Avant-garde is considered to be more revolutionary than Modernism, and not to be confused with it. It is a unification of art with life. It did not, or rather does not reject mass culture. Avant-garde architecture started in the 19th-20th century, and it was quite disruptive and radical. Artists rejected established the prevailing principles of aesthetics and expressed themselves in new ways, such as futurism, cubism, expressionism. Architecture too underwent a huge transformation as architects experimented with new material and technology. Noted architects who are exponents of the avant-garde movement are Daniel Libeskind, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid and Peter Eisenman.
Avant-garde architecture and its forms
Archigram
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This was basically an architectural group comprising of architects who practiced avant-garde architecture and were anti-heroic, neofuturistic, pro-consumerist. They were inspired by technology and devised only hypothetical projects. Warren Chalk, Peter Cook, Michael Webb, David Greene were some of the main members. Theo Crosby, a designer, published their designs in the magazine Architectural Design.
Archigram’s designs were based on a lightweight infrastructure approach, which was focused on survival technology. They experimented with modular tech, space capsules, mobility through environment. They did not really pay attention to environmental or social issues but were enamored of a futuristic machine world. Some of their examples of avant-garde architecture are Peter Cook’s Plug-In-City, Ron Herron’s Walking City and so on.
Rationalism
Modern avant-garde rationalism was derived from a belief that architecture is a type of science, which can be understood in a rational manner. This movement was developed in Italy in the 1920s and 1930s.
Constructivist architecture
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Constructivist avant-garde architecture displayed what is avant-garde architecture through its projects, which combined advanced technology, engineering techniques with Communism. The most famous Constructivist architecture project is the building known as ‘Tatlin’s Tower’. The project never was built, but the design reminds one of the modern designs we see today. The materials chosen were steel and glass, and the interiors were supposed to represent the Russian Revolution.
Metabolism
Metabolism is a form of avant-garde architecture. It evolved after the Second World War in Japan. What is avant-garde architecture can be understood by a closer look at the Metabolism movement. In Metabolism, organic biology ideas were fused with megastructures. The first exposure of Metabolism was in 1959’s CIAM meeting, and Kenzo Tange MIT studio tried out its ideas.
A few Japanese designers and architects – Kiyonori Kikutake, Fumihiko Mahi and Kisho Kurokawa, prepared the avant-garde architecture manifesto of Metabolism. Influenced by Marxism and biology, they wrote four essays, namely, Space City, Ocean City, Towards Group Form, Material and Man.
In these designs, they put forward ideas of vast cities, which floated upon oceans, and plug-in capsule buildings. Most of the ideas of Metabolism, which were on a huge scale, remained theories. But, some individual buildings on a small scale were built, such as the Nagakin Capsule Tower and the Shizuoka Press and Broadcasting Tower.
Nagakin Capsule Tower
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If you look at the various examples of avant-garde architecture; this one is the most iconic representation of Metabolism. It was built in Ginza of Tokyo in the year 1972, and was completed in just 30 days. It was made out of prefabricated ‘capsules’ which are plugged into the two cores which are 11-13 stories high. The capsules had all the latest home appliances. The building was built for small offices and residences for salaried people.
De Stijl
De Stijl or ‘The Style’ was known as Neoplasticism, or ‘The new plastic art’. It was a Dutch movement comprising of both architects and artists. This term is usually used to refer to the work created by its proponents from 1917 to 1931. They advocated universality and pure abstraction, by reducing the essentials of color and form. They used only the primary colors and black and white. Visual compositions were simplified to only horizontal and vertical.
Painter Piet Mondrian, Bart van der Leck, Vilmos Huszar were the exponents of this style. The architects who followed this style were Gerrit Rietveld, J.J.P. Oud and Robert van’t Hoff. The only building that was designed according to the De Stilj principles, is the Rietveld Schroder House, and which has been declared as a World Heritage Site.
Neofuturism
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Neofuturism evolved from post-modernism and neo-modernism. It was influenced by Art Deco, Googie movement and hi-tech architecture. According to Vito di Bari, who rewrote the manifesto of Neofuturism in 2007, it is a cross-pollination of cutting edge technology, art, and ethical values, which would help to create a high quality of life.
According to Jean Louis Cohen, Neofuturism is reflected in the buildings we see today, in which machines are an integral part of the creation. Technology is ones of the bases of the Neofutursim, as it helps in the emergence of creative, artistic modes of expression, which was impossible before the use of computers.
The Neofuturism avant-garde architecture examples are those made by Iraqi-British Zaha Hadid, Spaniard Santiago Calatrava and Vito di Bari, among others.
Examples: L’Agora in Valencia by Santiago Calatvatra
Hungerburgbahn top station by Zaha Hadid
Russian avant-garde
The Russian avant-garde flourished in Russia from 1890 to 1930, though some claim that it lasted till 1960. The Russian avant-garde movement was embedded in many art movements such as Constructism, Suprematism, Russian Futurism, Zaum, Cubo-Futurism etc.
Bauhaus
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Another famous aspect of avant-garde architecture is Bauhaus. Walter Gropius even started a school called the Bauhaus school. Bauhaus’s literal meaning in German is ‘building house’. The Bauhaus style had a tremendous effect on the development of architecture, arts, graphic design, industrial design, interior design and typography. Thus, Bauhaus is one of the most influential avant-garde architecture types.
Weimar, Dessau and Berlin were the centers of the school. The school was closed under pressure from the Nazis, but the proponents continued the spreading of its concepts, all around the world. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe was of the most noted leaders of Bauhaus.
The avant-garde movement can still be seen today, as architects push boundaries to create structures, which are stupendous, and path breaking. They make us realize the possibilities hiding in new materials and technology, which the creativity of the architects brings forth.
Traveling around the world, you can meet many examples of various outstanding architecture of different times and styles. If you really enjoy architecture, it means that you should travel a lot, and therefore you know all the advantages of renting a car. With this approach, you won’t have to bother and look for convenient transfers, you can just get in the car and go wherever you want.
