Nordic Classicism
Encyclopedia
Architectural style
Architectural styles classify architecture in terms of the use of form, techniques, materials, time period, region and other stylistic influences. It overlaps with, and emerges from the study of the evolution and history of architecture...
that briefly blossomed in the Nordic countries
Nordic countries
The Nordic countries make up a region in Northern Europe and the North Atlantic which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden and their associated territories, the Faroe Islands, Greenland and Åland...
(Sweden
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
, Norway
Norway
Norway , officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic unitary constitutional monarchy whose territory comprises the western portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula, Jan Mayen, and the Arctic archipelago of Svalbard and Bouvet Island. Norway has a total area of and a population of about 4.9 million...
and Finland
Finland
Finland , officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country situated in the Fennoscandian region of Northern Europe. It is bordered by Sweden in the west, Norway in the north and Russia in the east, while Estonia lies to its south across the Gulf of Finland.Around 5.4 million people reside...
) between 1910 and 1930.
Until a resurgence of interest for the period during the 1980s (marked by several scholarly studies and public exhibitions), Nordic Classicism was regarded as a mere interlude between two far more well-known architectural movements, National Romanticism
National Romantic Style
The National Romantic style was a Nordic architectural style that was part of the national romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th century. Designers turned to early Medieval and even prehistoric precedents to construct a style appropriate to the perceived character of a people...
or Jugendstil (often seen as equivalent or parallel to Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
) and Functionalism
Functionalism (architecture)
Functionalism, in architecture, is the principle that architects should design a building based on the purpose of that building. This statement is less self-evident than it first appears, and is a matter of confusion and controversy within the profession, particularly in regard to modern...
(aka Modernism).
History
Classical architecture
Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...
traditions already existing in the Nordic countries, and from new ideas being pursued in German-speaking cultures. Nordic Classicism can thus be characterised as a combination of direct and indirect influences from vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...
architecture (Nordic, Italian and German) and Neoclassicism
Neoclassical architecture
Neoclassical architecture was an architectural style produced by the neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century, manifested both in its details as a reaction against the Rococo style of naturalistic ornament, and in its architectural formulas as an outgrowth of some classicizing...
, but also the early stirrings of Modernism from the Deutscher Werkbund
Deutscher Werkbund
The Deutscher Werkbund was a German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus school of design...
– especially their exhibition of 1914 - and by the mid-1920s the Esprit Nouveau emerging from the theories of Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
.
The modernist influence went beyond mere aesthetics: urbanisation tied to modern building techniques and the introduction of regulations both in building and town planning, and moreover, to the rise of social forces that resulted in a change in political ideology toward the Left, resulting in the Nordic welfare state, and new programmes for public buildings such as hospitals (e.g. the Beckomberga Hospital
Beckomberga Hospital
Beckomberga Hospital was a Swedish psychiatric hospital, situated in Bromma west of Stockholm. Opened in 1932, Beckomberga was in its mid-20th century heyday one of the largest psychiatric hospitals in Europe, housing some 2,000 mentally ill patients...
(1927-1935) by Carl Westman
Carl Westman
Ernst Carl Westman was a Swedish architect and interior designer. He was an early adopter of the National Romantic Style, but turned later to the neo-classical style of the 1920s.-Biography :...
) and schools (e.g. the Fridhemsplan school (1925-27) by Georg A. Nilsson). But while Nordic classicism was employed for a number of important public buildings, it was also applied as a model for low-cost housing (e.g. the Puu-Käpylä
Käpylä
Käpylä is a neighbourhood of Helsinki with 7,600 inhabitants. Administratively speaking, Käpylä is a part of the Vanhakaupunki district.It is located between Kumpula, Oulunkylä and Koskela...
Garden Town, Helsinki (1920-25) by Martti Välikangas) and domestic architecture in general (e.g. an affordable sense of style for the nouveau-riche).
1930 is usually considered the end point of Nordic Classicism because that was the year of the Stockholm Exhibition, designed mostly by Gunnar Asplund
Gunnar Asplund
Erik Gunnar Asplund was a Swedish architect, mostly known as a key representative of Nordic Classicism of the 1920s, and during the last decade of his life as a major proponent of the modernist style which made its breakthrough in Sweden at the Stockholm International Exhibition...
and Sigurd Lewerentz
Sigurd Lewerentz
Sigurd Lewerentz . He was an architect, but initially trained as a mechanical engineer at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg . Later he took up an architectural apprenticeship in Germany...
