Modern vs. Contemporary Modern Architecture
When modern homes are mentioned, what one person considers a modern home can be quite different from what the other person sees as modern. Modern, the word, has been used and misused widely and some of the confusion probably comes from the different uses for it.
For instance we often use modern to describe anything relating to the present or recent times as opposed to the past: as in modern life. Modern is also used to describe ideas, techniques or anything the is most up-to-date.
In daily life modern is used differently then when it is applied as an architectural term, modernism, the sprung from a break from traditional and classical forms in the later first half of the 20th Century. So something can be modern, but not have anything to do with modernism.
Modern or architecture born from modernism: Mid Century Modern
In the mid 20th Century the modern movement has already taken root. Starting in the early part of the last century many architects and designers moved away from the traditions of ornate into individualism, more simple design and the use of new materials and techniques.
In Phoenix modernism started just before the second world war and went through to about the mid 1970’s. These modern Phoenix homes are mostly post and beam structures with block walls, low pitched roofs and small windows: boxy and linear. These are modern homes: simply born from modernism.
♣ View mid-century modern homes for sale.
Contemporary Modern or current.
The other modern Phoenix homes are those which took on similar characteristics and those from the mid-century, but use even more contemporary materials and are often more ornate and complex in structure, but still have limited ornamentation.
Wood, metal roofs, synthetic siding, steel beams, stone and lots of glass are common traits. They are usually larger then traditions modern homes and not as modest. These are often referred to as contemporary homes on to which the word modern as in current is applied.
