The Case of Modern Houses

In this article, we will talk about iconic examples of houses in modern architecture, which is one of the most important issues of architecture from past to present. Let’s take a look at three classical house projects of famous architects Le Corbusier, Van der Rohe and Frank Lloyd Wright, who are pioneers of the modern architecture.

Villa Savoye by Le Corbusier

The house changed Le Corbusier’s career and the concepts of the International Style on its own, becoming one of the most important architectural precedents in history. The dissociation of Villa Savoye from its physical surroundings allows its design to be contextually integrated into the early twentieth-century mechanistic/industrial environment, conceptually characterizing the house as a mechanized entity. “The house is a machine for living,” Le Corbusier famously said.

Villa Savoye is an architectural promenade-inspired residence. The moving through the spaces is where it gets its experience. The flow and proportionality of the spaces do not inspire a sense of monumentality within the Parisian suburb until one becomes accustomed with the subtle quirks.

Farnsworth House by Mies Van Der Rohe

The Farnsworth House, a platonic ideal of order softly placed in spontaneous nature in Plano, Illinois, was erected between 1945 and 1951 for Dr. Edith Farnsworth as a weekend retreat. The glass pavilion, located just outside of Chicago on a 10-acre remote forested location with the Fox River to the south, takes full advantage of its natural surroundings, realizing Mies’ vision of a strong interaction between the home and nature.

Mies wanted the home to be as light as possible on the ground, so he raised it 5 feet 3 inches from the ground, only allowing the steel columns to touch the ground and the landscape to extend past the house. The mullions of the windows also offer structural support for the floor slab in order to accomplish this.

Falling Water by Frank Lloyd Wright

Fallingwater was built for the Kaufmann family by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1935 and completed in 1937. The house’s daring structure above a waterfall helped to resurrect Wright’s architectural career, and it became one of the most recognized buildings of the twentieth century. In 1964, the mansion became a museum.