, when a more purist Modernism was unveiled as a model for a modern society. However, key buildings continued to be built in the classical style after that, notably Östberg's Maritime Museum in Stockholm (1931-34).
Notable architects
National Romantic Style
The National Romantic style was a Nordic architectural style that was part of the national romantic movement during the late 19th and early 20th century. Designers turned to early Medieval and even prehistoric precedents to construct a style appropriate to the perceived character of a people...
came, but their latter works were in the Nordic Classicism style (e.g. Carl Westman
Carl Westman
Ernst Carl Westman was a Swedish architect and interior designer. He was an early adopter of the National Romantic Style, but turned later to the neo-classical style of the 1920s.-Biography :...
), the career of others culminated with Nordic Classicism (e.g. Ivar Tengbom
Ivar Tengbom
Ivar Justus Tengbom was a Swedish architect and one of the best-known representatives of the Swedish neo-classical architecture of the 1910s and 1920s....
and Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg was a Swedish architect who is most famous for designing Stockholm City Hall. He is the most famous architect within the so-called "national romanticist" movement in Sweden...
), while others later went on to achieve far greater significance as Modernist architects (e.g. Arne Jacobsen
Arne Jacobsen
Arne Emil Jacobsen, usually known as Arne Jacobsen, was a Danish architect and designer. He is remembered for contributing so much to architectural Functionalism as well as for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple but effective chair designs.-Early life and education:Arne Jacobsen was born...
, Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto
Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...
, and Sven Markelius
Sven Markelius
Sven Gottfrid Markelius was one of the most important modernist Swedish architects. Markelius played an important role in the post-war urban planning of Stockholm, for example in the creation of the model suburb of Vällingby .Born in Stockholm in October 1889, he attended the Royal Institute of...
). The two figures who achieved greatest significance in both periods, however, were Swedish architects Gunnar Asplund
Gunnar Asplund
Erik Gunnar Asplund was a Swedish architect, mostly known as a key representative of Nordic Classicism of the 1920s, and during the last decade of his life as a major proponent of the modernist style which made its breakthrough in Sweden at the Stockholm International Exhibition...
and Sigurd Lewerentz
Sigurd Lewerentz
Sigurd Lewerentz . He was an architect, but initially trained as a mechanical engineer at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg . Later he took up an architectural apprenticeship in Germany...
.
Sweden
Architecture of Sweden
This article covers the architecture of Sweden from a historical perspective. As is the norm in architecture history, an architectural history of a nation naturally lends itself to a history of those monuments to the development of that nation and its institutions of power; palaces, castles, and...
: Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg
Ragnar Östberg was a Swedish architect who is most famous for designing Stockholm City Hall. He is the most famous architect within the so-called "national romanticist" movement in Sweden...
, Gunnar Asplund
Gunnar Asplund
Erik Gunnar Asplund was a Swedish architect, mostly known as a key representative of Nordic Classicism of the 1920s, and during the last decade of his life as a major proponent of the modernist style which made its breakthrough in Sweden at the Stockholm International Exhibition...
, Carl Westman
Carl Westman
Ernst Carl Westman was a Swedish architect and interior designer. He was an early adopter of the National Romantic Style, but turned later to the neo-classical style of the 1920s.-Biography :...
, Sigurd Lewerentz
Sigurd Lewerentz
Sigurd Lewerentz . He was an architect, but initially trained as a mechanical engineer at the Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg . Later he took up an architectural apprenticeship in Germany...
, Carl Bergsten, Sigfrid Ericson, Torben Grut, Ragnar Hjorth, Cyrillus Johansson, Erik Lallerstedt, Gunnar Leche, Sven Markelius
Sven Markelius
Sven Gottfrid Markelius was one of the most important modernist Swedish architects. Markelius played an important role in the post-war urban planning of Stockholm, for example in the creation of the model suburb of Vällingby .Born in Stockholm in October 1889, he attended the Royal Institute of...
, Gunnar Morssing, George Nilsson, Ture Ryberg, Albin Stark, Eskil Sundahl, Lars Israel Wahlman, Sven Wallander, Hakon Ahlberg
Hakon Ahlberg
Hakon Ahlberg was a Swedish architect, editor and author, best known as the official architect for the repair and restoration of Gripsholm Castle near the town of Mariefred in central Sweden...
and Ivar Tengbom
Ivar Tengbom
Ivar Justus Tengbom was a Swedish architect and one of the best-known representatives of the Swedish neo-classical architecture of the 1910s and 1920s....
