final

FLASHCARD 1

FRONT

Le Corbusier — Radiant City Plan

Date: 1933–35

VISUAL CLUES

  • Tall cruciform towers

  • Massive open green space

  • Strict geometric city planning

  • High-rise buildings separated by parks

  • Cars and circulation highly organized

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

Imagine giant towers floating in a perfectly ordered park-like city.

BACK

STYLE

Modernism / Urbanism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Proposed ideal modern city.

  • Designed to solve overcrowded industrial cities.

  • Emphasized efficiency, sunlight, hygiene, and order.

  • Segregated functions of the city:

    • living

    • working

    • recreation

    • transportation

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Became hugely influential in 20th-century urban planning.

  • Inspired later urban renewal projects and superblocks.

  • Criticized for ignoring street life and human-scale urban experience.

KEY TERMS

  • CIAM

  • Athens Charter

  • Superblock

  • Urban renewal

FLASHCARD 2

FRONT

Lucio Costa — Brasilia Plan

Date: 1957

VISUAL CLUES

  • City shaped like airplane or bird

  • Monumental central axis

  • Large superblocks

  • Separated urban functions

  • Futuristic modern capital city

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

A giant modern city laid out like an airplane in the middle of Brazil.

BACK

STYLE

Modernist Urban Planning

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Designed as the new capital of Brazil.

  • Reflected modernist ideals of rational planning.

  • Combined monumental civic buildings with organized housing zones.

  • Oscar Niemeyer designed many of the buildings.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • One of the most famous modern planned cities.

  • Embodies ideals from CIAM and the Athens Charter.

  • Criticized for automobile dependence and lack of pedestrian street life.

KEY CONNECTIONS

Compare with:

  • Radiant City

  • Superblock planning

  • Urban renewal projects

FLASHCARD 3

FRONT

Mies van der Rohe — Seagram Building

Date: 1954–58

VISUAL CLUES

  • Tall rectangular glass tower

  • Bronze-colored façade

  • Steel-frame expression

  • Set back from street with open plaza

  • Minimal ornament

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

An elegant bronze-and-glass skyscraper floating above a clean urban plaza.

BACK

STYLE

International Style / Post-WWII Modernism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Located in New York City.

  • Designed with Philip Johnson.

  • Exemplifies “less is more.”

  • Structure and materials honestly expressed.

  • Influenced corporate skyscraper design worldwide.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Icon of the International Style.

  • Demonstrates purity, proportion, and minimalism.

  • Plaza responds to NYC zoning regulations.

KEY TERMS

  • International Style

  • NYC 1916 Zoning Resolution

  • Monumentality

FLASHCARD 4

FRONT

Le Corbusier — Unite d’Habitation

Date: 1946–52

VISUAL CLUES

  • Massive concrete housing block

  • Repetitive modular façade

  • Raised on pilotis

  • Deep balconies

  • Rough unfinished concrete

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

A giant concrete housing machine lifted above the ground.

BACK

STYLE

Brutalism / Postwar Modernism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Mixed-use “vertical city.”

  • Included apartments, shops, recreation, and roof terrace.

  • Based on modular proportional system called the Modulor.

  • Built after WWII housing shortages.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Influenced later brutalist housing projects.

  • Showed ambition of modern architecture to reshape society.

  • Famous use of béton brut (raw concrete).

KEY TERMS

  • Beton brut

  • Brutalism

  • Housing reform

FLASHCARD 5

FRONT

Frank Lloyd Wright — Guggenheim Museum

Date: 1948–1959

VISUAL CLUES

  • White spiral form

  • Curving ramp interior

  • Organic flowing geometry

  • Smooth sculptural exterior

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

A giant white spiral shell sitting in Manhattan.

BACK

STYLE

Organic Modernism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Designed as continuous viewing experience.

  • Visitors move along spiraling ramp.

  • Rejects traditional box-like museum layout.

  • Contrasts sharply with NYC grid.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • One of the most iconic museum designs ever.

  • Demonstrates expressive modern architecture.

  • Combines sculpture and architecture.

