The Relevance of Modernism
Good work that we can learn from is always worth seeking out. Several Florida gulf-coast residential examples illustrate various architectural strategies for living well with modest demands on the environment. Underlying these examples are principals that we take for granted today, that are derived from the Modern architectural movement.
Because of the large-scale destruction to European towns and cities during the First World War, the problem of providing housing on a vast scale at a reasonable price became crucial. Good minds set about re-prioritizing what should be done – not just to house the masses, - but to make life safer, healthier, and if possible, improve the quality of life for the public.
Today good minds are setting out to redefine how things can be done in an attempt to ease our current problems in an innovative and artistically valuable way, to improve the general quality of life across the society as a whole. The objective of a bright and airy, low maintenance, well built, and enduring residence remains the measure of what most of us expect as “good work”. That the work should be attractive and desirable contributes directly to an improved quality of life.
What’s important about this is to ask ourselves, are we responding to our current problems with the courage, intelligence, and selflessness as our ‘modern’ grand parents?
The relevance of Modernism is not stylistic, but of acting with courage to resolve a problem once it is defined. Being modern means having the courage to act with the attitude that we can make things better by applying our minds and talents to the self-evident problems of our time.
Randy Swanson, Ph.D., Architect, AIA, NCARB, P.A.
Fl. Lic. # AR91787
