From the 1920s, architects such as Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe have sought to create both functional and comfortable living spaces, employing new technologies constantly developing through time. Their exemplary experimental visions and innovative ideas eventually spread broadly to drastically transform people’s daily lives.
This exhibition entitled LIVING Modernity: Experiments in the Exceptional and Everyday 1920s－1970s showcases houses designed by architects who embraced modernity by reexamining the fundamentals of living to improve functionality, artistry and comfort. Built during the epic modern period of the 1920s to the 1970s, these houses share the international ethos of creating a new architecture fundamentally connected to their specific time, region, climate, and social context. They also vividly express the family dynamics and characters of their individual residents. Innovations in living by the architects pursuing ideal lifestyles are deeply intertwined with the distinct context of each house.
These houses were also a means to solve universal issues that have emerged in modern times. Sanitary spaces that promote personal hygiene, expansive glass windows to bring in light and breezes, kitchens to reduce household chores, furnishings such as chairs and lighting to enhance bodily comfort, and verdant landscapes brought into living spaces became key elements in defining residential architecture in the twentieth century. Iconic images of these new living spaces proliferated widely through model home exhibitions, magazines and other new media.
This exhibition reexamines these innovative aspirations in residential architecture that emerged in the twentieth century from seven perspectives that define modern houses: hygiene, materiality, windows, kitchen, furnishings, media, and landscape. Highlighting 14 residential masterpieces, the exhibition provides a multi-faceted examination of twentieth century experimental homes through photographs, drawings and sketches, models, furnishings, textiles, tableware, and magazines and graphics.
