Tag: art-nouveau | ArchDaily

20th Century Design in Flux: ArchDaily’s May Editorial Focus

Romullo Baratto — Fri, 01 May 2026 08:00:00 +0000

"The story of architecture is not wrong," argued Lesley Lokko in her introduction to the Venice Architecture Biennale 2023, "but it is incomplete." For most of the 20th century, architectural history spoke in one tongue: a singular, dominant narrative centered on a handful of movements, names, and cities, whose reach and influence appeared universal precisely because alternative voices were rendered inaudible. Design movements, however, rarely traveled intact across borders. They were frequently absorbed, resisted, reinterpreted, and transformed depending on geography, politics, economy, climate, and available materials. What arrived in one place as doctrine became, somewhere else, something entirely different.

Art Nouveau Revisited: Craft, Materiality, and Detail in Contemporary Hospitality Spaces

Hana Abdel — Fri, 01 May 2026 04:00:00 +0000

At the turn of the 20th century, parallel, yet connected movements around the world ushered in a new style and architectural era. From the Arts and Crafts in England, Art Nouveau, then Art Deco in France, or the Jugendstil in Germany/Austria, these design and artistic developments spread around the world and took on different forms depending on their context. The basis remained similar, though, with a focus on artisanal value and craftsmanship; the use of wood, glass, and various metals; the integration of organic forms into the exterior facade and interior structure; and the refined incorporation of ornamentation as an architectural element, often as vegetation or geometric patterns.

How to Modernize a Grand Hotel Without Erasing Its Memory: Lessons from Brenners

Kiana Buchberger — Tue, 07 Apr 2026 01:30:00 +0000

During renovation projects, replacement is often preferred over refurbishment. Used fixtures are removed, new products specified, timelines secured. Particularly in hospitality projects, where closures are costly and operations are tightly scheduled, installing new components appears to be the most reliable solution. It is faster, easier to coordinate, and aligns with established workflows. Refurbishment operates differently. It requires careful dismantling instead of disposal, evaluation instead of substitution, and trust in the quality of what is already there. It introduces complexity into a process designed for efficiency.

Sweden Transports Century-Old Church Across Town to Escape Mine Expansion

Antonia Piñeiro — Tue, 26 Aug 2025 05:30:00 +0000

Between August 19 and 20, 2025, thousands of spectators watched as one of Sweden's largest wooden buildings was lifted onto beams and wheeled across town. The Kiruna Church, constructed between 1909 and 1912, was designed to echo the form of a Sámi hut in Sweden's far northern region, within the Arctic Circle. The building was designed by architect Gustaf Wickman, who served as the church's architect at the time, and combines elements of Gothic Revival with an Art Nouveau altar. The building, one of the city's main tourist attractions, was moved to a new location between the cemetery and the new city center to prevent damage caused by the expansion of the local mine.

Reviving Collaboration: Seeking a Place for Artistry in Mass-Produced Building Elements

Paul Yakubu — Tue, 26 Mar 2024 04:00:00 +0000

Historically, architecture has served as a canvas for artistic expression. Building elements have been adorned with relief-carved garlands, inscriptions, fresco murals, portrait busts, and classicizing figurative sculptures, all of which emphasize the unique and intentional nature of each component. However, the industrialization of the 19th century brought about a shift in ideals, that stripped architectural components of their decorative elements. Instead, it preferenced the search for beauty in standardization and the economic accessibility provided by mass-produced building elements.

5 Art Movements that Influenced Architecture

Dima Stouhi — Sat, 17 Feb 2024 07:30:00 +0000

As far as history goes back, art and architecture have always been interrelated disciplines. From the elaboration of the Baroque movement to the geometric framework of modernism, architects found inspiration from stylistic approaches, techniques, and concepts of historic art movements, and translated them into large-scale habitable structures. In this article, we explore 5 of many art movements that paved the way for modern-day architecture, looking into how architects borrowed from their characteristics and approaches to design to create their very own architectural compositions.

From Art Nouveau to the Bauhaus: How Home Interiors Looked in Popular Art Movements

Paul Yakubu — Fri, 18 Aug 2023 07:30:00 +0000

Art has always been a means for people to connect with space, and art movements have served as a platform for exploring new relationships with architecture. By incorporating art into buildings and interior spaces, they have been transformed, resulting in a fusion that creates beautiful, inspiring, and spiritually uplifting environments. Throughout history, various art movements, such as the Renaissance in the 17th century, Baroque in the 18th century, and Art Nouveau, Art Déco, and Bauhaus in the early 20th century, have had a significant impact on architecture. Architects drew inspiration from the ideals, concepts, stylistic approaches, and techniques of these movements, using them to create large-scale habitable structures. As the home is a fundamental expression of an architectural movement and the simplest canvas to exhibit the artistic ethos of any particular era, studying the interior spaces of houses provides a detailed picture of art's influence on spatial organization, furniture design, product patterns, and user interaction.

6 Schools That Defined Their Own Architectural Styles

Megan Schires — Sat, 01 Apr 2023 05:30:00 +0000

Architectural education has always been fundamentally influenced by whichever styles are popular at a given time, but that relationship flows in the opposite direction as well. All styles must originate somewhere, after all, and revolutionary schools throughout centuries past have functioned as the influencers and generators of their own architectural movements. These schools, progressive in their times, are often founded by discontented experimental minds, looking for something not previously nor currently offered in architectural output or education. Instead, they forge their own way and bring their students along with them. As those students graduate and continue on to practice or become teachers themselves, the school’s influence spreads and a new movement is born.

