International Style

International Style architecture

Lovell House in Los Angeles, by Richard Neutra Villa Savoye in Paris, by Le Corbusier Equitable Building in Atlanta, by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill Loews Philadelphia Hotel in Philadelphia, by George Howe and William Lescaze Seagram Building in New York City, by Mies van der Rohe Paimio Sanatorium in Finland, by Alvar Aalto Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta, by Friedrich Silaban
Years active	1920s–1970s
Location	Worldwide

The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s.^[1][2] It is defined by a strict adherence to functional and utilitarian designs and construction methods, typically expressed through structural and visual minimalism.^[2][3] The style is characterized by modular and rectilinear forms, flat surfaces devoid of ornamentation and decoration, open and airy interiors that blend with the exterior, and the use of glass, steel, and concrete.^[4][5]

Described as the "architecture of the modern movement" and "of the machine age",^[5] the International Style emerged from several intersecting trends and developments in culture, politics, and technology.^[5] The term "International Style" was first used in 1932 by an eponymous exposition of European architects at the Museum of Modern Art in New York curated by historian Henry-Russell Hitchcock and architect Philip Johnson, which described three key unifying design principles: (1) "Architecture as volume – thin planes or surfaces create the building’s form, as opposed to a solid mass; (2) Regularity in the facade, as opposed to building symmetry; and (3) No applied ornament.^[6]

Closely related to modernist architecture, it is sometimes called rationalist architecture and modern movement,^[1][7][8][9] although the former is mostly used in the English-speaking world to specifically refer to the Italian rationalism style,^[10] or even the International Style that developed in Europe as a whole.^[11]

After being brought to the United States by European architects in the 1930s, International Style quickly became prevalent in the West, particularly after World War II, and was widely adopted worldwide by the mid-20th century. Closely associated with industrialization, economic progress, and modernity, International Style became the prevailing design philosophy for urban development and reconstruction, particularly skyscrapers, into the 1970s.^[4]

The Getty Research Institute defines it as "the style of architecture that emerged in The Netherlands, France, and Germany after World War I and spread throughout the world, becoming the dominant architectural style until the 1970s. The style is characterized by an emphasis on volume over mass, the use of lightweight, mass-produced, industrial materials, rejection of all ornament and colour, repetitive modular forms, and the use of flat surfaces, typically alternating with areas of glass."^[12] Some researchers consider the International Style as one of the attempts to create an ideal and utilitarian form.^[13]

International style is seen as single-handedly transforming the skylines of every major city in the world with its simple cubic forms.^[14]