International Style

インターナショナル・スタイル / 1920s–1960s / Style / Modern Architecture

Strips ornament and aims at a universal architectural language crossing borders: the box, the free plan, steel, concrete and glass.

International Style — Mies 860–880 Lake Shore Drive (CC BY-SA 2.5) · © User:JeremyA
Mies 860–880 Lake Shore Drive (CC BY-SA 2.5) · CC BY-SA 2.5 · © User:JeremyA
International Style — Barcelona Pavilion (CC BY-SA 2.5) · © Russ McGinn
Barcelona Pavilion (CC BY-SA 2.5) · CC BY-SA 2.5 · © Russ McGinn
International Style — Seagram Building (CC BY-SA 3.0) · © Gigi alt
Seagram Building (CC BY-SA 3.0) · CC BY-SA 3.0 · © Gigi alt

At a glance

Visual cues

  • Rectangular volumes
  • Glass planes
  • No ornament
  • The free plan

Best used for

  • Corporate headquarters and civic buildings that must earn trust through proportion, not ornament.
  • Long life offices and galleries whose partitions move as programs change.

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Dictionary entry

Type
Align sans serif signs to the column grid, flush with the wall.
Composition
Carry floors on columns so plan and facade both stay free.
Material
Steel and concrete frame, white rendered planes, large sheets of glass.
Caution
A white box alone misses the structure, free plan, industrial materials and social program, and ornament stripped without tuned proportion and detail reads as cheapness, leaving openings with no reason for their position.
Further study
Le Corbusier / Ludwig Mies van der Rohe / Philip Johnson

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Cite this entry

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https://indexstyle.org/styles/international-style
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