1920s–1970s · Germany, Worldwide
International Style
Also known as Modernism, Modern Movement
The austere, functional modernism of glass curtain walls and unornamented volumes — 'form follows function' built in steel and glass.
Photo: Epicgenius, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seagram_Building_Nov_2025_06.jpg
Across disciplines
- Graphic Design: Swiss Style
About the style
The International Style distilled modernism into a near-universal language: rectilinear volumes, flat roofs, ribbon or curtain-wall glazing, and a total rejection of applied ornament. Rooted in the Bauhaus and the work of Mies van der Rohe and Le Corbusier, it prized structural honesty, industrial materials, and open, flexible plans. It became the default for corporate towers worldwide after WWII — efficient and rational, but later criticized as cold and placeless.
Notable examples
- ▸Seagram Building (New York City)
- ▸Villa Savoye (Poissy, France)
- ▸Lever House (New York City)
Anatomy of International Style
The numbered markers call out the design elements that define this style. Hover or tap a marker to see its breakdown.
Photo: Epicgenius, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Seagram_Building_Nov_2025_06.jpg
A taut skin of bronze and glass replaces solid wall — the curtain wall hangs off the structure, expressing the frame behind as a regular grid.
Non-structural bronze I-beams are fixed to the mullions purely to express the steel frame's rhythm — Mies's idea of structural 'truth' as ornament.
The tower stops with a flat, unadorned top — no cornice, no crown, just the pure prism. 'Form follows function' taken literally.
The shaft is lifted clear of an open granite plaza, the glassy lobby recessed behind columns — the modern tower-in-a-plaza.
How International Style connects
Styles form a network, not a tree. Explore the direct neighbours below — click any to travel the map one hop at a time.
- Reaction against
- Evolved from
- Parallel / cross-current
- Influenced by
Reaction against Beaux-Arts — rejected ornament and historicism wholesale
Evolved from Bauhaus — carried Bauhaus principles into a global corporate building language
Parallel / cross-current Art Deco — contested as lineage — better read as a parallel, opposed machine-age modernism
Art Deco parallel / cross-current International Style — parallel machine-age modernisms; shared geometry, opposed philosophies (decoration vs. function)
Streamline Moderne influenced by International Style — drifted toward functionalist austerity and smooth surfaces
Brutalism evolved from International Style — pushed modernist material honesty toward raw concrete monumentality
Mid-Century Modern evolved from International Style — domesticated modernism with warmer materials and an organic touch
Postmodern Architecture reaction against International Style — rebelled against austere modernism; reintroduced ornament, color, and historical quotation
Deconstructivism reaction against International Style — subverts the orthogonal grid and structural clarity it prized
Constructivism parallel / cross-current International Style — shared modernist abstraction; constructivism more politically charged
Functionalism parallel / cross-current International Style — closely allied with the International Style's rational, ornament-free ethos, though more humane and material-sensitive
Googie reaction against International Style — pushed back against the International Style's sober restraint with exuberant, attention-seeking form
Metabolism evolved from International Style — grew out of and against postwar international modernism, extending its technological ambition toward adaptable systems
Tropical Modernism evolved from International Style — adapts the International Style's modern vocabulary to tropical climates with shading and ventilation
High-Tech Architecture evolved from International Style — extends the International Style's steel-and-glass rationalism into an overt celebration of exposed engineering
Critical Regionalism reaction against International Style — defined largely in opposition to the International Style's placeless universalism, while keeping much of modernism's abstraction
New Classical Architecture reaction against International Style — explicitly positioned against modernist placelessness and the glass box, advocating tradition and human scale
Minimalist Architecture influenced by International Style — extends the International Style's abstraction and 'less is more' discipline toward atmospheric austerity
Swiss Style parallel / cross-current International Style — the graphic parallel to the architectural International Style — grids, neutrality, 'less is more'
Describe it like this
Prompt-ready vocabulary for describing or re-creating the International Style look.