KEY IDEAS

  • Organic architecture

  • Spatial experience

  • Modern museum design

FLASHCARD 6

FRONT

Alison and Peter Smithson — Hunstanton School

Date: 1949–54

VISUAL CLUES

  • Exposed steel frame

  • Brick and glass

  • Industrial appearance

  • Visible building systems

  • Minimal finishes

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

A school building that looks almost like a factory.

BACK

STYLE

New Brutalism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Emphasized honesty of materials.

  • Building systems intentionally exposed.

  • Influenced by Mies van der Rohe.

  • Focused on functionality and truthfulness.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Key early example of New Brutalism.

  • Shift away from polished International Style aesthetics.

  • Architecture became more raw and direct.

KEY TERMS

  • New Brutalism

  • Material honesty

  • Exposed structure

FLASHCARD 7

FRONT

Louis Kahn — Yale Art Gallery

Date: 1951–53

VISUAL CLUES

  • Brick and concrete

  • Geometric ceiling grid

  • Monumental feeling

  • Heavy materials

  • Clear structural organization

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

A modern building that feels ancient and monumental at the same time.

BACK

STYLE

New Brutalism / Monumental Modernism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Known for tetrahedral ceiling system.

  • Kahn explored structure as architecture.

  • Combined modernism with monumentality.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Helped redefine modern architecture after WWII.

  • Architecture became more expressive and monumental.

  • Related to Giedion’s “New Monumentality.”

KEY TERMS

  • Monumentality

  • Structural expression

  • New Brutalism

FLASHCARD 8

FRONT

Paul Rudolph — Yale Art and Architecture Building

Date: 1958–63

VISUAL CLUES

  • Rugged concrete surfaces

  • Complex interior levels

  • Heavy sculptural massing

  • Dramatic shadows

  • Rough textures

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

A giant concrete maze filled with dramatic spaces.

BACK

STYLE

Brutalism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Strong use of textured concrete.

  • Complex sectional relationships.

  • Designed to encourage interaction among architecture students.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Iconic American brutalist building.

  • Demonstrates emotional and sculptural use of concrete.

  • More expressive than earlier International Style buildings.

KEY TERMS

  • Beton brut

  • Brutalism

  • Spatial complexity

FLASHCARD 9

FRONT

Smithsons — Robin Hood Gardens

Date: 1966–72

VISUAL CLUES

  • Large concrete housing blocks

  • Elevated “streets in the sky”

  • Repetitive façade

  • Massive superblock housing

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

Huge concrete housing slabs connected by elevated walkways.

BACK

STYLE

Brutalism / Social Housing

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Designed to create community interaction.

  • Included elevated pedestrian circulation.

  • Attempted to improve public housing.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Became controversial example of failed social housing.

  • Reflects optimism and later criticism of modernist planning.

KEY TERMS

  • Streets in the sky

  • Superblock

  • Urban renewal

FLASHCARD 10

FRONT

Walter Netsch / SOM — UIC Campus

Date: 1963–68

VISUAL CLUES

  • Large concrete campus buildings

  • Geometric modular forms

  • Elevated walkways

  • Fortress-like appearance

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

A futuristic concrete megastructure campus.

BACK

STYLE

Brutalism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Designed using Walter Netsch’s “field theory.”

  • Organized around interconnected geometries.

  • Represents urban institutional modernism.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Major example of Chicago brutalism.

  • Shows how modernism shaped university campuses.

KEY TERMS

  • Brutalism

  • Megastructure

  • Institutional architecture

FLASHCARD 11

FRONT

Pruitt-Igoe

Architects: Leinweber, Yamasaki, and Hellmuth Date: 1954

VISUAL CLUES

  • Repetitive high-rise housing towers

  • Large open space between buildings

  • Uniform façades

  • Superblock layout

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

Rows of identical modern housing towers isolated in open space.

BACK

STYLE

Modernist Public Housing

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Built in St. Louis as public housing.

  • Based on modernist planning ideas.

  • Eventually demolished after severe social and maintenance problems.

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Became symbol of “failure” of modernist housing.

