This is a historical style of decoration, which is based on no philosophy. This style of decoration employs the use of symmetrical decorations with geometrical designs and streamlines, which makes it suitable for mass production. Such buildings are designed with curves like ceilings.
This is a period of restoring what was damaged between the First World War and the Second World War between 1919 and 1939. Some Manchester buildings were build in 1932 (Lera 2003).
This is part of the art deco style, which is based on the notion of line and speed. Using the art of deco style, a good illustration can be made to symbolise a building.
For instance, in the picture below the streamlines of the building symbolises straight transportation such as the Manchester Unity Building (Wiley 2008).
This is the movement, which affected the other countries (Johnson 2004).
Modernism from the word modern means present time, which indicates that one has to look forward and not backward.
As much as modernism could have different meanings within the history of design, it simply refers to the 20th century design movement where different groups and countries are involved in the design and construction.
This is in reference to the period between the First World War and the Second World War that took place between the year 1919 and 1939.
Such groups include the Bauhaus in Germany, Russian Constructivism, De Stijl in Holland, Italian Futurism and many other groups from various countries that engage in design and construction.
The modernist designers also include Moholy-Nagy Le Corbusier, Marcel Breuer, Walter Gropius, Mies Van der Rohe, Herbert Bayer and El Lissitzky (Eley, Seidel & Symes 2005).
The groups, which practised modernist design, had a set of theoretical and ideological principles applied in their design to ensure that the constructions and designs implemented were appealing within the 20th century.
For the design to be appreciated within the 20th century there are aesthetic design values, which the architectures and designers apply.
These values have evolved due to the expansion of architectural and industrial design ideas that have kept on changing from the times of the last century to the modern century.
These revolutions in the aesthetic values reflect the degree of development within the community of art. These changes have been realised because of development in sector of technology, politics as well as the economic sector.
The modernism design therefore operates under the following principles and ideological theories, which dictates the attitudes and design.
The concept that governs this principle is because in each age there are rules that govern the design. The spirit of the modern times denotes the intellectual and the culture that is in practice within the 20th century, which is linked to the Australian views, sense, collective consciousness and taste.
The Manchester United building design thus conforms to the aesthetic style of the modern life that expresses the difference between the 20th century design, and the 19th century designs (Thompson 2000).
The architects and designers in various sectors are motivated by the need to plan for houses that will cater for the interest of the users and the general public by ensuring that the houses are safe.
This can be expressed through the interests of the architects and designers in keeping themselves aware of the current social values of the society. These social values create aesthetic impact, which are also realised in other forms.
Social design values can at times conflict with other principles and this has always resulted to a continuous debate between romanticism and rationalism, which is experienced in the industry of architecture as well as the industrial design.
The social design value consists of the social change design value, crime prevention design and consultation and participation design value.
Through architecture, a sense of commitment is realised in a given society and this is a positive change. Therefore, the design is according to the programs of buildings that are planned before they are constructed.
Architects and designers use this value in the construction of Manchester United building as a way of transforming the society in terms of buildings and those living within the given society (Beatley & Wheeler 2004).
Various crimes that occur in the society can be regulated in a controlled environment. This can be achieved by employing three strategies that includes situation crime prevention, preventing crime by engaging in environmental designing and lastly by defensible space (Johnson 2004).
This denotes the idea and the benefits of involving the stakeholders in designing processes. It is believed that the involvement of stakeholders helps designers to access up-to-date information, be influential in the design processes, considering the consequences of the design as well as helping designers to meet the social needs through the reduced use of resources (Ivar 2006).
The design of the Manchester United building was in a manner that the form follows the function. The building should not only be a decoration but also serve the purpose for which it was designed. The design should therefore take the form, which will fit the function of the intended construction.
When form is said to follow production it means that the function honesty communicates the idea that the product form depends on the shape of the construction. In this case, the shape of the construction is based on the intended function.
Material honesty in this case implies that the material selected or used in the construction of Manchester United building was based on the properties and characteristics of the material.
The modern industrial materials are therefore to be used in the construction and such materials include concrete, steel, plastics, glass and any other modern industrial material.
This is because the type of the material used influences the intended form. In the construction, each material is unique and therefore serves a unique purpose.
