Architects Today: The 100 Greatest Living Architects [Hardcover]

Kester Rattenbury (Author), Rob Bevan (Author), Kieran Long (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 12, 2004

An accessible, informative illustrated guide to the top names of modern architecutre.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a series of engaging vignettes, British journalists Rattenbury, Bevan and Long (the author of The Essential Eye, the former editor of Building Design and the deputy editor of Icon, respectively) offer an A-to-Z look at some of the world’s best architects, from the Madrid-based team Abalos & Herreros to Peter Zumthor, one of the most important figures on the Swiss architectural scene. The authors’ two-page spreads combine analytical text with a selection of stunning photos that show the architects’ most famous works. Americans will recognize such luminaries such as Frank Gehry, Michael Graves, Maya Lin and Richard Meier, but readers will also be impressed with the accomplishments of Japanese architects Kenzo Tange and Toyo Ito, Italian designers Renzo Piano and Vittorio Gregotti, and Dutch firms West 8 and UN Studio. Though the authors’ attitude is clearly reverential—they announce in their opening that all the 100 architects and firms that they profile "have changed the way in which their contemporaries and successors think and practice"—their tone is also unusually biting and amusing, making their book as fun to read as it to peruse. They call Meier, for example, "the rotund elder statesman of world architecture" and point out that I.M. Pei’s National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder "leaked, but looked lovely." The British firm Caruso St. John "deserves more major public buildings," they opine, while Indian architect Balkrishna Doshi "has become lost in his dream of bringing past and future together." Entries such as these give the book an undeniable appeal, making it an excellent choice for both architecture experts and laymen in the mood for a lively introduction.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Kester Rattenbury is teaches at the University of Westminster and is the author of The Essential Eye (2002) as well as a regular contributor to various architectural journals, including Building Design.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: Collins Design (October 12, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1856693694
• ISBN-13: 978-1856693691
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 7.6 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,737,594 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars a joy to read, November 10, 2005

By 

Han Li (chicago, il) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Architects Today: The 100 Greatest Living Architects (Hardcover)

as a lay person with strong interests in architecture, i found this book succeeds at informatively and practically presenting the landscape of today's architectural world.
first of all, it's not intended to be an in-depth analysis on any architect or style, but rather "a spotter's guide to the various breeds of architects", to quote the authors. there's only two pages (usually one full page of text and another page composed of three to four photos) dedicated to each architect, which is a format i happened to enjoy, for personally it served my goal of exploring the contemporary architectural scene at a relatively quick pace and without being blocked by abstract academic discourses.
secondly, according to the authors, the architects are chosen based on whether they are highly "influential", meaning, whether they "have changed the way in which their contemporaries and successors thing and practise". not being an architecture professional, i can not quite tell whether or not this book has done a fair job, but based on the introductory texts for each architect, i felt i was adequately introduced to their accomplishments and their influences.

16 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Pointless, May 27, 2005

By 

ArchiZona "archidreamer" (Phoenix, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Architects Today: The 100 Greatest Living Architects (Hardcover)

"Bizarre omissions, weird inclusions-we can hear you muttering now. Any book that attempts to take a broad look at the peculiar world of comtemporary architects and architecture is asking for trouble." (p.7)

This is a direct quote from the introduction of the book written by the three authors. Ironically, I think they made a correct judgment about their book.

My simple critique is: Who are the target readers of this book?

If you are a casual architecture reader, a lay person, the content of this book will not catch your heart. The information about each architect and their works is too brief. Without knowing their works and their idiosyncratic aesthetics, the content in the book will not make much sense to you, not to mention the quality and fairness of the authors' opinions and critiques on those architects.

I truly believe that sincere and true appreciation of architect is much much more important than acquainted you with Who's Who. There are tons of good books with great presentations of architectural works. If you are particularly interested in certain architects, go and find a volume solely dedicated to them, analyzing how they've matured and built their own style.

On the other hand, if you are a professional and quite familiar with the architectural community, then what's the point of getting this book?

So I don't really know what's the purpose of publishing this book? What kind of message do the authors want to convey to the reader? If they had a unique and thoughtful criteria of selecting the architects presented in this book, then they did not fulfill this goal by organizing the architects alphabetically. If they planned to have an overview of the influential living architects (that's actually what they said in the introduction), then their list is far from being complete and representative. If they wanted to highlight some promising young and upcoming talents, they still did not do their research adequately.

The only value of this book, as far as I am concerned, is poping up some interesting architects in front of you (even if you are not familiar with their works). Then you can get more info from other resources.

I thought about rating this book at 2 stars. But considering their hard work of compling all these stuff, a 3-star rating is fair.