<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p> This paper investigates the links between some oriental cosmologies and modern architecture, stemming from major non-Western religions, such as Buddhism, Islam and Judaism as well as from Einstein’s theories. It analyses both the direct impact of these concepts, influencing modernism at a theoretical level, and their indirect impact through historic non-Western architecture, mainly Buddhist and Islamic. While modernist theoreticians and architects frequently emphasised functional and technical priorities of modernism, I argue that modernism was far less rational than it is commonly thought, and that it was substantially influenced by non-Western thought, particularly in its early period. </p><p>This paper considers two main innovations of modernism resulting from oriental concepts of void: (1) the flat and undecorated façade, the avoidance of traditional ‘façade-discourse’, (2) the promotion of space as the main objective of architecture. The impact of Buddhist, Islamic, Judaic and the Einstenian cosmologies on modernism are considered</p></abstract>

This paper investigates the links between some oriental cosmologies and modern architecture, stemming from major non-Western religions, such as Buddhism, Islam and Judaism as well as from Einstein’s theories. It analyses both the direct impact of these concepts, influencing modernism at a theoretical level, and their indirect impact through historic non-Western architecture, mainly Buddhist and Islamic. While modernist theoreticians and architects frequently emphasised functional and technical priorities of modernism, I argue that modernism was far less rational than it is commonly thought, and that it was substantially influenced by non-Western thought, particularly in its early period. This paper considers two main innovations of modernism resulting from oriental concepts of void: (1) the flat and undecorated façade, the avoidance of traditional ‘façade-discourse’, (2) the promotion of space as the main objective of architecture. The impact of Buddhist, Islamic, Judaic and the Einstenian cosmologies on modernism are considered

Some Cosmological Roots of Modern Architecture

Institute of Architecture, Ybl Miklos Faculty of Architecture and Civil Engineering, Szent Istvan University, Budapest, Hungary

YBL Journal of Built Environment

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

{"article-title":"Some Cosmological Roots of Modern Architecture"}

This paper investigates the links between some oriental cosmologies and modern architecture, stemming from major non-Western religions, such as Buddhism, Islam...

Some Cosmological Roots of Modern Architecture

Published Online: Jul 10, 2014

Page range: 5 - 17

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jbe-2014-0001

Keywords
Modernism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Albert Einstein

© 2014

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Some Cosmological Roots of Modern Architecture

Published Online: Jul 10, 2014

Page range: 5 - 17

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/jbe-2014-0001

KeywordsModernism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Albert Einstein

© 2014

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License, which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Keywords
Modernism, Islam, Buddhism, Judaism, Albert Einstein