Twentieth- and Twenty-First-Century Architecture - AP Art History

The Chrysler Building in midtown Manhattan was the tallest building in the world for eleven months, spanning from its completion in May of 1930 to the completion of the Empire State Building. Apart from sheer size, the Chrysler building was also notable as a shining example of Art Deco design. The building's brick artifice, metal crown, and use of modern technological design all were exactly in line with Art Deco's chief features.

Mannerism, Baroque, and Rococo are not from the twentieth century. Art Nouveau, the predecessor of Art Deco, is characterized by natural forms and structures with curved lines. There is often a nature motif in Art Nouveau works. Art Deco is known for its rich colors, bold geometry, and ornamentation.

A geodesic dome is a dome that features small triangle shapes over its face, which are created through the intersection of circles throughout what would be the total sphere. These triangles allow for the stress of the building's weight to be distributed over its entire structure, which allowed larger domes to be built in the twentieth century. The innovative architect Buckminster Fuller first demonstrated the architecture was possible, actively sought out opportunities to build domes, and coined the term "geodesic dome."

While Fallingwater is a thoroughly modern building, constructed in straight lines made out of concrete, glass, and steel, Frank Lloyd Wright was heavily inspired by Japanese architecture. Fallingwater was designed as a natural retreat for its owners, which meant Wright had to carefully blend the house into nature. Considering its use of natural light and a sense of blending the indoor and outdoor space, the house features many approaches which are borrowed from Japanese architectural ideas.

Le Corbusier was both a practicing architect and an architectural theorist. These two identities were best joined in his design and construction of Villa Savoye outside of Paris. The building intentionally and forcefully followed Le Corbusier's manifesto Five Points of Architecture. The five points Villa Savoye followed were having pilotis that lifted the building off the ground, a functional roof that could be used as a garden, a free floor plan without load bearing walls allowing interior openness, large windows that provided vast amounts of natural light, and freely designed facades that acted merely as a skin on the outside of the building.

Gehry, a modernist architect well known for flowing lines and unusual shapes, has built concert halls, museums, and government buildings around the world. Among his most notable works is the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, constructed out of titanium and glass, in shapes that are meant to evoke the countryside of Bilbao's Basque region.

Fallingwater is generally considered Frank Lloyd Wright's masterpiece, as the residence was constructed above and incorporated a waterfall. The residence, built in 1939, blended the interior and exterior of the building into Wright's perfect distillation of his "organic" philosophy of architecture. The property remained a residence for many years, but became a protected site in the mid-1960s.

The "Bauhaus," German for House of Construction, was a school of arts and architecture in the Weimar Period between the two World Wars. The school was so influential that it gave its name to an entire movement, focusing on modern design, efficiency, and a cohesive approach to art between architecture, design, and crafts.

Philip Johnson was a modernist architect who sought clean lines, used steel and glass construction, and valued function in his design. Inspired by the Farnsworth House designed by Mies van der Rohe, Johnson designed his own house in Connecticut as made almost entirely of glass. The rectangular abode is now a tourist site, along with Johnson's entire property, including other buildings and his massive art collection.

Though many of these architects are known for either their prairie or organic styles, Wright designed the Guggenheim.

John Augustus Roebling, a German immigrant, was the leading designer of bridges throughout the mid-nineteenth century in America. His masterpiece, however, was the Brooklyn Bridge, which was the first steel-wire suspension bridge ever built. Unfortunately, Roebling died in 1870, just as it was beginning construction, and his son Washington Roebling had to take over construction.

La Sagrada Familia was planned as a massive church in Barcelona that would rival its Cathedral in size. After breaking ground in 1882, the church is still not totally finished. Importantly, its architect Antoni Gaudí was killed in a 1926 tram accident, and the work had to continue on under architects with different design aesthetics than its singular original designer.

The Farnsworth House was built outside of Chicago as a rural retreat for a businessman by the German born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Mies, his middle name that he preferred to go by in most settings, was a German immigrant who helped pioneer modernist architecture in America. Using glass, steel, and straight lines, the Farnsworth House was a model and template for further explorations of architecture in America.

The Bauhaus was a revolutionary art school, which sought to unite various forms of art under one roof and one set of guidelines based around clean lines, modern techniques, and functionality. The Bauhaus was most influential in the world of architecture, where its modern and simple style inspired achitects around the world. Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party banned the Bauhaus, and forced its teachers and leaders to find refuge in other nations, which furthered their influence internationally.

Socialist realism was an artistic movement that grew up hand in hand with communist governments, and particularly Joseph Stalin's rule in the Soviet Union. While called "realism," the artistic style was dedicated to glorifying the working classes and promoting revolution. The "realism" was done in the simplicity of the figures, both in painting and sculpture, as well as in the utility of its architecture.

Le Corbusier was one of the most influential modernist architects, not only for the buildings he designed but also for his influential writings on architecture. Le Corbusier's sparse, clean, and functional style was outlined in his manifesto known as The Five Points of Architecture. First published in L'Esprit Nouveau, and found in his longer book Vers un architecture, the points are best expressed in his 1931 building Villa Savoye.

The Chrysler Building is most associated with Art Deco style. Minimalism is, like it sounds, associated with a simplicity that isn't often found in Early Modern works of architecture, particularly those that promoted power or faith. Thus, Versailles and the Cathedral aren't the right answer. Gaudi's Sagrada Familia is also famously elaborate. That leaves Lin's memorial, which is the best answer.

The long, low Robie House which Wright created to match its prairie setting is a good example of how he matched design to fit surroundings. He felt the building should make the area even more beautiful than before its construction. His "Fallingwater" house in PA is another example of architecture matching its setting.

The Chrysler Building in New York City is a well-known example of the Art Deco artistic and architectural style. Art Deco is known for its bold, geometrical shapes, rather than the organic, flowing style of Art Nouveau, or the Greek-and-Roman-derivation of Neoclassicism. Art Deco was not intricate or natural. It embraced technology and the modern world, and reflected the glamour and luxury that modern technology provided.

The Chrysler building is a good example of Art Deco architecture, as its spire is composed of symmetrical, bold, powerful geometrical shapes. It also makes sense that Art Deco, which represented glamour and luxury, would be used in that time period to build a skyscraper in New York, which in and of itself is a representation of the modern world.

Rococo and Gothic architecture are not from the 20th century.

Image accessed through Wikipedia Image Commons: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chrysler\_Building\_by\_David\_Shankbone\_Retouched.jpg

Frank Lloyd Wright built Fallingwater outside of Pittsburgh in 1935 for the owner of a Pittsburgh department store, Edgar Kauffman. Kauffman desired a specific, small plot of land to be used and wanted very specific elements. In order to build a large house in a tight space, Wright used a revolutionary cantilevered approach in his design, also incorporating natural elements like a waterfall, giving the building its name.