Dictionary of Modern Architecture: International Style

Le Corbusier's United Nations Secretariat building over-looks the New York City skyline along the East River.

International Style is a term often used to describe Bauhaus architecture in the United States. The name came from the book The International Style by historian and critic Henry-Russell Hitchcock and architect Philip Johnson. The book was published in 1932 in conjunction with an exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The term is again used in a later book, International Architecture, by Walter Gropius.

While German Bauhaus architecture had been concerned with the social aspects of design, America's International Style became a symbolism of Capitalism: The International Style is the favored architecture for office buildings, and is also found in upscale homes built for the rich.

By the mid-twentieth century, many variations of the International Style had evolved. In southern California and the American Southwest, architects adapted the International Style to the warm climate and arid terrain, creating an elegant yet informal style known as Desert Modernism.

One of the most famous examples of the International Style is the United Nations Secretariat building, designed by Le Corbusier. The smooth glass-sided slab dominates New York's skyline along the East River. The United Nations Secretariat building was completed in 1952.