It is therefore hard for such a material to be exchanged with another for the same purpose as that would cause a change that is not intended in the process of construction.
In modernism designs anti-historicism is another principle that has to be followed by rejecting the use of past styles and materials when constructing.
This value is therefore based on the ideology that the design of a building and product should always conform to the 20th century principles, which transcend particular designers, the climate of the country or region and culture practised within the given era.
The idea about this value is that the public would appreciate the outlook of the building though the use of the needed forms. A part from being appealing to the eyes of the public, it also becomes easy for the public to understand the intended purpose of the building.
Good physical outlook relates well with variances regarding the climate of a particular place as well as culture of the habitants of that region. This is a clear way of expressing the cultural richness o different people. (Beatley & Wheeler 2004).
This is characterised by the belief, which is based on self-expression or one’s spirit or imagination. When designing therefore one needs to apply his or her inner intuitions as a way of revealing the needs of the society within that given era.
In addition, it also relate well with the ability of an individual to be creative and innovative as well as the ability of an individual to exercise liberty (Eley, Seidel & Symes 2005).
During construction of the Manchester United building, modern machine technologies were used for the design to fit into the 20th century. Such technologies include the use of photography and film, typography and engineering as well as print/reproduction.
Due to the use of modern machine technologies in Modernism design, the designs look simpler since they do not employ much decoration and ornament like the past designs where much was done manually or by lesser technological machines, which could allow decorations.
This is in connection to the notion that the simpler the form the more one becomes free from the many problems hence the achievement of peace of mind as well as enabling one to become more active (Johnson 2004).
This is based on the rationale that nature, which in this case includes all sorts of living organisms, laws, numerical and many others, can be inspirational in the world of art or act as functional clues to designers and architectures.
This value also gives aesthetic forms that designers and architectures use as a base in their field of design. Asymmetrical curves flowing freely in addition to the use of forms of expressions are major characteristics of the design (Pearson 2001).
In modernism design, the principle behind it is that most of the drawings will take the geometrical shapes. The constructions will therefore remain in their natural forms or painted red, blue and yellow.
The uniqueness in modernism designs is that the constructions will be universal across the social classes. This means that there is one design language for all people that are of all nationalities, classes and races (Abel 2007).
The buildings should be in good condition to ensure that the area where they are located is safe for living for entire human beings ranging from children to adults.
This implies that it is important for thorough supervision to be done during the construction and approval given at various stages. The principle behind this value is that buildings should be built in areas where there is enough amount of sunlight and they should stand free.
The materials selected for building should also be free from toxic emissions for human beings to live comfortably. This implies that the site has to be relatively far from an industrial plant (Dubrucq & Gelernter 2004).
For constructions to fit in the modernism design they should be constructed in a manner that they conform to the principles and ideological theories as discussed.
The architects and designers should also be members of the modern groups, which are present within the history of the 20th century.
References
Abel, C 2007, Architecture and identity: towards a global eco-culture, Architectural Press, Oxford.
Beatley, T & Wheeler, S 2004, The sustainable urban development reader, Rutledge, London
Dubrucq, V & Gelernter, M 2004, Regionalism: in sennott, R. S. (ed.) Encyclopaedia of 20th-century architecture, Fitzroy Dearborn, New York.
Eley, J, Seidel, A & Symes, M 2005, Architects and their practices: a changing profession, Butterworth Architecture, Oxford.
Ivar, H 2006, Ideas and Beliefs in Architecture and Industrial design: how attitudes, orientations, and underlying assumptions shape the built environment, Oslo School of Architecture and Design, Oslo.
Johnson, D 2004, Rationalism: in Sennott, R. S. (ed.) Encyclopaedia of 20th-century architecture, Fitzroy Dearborn, New York.
Lera, S 2003, Designers’ values and the evaluation of designs, Royal College of Art, London.
Pearson, D 2001, New organic architecture: the breaking wave, University of California Press, California.
Thompson, H 2000, Ecology, community and delight: sources of values in landscape architecture, E & FN Spon, London.
Wiley, J 2008, Biophilic design: the theory, science and practice of bringing buildings to life, Fitzroy Dearborn, New York.