Modern Architecture: A Critical History (World of Art) (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Product Description

This acclaimed survey of 20th-century architecture and its origins has become a classic since it first appeared in 1980. Now revised, enlarged and expanded, Kenneth Frampton brings the story up to date and adds an entirely new concluding chapter that focuses on four countries where individual talent and enlightened patronage have combined to produce a comprehensive and convincing architectural culture: Finland, France, Spain and Japan. The bibliography has also been reviewed and extended, making this volume more indispensable than ever.

Product Details

• Paperback: 376 pages
• Publisher: Thames & Hudson; 3 Sub edition (May 1992)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0500202575
• ISBN-13: 978-0500202579
• Product Dimensions: 8 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #424,021 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A defense of Modern Architecture, December 15, 2002

By	James Ferguson (Vilnius, Lithuania) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

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.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars More pictures please., March 14, 1999

By A Customer

A cannonical book, but sadly only really educational if you know all about these buildings. If you didn't, the black & white, thumbnail size pictures doesn't help. Could someone republish this book with full-size photos and diagrams? I'll read it all over again!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An interpretive classic of architectural modernity, December 9, 1998

By A Customer

This book remains the only interpretive history of modern architecture and culture. It is scholarly, intelligent, infused with critical opinion and a true document of thought (as opposed to a banal catalogue of dates and facts). All of the words used are readily available to the English language reader, and their meaning demands to be grappled with. This is how deeper understanding is achieved. Do not open this book if you expect a pseudo-objective outline of neutralized information.