The Effects of Cubist Design Theory on Modernism and Post Modernism Asu Besgen (Research Assistant) Karadeniz Technical University Department of Architecture Trabzon Turkey ABSTRACT The main aim of this study is to present design theories since 1900s and their evaluation for 2000s. For this reason the basic manifesto; “Modernism” which gives its signs and principles to the identity of 20 th century is held as beginning point. The modern movement in architecture in order to fully express 20 th century, possessed the “faith in science and technology”, “rationalism and romantic faith in speed” or “the roar of machines”. And also it was treated as a series of discrete art movements like Futurism, Cubism, Constructivism, Dadaism, Surrealism. But one of them; “Cubism” is pointed out to be the first movement of “Purism” that built “Modernism”. To emphasise the general idea of design theories in 1900s, Cubism is chosen as a point of view and the aim is required to put forward some ideas by criticising cubist design theory and putting some principles about the effects of cubist design theory on modernism and post modernism (trends and periods after modernism). The method of “Conceptualisation”, one of the most important system to begin a design is used while making analysis. In this content, the paper involves five main parts. In the first and second parts, the introduction to Cubism and First Machine Age are explained. The third part consists of Cubism as an art of painting. In the fourth part cubist design theory and the cubist conceptions are posed. The last part of the survey gives the findings and conclusions aiming to put forward estimations for further designs in the future. 1 AN INTRODUCTION TO CUBISM In the Autumn of 1908, the selection board for the Autumn Salon rejected two of six paintings presented by Braque. These were six landscapes that he had brought back from his stay at I’Estaque and which simplified the natural motifs translating them into geometric forms. Matisse exclaimed; “But they’re only little cubes!” while the art critic Vauxcelles wrote in Gil Blas on 14 November 1908; “Monsieur Braque is a very audacious young man... He constructs deformed, metallic little fellows that are dreadfully simplified. He despises form, reduces everything views, figures, houses to geometric diagrams, to cubes”, (Kuspit 1989). Consequently, the word “cube” was used for the first time by an art critic and a new revolution was started to be born in arts. Named as “Cubism”, a new theory was settled to look from another perspective to the world and the cubists tried to explain this new perspective with mathematics, geometry and psychoanalysis: “All that is nothing but words”. But what caused these artists to be scientific, physical, optical and instinctive? What was the reason in 1900s to act like scientists and also artists? To