Architecture of the 20th Century

London: Bison Books. Very Good/Very Good. 1988. First Edition. Hard Cover. Folio 0861244621 Dust jacket unclipped, closed tears, but overall in vg condition. Black cloth with bright silver titling. No ownership marks. Numerous b/w & Colour Photographs. 192 pages clean and tight. For the architects who have played such a decisive role in shaping the environment in which we live, the twentieth century offered a chance to discard historicism and search for a style to symbolise the modern age. They experimented with new materials and different construction methods, creating a rich assortment of buildings, some highly personalised and some purely functional. This book explores the changes that have taken place in architecture, in the.twentieth century. The years before World War I were a time of innovation and experimentation, where the individualism and decoration of the Art Nouveau movement contrasted with more standardised approaches to design. The period after the war brought with it many new housing estates, and the theoretical ideas of Muthesius and the Deutscher Werkbund were instrumental in the development of an international style, transcending national boundaries. In the United States, the wealth of the 1920s found expression in a new commercial image, the skyscraper. The years between the 1930s and the 1960s marked the success of the International Style, and concepts such as uniformity and geometrical purity dominated the lion's share of architectural projects. However, in recent years there has been a backlash against this, and architects have rejected the modern movement and are now looking to the past as inspiration for their designs. In this beautifully presented volume, Dr. Mary Hollingsworth critically assesses the contribution of individual architects, such as Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, and of schools, like the Bauhaus. With its lively narrative and attractive illustrations, Architecture of the 20th Centurywill be indispensable both to the student of architecture and to the general reader. .