On the Iconography of Means of Transport, Mimetic Representation, and Briefly Also on Le Corbusier

Few manifestations of civilisation have influenced the formal language of functionalist architecture as profoundly as nautical symbolism and metaphor. Whether in the modeling of a building’s mass or in the design of details, the attributes of ships, such as circular porthole windows or tubular railings lining decks, represented, especially in the interwar period, a remarkable source of ideas with strong symbolic content. The roots of the use of these elements are well known – they are connected with rationalisation, efforts to promote standardisation in construction, and ultimately also with an admiration for the precise aesthetics of modern machines.