Modern Movement

The dominant movement in 20th-century architecture, which grew out of the technological innovations of 19th-century Industrial architecture, crystallized in the international style of the 1920s and 1930s, and has since developed various regional trends, such as Brutalism. ‘Truth to materials’ and ‘form follows function’ are its two most representative dicta, although neither allows for the modernity of large areas of contemporary architecture, concerned with proportion, human scale, and attention to detail. Currently, architectural postmodernism, a reaction to the movement, is developing alongside such modernist styles as high-tech.

The Modern Movement gained momentum after World War II when its theories, disseminated through the work of CIAM, were influential in the planning and rebuilding of European cities. The work of Le Corbusier is perhaps most representative of the underlying principles of the movement; other notable early modernists include Adolf Loos, Peter Behrens, Walter Gropius, and Mies van der Rohe.