International Style

What is International Style?

International Style describes the type of design mainly that of architecture. It mainly developed Germany, Holland and France during the 1920s before it was spread across America during the 1930s. The International Style emerged as a result of four factors -

1. Increasing dissatisfaction with building designs,

2. Building large number of commercial and civic building,

3. Successful development of new construction techniques involving the use of steel, reinforced concrete and glass,

4. A strong desire to create a "modern" style of architecture.

The two words - International Style came from a book who was written by the historian and critic Henry-Russell Hitchcock and architect Philip Johnson. The term was again used in a later book called International Architecture by Walter Gropius, the founder of Bauhaus.

Characteristics of International Style are buildings that include rectilinear forms; plane surfaces, interior spaces. Example of this is the United Nations Secretariat building which was completed in 1952 but was renovated in 2012.

United Nations Secretariat Building

International Style Architects

Pioneer and very important architects from the International Style included a group of brilliant architects from the 1920s which we can say that they still left an impact on us today. These included Walter Gropius in Germany, Jacobus Johannes Pieter Oud in Holland, Le Corbusier in France and Richard Neutra, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson in the United States.

Walter Gropius