Cubism in architecture: inComplete timeline

1912

The first attempt to translate principles of Cubism into architecture was made by the French architect Raymond Duchamp -Villon. He did façade work for influential installation “The cubist house”, which included faceted forms, sharp angles and ornamentation reduced to pure geometry. “The cubist house” was the first prospect of cubism in architecture, although it arguably had much greater impact on conception of art deco.  

1912 -

In following years, the heart of cubist architecture becomes Czechoslovakia, led by 3 architects: Josef Chochol, Josef Gočár and Pavel Janák. In the Czech Cubist House, designed by Josef Chochol, built in 1914, attention is drawn to the details of the facade, the triangular faceted planes that create complex shapes. At this point, the cubist elements still merely serve ornamental purpose, which is fundamentally no different form the luxurious facades of then dominant Art Nouveau style. However, simplification of form, inherent to the Modern architecture starts to become apparent.

This typology of façade can be found on numerous other Czech buildings of the era.

1916  

Josef Gočár adds another layer to the cubist design with his Lázně Bohdaneč Pavilion. Here we see the first usage of faceted elements with the goal of deforming the space. Architect emphasizes openings with blunt, triangular voids, thus questioning the conventional understanding of rectangular enclosed space. 

However, so far, due to technological limitations, it is difficult to fully realize cubist ideas beyond the canvas. This issue becomes much more apparent in Pavel Janák’s unrealized sketches.

1920

The most groundbreaking development in cubist architecture occurred not on a construction site but on a movie set. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari directed by Robert Wiene in 1920 is not only a masterpiece in German expressionism, but it also features some of the most revolutionary sets for the time. Through exaggerated set designs the film creates a sense of spatial ambiguity of such extend, that we do not see anything of the sort up until the deconstructivist movement in the 1980s.

1920-

Despite its short existence as an art form, Cubism's influence has reached a global scale and can be felt in almost every major architectural movement of the 20th century. Merging with Art Nouveau, Cubism played a major role in the development of Art Deco. Art Deco originated in France and spread throughout Europe and the United States. 

Many Art Deco works from the era, such as the post-war reconstruction of the Strand Palace Hotel in London, the Niagara Mohawk Building in New York, and the Technical Administration Building of Hoechst AG in Frankfurt, reflect the bold, abstract geometric shapes and patterns directly borrowed from Cubism.