Rationalism (architecture)

For other uses, see Rationalism (disambiguation).

In architecture, Rationalism (Italian: razionalismo) is an architectural current which mostly developed from Italy in the 1920s and 1930s. Vitruvius had claimed in his work De architectura that architecture is a science that can be comprehended rationally. The formulation was taken up and further developed in the architectural treatises of the Renaissance. Eighteenth-century progressive art theory opposed the Baroque use of illusionism with the classic beauty of truth and reason.

Twentieth-century Rationalism derived less from a special, unified theoretical work than from a common belief that the most varied problems posed by the real world could be resolved by reason. In that respect, it represented a reaction to Historicism and a contrast to Art Nouveau and Expressionism.

The term Rationalism is commonly used to refer to the wider International Style.[1][2][3][4]

  1. ^ Turner, Jane (1996). The Dictionary of Art. 26 Raphon to Rome, ancient, §II: Architecture. London: Grove. ISBN 1-884446-00-0.
  2. ^ El siglo XX. Vanguardias (in Spanish). Milan: Electa. 2006. p. 101. ISBN 84-8156-404-4.
  3. ^ Khan, Hasan-Uddin (2009). El Estilo Internacional (in Spanish). Köln: Taschen. ISBN 978-3-8365-1053-0.
  4. ^ Baldellou, Miguel Ángel; Capitel, Antón (1995). Summa Artis XL: Arquitectura española del siglo XX (in Spanish). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. ISBN 84-239-5482-X.