;
Denmark
Architecture of Denmark
The architecture of Denmark has its origins in the Viking period, richly revealed by archaeological finds. It became firmly established in the Middle Ages when first Romanesque, then Gothic churches and cathedrals sprang up throughout the country...
: Kay Fisker
Kay Fisker
Kay Otto Fisker was a Danish architect, designer and educator. He is most known for his many housing projects, mainly in the Copenhagen area, and is considered a leading exponent of the Danish Functionalism....
, Hack Kampmann
Hack Kampmann
Hack Kampmann was a Danish architect. His parents were the priest Christian Peter Georg Kampmann and Johanne Marie Schmidt...
, Kaj Gottlob
Kaj Gottlob
Niels August Theodor Kaj Gottlob, usually known as Kaj Gottlob, was a Danish architect who contributed much to Neoclassicism and Functionalism both as professor of the School of Architects at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts and as a royal building inspector.-Early life:After qualifying from...
, Ivar Bentsen
Ivar Bentsen
Ivar Bentsen was a Danish architect.-External links:*...
, Povl Baumann
Povl Baumann
Povl Erik Raimund Baumann was a Danish architect who was a central figure during the transition from Neoclassicism to Functionalism in Danish residential architecture...
, Poul Holsøe, Edvard Thomsen, Thomas Havning, Holger Jacobsen
Holger Jacobsen
Holger Jacobsen was a Danish architect. His best known work is Stærekassen, an extension to the Royal Danish Theatre on Kongens Nytorv in Copenhagen.-Biography:Holger Jacobsen was born on 30 October 1876 in Odense...
, Kaare Klint, Arne Jacobsen
Arne Jacobsen
Arne Emil Jacobsen, usually known as Arne Jacobsen, was a Danish architect and designer. He is remembered for contributing so much to architectural Functionalism as well as for the worldwide success he enjoyed with simple but effective chair designs.-Early life and education:Arne Jacobsen was born...
, Carl Petersen
Carl Petersen
Carl Petersen was a Danish politician, representing the Social Democratic Party in Parliament . He served as Minister for Public Works in 1945, Traffic Minister from 1947 to 1950 and again from 1953 to 1955, Minister for Agriculture in 1950, and Interior Minister of Denmark from 30 August 1955 to...
, Aage Rafn, Steen Eiler Rasmussen
Steen Eiler Rasmussen
Steen Eiler Rasmussen was a Danish architect and urban planner who was a professor at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, and a prolific writer of books and poetry...
, Sven Risom
Sven Risom
Sven Julius Risom was a Danish architect who worked mainly in the style of Nordic Classicism.-Biography:...
, and Frits Schlegel
Frits Schlegel
Frits Schlegel was a Functionalist Danish architect active during the transition from traditional craftsmanship to industrialized construction methods in the building industry. He was among the first architects in Denmark to experiment with poured-in-place concrete.-Biography:Schlegel was born in...
;
Norway
Architecture of Norway
The architecture of Norway has evolved in response to changing economic conditions, technological advances, demographic fluctuations and cultural shifts...
: Lars Backer
Lars Backer
Lars Thalian Backer was a Norwegian architect.Backer was educated at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts under the supervision of Herman Major Schirmer and the Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, from which he graduated in 1915....
, Lorentz Ree, Sverre Pedersen, Nicolai Beer, Finn Berner, Harald Hals, Herman Munthe-Kaas
Herman Munthe-Kaas
Herman Munthe-Kaas was a Norwegian architect. Herman Munthe-Kaas was primarily known for his Functionalist building designs.-Biography:...
, Gudolf Blakstad
Gudolf Blakstad
Gudolf Blakstad was a Norwegian architect.Born in Gjerpen, Blakstad was educated at the Norwegian Institute of Technology, worked with Arnstein Arneberg and Herman Munthe-Kaas...
, Finn Bryn, Jens Dunker and Johan Ellefsen.
Finland
Architecture of Finland
The architecture of Finland has a notable history spanning over 800 years and the architecture has contributed to several styles internationally, such as Nordic modernism, through the works of Alvar Aalto.....
: Gunnar Taucher
Gunnar Taucher
Jarl Gunnar Taucher, known as Gunnar Taucher , was a Finnish architect who first came to prominence in the first decades of the 20th century for his architecture designed in the style of Nordic Classicism.Taucher studied architecture at Helsinki University of Technology from 1904 to 1908...
