The Details of Modern Architecture. (v. 1) (Hardcover)

by Edward R. Ford (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
How did the great architects of this century reconcile their vision of architecture with the realities of building? This is a crucial question that every student of architecture must confront. The Details of Modern Architecture the first comprehensive analysis of both the technical and the aesthetic importance of details in the development of architecture, provides not one answer but many. The more than 500 illustrations are a major contribution in their own right. Providing a valuable collective resource, they present the details of notable architectural works drawn in similar styles and formats, allowing comparisons between works of different scales, periods, and styles. Covering the period 1890-1932, Ford focuses on various recognized masters, explaining the detailing and construction techniques that distort, camouflage, or enhance a building. He looks at the source of each architect's ideas, the translation of those ideas into practice, and the success or failure of the technical execution. Ford examines Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House and Fallingwater Le Corbusier's Villa Savoye, and buildings by McKim, Mead & White, Lutyens, Mies van der Rohe, and Schindler from a point of view that acknowledges the importance of tradition, precedent, style, and ideology in architectural construction. He discusses critical details from a technical and contextual standpoint, considering how they perform how they add to or detract from the building as a whole, and how some have persisted and been adapted through time.

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: 382 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press; illustrated edition edition (August 22, 1990)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 026206121X
• ISBN-13: 978-0262061216
• Product Dimensions: 11.5 x 11.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #795,267 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Scholarly text and incredibly detailed drawings, December 31, 2001

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

A review of famous modern architects' buildings, starting with H.H. Richardson and ending with Wright's Usonian houses. Shows how each's ideals regarding architectural honesty are revealed and often compromised in their buildings. The theme is really not important, as long as it provides a framework for discussion of construction methods, which is the real heart of the book. (For the sequel, another theme, the influence of industrialization, is added to the discussion.) You'll learn interesting facts: Greene & Greene's Gamble House is post and beam only where it shows; FLW's Martin house owes its distinctive style to framing with structural steel and brick piers. Combine this with the second volume, and you'll be familiar with all the important Modern buildings and architects.

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Knowing from inside,,,, June 25, 2000

By	"jorgetomasi" (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - See all my reviews

It is an excellent way to know how the masters made their buildings.

The book is full of drawings showing every detail.

Excellent BOOK!

10 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars The missing details, November 14, 2001

By	"akienyy" (CUHK, Shatin, NT Hong Kong) - See all my reviews

I received the books (both the earlier publication and the follow up vol 2) today after a long wait. I must say that I have high expectation of the books and reckon that they could make an important contribution to the study of architecture. In an age where students are learning only from glossy mags and have no idea how buildings are put together and how the tactile quality of construction works, I think it is right that somebody should revisit the art and craft of architecture.

However, I am greatly disappointed with the books. Whilst the text is general reasonable, insightful and critical, the same cannot be said to the drawings. In a nutshell, they are badly drawn and poorly finished. For example, the style of the drawings does not reflect the quality of the material used. And who is going to believe that when materials of different qualities are joined together, there is no tolerance? Fixing methods are not illustrated and I have a suspicion that some of the details are guesswork. This is evident by noting the impossibility of construction sequence based on the drawings. The most unforgivable sin of the drawings is that lines are missing, or are wrongly drawn. Like my teachers used to say to us, students of architecture, the guy who did the drawings simply has no idea of construction and detailing.

As far as trying to teach my students the art and craft of architecture, I will definitely give the books a miss. The books are only useful to show how they should not be done.