Description
The buildings of the New Formalism are typically self-contained, freestanding blocks, with strictly symmetrical elevations. Skylines are level, the building often being defined at the top by a heavy, projecting roof slab. Wall surfaces are always smooth and often glossy, a wide range of materials, natural and artificial, being used for facing. Columnar supports tend to be thicker and more fully modeled than in the International and Miesian styles, while the arch- altogether absent from both of them- appears in various shapes and may constitute the ruling motif of the design. Ornament is employed, most frequently in the form of patterned screens or grill s of metal, cast stone, or concrete.
Whiffen, Marcus. American architecture since 1780: a guide to the styles. N.p.: The MIT Press, 1969. Print.