Bauhaus vs International Style

International Style evolved from Bauhaus — carried Bauhaus principles into a global corporate building language.

Bauhaus Building, Dessau — Bauhaus

Bauhaus

The German school that fused art, craft, and industry into a functional modernism — clean geometry, flat roofs, and 'form follows function' applied to the whole designed world.

  • Rejection of applied ornament; function expressed as form
  • Clean rectilinear geometry and flat roofs
  • Glass curtain walls and ribbon windows
  • Honest, industrial materials
  • Unity of art, craft, and mass production
Full Bauhaus guide →
Seagram Building, New York — International Style

International Style

The austere, functional modernism of glass curtain walls and unornamented volumes — 'form follows function' built in steel and glass.

  • Rectilinear, volumetric forms with flat roofs
  • Glass curtain walls and ribbon windows
  • No applied ornament — 'form follows function'
  • Exposed structural grid; steel and reinforced concrete
  • Open, flexible floor plans raised on pilotis in some works
Full International Style guide →

At a glance

BauhausInternational Style
Era1919–19331920s–1970s
DisciplineArchitectureArchitecture
RegionGermanyGermany, Worldwide
FamilyModernismModernism
Formal traitsgeometric, minimal, functional, unornamentedgeometric, minimal, functional, unornamented

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