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More than four decades of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe has left deep scars in Europe. The post-1945 cultural fixation of countries in Central and Eastern Europe on the USSR stands in sharp contrast with Western Europes orientation towards the United States. The contradistinctions and similarities between East and West are subject to critical examination in a(...)
Architecture since 1900, Europe
October 2004, Rotterdam
Ideals in concrete : exploring Central and Eastern Europe
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More than four decades of Communism in Central and Eastern Europe has left deep scars in Europe. The post-1945 cultural fixation of countries in Central and Eastern Europe on the USSR stands in sharp contrast with Western Europes orientation towards the United States. The contradistinctions and similarities between East and West are subject to critical examination in a series of essays in text and image. Many of these subsidiary themes are associated with the city, since the impact of Communism is nowhere more evident than in this urban space. In the planning euphoria and the building of a completely new society on rational and scientific principles we can glimpse a mirroring of the ideas and views of Communist politicians, architects and urban planners. The contemporary phenomenon of the shrinking city calls for solutions which extend beyond restructuring, conservation or regeneration; it is sooner about constructing an identity that can rival Europe and the rest of the world.
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October 2004, Rotterdam
Architecture since 1900, Europe
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This is the first biography of Ernö Goldfinger (1902-1987), the leading modernist architect in Britain in the twentieth century. It is the fascinating story of a man and his struggle to build in a modern style in Britain in the face of contemporary opposition. Today, opposition to his buildings, particularly Trellick Tower, is turning to admiration. 2 Willow Road, his own(...)
Architecture Monographs
December 2003, London / New York
Ernö Goldfinger : the life of an architect
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This is the first biography of Ernö Goldfinger (1902-1987), the leading modernist architect in Britain in the twentieth century. It is the fascinating story of a man and his struggle to build in a modern style in Britain in the face of contemporary opposition. Today, opposition to his buildings, particularly Trellick Tower, is turning to admiration. 2 Willow Road, his own house, was recently acquired by the National Trust - its first modern property. A century after his birth his buildings are achieving heritage status. This book tells the story of Goldfinger's life in architecture which raises profound questions about the role of architecture in British society and the political and moral values that buildings can embody. In writing this important new book, Nigel Warburton researched the extensive archive of Goldfinger's writing, office papers, models and drawings held in the RIBA Collection and also interviewed people who knew and worked with him.
Architecture Monographs
Like origami gone wrong
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Simon Dybbroe M0ller's first monograph folds Modernist art history into something new. His interest stems in part from personal nostalgia and in part from intellectual fascination; he once told an interviewer, "You and I grew up in a society where a certain kind of provincial Modernism has had a major influence on how schools are constructed and everything. Furthermore,(...)
Like origami gone wrong
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Simon Dybbroe M0ller's first monograph folds Modernist art history into something new. His interest stems in part from personal nostalgia and in part from intellectual fascination; he once told an interviewer, "You and I grew up in a society where a certain kind of provincial Modernism has had a major influence on how schools are constructed and everything. Furthermore, Modernism represents--and I guess it is almost a cliche to say--the last period of utopia, and a belief in actually producing truths." One installation, a darkened room with scattered light sources and projection screens, recalls both a party and the fusty setting of an academic conference; in another, a portrait of Le Corbusier emerges from a stain in the ceiling. Frieze magazine has called Moller's celebration of both the past and the uninterrupted march of artistic progress "a welcome alternative to thinking about art history as a daunting public library with strict rules for readers."
Contemporary Art Monographs
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"What is a Museum Now?" asks about the role of a museum in contemporary society. All of Snøhetta's work is formed by the interaction between humans and their physical surroundings. Regarding this connection, the design studio recognized that a museum is a mediator between art and life. This book contains a detailed and extensive documentation of the San Francisco Museum(...)
What is a museum now?: Snøhetta and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
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"What is a Museum Now?" asks about the role of a museum in contemporary society. All of Snøhetta's work is formed by the interaction between humans and their physical surroundings. Regarding this connection, the design studio recognized that a museum is a mediator between art and life. This book contains a detailed and extensive documentation of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art's expansion, conducted by Snøhetta. The studio evolved the SFMOMA as a new form of art appreciation where the experience is an extension of the life of the city itself. This book presents the most recent investigation by Snøhetta into how architecture can nurture social interaction and diversity, fostering relationships where the world of the imagination and the realities of our lives come together. Accompanied by behind-the-scenes sketches, drawings and photographs that detail the design and construction process, this book is in itself an intimate engagement with the building, its art, its directors and curators, its inhabitants and its creators.
Architecture Monographs
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This book is a mock film scenario written by the French novelist Jules Romains. It was first published in book form in 1920, and has never been translated into English. The satirical plot concerns a famous geographer whose academic career is about to be derailed by the revelation that he has invented a city in South America. Through a hilarious sequence of events, a(...)
Architectural Theory
December 2008, New York
Donogoo-Tonka, or the miracles of science : a cinematographic tale
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This book is a mock film scenario written by the French novelist Jules Romains. It was first published in book form in 1920, and has never been translated into English. The satirical plot concerns a famous geographer whose academic career is about to be derailed by the revelation that he has invented a city in South America. Through a hilarious sequence of events, a suicidal young man finds a new mission in life by undertaking to found the fictional city, thereby redeeming the error and reputation of the absentminded professor. Jules Romains, 1885–1972, is the pseudonym of Louis Farigoule, a French novelist, dramatist, and poet. Romains was the founder of Unanimism, a social-literary theory that posited a collective spirit or personality within society. This concept pervades an early collection of his poems, La Vie unanime (1908), as well as his principal work, the twenty-seven-volume novel cycle, Men of Good Will (1932–46). Translated by Brian Evenson.
