Gregory Ain: The Modern Home as Social Commentary - Hardcover

Denzer, Anthony

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0847830624 ISBN 13: 9780847830626

Publisher: Rizzoli, 2008

Synopsis

Gregory Ain joined the ranks of the architectural elite when he was invited by The Museum of Modern Art to design an exhibition house—other invitees included Buckminster Fuller, Marcel Breuer, and Frank Lloyd Wright—but he was vastly different from these architects in his political engagement, counter-cultural leanings, and his commitment to designing for the middle class. A timely reexamination of Ain, this book explores his life and work. With a rich mix of gorgeous color and archival photography, and beautifully reproduced plans and drawings, Gregory Ain: The Modern Home as Social Commentary brings this underappreciated modern master to a wider audience.

About this title

From the Inside Flap:

Gregory Ain (1908-88) argued that "architecture is a social art" that should serve the "common people," and he demonstrated that belief as one of America's most prominent modern architects in the 1930s, '40s, and '50s. Ain helped pioneer several design strategies for houses and housing patterns - such as the open kitchen and the greenbelt - that would become part of the American vernacular. Until now, there had not been a comprehensive study of his career, and he had been, to some extent, forgotten. This book, the product of six years of research, brings new light to Ain's works and ideas, showing that many of his critical contributions remain as relevant and potent as ever. The book also reveals that Ain's architectural priorities were tied to left-wing politics: many of his clients were Communist Party members, and Ain attended meetings himself. In short, there is an extensive unreported history of a Communist subculture in architecture in Los Angeles, which was organized around Ain. The `Red Scare' of the 1950s effectively ended this underground movement, and Ain pursued a second career in academia. According to Thomas S. Hines, "In Denzer's skillful hands, Gregory Ain finally has gotten his due."

From the Back Cover:

Ain pioneered several critical alternatives to basic assumptions about some of the most important issues in American civilization: our housing patterns, our social relationships, and the character of our dwellings. His designs sought to restructure the spatial organization of the single-family house, while at the same time he sought to offer alternatives to the housing patterns of suburbia.

About this edition

• Publisher: Rizzoli
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0847830624
• ISBN 13: 9780847830626
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 256