The Details of Modern Architecture 2, Vol. 2: 1928 to 1988 [Hardcover]

Edward R Ford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1, 1996 | Series: Set

This second volume of The Details of Modern Architecture continues the study of the relationships of the ideals of design and the realities of construction in modern architecture, beginning in the late 1920s and extending to the present day. It contains a wealth of new information on the construction of modern architecture at a variety of scales from minute details to general principles. There are over 500 illustrations, including 130 original photographs and 230 original axonometric drawings, arranged to explain the technical, aesthetic, and historical aspects of the building form.Most of the modern movements in architecture have identified some paradigm of good construction, arguing that buildings should be built like Gothic cathedrals, like airplanes, like automobiles, like ships, or like primitive dwellings. Ford examines the degree to which these models were followed, either in spirit or in form, and reveals much about both the theories and techniques of modern architecture, including the extent to which the current constructional theories of High Tech and Deconstruction are dependent on the traditional modernist paradigms, as well as the ways in which all of these theories differ from the realities of modern building.Individual chapters treat the work of Eliel and Eero Saarinen, Eric Gunnar Asplund, Richard Neutra, Alvar Aalto, Le Corbusier, and Louis Kahn, as well as the Case Study, High Tech, Postmodern, and Deconstructivist architects. Among the individual buildings documented are Eliel Saarinen's Cranbrook School, Asplund's Woodland Cemetery, Fuller's Dymaxion house, the Venturi house, the Eames and other Case Study houses, the concrete buildings of Le Corbusier, Aalto's Saynatsalo Town Hall, and Kahn's Exeter Library and Salk Institute -- with many details published for the first time.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This is a fine book and an invaluable reference." David Wild Architect's Journal

About the Author

Edward R. Ford is a practicing architect in Charlottesville, Virginia, and Associate Professor at the School of Architecture at the University of Virginia.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 384 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; 1St Edition edition (August 1, 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262061856
• ISBN-13: 978-0262061858
• Product Dimensions: 11.4 x 11.4 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,128,917 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars explains why "God is in Details", July 17, 2006

By 

Joong Won Lee "Joongwon" (Cambridge, MA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Details of Modern Architecture: 1928 to 1988 (Volume 2) (Paperback)

I guess most architects are familiar with the super famous modernists' projects, but few know what was put on the working drawings to realize it. This book does not provide actual construction drawings, but provide enough information to address what was quintessential aspects of the details. The reader would really appreciate the ingenuity of modern master's detailing by Ford's rich axonometric drawings of particular details. Ford painstakingly explains major issues involved in the details and weaves back to the historical basis of Modernism. Sometimes he makes bold generalizations to help a reader understand (and categorize) structural vs. envelope relationships. Throughout the book there is a clear categorization of attitudes towards the details; first, architects who would like to expose structure; second, architects who would like to wrap structure; third, architects who would combine the former two attitudes (expose/wrap structure). It was extremely rewarding to learn how Corb's details ("layered") differed from Mies's or Kahn's ("tectonic"). Four architects that I really enjoyed reading (because of my lack of knowledge on them) were; Asplund, Lewerentz, Greene Greene, and Aalto. I had to purchase these four architects' monographs after reading Ford's books.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Source book for construction and theory of selected projects, July 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Details of Modern Architecture 2, Vol. 2: 1928 to 1988 (Hardcover)

Ford's book offers a unique look into selected projects of twentieth century architecture through short descriptions of projects touching on both theory and construction detailing. His choice of selected work in the volume touches most of the important modernist buildings of the sixty year period. Significant attention is paid to Scandinavia, Corbusier, Case Study Houses, Kahn, and the Post Modernists. Well worth the cash as I have referenced the drawings many times over the two years I have had it on the shelf.

3 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Just like the first one, April 18, 2002

By 

misterbeets "misterbeets" (Safe Harbor, MD USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Details of Modern Architecture 2, Vol. 2: 1928 to 1988 (Hardcover)

Like the first volume, excellent book. Be prepared, however, for sentences like this, on page 127: "Perhaps because this methodology required the juxtaposition of opposites seemingly incapable of reconciliation, the irrational combination of radically different techniques, and the simultaneous consideration of multiple variables, it was one at which Aalto excelled". Both books are pretty much like that. It's interesting to read these elaborate sentences, but often they're the umpteenth re-statement of a point. After reading these volumes you'll have an overview of the important buildings and architects of the Twentieth century, complete with detailed drawings describing exactly how they were built, and a sense that architects will always agonize over the deceptions they are forced to perpetuate.