Description:
Pushing aside the ignoble architectural rubble of the 20th century, Jonathan Glancey's book is a pantheon to the era's most memorable structures--370 in all. Keeping his text free of dehumanizing jargon, Glancey arranges his selections in eight sections: Arts and Crafts, Classicism, Organic, Modernism, Postmodernism, Robotic, Futures, and Cities--and what a world they collectively create. Within each chapter superbly reproduced photographs are accompanied by an informative and suitably fulsome or pithy paragraph from Glancey, who is fiercely critical of laziness yet always quick to applaud honesty and innovative vision. Instructive mistakes are included, as are buildings that no longer exist and a few that never will. This wide scope contributes to a diversely rewarding compendium. The big guns are well represented--Horta, Rennie Mackintosh, Lloyd Wright, Behrens, Lutyens, Gaudí, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Rogers, and Foster--as are landmark structures, such as the Chrysler Building, the Guggenheim Museums, Sydney Opera House, and the "bowellist" Lloyd's Building in London. The 20th century was dominated by the moral quest of modernism, and that forms the core of this book and its largest contingent, defying van der Rohe's dictum "less is more." But if God is in the details, then the marvels of this collection are the lesser-known buildings that sit comfortably beside their more famous counterparts and give perspective to the ambitious "big picture." 20th Century Architecture: The Structures That Shaped the Century is inspiring and consistently enjoyable--like the very best of its contents--and is an invaluably erudite introduction to a towering subject. --David Vincent, Amazon.co.uk
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