, Uno Ullberg
Uno Ullberg
Uno Ullberg was a famous Finnish architect. Was the first to introduce to Viipuri the important international tendency in architecture known as Functionalism...
, Martti Välikangas
Martti Välikangas
Martti Välikangas was a Finnish architect renowned for the design of so-called "Puu-Käpylä" [Wood-Käpylä], the Garden City housing area in Käpylä near Helsinki, designed in the Nordic Classicism style.Välikangas studied architecture at Helsinki University of Technology, qualifying as an architect...
, J.S. Sirén, Alvar Aalto
Alvar Aalto
Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware...
, Pauli Blomstedt, Elsi Borg, Erik Bryggman
Erik Bryggman
Erik Bryggman was a Finnish architect. He studied architecture at Helsinki University of Technology, completing his studies in 1916. In 1920 he travelled to Italy, where he became inspired more by the local vernacular architecture than the classical or Baroque works...
, Hilding Ekelund
Hilding Ekelund
Georg Hilding Ekelund was a Finnish architect, from 1950 to 1958 a professor of housing design at Helsinki University of Technology and from 1931 to 1934 editor-in-chief of the Finnish architects' journal Arkkitheti...
, Heikki Siikonen, and Oiva Kallio.
Though these architects are listed by country, during this period there was an intense cultural exchange between the Nordic countries (many architects worked in one or more of the other Nordic countries), but also considerable development in the architect's sphere of activity, from consultant to the bourgeoisie to town planner concerned with infrastructure, dwelling and public services. As Swedish historian Henrik O. Anderson (1982: 23), has put it, this was an architecture of democracy, not radical avant-gardism
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
. Furthermore, with the exception of Finland, the other Nordic countries had avoided getting involved in the First World War
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
, allowing for continued cultural development.
Relationship to other movements
Postmodern architecture
Postmodern architecture began as an international style the first examples of which are generally cited as being from the 1950s, but did not become a movement until the late 1970s and continues to influence present-day architecture...
when critics, historians and architecture teachers were looking for historical precedents for the architecture of such architects as Michael Graves
Michael Graves
Michael Graves is an American architect. Identified as one of The New York Five, Graves has become a household name with his designs for domestic products sold at Target stores in the United States....
, Leon Krier
Léon Krier
Léon Krier is an architect, architectural theorist and urban planner. From the late 1970s onwards Krier has been one of the most influential neo-traditional architects and planners...
and Robert Stern. Nordic classicism provided that precedent, especially with such seminal buildings as Gunnar Asplund's Scandia Cinema in Stockholm (1924), Listers District Courthouse (1917-21), Villa Snellman in Stockholm (1917-18) and Stockholm Public Library
Stockholm Public Library
Stockholm Public Library is a rotunda library building in Stockholm, Sweden, designed by Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund. The library was prepared from 1918 and onwards by a committee in which Asplund himself took part. Construction began in 1924, and the library was completed in 1928...
(1920-28), as well as the landscape and buildings of the Skogskyrkogården
Skogskyrkogården
Skogskyrkogården is a cemetery located in the Enskededalen district south of central Stockholm, Sweden...
Cemetery, Stockholm
Stockholm
Stockholm is the capital and the largest city of Sweden and constitutes the most populated urban area in Scandinavia. Stockholm is the most populous city in Sweden, with a population of 851,155 in the municipality , 1.37 million in the urban area , and around 2.1 million in the metropolitan area...
(1917-1940) by both Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz.
In regards to architectural style, there were several precedents or reasons which account for the rise of Nordic Classicism. First was the existing classical tradition, borne from the architecture of Absolutism
Absolute monarchy
Absolute monarchy is a monarchical form of government in which the monarch exercises ultimate governing authority as head of state and head of government, his or her power not being limited by a constitution or by the law. An absolute monarch thus wields unrestricted political power over the...
– that is, the classical architectural symbols of power of the Swedish and Danish monarchies – down to the vernacular, for instance in terms of considerations for symmetry, detailing and proportion.
