¶ … Architecture
The advent of modernity has wrought massive changes in human society. New forms of transportation and communication, for example, have changed the way people work, learn, conduct business and organize into communities. Technological advances in medicine have resulted in new forms of treatment for disease and longer life spans. Upheavals such as the women's movement and the civil rights movement have challenged prevailing norms and transformed social relations.
The field of architecture is no exception. The modern architecture movement is also largely a response to the availability of new technologies and the changing social needs. The first part of this paper looks at the various definitions of what constitutes "modern" architecture. The next part then looks at how the various styles sought to take advantage of new material and to address changing social needs.
In the last part, the paper examines how modern architecture is responding to new concerns, such as a growing environmental awareness and the security concerns raised by the September 11 attacks on New York's World Trade Center.
Defining modern architecture
The term "modern architecture" encompasses many styles and movements. However, experts generally agree that modern architecture was codified in the "International" style that resulted from the amalgamation of the several design ethics that were only made possible by the technological advances after the Industrial Revolution. By the 20th century, it had become apparent that technology was blurring traditional cultural boundaries, as commerce, industry, travel and immigration grew increasingly global.
Modern architecture grew out of a combination of these developments. The needs of industry and a growing population gave rise to architectural forms that could be easily built, assembled and reproduced. Architects thus began to use iron, glass and reinforced concrete, which are easier to reproduce and cheaper than traditional materials like marble and stone (Cannon-Brookes).
Architects also moved away from the design flourishes that were characteristic of Renaissance architecture, in favor of a cleaner style that hinted at the world's growing internationalism. Modern architects like Philip Johnson, Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe created their versions of buildings that were stripped...
Modern Art A primary concern of fauvism is the presence of strong colors. Fauvist works have relatively wild brushstrokes. The subject matter of fauvist painters is simple and often abstract. Fauvism is heavily influence by postimpressionism and pointillism. In "Woman with a Green Stripe," the viewer can distinguish between each color because of the brushstrokes. The portrait is simply of a woman, making a neutral face. The colors are stark and
American Indian Movement The poorest people in America are the American Indians and it is also a fact that Indian reservations have unique laws that has made it a nation by itself within the United States. The modern movements focus on the American Indian reservations being empowered by self-determination. This is important for the economic, social and cultural improvement of the American Indians. It was with the Nixon administration that the
Further, the modern novel also focuses on issues of social and historical change and the use of such points-of-view as stream of consciousness. Other typical characteristics of modernism are open form, free verse, discontinuous narrative, juxtaposition, classical allusions, unconventional metaphors and the bringing in of other cultures and languages. Clearly, the experiences of the Great War had a lasting effect on its generation of writers. Many of them served in
displace all our social ills through psychology and advancing economic status, never quite filled the shoes which society expected. The modern image of life contained high amounts of anticipation and idealism. Yet as the industrial revolution took hold and transformed our culture socially, economically and politically, people discovered slowly that societal expectations were not as easily changed as a new factory was built at the end of the block.
The author of this article calls for mutual understanding rather than mutual distrust. A tend to agree more with the second article, because it shows a more open-minded, modern view of the world as it should be. The first article is very negative towards the male gender, and very protective of the female. The author requires females to be strong, and yet seems to argue that women are weak and
Modern-Day Corruption and Graft The Watergate incident that occurred in President Nixon's Administration is exemplary of modern day corruption. Here, the government under Nixon's presidency was recognized to have sanctioned a sequence of confidential monitoring operations conducted by highly-trained agents that was financed by illegal campaign contributions. The seriousness of the incident was such that Richard Nixon had to resign his presidency. Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Dubois offered differing philosophies,
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