Alison & Peter Smithson (Obras y Proyectos / Works and Projects) [Paperback]

Marco Vidotto (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1997 | Series: (Obras y Proyectos / Works and Projects)

From the start of the 1950s onwards, the then young architects Alison (1928-1993) and Peter Smithson (1923-2003) played a crucial avantgarde role in British architecture due to the high experimental and ethical content of their designs and to their relationship with Team 10. With the building of Hunstanton Secondary Modern School (1950-1954) and their competition projects for Coventry Cathedral (1950-1951), the Golden Lane housing estate (1952) and the University of Sheffield (1953), they laid the foundations for a reflection on the more important issues in modern architectural culture. Their search for a language appropriate to the contemporary situation, their proposals for a new urban morphology, their ideas about the development of lifestyle in relation to interior space, and the connections architecture establishes with the environmental context are some of the themes explored during the course of their work.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

From the start of the 1950s onwards the then young architects Alison (1928-1993) and Peter Smithson (1923-2003) played a crucial avantgarde role in British architecture due to the high experimental and ethical content of their designs and to their relation-ship with Team 10. With the building of Hunstanton Secondary Modern School (1950-1954) and their competition projects for Coventry Cathedral (1950-1951), the Golden Lane housing estate (1952) and the University of Sheffield (1953) they laid the foundations for a reflection on the more important issues in modern architectural culture. Their search for a language appropriate to the contemporary situation, their proposals for a new urban morphology, their ideas about the development of lifestyle in relation to interior space, and the connections architecture establishes with the environmental context are some of the themes explored during the course of their work.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Whitney Library of Design (March 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8425216842
• ISBN-13: 978-8425216848
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,495,499 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Small black & white architectural monograph from Gustavo Gili, October 17, 2005

By 

Eugene Tenenbaum "reluctant reader" (Bronx, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Alison & Peter Smithson (Obras y Proyectos / Works and Projects) (Paperback)

ISBN: 8425216842 (Alison + Peter Smithson) ONLY is an exclusively black & white, concise, and copiously illustrated paperback survey published by Gustavo Gili (GG) of Barcelona in English and Spanish (side by side). A short introductory part on several pages is followed by the main review part presenting each shortly described project on excellent B&W photos, plans, sections, elevations, hard line presentation drawings, sketches, etc. At the end, there are several pages with additional information incl. biography. Most of hundreds of only B&W illustrations are technical, but all (incl. B&W photos) are of a good quality, well balanced, crisp and legible. Like all from the Works and Projects series, it is solid among architectural monographs, but slightly smaller than the Studio Paperback series published by Birkhäuser Verlag under ISBN: 37643* (Basel)/08176* (Boston) or Artemis Verlag under ISBN: 37608* (Zürich)/18740* (London).

5.0 out of 5 stars Unique, it interests connoisseurs and "curious readers", May 4, 2005

By 

lavalen - See all my reviews

This review is from: Alison & Peter Smithson (Obras y Proyectos / Works and Projects) (Paperback)

It is a comprehensive and intelligently presented review of A + P Smithson's numerous projects. Very useful for those who study architecture, it is also excellent for non experts, because the book gives another key to understanding contemporary Great Britain, through the eyes of very non conventional architects!