S01E08
The Modern Age
Historian Simon Thurley concludes this fascinating series with a look at 20th century architecture. The horrors of World War I stimulated a design revolution that turned its back on history and tradition and went instead for simplicity and functionality.
The modernists 'intellectualised' building, indicating that if you lived in a house like this, your life would be better.
World War II gave the architectural brutalists an opportunity to demonstrate on a massive scale as German bombing destruction demanded widespread rebuilding of British centres. But ugly high-density towers and modernist structures were clumsy and unworkable solutions.
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