The Globalization of Modern Architecture - Text 1
The text gives a brief summary of recent events in the history without a perspective of the cultural events that determine the architecture of each region and each season.
Reading it I could better understand that architecture has been influenced by decades of standards based on the art, philosophy, technology, and others. In many cases we can see the architecture as the way to express what is happening in human's life, a way to reveal and realize their beliefs. However, in some cases, architecture can run away from it real purpose, which would be to give the people what they need: an environment that meets the user's needs, promoting their comfort and convenience.
Therefore, I believe that, although man has tried to follow some standards or fully escape from it over the years, should be sought, in the first place, a more useful and versatile architecture.
Summary of the text:
In the Neolithic period the notion of integration with other people was very limited, however, as time passed, they began to need one another, and this interaction expanded along with the evolved of the mankind. When empires emerged, land become synonymous of power and new routes was created to explore new horizons and new people. The trades proved to be very significant for the integration of different nations (for example, articles from India were imported by Rome), but the number one reason of ingration was the religion, practically unanimous: Catholicism and Islam.
With power and religion emerged culture and one of the ways to express it is through arts and architecture.
The word globalization can be thought from the discovery of new continents such as America and Australia, which were the scene of colonialism and recivers of the European culture, while Asians countries like China and India remained with a closed system for the world . This expansion of knowledge from Europe, geographically and culturally, gave strength to a new way of thinking, the Enlightenment.
Armed with the advancement of technology and industrial power, combined with the belief that they were superior and needed to bring progress, modernity and religion to other countries, Europe earned its place in the world in the nineteenth century, "global culture" meant therefore European culture.
The architecture principle in the colonies followed standard models of European architecture, as is the case of Brazil which has an architecture heavily influenced by Portugal. With the passage of time, this architecture has been modified to fit the site it was in, along with the climate and local materials. Even Asia alone was obliged to open the door for colonialism, Japan was forced by the North America and China by the British Empire, with the Opium War (1839-1860).
In the final decades of the nineteenth century, with the Pax Britannica, the world gets to know it first modern global era. Thus begins the greater movement of people the world has ever known, immigrants and emigrants going from their home countries to others, generating a flow of capital and culture.
As industrialism spread worldwide, it became clear that the key to sucess was in the international arena, it was necessary to secure an accumulation of capital, a strong industry, and a well-equipped loyal armed force. All this required size, politics and economics, developed only through population control: one big and patriotic nation. Nations began to protected themselves, to control traffic flow, create trade's zones, and to seek for an identity.
In architecture, the feeling of nationalism was expressed through the romanticism.
Britain: Arts and Crafts movement, with John Ruskin and William Morris. Later, leading to the baroque revival English Baroque.
Germany: newly unified, also adopted the baroque revival, looking to the great baroque and rococo architecture of early eighteenth century German ascendancy for inspiration.
Italy: looked to its illustrious past to guide the renaissance architecture of urban expansion following unification.
Greece: turned to the Beaux Arts version of neo-classicism to tie the new state to its long-lost ancient civilization.
Russia: revived its distinctive Russian-Byzantine style.
United States: Frank Lloyd Wright developed the Prairie Style. The Shingle Style and Greene and Greene's American Arts and Crafts buildings Also self-consciously created "a new and native architecture" for the United States.
With the advent of the First World War what was considered the "Golden Era" has came to a end.
After the first World War, the world was confused between nationalism and internationalism, it was a turbulent period marked by a series of conflicts, including Greco-Turkish War, the Italian colonialism in Ethiopia, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the Spanish Civil War.
Both internationalism and nationalism found expression in art and architecture with the title of "Modernism" in 1919 still influenced by the Enlightenment, the idea of modernity and inevitable human progress. "The artist must look to the deep unkonwn to find the new". In 1932, modernism gained strength enough to be exhibited in New York under the name "International Style". It took about thirty years before the style became, in fact, intercional. In the beginning was basically the European style. They even tried to argue that it was a "contemporary style that existed in the world" but that theory was not accepted.
Just as Enlightenment, Modernism also imposed their "superiority" to other cultures, being opposed to the traditions.
In the United States the traditional architecture was exported to China, which created a modern and adapted version of monumental architecture.
The Swiss projects were a literal interpretation of traditional models, which would later be called Art Deco.
With Le Corbusier and Konstantin Melnikov (USSR) the architecture became simplifying, increasingly valued lines, few colors, more regular shapes, generating what is called modern architecture today.