Munich Architecture City Guide: From Skyscrapers to Small Pavilions, Brutalism to Art Nouveau

Virginia Duran — Sat, 11 Mar 2023 06:30:00 +0000

Munich – Bavaria’s capital since 1506 – is a city with layers and layers of history. Its many years as a rising architectural epicenter have left an interesting and unique mix of buildings. From Middle Age churches and cathedrals to contemporary synagogues. From skyscrapers to small pavilions. Brutalism to Art Nouveau. Munich’s architecture is truly extensive and marvelous.

Embracing the Curves: 28 Projects that Highlight One of 2022’s Dominating Interior Design Trends

Dima Stouhi — Fri, 06 Jan 2023 07:30:00 +0000

Interior design has progressively become a subject of interest among architects and designers. Having spent more time indoors recently, practitioners have been experimenting with their spaces and exploring different approaches to scale, comfort, and aesthetics. Much like everything else, design is highly influenced by external factors; any change to people's lifestyle influences how they respond to it, whether consciously or subconsciously. And while this dynamic is often seen in fashion or graphic design, it has been noticeable in interior design as well. Following years of linear, clean-cut, and refined spaces, curved silhouettes were revived, becoming one of the dominating interior design trends across the world.

Enriching Architecture: Stained Glass

Rebecca Ildikó Leete — Sat, 02 Jul 2022 07:30:00 +0000

Predominantly associated with places of worship, stained glass has been used by artisans across the globe for thousands of years in an array of art ventures and installations. Intensifying architecture with vivid color, the process of stained glass refers to a particular action in which glass has been colored via metallic oxides during its manufacture, using different additives in order to create a range of hues and tones.

What Is Art Nouveau?

Camilla Ghisleni — Thu, 13 Jan 2022 05:00:00 +0000

Emerged in a period marked by the development of the industry and the experimentation of new materials, the Art Nouveau artistic movement was opposed to historicism, favoring originality and a return to handicrafts. In this context, it is portrayed as an attempt at dialogue between art and industry, revaluing beauty and making it available to everyone through series production.

The Characteristics of 12 Architectural Styles From Antiquity to the Present Day

Julia Daudén — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 07:00:00 +0000

History has often been taught in a linear way. This way of teaching has often left out grand historical narratives, and focused primarily on the occidental world.

The Work of Victor Horta, Art Nouveau's Esteemed Architect

Ella Comberg — Thu, 28 Jun 2018 06:00:00 +0000

Situated throughout Brussels, Victor Horta's architecture ranges from innocuous to avant-garde. While many of his buildings were completed in the traditional Beaux Arts style, it is Horta’s Art Nouveau works—most of them built as townhouses for the Belgian elite—that are most beloved. Emerging from the decorative arts tradition and, in some ways, anticipating the coming onslaught of modernism, Horta’s Art Nouveau buildings were erected during a fleeting decade: roughly 1893 to 1903.

Spotlight: Eliel Saarinen

Dario Goodwin — Sun, 20 Aug 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Though some may now know him only as the father of Eero Saarinen, Eliel Saarinen (August 20, 1873 – July 1, 1950) was an accomplished and style-defining architect in his own right. His pioneering form of stripped down, vernacular Art Nouveau coincided with stirring Finnish nationalism and a corresponding appetite for a romantic national style and consciousness; his Helsinki Central Station became part of the Finnish identity along with Finnish language theaters and literature. Later moving to America, his city planning and Art Deco designs resonated through western cities in the first half of the 20th century.

AD Classics: Paris Métro Entrance / Hector Guimard

Luke Fiederer — Thu, 10 Aug 2017 04:00:00 +0000

Scattered throughout the streets of Paris, the elegant Art Nouveau entrances to the Métropolitain (Métro) subway system stand as a collective monument to the city’s Belle Époque of the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. With their sinuous ironwork patterned after stylized plants, the Métro entrances now count among the most celebrated architectural emblems of the city; however, due to the city’s wariness in the face of industrialization and architect Hector Guimard’s decision to utilize a then-novel architectural aesthetic, it would take decades before the entrances would earn the illustrious reputation that they now enjoy.

AD Classics: Hôtel van Eetvelde / Victor Horta

Luke Fiederer — Wed, 01 Feb 2017 04:00:00 +0000

To the contemporary observer, the flowing lines and naturalistic ornamentation of Art Nouveau do not appear particularly radical. To some, Art Nouveau may even seem to be the dying gasp of 19th Century Classicism just before the unmistakably modern Art Deco and International Styles supplanted it as the design modes of choice. The Hôtel van Eetvelde, designed in 1897 by Victor Horta—the architect considered to be the father of Art Nouveau—suggests a different story. With its innovative spatial strategy and expressive use of new industrial materials, the Hôtel van Eetvelde is a testament to the novelty of the “New Art.”

The Long(ish) Read: "Ornament and Crime" by Adolf Loos

James Taylor-Foster — Wed, 02 Nov 2016 04:00:00 +0000

Welcome to the fourth installment of The Long(ish) Read: an AD feature which presents texts written by notable essayists that resonate with contemporary architecture, interior architecture, urbanism or landscape design. Ornament and Crime began as a lecture delivered by Adolf Loos in 1910 in response to a time (the late 19th and early 20th Centuries) and a place (Vienna), in which Art Nouveau was the status quo.