Modern architecture

Modern architecture

Top: Villa Savoye, France, by Le Corbusier (1927); Empire State Building, New York, by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon (1931) Center: Palácio do Planalto, Brasília, by Oscar Niemeyer (1960); Fagus Factory, Germany, by Walter Gropius and Adolf Meyer (1911–1913) Bottom: Fallingwater, Pennsylvania, by Frank Lloyd Wright (1935); Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, by Jørn Utzon (1973)
Years active	1920s–1980s
Location	International

Modern architecture, also called modernist architecture, was an architectural movement and style that was prominent in the 20th century, between the earlier Art Deco and later postmodern movements. Modern architecture was based upon new and innovative technologies of construction (particularly the use of glass, steel, and concrete); the principle functionalism (i.e. that form should follow function); an embrace of minimalism; and a rejection of ornament.^[1]

According to Le Corbusier, the roots of the movement were to be found in the works of Eugène Viollet le duc,^[2] while Mies van der Rohe was heavily inspired by Karl Friedrich Schinkel.^[3][4] The movement emerged in the first half of the 20th century and became dominant after World War II until the 1980s, when it was gradually replaced as the principal style for institutional and corporate buildings by postmodern architecture.^[5]