us be painted with fire-resistant paint or encased in concrete .

The Crystal Palace, for example, was destroyed in a fire.

[qwaqwa]

Seeing images of the crystal palace invariably brings me to tears. I just want to be there! Amazing.

[goober]

ever thought of a video on art deco or "mayan revival" architecture?

[JarrodBaniqued]

Very good video! I love the touches on urban planning. I foresee an epic collab with City Beautiful sometime in the future!

[tinyrainbow]

this is such a nice and niche channel, I love every single one of your videos and i hope it'll grow bigger in the future!!

[cleversushi]

Thank you so much!! I really appreciate that you put on link references of the video in the description box, i have an assignment in which I have to explain the impact of glass and steel in modern architecture and this video really covered it all. I couldn't wait to relay this information with my class soon, so thanks again for putting this video together♡♡🤧

[seahawk]

Q) When did the change start?
A) Chicago World's Fair of 1893 and Frank Lloyd Wright.

The architecture of the Western world at the turn of the century - 1895 to 1905 - was at best a collection of eclectic styles, with hardly one relating in any way or sense to the ideal of the nation in which it was built. This was an era which regarded architecture as an application of fashions and styles, unrelated to structural or construction techniques. Yet it was also a time going revolutionary change. New materials were emerging, and new methods of handling older ones were being developed at the same time. But the architecture being designed reflected little if anything of those new methods and materials.

The Chicago Fair of 1893, was a supreme case in point. On the one hand, Louis Sullivan claimed that the Exposition "put American architecture behind for at least 50 years", while on the other hand Daniel Burnham, lauded the fair as an example of what the Americans would want to build. He told Wright, when urging him to go to the Beaux-Arts in Paris, "The Fair, Frank, is going to have a great influence in our country. The American people have seen the Classics on a grand scale for the first time". The young architect, just starting his own practice with the William Winslow house, replied, "No, there is Louis Sullivan... And if John Root were alive I don't believe he would feel that way about it. Richardson I am sure never would."

Burnham further argued, "Frank, the Fair should have shown you that Sullivan and Richardson are well enough in their way, but their way won't prevail - architecture is going the other way. And it was at the time. It is ironical to realise that the date of that architectural disaster of 1893 coincides with the date at which Frank Lloyd Wright opened his private architectural practice, after nearly seven years spent in the office of Adler and Sullivan, in Chicago.

[MAlanThomasII]

I would say that architectural movements are a bit like genres in fiction and the like; they exist once people begin deliberately making examples of them. E.g., for fantasy literature, there's a point near the end of the 19th century when people started realizing that there was a distinct genre forming that was separate from (if directly linked to) stories that merely had elements of "the fantastic" in them. Once people set out to start writing in that nascent genre, those new writings were fantasy.

This does produce a sort of chicken-and-egg problem, but transition periods are a thing and we shouldn't expect clear and unambiguous lines. In the architectural case, I'd say that the work prior to the essay you referenced was proto-Modern, driven by reasons other than imitating a discrete movement, but the essay allowed those that came after it to work _deliberately_ in that new mode.

[detectivelys]

I really love your videos, they give such a great overview over various topics and make me think about the world around me differently. Thank you for the work you put it. You always manage to make the videos interesting, so even though I never was particularly interested in modernism I know I will be after watching the video! // Update: I am now!

[EmnM]

I never would have thought of the Crystal Palace as "modern" architecture, let alone any architectural theory from the 1800's. It seems to far away - but considering what was going on prior to that, I guess it's still pretty revolutionary in the grand scheme of western history. XD

[yuiz]

id think that the widespread use of a style would be the only way to say something has truly begun, but thats hard to pin down with any specificty, so id think for any offical definition the paper or school should be cited. just my 2 cents on a really cool vid

[AllIsWellaus]

I watched the film, Kevin Roche: The Quiet Architect recently. It's definitely worth adding on your list of films to watch.

[AmorSciendi]

Love this. Linking architecture to other developments in the 20th century is so interesting. I love the brief analysis of the Bauhaus as well. If you ever want to get together for a collaboration to expand on it, I feel like I need an excuse to immerse myself more in that philosopher.

To answer the question at the end of the video: I'll go with "the spread of its ideas" or at least the spread of a recognized visual aesthetic, even if it there are diverse pieces of that aesthetic that don't necessarily fit with each other.

[boldvankaalen]

"When Did Modern Architecture Actually Begin?" The more relevant question is: when will it finally end?

[jesseyoung]

I think you did a great job identifying some of the key components; technology, opportunity, and acceptance. For me, the most interesting aspect is the theory that developed a movement, and how that movement fits into history. I like to look at the philosophy, and scientific advancements as well as literature. It all goes hand in hand.

[miloticrazy]

Thank you so much for putting the names and dates for the images in your video. It's so helpful!

[vimmelkantiig]

this video is incredibly helpful, thank you! i´m so glad i found this channel :)

[kochenlover]

Thank you for the video.
One note: Maybe you should alternate you emphasis when starting a new paragraph. You always start to emphasize the first 3 words in a paragraph and the next sentences are much more balanced and follow a natural emphasize flow.
I hope you understand what I mean.
Keep up the interesting videos :)

[dreamermagister]

I really dont enjoy modern architecture because how much it ruined my country's historical architecture. I live in Turkey btw. Ever since 1950s the beautiful landscape and architecture of anatolia was ruined by concrete, ugly buildings.

[Leptospirosi]

Modern architecture started with the beginning from XX century: Sullivan and Loos foresaw the need for something new, but it wasn't until Berlage, Beherens, Perret and, to a minor extent Wright, founded the basis for what was formalized by Gropius and Le Corbusier. It's consequential to the fact the these later architects all worked as young apprentices at for the former architects. Gropius and Van De Rohe for Beherens and Le Corbusier for Perret. What in Architecture defines the begin of Modernism is the advent of armored concrete. As for what we define as "modern movement", the new architecture is defined by the duopole Gropius-LeCorbusier, because of the influence they had on every other with the writings and teachings: they were often conflicting with each other and yet they formalized what "Modernism" is