What do the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in NYC, the Pacific Science Center in Seattle, and the Northwestern National Life Building in Minneapolis all have in common? All three of these MCM buildings have a look that is at once monumental, while still being graceful and airy. This is the modernist style known as New Formalism.
New Formalism was popular from the 1950s through the 1980s. It is not considered a subset of Mid Century Modern, but rather an adjacent, distinct style with some overlaps. Nevertheless, many New Formalist buildings make it into lists of MCM favorites, so we can consider it part of the same broad “family” of architectural styles. Some New Formalist architects also were known for their MCM, International Style, and brutalist buildings.
What Elements Define New Formalism?
New Formalism unites modernist and classical elements. Here is what typifies the style:
- Large-scale, monumental design
- Materials like concrete, marble, granite or travertine
- Slender columns set in colonnades
- Classical and sometimes gothic features and forms
- Waffle slabs, umbrella shells, and other molded forms
- Grilles or screens such as breeze blocks
- Symmetry
- Buildings placed on a raised dais
- A mix of straight lines and curves, especially arches
- Simplicity, but with some ornamentation
- Airy, delicate features
You can see why New Formalism and MCM are adjacent and somewhat overlapping styles. Common elements include monumental design (as in brutalism), ample use of concrete, breeze blocks, and (sometimes in MCM) the use of columns.
New Formalist architects embraced modern materials and some MCM design concepts, but rejected the strict adherence to every element of a building needing to be functional. They felt form was just as important.
Famous New Formalist Architects
Some of the best-known architects who did work in New Formalism include:
- Ellerbe Becket
- Welton Becket
- Gunnar Birkerts
- Moshe Harel [he]
- Philip Johnson
- Friedrich Silaban
- Edward Durell Stone
- Minoru Yamasaki
You will notice that some of these architects are also known for their Mid Century Modern and International Style works, like Philip Johnson and Edward Durell Stone.
If you enjoyed this post, you may also like Edward Durrell Stone’s Romantic Modernism and Minoru Yamasaki: New Formalism Icon.
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