  • Charles Jencks famously said its demolition marked the death of modern architecture.

  • Katharine Bristol argued this narrative oversimplifies deeper social and political issues.

KEY TERMS

  • Pruitt-Igoe myth

  • Urban renewal

  • Public housing

  • Superblock

FLASHCARD 12

FRONT

Robert Venturi — Vanna Venturi House

Date: 1961–64

VISUAL CLUES

  • Oversized gable

  • Broken symmetry

  • Decorative references

  • Flat arch-like opening

  • Playful historic references

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert or sketch one reference image of the building/style here for visual memorization.)

IMAGE TO REMEMBER

A house that looks traditional at first but becomes strange and contradictory.

BACK

STYLE

Postmodernism

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Rejects strict modernist simplicity.

  • Uses irony, symbolism, and contradiction.

  • Famous challenge to Mies’s “less is more.”

  • Venturi responded: “less is a bore.”

WHY IT MATTERS

  • Landmark postmodern building.

  • Reintroduced historical reference and ornament.

  • Challenged purity of International Style modernism.

KEY TERMS

  • Postmodernism

  • Complexity and contradiction

  • Decorated Shed

  • Duck

TERMS FLASHCARDS

FLASHCARD 13

FRONT

CIAM
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert a diagram of modernist urban planning or a CIAM conference planning diagram.)

VISUAL CLUES

  • Modernist planners

  • Diagrams of ideal cities

  • Rational organization

BACK

DEFINITION

Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne.

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • International group promoting modern architecture.

  • Advocated functional city planning.

  • Major influence on modern urbanism.

CONNECTED IDEAS

  • Le Corbusier

  • Athens Charter

  • Radiant City

FLASHCARD 14

FRONT

Athens Charter
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert a zoning diagram showing separated city functions: living, work, recreation, circulation.)

BACK

DEFINITION

Modernist urban planning principles developed by CIAM.

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Divided city into functional zones.

  • Prioritized sunlight, open space, and circulation.

  • Strong influence on urban renewal.

CRITICISMS

  • Ignored complexity of real city life.

  • Separated communities and reduced street vitality.

FLASHCARD 15

FRONT

Beton brut
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert a close-up image of raw unfinished concrete texture.)

VISUAL CLUES

  • Rough unfinished concrete

  • Board-form textures

  • Raw surfaces

BACK

DEFINITION

French term meaning “raw concrete.”

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Closely associated with Le Corbusier.

  • Major material of brutalist architecture.

  • Emphasized honesty and texture.

FLASHCARD 16

FRONT

New Brutalism vs Brutalism
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert a side-by-side comparison of Hunstanton School and a heavy concrete brutalist building.)

BACK

NEW BRUTALISM

  • Ethical and conceptual movement.

  • Emphasized honesty and clarity.

  • Associated with Smithsons.

BRUTALISM

  • Broader architectural style.

  • Heavy concrete forms.

  • Monumental sculptural appearance.

IMPORTANT DIFFERENCE

New Brutalism = ideology. Brutalism = visual style.

FLASHCARD 17

FRONT

Urban Renewal
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert an aerial before-and-after image of a neighborhood replaced by towers and superblocks.)

BACK

DEFINITION

Large-scale redevelopment of cities during mid-20th century.

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Often demolished older neighborhoods.

  • Replaced dense urban fabric with superblocks and towers.

  • Strongly associated with modernist planning.

CRITICISMS

  • Displacement of communities.

  • Destruction of neighborhood life.

FLASHCARD 18

FRONT

Superblock
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert an urban plan showing large blocks with towers in open green space.)

VISUAL CLUES

  • Large blocks

  • Towers in park

  • Limited street grid

BACK

DEFINITION

Large urban block replacing traditional street network.

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Common in modernist planning.

  • Intended to separate pedestrians and automobiles.

  • Often associated with public housing.

FLASHCARD 19

FRONT

Robert Moses
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert a historic photo of Robert Moses with highways or large infrastructure projects.)

BACK

WHO?

Powerful New York urban planner.

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Built highways, bridges, and urban renewal projects.

