The Vernacular, Modernism, and Le Corbusier

1997 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 438-451 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Passanti
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Model ◽  
Essential Role ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Complex Concept ◽  
Modern Industrial Society ◽  
International Style ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Common Parlance

The modernist architecture of the 1920s, often referred to by the terms "machine aesthetic" and "International Style," has been seen as antithetical to the vernacular. Focusing on Le Corbusier, this essay argues that, to the contrary, the vernacular played an essential role in the construction of modernist architecture, as conceptual model for a notion of modern vernacular-one as naturally the issue of modern industrial society, and as representative of it, as the traditional vernacular of common parlance had been of earlier societies. Le Corbusier arrived at this notion by layering on each other several discourses concerning regionalism, folklore, and the more complex concept of Sachlichkeit (factualness), developed in Vienna and Germany at the turn of the century by such figures as Adolf Loos and Hermann Muthesius.

scholarly journals Criminal Skins: Tattoos and Modern Architecture in the Work of Adolf Loos

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 ◽  
pp. 235-256 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jimena Canales ◽  
Andrew Herscher
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Turn Of The Century ◽  
Less Is More ◽  
International Style

Adolf Loos’s famous essay, ‘Ornament and Crime’, decisively linked unornamented architecture with the culture of modernity and, in so doing, became one of the key formulations of modern architecture. To a great extent, the essay’s force comes from arguments drawn from nineteenth-century criminal anthropology. Nevertheless, Loos’s work has been consistently understood only within the context of the inter-war avant- gardes. In the 1920s, Le Corbusier was particularly enthusiastic in bringing Loos’s work to the fore, thereby establishing its future reception. ‘Ornament and Crime’ became an essential catalyst for architecture’s conversion away from the historicism of the nineteenth century to modernism. At the turn of the century, Loos’s essay already foreshadowed the white abstraction of ‘less is more’ architecture and the functionalist rigour of the International Style which would dominate the twentieth century.

scholarly journals Cracovian modernists - the 60 ties, 90 ties of the XX century - the returns

2009 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-132
Author(s):  
Jan Wrana
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
International Style ◽  
Modern Style ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Walter Gropius

The European reaction of the leading architects towards the period of international style, “The idea of style has yet again become up-to-date. The modern style, covering the whole world, is uniform and coherent...” [4], promoted at the exhibition “Modernist architecture” organized in Museum of Art in New York by architects Henry Russell Hitchcock and Philips Johnson, was immediate. The leading European architects: a) Walter Gropius wrote: “The aim of Bauhaus was not to promote one particular style...” [4], b) Le Corbusier formulated “Fundamental principles of aesthetics” [4], c) Bruno Taut wrote: “Five assumptions of new architecture” [4]. The message that “The form follows the function” became the very principle of modernism. The year 1972, when the blocks of flats in St. Louis, US were blown up, and the year of the actual end of the ideology originating from CIAM, is the agreed time marked as the end of modernism. It was a few years after Le Corbusier’s death (1965) - the death of the unchallenged spiritual ideologist of modernism.

Capital and Capitalism

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sumit K. Majumdar
Keyword(s):  
Industrial Policy ◽  
Economic Activity ◽  
The State ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Institution Building ◽  
Modern Industrial Society ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
Laws And Regulations

The chapter summarizes the nature of capital and capitalism. The chapter also highlights concepts related to the role of the State in economic activity, and the nature of industrial policy. The initial concepts dealt with are that of capital as a fund, capital as structure and capital as capabilities. Capitalism necessitates socially organizing production. Assessing organizational and administrative contingencies is important for understanding capitalism. Institutions are the bedrock of capitalism. The broad roles of Government, in designing laws and regulations, building infrastructure and acting as entrepreneur, are discussed. The implementation of national industrial strategies facilitates growth. The nature of industrial strategies is highlighted. Industrial policy activities, as defined by the three facets of institutions, innovation and involvement, are discussed. With respect to India’s industrial strategy, independent India’s founders’ visions of a modern industrial society, grounded in a need to involve Government in institution building, are introduced.

scholarly journals O jovem Lukács e Dostoiévski

Numen ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Löwy
Keyword(s):  
Max Weber ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Religious Literature ◽  
Modern Industrial Society ◽  
Literature And Philosophy ◽  
Decisive Influence

