Modern Architecture: A Critical History (World of Art)

Let me have a lot of feelings, learn a lot

as advertised

Must have read by Kenneth Frampton

Great book!

I think it is one of, or maybe the best books of modern architecture since its first edition. Maybe it is not too didatic, so lay people about architecture could have some dificulty on understanding some facts, but this book is, like the title says, very critical and not just throws the facts, but explains very well the reasons why and the associations between mankind history, the artistic movements and the modern architecture. And the last edition bring the history of the last 30/20 years of architecture, what is someway hard to find in other books about architecture history. A must read for architecture students.(Sorry if my english is not well).

This book is admittedly very dense. Each short essay is packed with knowledge, but Frampton is not difficult. It certainly isn't useful to rush through it. Mull over a paragraph instead of the whole book. I originally found Frampton a challenge but it never seemed hopelessly out of reach. His writing coaxes you to a higher level. Your knowledge grows as you consider and wrestle with any two essays. It forces you to amass an inter-related structure of knowledge. I now think the book is extremely forthright and consider it a generous gift to those striving to get deeper; a primer and a leg-up on assessing the history of architecture. I don't think Frampton is pretentious at all. His personality is not even present in the mateiral. I have no more idea about who he is now than before I picked up this book a long time ago. He foregrounds his architectural knowledge and graciously disappears. 90 percent of architecture publishing is coffee-table quality stuff that asks little of a reader, and consequently leaves you with little of substance. If you think this is difficult, pick up anything by the inscrutable, pretentious K. Michael Hayes. If you want facts in isolation, just keep telling yourself that Liebeskinds new WTC tower "which is 1,776 feet tall..." is architecture.

This is one of those 'must have' books for anyone interested in modern architecture. Although it does not have detailed information on each architect or movement, it is a great starting point from which to have a general idea of how the pieces of modern architecture fit with each other.

Frampton makes no apologies for modern architecture, instead he makes one of the more arduous defenses of modern architecture, taking in the full sweep of this architectural movement, and critically examining some of the contemporary trends which have followed in its wake. It is a very readable overview of modern architecture, beginning with the late 18th century and 19th century predecessors which led to a thorough re-examination of architecture in the early 20th century. Frampton divides his study into short thematic chapters which allow readers to focus on one movement at a time. There are various recurring figures such as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe; but Frampton covers an exceedingly broad range of architectural ideas in the past century. He has updated the book to include some of the more recent currents in architecture such as deconstruction and fragmentation, which he places in the context of the broader stream of architecture since 1962 in one of his more thought-provoking chapters, "Place, Production and Scenography." He notes how many of the recent ideas in architecture draw from the Russian avant-garde and Italian Futurism. He pans Post-Modernism for its pretension display of historicism, as exhibited in the work of Michael Graves, preferring the more rigorous historic views of neo-rationalists like Aldo Rossi. It is an insightful, illuminating book, which has been updated to include Modern Architecture to 1991.

For architecturel students, it is necessary to read this book and visit buildings according to texts. You never know real spacious feelings unless you would visit the reality! KF's impressive words would make your visual memories about famous buildings into a strings of information about modern architectural history. Get one and take journey!

Little outdated in some issues but all the temporal reflections and considerations still make sense today! Kenneth is simply one of the best architecture critic/historian that i know and recommend!!

as expected

Product as described. Fast delivery.

Great book and in perfect conditions.