Modernism at Mid-Century: The Architecture of the United States Air Force Academy [Hardcover]

Robert Bruegmann (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0226076938 | ISBN-13: 978-0226076935 | Publication Date: February 15, 1995 | Edition: 1

One of the country's largest and most important postwar architectural projects, the United States Air Force Academy opened in 1958. With its spectacular natural setting and stunning Modernist design, the Academy was quickly hailed as a national landmark and attracts over a million visitors each year.

The contributors to this volume (Jory Johnson, Robert Nauman, Sheri Olson, James Russell, and Kristen Schaffer) and editor Robert Bruegmann chronicle the complex history of the planning, design, and construction of the Air Force Academy. As the most conspicuous commission of the American military at the height of the Cold War, the design of the Academy generated intense popular interest and was a lightning rod for conflicting values in postwar society. The design, by architects Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, has been hailed as the final triumph of the International Style and as a monument to military bureaucracy.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 200 pages
• Publisher: University Of Chicago Press; 1 edition (February 15, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0226076938
• ISBN-13: 978-0226076935
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 10 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,520,523 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Robert Bruegmann is an historian of architecture, landscape and the built environment. He received his BA from Principia College in 1970 and his PhD from the University of Pennsylvania in 1976. In 1977 he joined the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago where he is currently University Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Art History, Architecture and Urban Planning. He has also taught at the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia College of the Arts, MIT and Columbia University.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Modernism in Mid Century - The Architecture of the USAFA, November 18, 2009

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J. Hollingsworth "first academy architect" (Williamsburg, VA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Modernism at Mid-Century: The Architecture of the United States Air Force Academy (Hardcover)

The book well covers the architecture BUT the author obviously did not talk to the two USAFA officers in the original cadre that did the work to create the design controls and design directives to be used in designing each building. I happen to be one of the two. There are many incorrect or incomplete statements in the book on how the deisgns evolved into what is there today.