A referência decisiva para o pensamento religioso de Lukács não é o misticismo católico, judeu ou hindu, mas muito mais (como para todo o círculo Max Weber) a espiritualidade russa, e notadamente, Dostoiévski. Nessa época, Bloch e Lukács estavam fascinados pela literatura e filosofia religiosas russas, e o seu reino coletivista-religioso sobre a terra era concebido como “uma vida no espírito de Dostoiévski”3. Somente podemos compreender essa atração deles pela Rússia entre eles, assim como de os outros membros do círculo, através da sua repulsa contra o mundo individualista e seelenlos da sociedade industrial daEuropa ocidental.The decisive influence in Lukács’religious thought is not Catholic, Jewish or Hindu mysticism, but above all (as it was for all Mar Weber’s circle) Russian spirituality and, particularly, Dostoyevsky. In those times, Bloch and Lukács were fascinated by Russian religious literature and philosophy, and their religiously collectivist kingdom on earth was conceived as a “life in the spirit of Dostoyevsky”. We can only understand the attraction towards Russia among them, as well as among other members of the circle, if we have in mind their rejection of an individualistic world and the seelenlos of western modern industrial society.

scholarly journals Le Corbusier’s Legacy: Modern experimentation in Mario Bonito´s work

2015 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helder Casal Ribeiro
Keyword(s):  
Rational Design ◽  
Academic Work ◽  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Modern Architecture ◽  
Third Generation ◽  
Design Issues ◽  
Crystal Palace ◽  
Palabras Clave ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Just Society

Abstract: This paper investigates the path of third generation Portuguese modern architect, Mário Bonito (1921/1976), in order to understand and clarify his contribution to the maturity process of portuguese modern architecture, that began at the end of the 1940s, strongly influenced by Le Corbusier. Through the understanding of his final academic work, CODA (Competition to Obtain the Architects Diploma), designated Pavilhão das Ilhas Adjacentes, located in Jardim do Palacio Cristal (Crystal Palace Gardens) in Porto, dated 1947/48, we intend to deepen his relationship with the modern premises of corbusier´s architecture, framed by portuguese reality. However Le Corbusier´s legacy in Mario Bonito´s work is not formal but thematic, in understanding the main issues that guide the intent of progressive man in molding a modern and just society. The paper covers themes characteristic to Portuguese modernist architecture such as the dialogue between craftsmanship and technique, compositional rigor and rational design issues resulting from the systematization of the construction processes, with the search for standardization of architectural and constructional elements. This dialogue emphasizes the compromise between tradition and modernity that will be present in all of Mário Bonito´s designed and written work, announcing the experimental temperament and formal coherence of his subsequent works. Resumen: Este artículo investiga el camino de la tercera generación de arquitecto moderno portugués, Mário Bonito (1921/1976), a fin de comprender y aclarar su contribución al proceso de la madurez de la arquitectura moderna portuguesa, que se inició a finales de la década de 1940, fuertemente influenciado por Le Corbusier. A través de la comprensión de su obra académica final, CODA (Concurso para Obtenção do Diploma de Arquitecto), designado Pavilhão das Ilhas Adjacentes, ubicado en Jardim do Palacio de Cristal en Porto, con fecha de 1947 / 48, tenemos la intención de profundizar su relación con las premisas modernas de la arquitectura Corbusiana, encuadradas por la realidad portuguesa. Sin embargo el legado de Le Corbusier en el trabajo de Mario Bonito no es formal, sino temático, en la comprensión de los temas principales que guían la intención del hombre progresista en el moldeo de una sociedad moderna y justa. El artículo abarca temas como el diálogo entre la artesanía y la técnica, el rigor compositivo y problemas de diseño que resulten de la sistematización de los procesos de construcción, con la búsqueda de la normalización de los elementos arquitectónicos y constructivos. Este diálogo enfatiza el compromiso entre la tradición y la modernidad que estará presente en todo trabajo diseñado y escrito de Mario Bonito, anunciando el temperamento experimental y coherencia formal de sus obras posteriores.  Keywords: legacy; Mário Bonito; portuguese architecture; Porto; universality. Palabras clave: legado; Mário Bonito; arquitectura portuguesa; Porto; universalidad. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.1004

Is Nature Priceless?

