Ornament - Is it still there?

Modern architecture begins in the late 19^th century and transforms throughout the years. It starts off in the arts and crafts movement where there was still a high amount of decoration but, it was much less than gothic architecture. Modern architecture continues to transform as the years go on. The further into modernism you go the more simplified things become. Once you reach Russian constructivism you have really got to as far as it goes before it starts back tracking to some of the previous ideas and combining some of the movements. So really, there is a lot of development in modern architecture until it went too far and then there was some back tracking.

            The arts and crafts movement is what started the whole thing. During the arts and crafts movement you can notice the decoration almost disappear compared to gothic architecture. The decoration is still there in certain places but, it has become much more simplified and in a lot of cases, flattened. A lot of the decoration that is still used started to take floral patterns and was very common around windows. The arts and crafts movement lasted about a decade and flowed into art nouveau.

            During art nouveau you almost see a small increase in decoration. I believe this is in part some nostalgia simply coming back. Art nouveau only lasts about a decade too before they start simplifying the decoration again. But, art nouveau really is the beginning of steel as decoration. Floral motif was huge for art nouveau.

            As we move into expressionism we begin to see the material palette change away from just brick or steel. Also, decoration has diminished to almost nothing on the exterior. The decoration on the exterior is now the form of the building. The form is now much more important. The next transition continues pushing these ideas of decoration.

            The De Stilj movement was huge a big change. The decoration is gone. The form has changed. Horizontal and vertical lines are now very prominent. You can see the changes in form. De Stilj is taking on a much more planar design. Straight is key. Color is really the only sense of decoration you get. Instead one large mass buildings start to appear as bits and pieces. From here, architecture keeps progressing.

            Futurism is much more about the material palette than the decoration. Decoration is still almost nonexistent. They begin to use only certain materials. Some materials are even banned. Wood is one of those. Instead, they are using concrete, steel and glass. The forms are not as planar as they were in the de stilj but, instead they are really a series of extrusions.

            Russian Constructivism is much like futurism. It is not ornamental. The forms are similar. But, the biggest difference here is the scale. Things are almost at a monumental scale. This was being reinforced by politics. Stalin wanted to show the power of Russia. What better way of showing power than building massive buildings that would reach for the skies? Maybe even a statue of Stalin that would reach for the sky.

            The Bauhaus was the next sort of movement. It began to combine a lot of the ideas that had previously happened over the last several decades. The Bauhaus was not ornamental at all. The pieces of the building really began to be thought about for the users. The students needed light to wake up so the building was rotated to bring light into their rooms in the morning. Stairwells were made into real spaces where human interaction could happen. The building began to take upon a sense of transparency. You could tell what was going on in the building from outside. Open spaces were very prominent so spaces could evolve with the people that were occupying it.

            To me, ornament did seem like it disappeared over time. However, I don’t completely agree with that. I believe ornament simply evolved, just like architecture was at the time. I think it began to take simpler forms and even changed its medium. For example, I think architects would use material, color, and form as ornament. In art nouveau you have obvious steel ornament. But, where does it go during de stilj? De stilj uses color or ornament. Futurism uses materials as ornament. The transitions between glass, concrete, and steel begin to take on an ornamental feel. Even in the Bauhaus, ornament is still there. The material changes are once again used in an ornamental fashion. I think it depends how we define ornament. Do we limit our definition to simply the physical changes in surface, or do we allow ornament to become much more complex than that?