Explore architectural and design movements that shape the places featured in Urban Manual, from modernist icons to contemporary hospitality design.
Geometric ornamentation, bold colours, luxury materials; modernist but decorative
1920 - 1940
Organic forms inspired by natural structures; decorative ironwork, curved lines, floral motifs
1890 - 1910
Reaction against industrialisation; handcraft, natural materials, vernacular forms
1880 - 1920
School-led movement combining fine art and functional design; geometry, primary colours
1919 - 1933
Grand classical style from the École des Beaux-Arts; symmetry, ornate facades, stone construction
Raw exposed concrete (béton brut); monolithic masses, honest materials, social ambition
1950 - 1980
21st-century refined modernism: clean lines, glass, sustainability, contextual sensitivity
2000 - Present
Modern construction techniques combined with local culture, climate, and materials
1980 - 2010
Fragmented forms, non-rectilinear shapes, controlled chaos; challenges harmony and unity
1980 - 2000
Celebration of industrial structure and technology; exposed steel, glass, visible services
1970 - 2000
Machine aesthetic applied globally; repetitive grids, glass curtain walls, no regional character
1930 - 1970
Japanese post-war movement; megastructures, replaceable capsule units, cities as organisms
1960 - 1975
Reduction to essentials; neutral palette, silence, precision, light as material
1980 - Present
Form follows function; flat roofs, open plans, glass and steel, absence of ornament
1920 - 1970
Contemporary Japanese practice; spatial innovation, material honesty, urban insertion
1990 - Present
Computer-generated organic forms; algorithmic design, fluid geometry, digital fabrication
1995 - Present
Return of ornament and historical reference; irony, colour, context against Modernist austerity
1965 - 1995
Integration of nature, living systems, and ecological performance into architecture
Modernist principles adapted for tropical climates; shading, ventilation, local materials
1950 - Present
Japanese aesthetic of imperfection and impermanence; rough textures, natural ageing, asymmetry