Modern Architecture

The Bank of China Tower, 1990, by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Ieoh Ming Pei As the name suggests, Formalism emphasizes form. The architect is interested in visual relationships between the building parts and the work as a whole. Shape, often on a monumental scale, is the focus of attention. Lines and rigid geometric shapes predominate in Formalist architecture.

You will find Formalism in many Modernist buildings, especially in Bauhaus and International Style architecture. Architect I.M. Pei has often been praised for the "elegant formalism" of his works.

The new main central branch of the Seattle Public Library was designed by the Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas and opened in 2006. Deconstructivism, or Deconstruction, is an approach to building design that attempts to view architecture in bits and pieces. The basic elements of architecture are dismantled. Deconstructivist buildings may seem to have no visual logic. They may appear to be made up of unrelated, disharmonious abstract forms. Deconstructive ideas are borrowed from the French philosopher Jacques Derrida.




The Sydney Opera House, designed by Jørn Utzon, winner of the Pritzker Architecture Prize in 2003 Frank Lloyd Wright said that all architecture is organic, and the Art Nouveau architects of the early twentieth century incorporated curving, plant-like shapes into their designs. But in the later half of the twentieth century, Modernist architects took the concept of organic architecture to new heights. By using new forms of concrete and cantilever trusses, architects could create swooping arches without visible beams or pillars.

Organic buildings are never linear or rigidly geometric. Instead, wavy lines and curved shapes suggest natural forms.

The Einstein Tower (Einsteinturm) in Potsdam is an Expressionist work by architect Erich Mendelsohn, 1920 Expressionism evolved from the work of avant garde artists and designers in Germany and other European coutries during the first decades of the twentieth century. Key features of Expressionism are:

• distorted shapes
• fragmented lines
• organic or biomorphic forms
• massive sculpted shapes
• extensive use of concrete and brick
• lack of symmetry
• many fanciful works rendered on paper but never built

Neo-expressionism built upon expressionist ideas. Architects in the 1950s and 1960s designed buildings that expressed their feelings about the surrounding landscape. Sculptural forms suggested rocks and mountains. Organic and Brutalist architecture can often be described as Neo-expressionist.