Back from Utopia

The Modern Movement was a clarion call to embrace new building technologies, to meet the needs of the masses and to advance a new aesthetic of universality and openness. Pioneers like Le Corbusier, Walter Gropius and Mies van der Rohe created a sober, hard-edged architecture with a utopian urgency. Decades later, we have witnessed both the positive and the negative results of their endeavors. After the condemnations of the Modern Movement by postmodernist architects and critics, it is time for a balanced reassessment. Back from Utopia gathers more than 40 contributions by leading voices from the world of architecture and architectural history to reassess the modernist legacy across the world―from Eastern and Western Europe to India and Japan.