Throughout the 19th century there were a number of factors contributing to a more simplified classicism. The teachings of J.N.L. Durand
Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand
Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand was a French author, teacher and architect. He was an important figure in Neoclassicism, and his system of design using simple modular elements anticipated modern industrialized building components...
at the École Polytechnique
École Polytechnique
The École Polytechnique is a state-run institution of higher education and research in Palaiseau, Essonne, France, near Paris. Polytechnique is renowned for its four year undergraduate/graduate Master's program...
of Paris at the beginning of the 19th century had attempted to rationalise the language and building techniques of classicism, while allowing for simple additive compositions. Durand's teachings spread, entering German culture in the form of Romantic Classicism with the work of Friedrich Gilly
Friedrich Gilly
Friedrich David Gilly was a German architect and the son of the architect David Gilly.Born in Altdamm , Pomerania , Gilly was known as a prodigy and the teacher of the young Karl Friedrich Schinkel. In 1788 he enrolled at the Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Berlin...
and Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel
Karl Friedrich Schinkel was a Prussian architect, city planner, and painter who also designed furniture and stage sets. Schinkel was one of the most prominent architects of Germany and designed both neoclassical and neogothic buildings.-Biography:Schinkel was born in Neuruppin, Margraviate of...
. Scholars were at the time uncovering the remnants of Pompeii
Pompeii
The city of Pompeii is a partially buried Roman town-city near modern Naples in the Italian region of Campania, in the territory of the comune of Pompei. Along with Herculaneum, Pompeii was destroyed and completely buried during a long catastrophic eruption of the volcano Mount Vesuvius spanning...
, and discovering the use of bright colour in Roman architecture – an aspect that had more or less been forgotten in the Renaissance
Renaissance
The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...
, but also rediscovering Greece and Egypt. These aspects were incorporated into Neoclassicism and continued into Nordic Classicism (e.g. The Thorvaldsen Museum, Copenhagen
Copenhagen
Copenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
, 1839-48, by M.G. Bindesbøll, incorporates Egyptian motifs as does Asplund's Stockholm Public Library).
There are also 'circles of reaction' to consider. Art Nouveau and National Romanticism had little impact in Denmark, while in Sweden, Norway and Finland there were also strong National Romantic reactions. Neoclassicism had arrived in Finland via Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...
as a universal language but by the end of the 19th century came to represent an alien presence – that of Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Thus when stirrings of political independence appeared in Finland and Norway, a rugged, national romantic architecture – a local variation of Art Nouveau – playing on the nationalistic myths, took hold. Nordic classicism was thus a counter-reaction to that style and eclecticism in general; a movement toward universal
Universal (metaphysics)
In metaphysics, a universal is what particular things have in common, namely characteristics or qualities. In other words, universals are repeatable or recurrent entities that can be instantiated or exemplified by many particular things. For example, suppose there are two chairs in a room, each of...
ism, internationalism and simplification.
Many of the architects who practiced in the Nordic Classical style made pilgrimages to northern Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, to study Italian vernacular architecture. With close cultural links at that time between the Nordic countries and Germany, another important source came from German critics of Art Nouveau, in particular Hermann Muthesius
Hermann Muthesius
Adam Gottlieb Hermann Muthesius , known as Hermann Muthesius, was a German architect, author and diplomat, perhaps best known for promoting many of the ideas of the English Arts and Crafts movement within Germany and for his subsequent influence on early pioneers of German architectural modernism...
– who had been a promoter of the English Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
and founded the Deutscher Werkbund
Deutscher Werkbund
The Deutscher Werkbund was a German association of artists, architects, designers, and industrialists. The Werkbund was to become an important event in the development of modern architecture and industrial design, particularly in the later creation of the Bauhaus school of design...
in 1907 - and Paul Schultze-Naumburg, as well as the latter’s student Heinrich Tessenow
Heinrich Tessenow
Heinrich Tessenow was a German architect, professor, and urban planner active in the Weimar era.-Biography:...
, and Peter Behrens
Peter Behrens
Peter Behrens was a German architect and designer. He was important for the modernist movement, as several of the movements leading names worked for him when they were young.-Biography:Behrens attended the Christianeum Hamburg from September 1877 until Easter 1882...
.
In turn, the thinking in Nordic Classicism became one of the basis for the development of Modernism in the Nordic Countries. The idea that there would have been a continuity between vernacular and modernism has been seen as counter to received historical opinion about the rise of Modernism, beginning with Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
and his 5 Points for Architecture, which are seen as overturning 5 basic principles of Classicism. A demonstration in real time of the move from Nordic Classicism to a pure Functionalism is offered by Alvar Aalto's design for the Viipuri Library (1927-35), which went through a profound transformation from the original architectural competition proposal in 1927 (owing much to Gunnar Asplund) to the severely functionalist building, completed eight years later in a purist modernist style, influenced by Le Corbusier.