The search for Modern form: From 1851 - 1960s

The search for Modern form: From 1851 - 1960s

School of Architecture. Lehigh University

Professor. Germán Pallares

Description:

From London’s 1851 Great Exhibition Crystal Palace to that moment on “July 15, 1972, at 3:32 pm, when Modern Architecture died”2 with the demolition of the infamous Pruitt Igoe housing development; Architects, thinkers, and designers, were devoted to the search of a global building culture. This course places the search for modern architecture, its form, space, and structure, from the mid-nineteenth century, through both World Wars, and the post-war period into critical questioning, not only of its leaders and main figures but its place of origin and linear development. Our discussions will be interested in understanding this period of rapid technological advancement and social change, massive population growth and movement, changes in economic systems of organization, the emergence of new institutions, and the role that culture and media played in the development of this new building culture.

We will also be interested in tracing the role of history and tradition while investigating the development of new materials and building technologies and methods. The different national “scenes” of architecture will be treated instead as places where the transit of international ideas, their discussions, modifications, and adaptations, were primordial to the creation of a global culture. This course aims to establish the close relationship that exists between design, theory and methodology as an integral part of this process.