New Directions in American Architecture

New York: George Braziller, 1977. Revised Edition/New Enlarged Edition. Presumed first printing. Trade paperback. Very good. 152 pages. Illustrations. Sources of Illustrations. Notes. Selective Bibliography. Index. After the Introduction there is a section on The Architects that addresses Louis I. Kahn, Kevin Roche, Paul Rudolph, Philip Johnson, Robert Venturi, Romaldo Giurgola, and Charles W. Moore. Then there is a section on Architecture and the City that addresses Urban Renewal, Formal Preoccupations and Prejudices, Reintegration and Renewal, and The New City? Then comes an Afterword and a Postscript: At the Edge of Modernism. Robert Arthur Morton Stern, usually credited as Robert A. M. Stern (born May 23, 1939), is a New York City-based architect, educator, and author. He is the founding partner of Robert A.M. Stern Architects, also known as RAMSA. His firm's major works include the classically styled New York apartment building, 15 Central Park West; two residential colleges at Yale University; Philadelphia's Museum of the American Revolution; and the modernist Comcast Center skyscraper in Philadelphia. In 2011, Stern was honored with the Driehaus Architecture Prize for his achievements in contemporary classical architecture. A prolific writer, Stern has authored, co-authored, and edited numerous books about architecture, including five volumes about New York City's architectural history, each focusing on a different period. Stern developed a reputation as a postmodern architect for integrating classical elements into his designs for contemporary buildings, but in the mid-1980s, his work became more traditional, more in keeping with the then emerging New Classical architectural movement. "This essay is not intended as a historical overview of the evolution of modern architecture in America, nor as a comprehensive analysis of the work of all the significant architects now practicing here. Rather, it is a partial presentation of designs by some of the most influential and innovative architects at this moment, whose work is viewed in relation to the development of their individual styles and to our most pressing urban problems."