20th-century Architecture: The Structures That Shaped the Century

Glancey, Jonathan

ISBN 10: 0879519126 / ISBN 13: 9780879519124

Published by Overlook Press, Woodstock NY, 1998

About this Item

Quarto hardcover with dust jacket - full blue cloth over boards with silver lettering stamped on spine and front. Glossy illustrated DJ. Sewn binding. 400pages, with illustrations, index. 1st Edition, 1st Printing (full number line). CONDITION: Book FINE, binding square and tight, pages bright and unmarked; DJ VERY GOOD, rubbing, surface creasing, light wear to corners and edges, scattered soiling to wrappers; not clipped, protected in a clear archival (Mylar) cover. CONTENT: "Twentieth-Century Architecture explores the roots of modern architecture, explaining how history and the rapidly changing social and political conditions of modern times have affected the built environment. What, for example, was the role of Nazi German, Soviet Russia and Fascist Italy in the story of the century's buildings? The book also discusses the innovations and inventions that have permeated modern buildings and structures and the way that the traditions of the past have imbued the modern craft of architecture."-Jacket. >Guaranteed secure packaging, free tracking, and no-hassle return policy.

Seller Inventory # 003057

Bibliographic Details

• Title: 20th-century Architecture: The Structures That Shaped the Century
• Publisher: Overlook Press, Woodstock NY
• Publication Date: 1998
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0879519126
• ISBN 13: 9780879519124
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Printing: 1st Printing
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Architecture

About this title

Synopsis

An indispensable guide to the structures of the modern age.

A celebration of the great buildings and structures of the modern age. This book traces every moment in architecture, from Modernism to Classicism, and details every major architect of the century past.

Review

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