American Architecture Between World War I And World War 2

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
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Discussion questions
week 121.Consider the various developments (social, economic, technological, historical, ideological, etc.) that precipitated the emergence of Modernism in American architecture between World War I and World War II. Select one of these developments and briefly discuss how the architecture of the period reflects its influence, citing specific buildings to support your discussion as necessary?
At the end of the 19th century, there was an emergence of modern architecture which was a result of engineering and technological revolutions together with building materials. This was an attempt that wanted to promote the invention of new functional structures and bring an end to the use of historical styles used in architecture 1. The building materials revolution started out first with the use of reinforced concrete, plate glass and cast iron. This enabled the modern builders to achieve some styles of gothic styles using metal reinforced with concrete without any harm to the solidity of the structure. The process of cast plate glass allowed large glass pieces to be manufactured 2. This and the use of iron enabled the construction of the Crystal Palace which was done by Paxton Joseph. This was followed by the home insurance building a skyscraper that was framed by steel. Others examples included the Eiffel tower constructed in August 1887 – 1889.
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1 Mark Jarzombek. "Joseph August Lux: Werkbund Promoter, Historian of a Lost Modernity," Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians 63/1 (June 2004)
2 Thomas C. Jester, ed. (1995).Twentieth-Century Building Materials. McGraw-Hill. pp. 41–42
2. Select a building discussed in the Week 12 lecture or readings. What are the building’s character defining features? What features exemplify the building’s style and/or designer? 
One of the major buildings was the Crystal Palace which was built in 1851 at the London Exposition. The building’s character-defining features include; construction using iron and glass which are a translation of the new architecture rather than the styles...