Modern Movement
International Style
The Modern Movement developed between the two world wars as a set of avant-garde theories and experiences aimed at renewing the character, design, and principles of architecture, urban planning, and design.
The movement arose as a response to the need for architectural renewal, placing functionality and simplicity at the center, in opposition to traditional decorative styles such as Art Nouveau.
The roots of the Modern Movement lie in the late 19th century, with figures such as William Morris proposing a renewal of architectural principles.
Important influences came from Victor Horta's Art Nouveau in Brussels, Otto Wagner's Viennese Secession, Antoni Gaudí in Barcelona, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh in Glasgow.
Peter Behrens and Tony Garnier are considered among the pioneers in the pursuit of simplicity and functionality; they laid the foundations for the Modern Movement.
In the United States, the movement developed thanks to the Chicago School, which brought important innovations such as the construction of the first skyscrapers, with Louis Sullivan and Frank Lloyd Wright as key figures.
The protagonists were architects who based their projects on functional criteria and new aesthetic concepts. The movement reached its peak in the 1920s and 1930s.
A decisive impetus to the movement came from the CIAM - International Congresses of Modern Architecture (Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne), promoted by Le Corbusier, where many of the theories and principles later applied in various disciplines were developed.
The movement encompassed De Stijl, Bauhaus, Constructivism, and Italian Rationalism. In 1936, the term International Style was coined in the US, which often refers to the entire movement.
In architecture, the abandonment of historical styles, eclecticism, and classicism is advocated in favor of a design language capable of exploiting the technological potential of new materials such as glass and steel, combining essentiality and functionality in the development of forms and the creation of spaces.