Reading it I could better understand that architecture has been influenced by decades of standards based on the art, philosophy, technology, and others. In many cases we can see the architecture as the way to express what is happening in human's life, a way to reveal and realize their beliefs. However, in some cases, architecture can run away from it real purpose, which would be to give the people what they need: an environment that meets the user's needs, promoting their comfort and convenience.
Therefore, I believe that, although man has tried to follow some standards or fully escape from it over the years, should be sought, in the first place, a more useful and versatile architecture.
Summary of the text:
In the Neolithic period the notion of integration with other people was very limited, however, as time passed, they began to need one another, and this interaction expanded along with the evolved of the mankind. When empires emerged, land become synonymous of power and new routes was created to explore new horizons and new people. The trades proved to be very significant for the integration of different nations (for example, articles from India were imported by Rome), but the number one reason of ingration was the religion, practically unanimous: Catholicism and Islam.
With power and religion emerged culture and one of the ways to express it is through arts and architecture.
The word globalization can be thought from the discovery of new continents such as America and Australia, which were the scene of colonialism and recivers of the European culture, while Asians countries like China and India remained with a closed system for the world . This expansion of knowledge from Europe, geographically and culturally, gave strength to a new way of thinking, the Enlightenment.
Armed with the advancement of technology and industrial power, combined with the belief that they were superior and needed to bring progress, modernity and religion to other countries, Europe earned its place in the world in the nineteenth century, "global culture" meant therefore European culture.
The architecture principle in the colonies followed standard models of European architecture, as is the case of Brazil which has an architecture heavily influenced by Portugal. With the passage of time, this architecture has been modified to fit the site it was in, along with the climate and local materials. Even Asia alone was obliged to open the door for colonialism, Japan was forced by the North America and China by the British Empire, with the Opium War (1839-1860).
In the final decades of the nineteenth century, with the Pax Britannica, the world gets to know it first modern global era. Thus begins the greater movement of people the world has ever known, immigrants and emigrants going from their home countries to others, generating a flow of capital and culture.
As industrialism spread worldwide, it became clear that the key to sucess was in the international arena, it was necessary to secure an accumulation of capital, a strong industry, and a well-equipped loyal armed force. All this required size, politics and economics, developed only through population control: one big and patriotic nation. Nations began to protected themselves, to control traffic flow, create trade's zones, and to seek for an identity.
In architecture, the feeling of nationalism was expressed through the romanticism.
Britain: Arts and Crafts movement, with John Ruskin and William Morris. Later, leading to the baroque revival English Baroque.
Germany: newly unified, also adopted the baroque revival, looking to the great baroque and rococo architecture of early eighteenth century German ascendancy for inspiration.
Italy: looked to its illustrious past to guide the renaissance architecture of urban expansion following unification.
Greece: turned to the Beaux Arts version of neo-classicism to tie the new state to its long-lost ancient civilization.
Russia: revived its distinctive Russian-Byzantine style.
United States: Frank Lloyd Wright developed the Prairie Style. The Shingle Style and Greene and Greene's American Arts and Crafts buildings Also self-consciously created "a new and native architecture" for the United States.
With the advent of the First World War what was considered the "Golden Era" has came to a end.
After the first World War, the world was confused between nationalism and internationalism, it was a turbulent period marked by a series of conflicts, including Greco-Turkish War, the Italian colonialism in Ethiopia, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria and the Spanish Civil War.
Both internationalism and nationalism found expression in art and architecture with the title of "Modernism" in 1919 still influenced by the Enlightenment, the idea of modernity and inevitable human progress. "The artist must look to the deep unkonwn to find the new". In 1932, modernism gained strength enough to be exhibited in New York under the name "International Style". It took about thirty years before the style became, in fact, intercional. In the beginning was basically the European style. They even tried to argue that it was a "contemporary style that existed in the world" but that theory was not accepted.
Just as Enlightenment, Modernism also imposed their "superiority" to other cultures, being opposed to the traditions.
In the United States the traditional architecture was exported to China, which created a modern and adapted version of monumental architecture.
The Swiss projects were a literal interpretation of traditional models, which would later be called Art Deco.
With Le Corbusier and Konstantin Melnikov (USSR) the architecture became simplifying, increasingly valued lines, few colors, more regular shapes, generating what is called modern architecture today.