International style, in architecture, the phase of the modern movement that emerged in Europe and the United States during the 1920s. The term was first used by Philip Johnson in connection with a 1932 architectural exhibition held at the Museum of Modern Art, New York City. Architects working in the International style gave new emphasis to the expression of structure, the lightening of mass, and the enclosure of dynamic spaces. Important examples include the Bauhaus at Dessau, Germany, by Walter Gropius (1925–26) and the Villa Savoye, Poissy-sur-Seine, France, by Le Corbusier (1929–30).
See H.-R. Hitchcock and P. Johnson, The International Style (1932, repr. 1966).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2024, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
See more Encyclopedia articles on: Architecture
