Step by Step
1
Le Corbusier's Five Points
Pilotis (raising a building on columns), a free plan, a free facade, horizontal windows, and a roof garden. His Villa Savoye (1929), described as "a machine for living," exemplified these principles. His Unité d'Habitation in Marseille represented an urban megablock, and he later planned Chandigarh, India as a new capital city.
2
Mies van der Rohe
His Barcelona Pavilion (1929) achieved flowing, open space using travertine, glass, and steel. His Seagram Building (New York, 1958) exemplified the mature International Style.
3
The International Style
Defined by glass curtain walls, steel frames, minimal ornament, and rectilinear forms — an aesthetic that spread globally, becoming the dominant architectural language of mid-20th-century institutional and commercial buildings.
4
Criticism and the Postmodern reaction
Modernism faced criticism for its inhuman scale, uniform global aesthetic, and failed housing projects — most notably the Pruitt-Igoe housing project, demolished in 1972. Robert Venturi's 1966 declaration "Less is a bore" launched the Postmodern reaction against Modernist severity.
Applied Walkthrough
1
Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye embodies his Five Points of architecture in physical form — raised on pilotis, with a free plan and facade, horizontal windows, and a roof garden — famously described by Corbusier himself as "a machine for living."
2
Mies van der Rohe pursued a related but distinct vision, achieving flowing, open space through the careful combination of travertine, glass, and steel in his Barcelona Pavilion, before later realizing the mature International Style in his Seagram Building.
3
This International Style — glass curtain walls, steel frames, minimal ornament, rectilinear forms — spread globally, becoming the default language for institutional and commercial buildings across the mid-20th century.
4
But Modernism's severity eventually provoked backlash: the demolition of the failed Pruitt-Igoe housing project in 1972 became a symbol of the movement's human-scale failures, and Robert Venturi's 1966 declaration "Less is a bore" launched the Postmodern reaction that would challenge Modernism's dominance for decades to come.
Exam Application
Exams test whether you know Le Corbusier's Five Points and can identify them in Villa Savoye, whether you can distinguish Le Corbusier's approach from Mies van der Rohe's, and whether you understand the criticisms that led to the Postmodern reaction.
⚠ Common Trap
The most common trap is treating Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe as pursuing identical design approaches simply because both are Modernist pioneers — Le Corbusier's Five Points offer a specific, codified design system, while Mies pursued a related but distinct emphasis on flowing open space through material minimalism ("less is more").
✓ Quick Self-Check
1. What are Le Corbusier's Five Points of architecture?
Pilotis, free plan, free facade, horizontal windows, roof garden.
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2. What did Le Corbusier call Villa Savoye?
"A machine for living."
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3. What building exemplifies Mies van der Rohe's mature International Style?
The Seagram Building (New York, 1958).
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4. What defines the International Style?
Glass curtain walls, steel frames, minimal ornament, rectilinear forms.
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5. What sparked the Postmodern reaction against Modernism, and who said it?
Robert Venturi's 1966 declaration, "Less is a bore."
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