Master of architecture, Jamia Millia Islamia

1. CONTEMPORARY
ARCHITECTURE
1950 – 1960
PRESENTED BY –
AMARJEET MOHANTY
BAISHALI PRADHAN
SUBMITTED TO –
Ar. FARAH NAZ

2. SOCIETAL DYNAMICS
CULTURAL IMPACT
• In 1950s “Abstract art” was introduced in which expressionism is expressed without any subject matter (fig-a).
• Corporate culture was also introduced such as Lever House, New York(1951) (fig-b).
• In 1960s new design culture was started in which “COLOUR” invades the environment & design (fig-c1,c2).
Fig-a
The Chapel of Notre-Dame-du Haut
in Ronchamp, 1950-55 (Le Corbusier)
Fig-b
Lever House
Fig-c1
Los Clubs, Mexico, Barragan
Fig-c2
Urban Graphics, U.K.

3. POLITICAL IMPACT
• In US there was revitalized of economy.
• In US there was untouched infrastructure.
• There was decolonization in Italy and Japan.
SOCIETAL DYNAMICS
ECONOMICAL IMPACT
• In Britain technological advancement during the war helps in economic growth.
• In Britain reconstruction was there due to destruction by wars.
• In Russia reconstruction helps in heavy increasing of steel industry.
• In America most of the people were able to afford their own house as they have saved their money during the
war by choice and rationing.
• In America the mass production techniques is used for the mass building and later known as
“Levittown”(Communities).
• Due to “Levittown” precut and preassembled materials were introduced and houses were built in weeks instead
on months and this resulted in “ Cookie Cutter” developments in the suburbs.
• This developments in suburbs led to a rise in shopping centre and the demand for automobiles.
• And increase in automobiles, i.e; cars also led to the rise of “Interstate Highway Act of 1956”, which created over
40,000 miles of interstate highways and made travelling easy.

4. ARCHITECTURAL STYLES DURING 1950 - 1960
MODERNISM (CONTINUED)
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
INTERNATIONAL STYLE (CONTINUED)
MID-CENTURY MODERN 1950S (CALIFORNIA, ETC.)
GOOGIE 1950S (US)
BRUTALISM 1950S–1970S
STRUCTURALISM 1950S-1970S
METABOLIST 1959 (JAPAN)

5. ARCHITECTURAL STYLES DURING 1950 - 1960
MID-CENTURY MODERN ARCHITECTURE
• The mid century modernity century modern describes the developments that are made in the mid-twentieth
century in the modern designs.
• It includes the interior designs, architectural designs, graphic ,product designs ,urban development.
• The Mid-Century modern movement in the U.S. was an American reflection of
the International and Bauhaus movements, including the works of Gropius, Florence Knoll, Le Corbusier.
• Function was as important as form in Mid-Century designs.
CHARACTERISTICS -
• Flat Planes- horizontal lines
• Large windows
• Integration with nature- the idea of
connecting indoor & outdoor spaces
• Open floor plan- flow throughout the space
• graphic wall art/ fabric patterns
• Wood furniture /trim/ceiling beams
• Colored appliances
MATERIALS
• Steel • Plywood/Wood • Raw Stone • Concrete
ARCHITECT AND BUILDING -
Main Terminal at Dulles Airport in
Northern Virginia, by Eero Saarinen
National Congress of
Brazil, Oscar Niemeyer

6. ARCHITECTURAL STYLES DURING 1950 - 1960
GOOGIE ARCHITECTURE
• Googie architecture is a form of modern architecture, a subdivision of futurist architecture influenced
by car culture, jets, the Space Age, and the Atomic Age.
• Originating in Southern California during the late 1940s and continuing approximately into the mid-1960s.
• Googie-themed architecture was popular among motels, coffee houses and gas stations.
• Googie is the super-aesthetic of 1950s and ’60s American retro-futurism — a time when America was flush
with cash and ready to deliver the technological possibilities that had been promised during WWII.
CHARACTERISTICS -
• Cantilevered structures
• acute angles
• illuminated plastic paneling
• freeform boomerang
• artist's palette shapes and cutouts
• tailfins on buildings
ARCHITECT AND BUILDINGs -
The Theme Building at the Los Angeles
International Airport,Pual Williams.
A Flying Saucer restaurant
Spotted in Niagara Falls

7. ARCHITECTURAL STYLES DURING 1950 - 1960
BRUTALISM ARCHITECTURE
• Brutalism is an architectural style that spawned from the Modernist architectural movement and which
flourished from the 1950s to the1970s.
• The early style was largely inspired by the work of Swiss architect, Le Corbusier and of Mies Van der Rohe.
• Brutalist buildings are usually formed with striking blockish, geometric, and repetitive shapes, and often reveal
the textures of the wooden forms used to shape the material, which is normally rough, unadorned poured
concrete.
CHARACTERISTICS -
• strong bold shapes.
• reinforced concrete structures.
• off form concrete construction.
• large areas of blank wall.
• diagonal , sloping or strong curved elements
contrasting with horizontal and vertical members.
• brutalist building materials also include brick,
glass, steel.
• the exposure of the building's functions
ARCHITECT AND BUILDING -
Le-corbusier
Unite d’habitation, Marseille,
France, 1947-1952.
Notre Dame du Haut Chapel,
Ronchamp, France, 1955.
PAUL RUDOLPH Yale Art and
Architecture Building, New
Haven, Connecticut, 1963

