Comparing Architectural Styles

There could be fewer more distinct edifices than the Le Corbusier designed Villa Savoye (1927), Poissy, France, and the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, designed by Frank Gehry (1997) (See Image I & Image II). The clean, simple lines of Corbusier's Villa Savoye are characteristic of the International Style in architecture, versus the whimsical and playful Postmodern style of Gehry's Guggenheim design. Though the purity of Corbusier's design is characteristic of the International style of design in architecture, Gehry's Guggenheim design is much more characteristic of modern perspectives on architecture and its function and purpose. This analysis will compare and contrast the two designs in order to illustrate this argument. A conclusion will address how culture continues to impact design style in architecture.

In the works of Charles Edouard Jeanneret (better known as "Le Corbusier"), the elements of what is known as the International style in architecture are clearly visible. Le Corbusier's works often demonstrate enormous scale, rely on significant use of preformed concrete, and exhibit a purity that are all elements of the International style. His Villa Savoye in Poissy France clearly illustrates the use of these elements, but also Le Corbusier's typical style. Villa Savoye demonstrates Le Corbusier's typical style of raising a building on stilts, add a free-flowing floor plan, create walls independent of th

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the laws of physics. In looking at Frank Gehry's design for the Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, one can see how the element of playfulness reentered architectural design compared to the formal design of Villa Savoye (See Image II). The Guggenheim's whimsical nature includes enormous sculpted curves that show how seemingly disparate elements fit into a holistic unity. The design revolutionized architecture. According to Duffy (94), "When the exuberant, sensuous Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, Spain, was finished in 1997, its architect ascended like a rocket into international celebrity." However, in contrast to Villa Savoye which stands apart from its environment, Gehry's design for the Guggenheim was to fashion a building that resembles a ship since it sits in a port city on the Atlantic coast. The titanium panels on the outside of the enormous waves reflect and shimmer in the sun in a way that mirrors the scales on the fish that swim nearby. In this sense, Gehry's design fits in with its environment in an organic way, in contrast to Le Corbusier's standing apart from environment. As Duffy (94) notes, "The architect's daring, outside-the-box buildings have revitalized urban spaces." Not only does this outside-the-box de

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