  • Prioritized automobiles and infrastructure.

  • Frequently criticized by Jane Jacobs.

WHY IMPORTANT?

Represents top-down modern planning.

FLASHCARD 20

FRONT

Pruitt-Igoe Myth
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert the famous demolition photograph of Pruitt-Igoe.)

BACK

DEFINITION

Katharine Bristol’s argument that Pruitt-Igoe became an oversimplified symbol for the “failure” of modernism.

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • Social, economic, and political factors contributed to failure.

  • Architecture alone was not responsible.

FLASHCARD 21

FRONT

Duck vs Decorated Shed
STUDY IMAGE

(Insert one duck-shaped building and one ordinary commercial building with signage.)

BACK

DUCK

Building where form itself communicates meaning. Example: giant duck-shaped building.

DECORATED SHED

Ordinary building with signs or decoration applied.

IMPORTANT FACTS

  • From Learning from Las Vegas.

  • Venturi and Scott Brown challenged modernist purity.

READING FLASHCARDS

FLASHCARD 22

FRONT

International Style

(Hitchcock & Johnson)

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert a clean glass-and-steel International Style skyscraper image.) (Hitchcock & Johnson)

BACK

MAIN IDEAS

  • Volume over mass

  • Regularity over symmetry

  • No applied ornament

WHY IMPORTANT?

Defined modern architecture internationally. Promoted clean industrial aesthetics.

FLASHCARD 23

FRONT

Jane Jacobs

The Death and Life of Great American Cities

STUDY IMAGE

(Insert a lively mixed-use city sidewalk with pedestrians and storefronts.) The Death and Life of Great American Cities

BACK

MAIN IDEAS

  • Cities work through complexity and diversity.

  • Sidewalk activity creates safety.

  • “Eyes on the street” are essential.

  • Mixed-use neighborhoods are healthier.

CRITICISM OF MODERNISM

  • Opposed superblocks and isolated towers.

  • Criticized planners like Robert Moses.

HUDSON STREET

Example of vibrant urban life contradicting modernist planning ideas.

FINAL EXAM STRATEGY

HOW TO IDENTIFY UNKNOWN SLIDES

Ask yourself:

  1. What materials are used?

    • Glass and steel?

    • Raw concrete?

    • Decorative references?

  2. Is the building:

    • Minimalist?

    • Monumental?

    • Playful?

    • Heavy and sculptural?

  3. What style does it resemble?

    • International Style

    • Brutalism

    • Postmodernism

    • Urban Modernism

  4. What historical issue is it responding to?

    • Housing crisis?

    • Urban planning?

    • Anti-modernist reaction?

QUICK STYLE GUIDE

STYLE

VISUAL FEATURES

EXAMPLES

International Style

Glass, steel, minimal ornament

Seagram Building

New Brutalism

Honest materials, exposed systems

Hunstanton School

Brutalism

Heavy concrete, sculptural mass

Yale A&A Building

Postmodernism

Irony, symbolism, historical references

Vanna Venturi House

Modern Urbanism

Superblocks, zoning, towers in parks

Radiant City, Brasilia

MOST IMPORTANT COMPARISONS

Le Corbusier vs Jane Jacobs

  • Corbusier = order, zoning, superblocks

  • Jacobs = street life, mixed use, neighborhood complexity

International Style vs Postmodernism

  • International Style = minimal, universal

  • Postmodernism = symbolic, playful, historical

New Brutalism vs Brutalism

  • New Brutalism = ethical/material honesty

  • Brutalism = heavy concrete aesthetic

HIGH-YIELD FACTS TO MEMORIZE

  • “Less is more” → Mies van der Rohe

  • “Less is a bore” → Robert Venturi

  • Beton brut = raw concrete

  • Jane Jacobs supported dense active streets

  • Pruitt-Igoe demolition symbolized criticism of modernism

  • CIAM promoted functional modern urban planning

  • Athens Charter separated city functions

  • Seagram Building = International Style skyscraper icon

  • Vanna Venturi House = early Postmodern icon

  • Unite d’Habitation = vertical city concept