Modernism: Less is More

NOTES: This steel-framed building was designed on two floors around a central courtyard according to American out-of-town planning principles by the Chicago firm of Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) in association with the London firm of Yorke Rosenberg Mardall. This extremely influential building with its use of high-class welded steel and the open-plan design led the way for the subsequent development of 'high-tech' steel office buildings for which Britain became internationally renowned. It was Grade II listed in 1996.

NOTES: The city of Brasilia was planned and developed in 1956 with Lucio Costa as chief urban planner and Oscar Niemeyer as principal architect. It formally became the capital of Brazil in 1960 and is the seat of all three branches of the Brazilian government. The National Congress buildings completed in 1958, comprise the Federal Senate, the Chamber of Deputies and the administrative twin Towers of Congress.

NOTES: The house has been altered and extended in later years and is scheduled for demolition in 2015-2016.

NOTES: Weissenhof, located on a hillside overlooking Stuttgart, was an experimental housing settlement designed by sixteen leading architects of the Modern Movement for the 1927 exhibition 'Die Wohnung' (The Home).

NOTES: Built on the marshy tidelands of Idlewild Golf Course, this airport was originally known as Idlewild. It was renamed John F. Kennedy, on 24 December 1963 in honour of the recently assasinated American president. This image is a scan of an original negative.

NOTES: Carl Legien Wohnstadt is a large housing estate in Berlin's Prenzlauer Berg district. It was developed from 1928-1930 by Bruno Taut in collaboration with Franz Hillinger from the design office of the GEHAG (Gemeinnutzige Heimstatten-Spar-und Bau-AG). It was named after the German trade union leader Carl Legien. It is also one of the Berlin settlements of the 1920s on the UNESCO World Heritage list.