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Collier
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Rain Forest ◽  
Organic Food ◽  
Natural World ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Industrial Capitalism ◽  
Good Sense ◽  
Left Flank ◽  
Modern Industrial Society ◽  
Recent Variation

The indignant tears of a child command attention. Daniel, aged eight, has just learned about the Brazilian rain forest and it has moved him to his first expression of political outrage. It is directed at me, not as his father, but as representative of the generation of adults who are destroying something precious before he reaches the age at which he can stop us. Through sobs and rage he shouts, “Tell the president!” Having seen me on television, Daniel has a somewhat inflated impression of my influence. Eight-year-olds are not, on the whole, always repositories of good sense, and Daniel is no exception. But by chance his anger is right on target: son and father are ethically aligned in the battleground of natural assets. First, the left flank. I agree with environmentalists that nature is special: at some level most of us recognize that. But why is it special? Mainstream environmentalists, such as Stewart Brand, offer one answer. Nature is especially vulnerable and that matters because, being dependent upon it, mankind is thereby vulnerable. But as Brand argues, many environmentalists are carrying ideological baggage that needs to be discarded. For romantic environmentalists nature is incommensurate with the mundane business of the economy: it is in some way ethically prior. Echoing Baron d’Holbach’s diagnosis of modern angst, they see industrial capitalism as having divorced us from the natural world which it is rapidly destroying. You can sense their discomfort with modern industrial society in the language that they use, replete with words such as “organic” and “holistic.” For a recent variation on the theme of Holbach, watch Prince Charles delivering the BBC’s 2009 distinguished Dimbleby Lecture. Perhaps man needs to return to a simpler, nonindustrial lifestyle. Prince Charles produces organic food, and he has created a village, Poundsbury, in the style of the eighteenth century—the last age prior to industrialization. At the extreme end of romantic environmentalism the diagnosis is more radical: mankind itself has become the enemy of what is truly good. Reflecting these sentiments, there is now a considerable cult that relishes the prospect of the extinction of mankind.

Body Semiotics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Man-Fung Yip
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
Martial Arts ◽  
The Body ◽  
Industrial Society ◽  
Historical Experience ◽  
Modern Industrial Society ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
A Site ◽  
Martial Arts Cinema

This chapter considers how the (male) action bodies in martial arts cinema of the late 1960s and 1970s, posed between mastery and vulnerability, served as a site/sight through which the aspirations and anxieties of Hong Kong people living in the flux of a rapidly modernizing society were articulated and made visible. Specifically, it identifies three types of action body—the narcissistic body, the sacrificial body, and the ascetic body—and discusses how each crystallized out of the changing social and ideological dynamics of Hong Kong during the period. As socially symbolic signs, these diverse but interrelated representations of the body are extremely rich in meanings, inscribing within themselves not only fantasies of nationalist pride and liberated labor but also the historical experience of violence, in the form of both colonization and unbridled growth, that lay beneath the transformation of Hong Kong into a modern industrial society.

The Eisenstein Effect

2019 ◽  
pp. 57-76
Author(s):  
Anthony Vidler
Keyword(s):  
Le Corbusier ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Sergei Eisenstein ◽  
The Status ◽  
Actual Space ◽  
Modernist Architecture ◽  
Auguste Choisy ◽  
Technological Achievement ◽  
Point Of Reference

This chapter analyzes the confluence in thinking about cinematic and architectural montage in the work of the Russian filmmaker Sergei Eisenstein and the Swiss architect Le Corbusier. It describes their encounter in Moscow in 1928 and their shared admiration for the French architectural historian Auguste Choisy, whose description of spatial passage through the Athenian Acropolis is a key point of reference in the accounts the filmmaker and the architect develop of the role of narrative, movement, and editing in the apprehension of space. Although Le Corbusier’s promenade architecturale is the manipulation of a body moving through actual space according to precise calculations of a visual sequence, the cinematic version, as staged by Corbusier and Chenal, faced the viewer with a surrogate or avatar body moving through space, but never presented the viewer with the scenes viewed by this body: an invisible, one might say ineffable merging of architecture with the image of an invisible architecture as a projection of a static viewer. Architecture in this sense achieves the status desired of the modernist machine universe, but in the process has been reduced to two dimensions, without perspective. Eisenstein, for his part, was in this sense able to “build” an architecture in film—not the imperfect static forms that one had to walk through or work hard to imagine their ecstatic movement, but through the moving image itself understood as the highest technological achievement of modernism, thus achieving the (ecstatic) dissolution, in image, of modernist architecture.

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