Barbican Living
After Modernism
In the 1950s Modernism moved away from what had come to be called Functionalism, or the International Style, toward a more monumental style called Formalism. This involved greater emphasis on the decorative qualities of the building materials and on exposed structural systems.
In England, Le Courbusier’s influence led to a local style, known as New Brutalism, of which the University of East Anglia is the most brutal example.
But disillusionment set in. Buildings erected on Modern movement principles in historic cities were simply seen as having spoilt a good view. Their buildings hadn’t been what the modern man had wanted after all. The postmodernist era began. Visit Docklands and prepare to be disgusted by it.