8. ARCHITECTURAL STYLES DURING 1950 - 1960
STRUCTURALISM ARCHITECTURE
• Structuralism is based on the idea that all things are built from a system of signs and these signs are made up of
opposites: male/female, hot/cold,old/young, etc.
• For Structuralist, design is a process of searching for the relationship between elements.
• Structuralist are also interested in the social structures and mental processes that contributed to the design.
• Structuralism architecture will have a great deal of complexity within a highly structured framework.
CHARACTERISTICS –
• Structuralist design may consist of
cell-like honeycomb shapes,
• intersecting planes,
• cubed grids,
• densely clustered spaces with courtyards.
ARCHITECT AND BUILDING -
European Space Centre ESTEC (European Space
Centre ESTEC in Noordwijk, restaurant conference-
hall library, (Aldo van Eyck and Hannie van Eyck)
Peter Eisenman designed an innovative
facade for the University of Phoenix
Stadium in Arizona

9. These two metro Denver examples represent the classic early form of Minimal Traditional.
POST-WORLD WAR II - RESIDENTIAL BUILDING TYPES
1. MINIMAL TRADITIONAL
The Minimal Traditional was very loosely based on the Tudor Revival style of the 1920s and 1930s. These simple
homes were built in large numbers immediately preceding and following World War II; this form represented an
economical choice for large tract-housing developments because they were inexpensive to construct.
COMMON ELEMENTS:
• Boxy appearance with minimal architectural or decorative details
• Small, usually one story
• Rectangular plan on a concrete slab
• Low or intermediate pitched roof
• Simple roof, typically side-gabled (occasionally hipped)
• Closed eaves (little or no overhang)
• Front-facing gable section or gabled projection over front entry
• Usually a central main entry with flanking windows
• Both asbestos shingle and aluminum siding common

10. 2. RANCH
By the early 1950s, it was replacing Minimal Traditional houses and
dominated American domestic construction well into the 1960s.
COMMON ELEMENTS:
1. elongated, asymmetrical façade 2. horizontal orientation 3. one-story 4.
low-pitched roof 5. wide overhanging eaves 6. minimal front porch
7.integral, attached garage 8. rear porch or patio 9. picture window 10.
low chimneys
3. A-FRAME
The A-Frame building type achieved popularity in the 1960s as vacation
homes, ski huts, and other simple residential buildings. The form is
defined by the steeply pitched gable roof whose eaves extend to grade.
COMMON ELEMENTS:
1. steeply pitched front gable roof 2. roof eaves extend to grade
3. rectangular plan

11. 4. SPLIT-LEVEL
Developed in the 1930s, it emerged in the 1950s as a multi-story counterpart
to the dominant one-story Ranch house.
This postwar suburban house type remained popular through the 1970s.
COMMON ELEMENTS:
1.two-story section connected at mid-height to one-story “wing” 2. low-pitched
roof 3. overhanging eaves 4. horizontal lines 5. attached garages on the lowest
level and often below grade
5. BI-LEVEL
The Bi-Level came into popularity in the early 1960s as a variation of the ranch
type. This building type experienced its greatest popularity from the 1960s to
the 1980s.
COMMON ELEMENTS:
1.Raised basement; windows at or slightly above garden 2.no window wells
3.Mid-level main entry 4.Central entry most common 5.Upper level projecting
facade 6.Garage wing with separate roof line 7.Rear deck from upper level

12. SOME NOTED ARCHITECTS AND THEIR BUILDINGS
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960
Eames House
completed in Santa
Monica, California,
designed by
Charles and Ray
Eames.
Mies van der
Rohe's
Lake Shore Drive
Apartments
completed in
Chicago.
Le Corbusier
completes his
Unité
d'Habitation
in Marseilles.
Completion of the
United Nations
Headquarters in
New York by
Wallace Harrison
and MaxAbramowitz.
Louis Kahn
finishes his Yale
University Art
Gallery in New
Haven, USA.
Complétion of Le
Corbusier's Notre
Dame du Haut
chapel at France.
Crown Hall at the
Illinois Institute of
Technology, Chicago,
designed by
Mies van der Rohe,
Is finished.
The Interbau 57
exposition in
Berlin features
structures by
Alvar Aalto,
Walter Gropius
The Seagram Building
in New York designed
by Ludwig Mies van
der Rohe and Philip
Johnson
is completed.
Frank Lloyd Wright's
Guggenheim
Museum in New York
City is finished after
16 years of work
on the project.
Lucio Costa &
Oscar Niemeyer
plan buildings of
Brasilia, new
capital of Brazil.