Experimental Solutions for Modern Living in the 20th Century
- Gen de Art
- May 1
- 4 min read
"Architecture should speak of its time and place, but yearn for timelessness." -
-Frank Gehry (https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/frank-gehry-quotes)
Living spaces have changed dramatically over the past decades, especially after the two world wars. Today, a typical Western home consists of a separate living room, dining room, kitchen, and singular bedrooms (some with en-suite bathrooms), but this layout was a relatively novel concept from the 1940s. While the nuclear family stood as the basic foundation of a household, single and more personalized homes began to emerge as well in the 20th century due to altered socio-economic factors, such as working wives and mothers, children’s desire for independency, rising trend of remote working, and increased individualistic preferences.
Installation view, LIVING Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday 1920s–1970s, The National Art Center, Tokyo
At The National Art Center, Tokyo, the exhibition “LIVING Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday 1920s–1970s” running until June 30th, addresses societal, technical, and aesthetic concerns of residential design from the 1920s to 1970s that have been investigated by renowned architects and furniture designers all over the world. They include Le Corbusier, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Alvar Aalto, Louis Kahn, Frank Gehry, Koji Fujii, Kameki Tsuchiura and more.
The enormous showcase lays out fourteen houses as “islands” on individual tables. Many of them are owned by the architects themselves. They depict distinctive characteristics of the modern movement in the 20th century geared towards functionality, comfort and sustainable design adapted to the residents’ climactic and environmental conditions. The 1950s and 1960s witnessed a potent urgency for reconstruction and reinvention of the ideal for modernism. The exhibition encapsulates this movement into seven strategies: Hygiene (maintenance of sanitary spaces), Materiality (discovery of material potential and changes), Window (allowance for natural light and ventilation), Kitchen (space maximization and efficiency), Furnishings (integration of craft and furniture), Media (development of mass media platforms), and Landscape (harmony with nature). These elements are explained in banners like a body of “sea” between the “island” tables to connect them to each other.
Near the entrance, an imposing scale model of American architect Louis Khan’s (1901-1974) Fisher House (1967) in Pennsylvania, USA exemplifies a linear modern plan based on simple geometry spread on a sprawling landscape. Also called the Norman Fisher House, it was built for Dr. Norman Fisher and his wife. The cubic volumes, solid stone foundation, and elaborate cypress cladding protrude on a sloped site fronting a creek and wooded forest. Kahn has applied the strategic tool of landscape to balance light, air, and greenery in building a strong human relation with the ecosystem. Oversized windows usher in perfect illumination through the living and dining room and kitchen, and offer wide, panoramic exterior views. Window walls liberate the wall space to seamlessly bridge the indoor and outdoor space. Adequate ventilation is also achieved by the windows’ deeply recessed wood shutters.
Louis Kahn, Model for Fisher House, 1967, Art Model Co., Ltd.. 2016, Chiba Institute of Technology
Lina Bo Bardi, Casa de Vidro/Glass House, 1951
In terms of materiality, Casa de Vidro (1951) or the Glass House by Brazilian architect Lina Bo Bardi (1914-1992) brilliantly utilizes glass as the fundamental structure. Glass panels slide across the open, horizontal plan, and create exquisite reflections on the light-blue mosaic floor. The glazed living space is also supported by slender metal pilotis, which join two solid volumes built on a conventional masonry foundation.
The Frank & Berta Gehry House (1978) by Canadian-American architect Frank Gehry (1929- ) also embraced the practical use of everyday materials with the assemblage of glass, plywood, corrugated metal, and chain-link fencing in converting a Dutch-colonial bungalow into a modernized traditional villa.
Frank Gehry, Frank & Berta Gehry House, 1978 Ⓒ Frank O. Gehry. Getty Research Institute, Los Angeles （2017.M.66）
Koji Fujii, Chochikukyo, 1928, Photo: Taizo Furukawa
From Japan, Kyoto architect Koji Fujii (1888-1938) displays his Chochikukyo (1928), literally meaning “listening to the bamboo house.” His fifth experimental house sits atop a hill and attunes to the Japanese dwelling and climate. By modernizing the wood framing, he has genuinely incorporated Japanese and Western furnishings that echo both functionality and the sukiya technique. For instance, the living room comprises of a traditional tatami mat floor in a European-styled interior with modern furniture.
Among the selected furniture on show by celebrated designers, such as Eero Saarinen, Jean Prouvé, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Pierre Chareau, and others, the Bauhaus section includes the famous Side Chair B32 by Marcel Breuer (1902-1981), one of the world’s highly acclaimed modern furniture designers and product of the prestigious Bauhaus. Also called the Cesca B32, the chair is designed with the cantilever structure, and made from tubular chromium steel support and rattan upholstery. The tubular steel provides elasticity to the metal, emitting a timeless and iconic classic touch of the 20th century.
Marcel Breuer, Side Chair B32, 1928, MISAWA HOMES CO., LTD. Photo: Keinosuke Tachiki
Installation view, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Row House project, 1931, IVING Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday
1920s–1970s, The National Art Center, Tokyo
On the second floor, visitors enter an eight-meter-high Special Exhibition Gallery featuring a full-scale reproduction of Mies van der Rohe’s (1886-1969) Row House project (1931), which was part of his courtyard house series. The architect had conceptualized the series to explore the organization of space and its correlativity with the landscape, targeting "the spatial needs of modern humans.” The project existed only in drawings, and was never realized, but the experiential installation allows visitors to capture the continuity and intimacy of such a space as Mies van der Rohe had envisioned.
On the same floor, showroom-like installations introduce the most sophisticated furniture and accessories by trademark furniture companies all over the world, marking the pinnacle of modern design’s proactive progress and innovation.
LIVING Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday 1920s–1970s
Date: Until June 30, 2025
Opening Hours: 10:00-18:00 (Fridays and Saturdays, 10:00-20:00)
Venue: The National Art Center, Tokyo
Close: Tuesdays, May 7 (Open on May 6)
Written by By Alma Reyes
