Design and Modernism

Le Corbusier

ContextualisedAndrea Peach

A Great epoch has begun.

There exists a new

spirit.

Towards a New Architecture

Le Corbusier 1927

Modernism

Dominant ideology throughout

western industrialised world

in art, design and

architecture for most of the

twentieth century

19th century: Ornament & Decoration …

If we challenge the past we shall

learn that ‘styles’ no longer exist

for us, that a style belonging to our

own period has come about; and there

has been a Revolution.

Towards a New Architecture

Le Corbusier 1927

Die Wohnung Stuttgart 1927

Adolf Loos 1928

Essay on Ornament and Crime:

Evolution is synonymous with

the removal of ornament from

objects of everyday use

Adolf Loos 1928

Steiner House - Vienna, Austria

Le Corbusier

Cook House, Paris, 1926

A house has to fulfill two

purposes. First it is a

machine for living in, that

is, a machine to provide us

with efficient help for speed

and accuracy in our work, a

diligent and helpful machine

which should satisfy all our

physical needs: comfort. But

it should also be a place

conducive to meditation, and

lastly, a beautiful place,

bringing much needed

tranquility to the mind.

1923

Machine Art exhibition at Museum of Modern Art in New York 1934

The beauty of machine

art is in part the

abstract beauty of

straight lines and

circles made into

actual tangible

surfaces and solids by

means of lathes, rulers

and squares

Industry, overwhelming

us like a flood which

rolls on towards its

destined ends, has

furnished us with new

tools adapted to this

new epoch, animated by

the new spirit.

Le Corbusier - Towards a

New Architecture

Russian Constructivist printed textile c 1920

Le Corbusier 1929

Metal plays the same part in furniture as cement has done in architecture. It is a revolution.

The machinery of Society, profoundly out of gear, oscillates between an amelioration, of historical importance, and a catastrophe.Le Corbusier - Towards a New Architecture

Le Corbusier Villa Savoye 1928-31

If we eliminate from our hearts and minds all dead concepts in regard to the house, and look at the question from a critical and objective point of view, we shall arrive at the

‘House Machine’

We must create the mass-production spirit.

The spirit of constructing mass-production houses.

The spirit of living in mass-production houses.

The spirit of conceiving mass-production houses.

Le Corbusier Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles1947-52

It is a question of building which is at the root of the social unrest of to-day:

architecture or revolution

Le Corbusier Unité d’Habitation, Marseilles1947-52

Weissenhof Seidlung, Stuttgart 1927

Mies van der Rohe

Walter Gropius / Marcel Breuer

Marcel Breuer 1931

This metal furniture is intended to be nothing but a necessary apparatus for contemporary life

Modernist Design

Objects should be:

• Simple, honest and direct

• Well adapted to their purpose

• No ornament

Modernist Design

• Standardised

• Machine-made

• Reasonably priced

• Expressive of their structure

and materials

Marcel Breuer 1926

Nickel-plated steel and lacquered wood

Nesting TablesGermany

Mies van der Rohe 1927

Chrome-plated tubular steel, oil cloth

Cantilever ChairGermany

Howell ‘Chromasteel’ USA

1946

“Here is gay, sparkling furniture that brings new beauty and charm into your kitchen … it’s the kind that seems to stay new looking indefinitely”

Greta von Nessen 1952

Aluminum and enameled metal

‘Anywhere lamp’Germany

Ocean - Bianco Table / Gamma Chairs - chromed tubular steel frame

2008 …

Modernism

A term used to refer to the

principle that nothing is

included in a design that does

not enhance the object’s

purpose

Marianne Brandt 1924

Tea infuserGermany, Bauhaus

Metal is cold and brutally hard... It gives no comfort to the eye

John Gloag 1929

“Modern carpet

designs may provide

endless

entertainment for

your friends”

Heath Robinson 1936

“De

Staalstoelophoon”

1934

The end of modernism…?

The Titanic - PhotomontageStanley Tigerman, 1978, USA

Alessandro Mendini 1978

“Redesign of Modern Movement Chairs” Wassily by Breuer, Italy

1925

The end of modernism ... ?

Le Corbusier Books: Marcus, G. Functionalist Design – An Ongoing History, Prestel, 1995

Weston, C. Modernism, Phaidon, London, 2001

Wilk, C (ed). Modernism – Designing a New World - 1914-1939, V&A Publications, London, 2006

Websites: From Here to Modernity – Open University Website detailing story of modern movement and architecture: www.open2.net/modernity/

The Le Corbusier Foundation: http:// www. fondationlecorbusier.asso.fr/ fondationlc_us. htm