20th Century World Architecture

Global investigation of 20th-century architecture, 750+ masterpieces richly illustrated.

"A balance of sophistication and clarity in the writing, authoritative entries, and strong cross-referencing that links archtects and structures to entries on the history and theory of the profession make this an especially useful source on a century of the world's most notable architecture. The contents feature major architects, firms, and professional issues; buildings, styles, and sites; the architecture of cities and countries; critics and historians; construction, materials, and planning topics; schools, movements, and stylistic and theoretical terms. Entries include well-selected bibliographies and illustrations."--"Reference that rocks," American Libraries, May 2005.

This innovative volume is the first to provide the design student, practitioner, and educator with an invaluable comprehensive reference of visual and narrative material that illustrates and evaluates the unique and important history surrounding graphic design and architecture. Graphic Design and Architecture, A 20th Century History closely examines the relationship between typography, image, symbolism, and the built environment by exploring principal themes, major technological developments, important manufacturers, and pioneering designers over the last 100 years. It is a complete resource that belongs on every designer’s bookshelf.

This is the genealogy of architecture in the 20th century by Kenneth Frampton – the doyen of architecture history. His approach is impressively clear: he traces four lines that are recognizable as the powers that propel renewal in architecture. He structures his observations by focusing on the relevant periods in the following order: 1st, the Avant-Garde (1887–1986); 2nd, organic architecture (1910–1998); 3rd modern and national styles (1935–1998), and 4th, industrialization and prefabrication (1927–1990). His overview is not a lexical collection of chronological sequences. Instead, his insights stem from his confident eye for the history, theory and motives behind architecture. He also follows the steps of the great architects of the 20th century.

In his famously controversial style - Martin Pawley reviews a selection of books on the architecture of the 20th century. Books that we should have read, and indeed would have read - if only we'd had the time. Pawley digests and critiques them for us with an agility that has kept the readers of his newspaper and magazine columns provoked and amused for several decades. He provides us with both ammunition and armour - encouraging us to fight off the soporific PR-led commentary of today and to rekindle the passion of the architectural debate. Martin Pawley is an award-winning writer. He has written many books on architecture for UK and US based publishers and writes a regular column for national and international architectural magazines. Throughout his career he has reviewed books for The Guardian, The Observer, The London Review of Books, The Architects' Journal, Design Book Review, Blueprint, Architectural Design, Building, World Architecture, Architecture Review, Designer and The RIBA Journal many of which are published here. Gain knowledge on all the major books on 20th century architecture, by reading just one Hear the opinions of Pawley, and learn about the debates, on the development of architectural theory in the 20th century.

The present volume offers eloquent testimony that many of the master builders of this century have held passionate convictions regarding the philosophic and social basis of their art. Nearly every important development in the modern architectural movement began with the proclamation of these convictions in the form of a program or manifesto. The most influential of these are collected here in chronological order from 1903 to 1963. Taken together, they constitute a subjective history of modern architecture; compared with one another, their great diversity of style reveals in many cases the basic differences of attitude and temperament that produced a corresponding divergence in architectural style. In point of view, the book covers the aesthetic spectrum from right to left; from programs that rigidly generate designs down to the smallest detail to revolutionary manifestoes that call for anarchy in building form and town plan. The documents, placed in context by the editor, are also international in their range: among them are the seminal and prophetic statements of Henry van de Velde, Adolf Loos, and Bruno Taut from the early years of the century; Frank Lloyd Wright's 1910 annunciation of Organic Architecture; Gropius's original program for the Bauhaus, founded in Weimar in 1919; "Towards a New Architecture, Guiding Principles" by Le Corbusier; the formulation by Naum Gabo and Antoine Pevsner of the basic principles of Constructivism; and articles by R. Buckminster Fuller on universal architecture and the architect as world planner. Other pronouncements, some in flamboyant style, including those of Erich Mendelsohn, Hannes Meyer, Theo van Doesburg, OskarSchlemmer, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, El Lissitzky, and Louis I. Kahn. There are also a number of collective or group statements, issued in the name of movements such as CIAM, De Stijl, ABC, the Situationists, and GEAM. Since the dramatic effectiveness of the manifesto form is usually heightened by brevity and conciseness, it has been possible to reproduce most of the documents in their entirety; only a few have been excerpted.

This is the genealogy of architecture in the 20th century by Kenneth Frampton - the doyen of architecture history. His approach is impressively clear: he traces four lines that are recognizable as the powers that propel renewal in architecture. He structures his observations by focusing on the relevant periods in the following order: 1st, the Avant-Garde (1887-1986); 2nd, organic architecture (1910-1998); 3rd modern and national styles (1935-1998), and 4th, industrialization and prefabrication (1927-1990). His overview is not a lexical collection of chronological sequences. Instead, his insights stem from his confident eye for the history, theory and motives behind architecture. He also follows the steps of the great architects of the 20th century.

An examination of architectural trends across the world in the last century - Neoclassicism - Architecture after the First World War - American architecture - Globalization of modern architecture - High-tech and postmodern architecture - The Rationalist tradition in Italy - Architecture in the 21st century.