Architectural Theory
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Mass culture is a fact. Its irresistible vitality and force are enthusiastically exploited by all manner of enterprises, whether network providers for mobile phones, hip lifestyle magazines or trendy fashion labels. Oddly enough, architecture and urban planning have so far failed to exploit the potential offered by mass culture. This book presents the findings of a(...)
Snooze : immersing architecture in mass culture
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Mass culture is a fact. Its irresistible vitality and force are enthusiastically exploited by all manner of enterprises, whether network providers for mobile phones, hip lifestyle magazines or trendy fashion labels. Oddly enough, architecture and urban planning have so far failed to exploit the potential offered by mass culture. This book presents the findings of a study by studio Sputnik, a Rotterdam-based architecture practice, of the opportunities that mass culture presents for architecture. "Snooze" analyses products successful in consumer society and relates the patterns behind their success to the city. The nature and importance of communication proves to be pivotal to architecture's role. What does a building signify, what does it communicate? "Snooze" is not about style or form, nor is it about commercial motives or technical ingenuity. It adds a new voice to architectural discourse at the intersection of theory and design. The surprising insights that this book offers are presented in a highly visual essay.
Architectural Theory
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This book investigates the characteristics of today's built environment: no longer simply a city but increasingly large conurbations made up of a number of development clusters, linked by transport routes. The diffusion of the once compact city into a city web, the 'meta city' is mirrored by changes in society from communities with strong social cohesion and interest in(...)
Cities without cities : an interpretation of the Zwischenstadt
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This book investigates the characteristics of today's built environment: no longer simply a city but increasingly large conurbations made up of a number of development clusters, linked by transport routes. The diffusion of the once compact city into a city web, the 'meta city' is mirrored by changes in society from communities with strong social cohesion and interest in their towns and cities to individuals pursing their own goals, with global social links and little interest in their own town or city other than the quality of their personal space. The account is complex and on a number of levels; social, philosophical, economic and environmental. The difficulties in managing or even controlling the city web, divided arbitrarily into areas of limited size and political power, are enormous. Areas compete with each other rather than co-operate. The book provides a better understanding of this new type of urban form and argues for a change in planning systems for better management.
Urban Theory
Videotape: Object lessons
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Over the span of a single decade, VHS technology changed the relationship between privacy and entertainment, pried open the closed societies behind the Iron Curtain, and then sank back into oblivion. Its meteoric rise and fall encapsulated the dynamics of the '80s and foreshadowed the seismic cultural shifts to come after the Cold War. In the West, its advent deepened the(...)
September 2025
Videotape: Object lessons
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Over the span of a single decade, VHS technology changed the relationship between privacy and entertainment, pried open the closed societies behind the Iron Curtain, and then sank back into oblivion. Its meteoric rise and fall encapsulated the dynamics of the '80s and foreshadowed the seismic cultural shifts to come after the Cold War. In the West, its advent deepened the trends of the age: individualism, consumerism, the fragmentation of society, and the consolidation of corporate power in the entertainment industry and its victory over the regulatory powers of the state. In the East, it encouraged new forms of socialization and economic exchanges, while announcing the gradual crumbling of government control over the imagination of the people. By the mid-1990s, the VHS format was displaced by the DVD. The DVD would eventually give way to streaming. Yet the cultural legacy of the videotape continues to inform our relationship to technology, privacy, and to entertainment.
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The quintessential American suburbs, with their gracious single-family homes, large green lawns, and leaf-shaded streets, reflected not only residents’ dreams but nightmares, not only hopes but fears: fear of others, of racial minorities and low income groups, fear of themselves, fear of the market, and, above all, fear of change. These fears, and the restrictive(...)
Bourgeois Nightmares : Suburbia, 1870-1930
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The quintessential American suburbs, with their gracious single-family homes, large green lawns, and leaf-shaded streets, reflected not only residents’ dreams but nightmares, not only hopes but fears: fear of others, of racial minorities and low income groups, fear of themselves, fear of the market, and, above all, fear of change. These fears, and the restrictive covenants that embodied them, are the subject of Robert M. Fogelson’s fascinating new book. As Fogelson reveals, suburban subdividers attempted to cope with the deep-seated fears of unwanted change, especially the encroachment of “undesirable” people and activities, by imposing a wide range of restrictions on the lots. These restrictions ranged from mandating minimum costs and architectural styles for the houses to forbidding the owners to sell or lease their property to any member of a host of racial, ethnic, and religious groups. These restrictions, many of which are still commonly employed, tell us as much about the complexities of American society today as about its complexities a century ago.
Suburbs
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This wide-ranging book examines the world’s most significant large-scale housing complexes, which point the way for the future of housing design. The seventy residential complexes featured here are recognized as architectural milestones, embodying forward-thinking attitudes towards urban planning. This book chronicles the evolution of these structures, revealing how(...)
Collective Housing
March 2006, Munich Berlin London New York
Housing in the 20th and 21st centuries / Wohen im 20. umd 21. jahrundert
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This wide-ranging book examines the world’s most significant large-scale housing complexes, which point the way for the future of housing design. The seventy residential complexes featured here are recognized as architectural milestones, embodying forward-thinking attitudes towards urban planning. This book chronicles the evolution of these structures, revealing how each best represented its era’s goals: housing a new society in the 1920s and 30s; the 40s and 50s’ leap toward functionality and the future; the high-density urban projects of the 60s and 70s; and diversity and environmental awareness in the 80s and 90s. It also looks at this century’s most progressive developments: Beijing’s Looped Hybrid, a city within a city; India’s Aranya township, which provides housing for impoverished residents; and the environmentally friendly Solaire Apartments in Manhattan, among others. As today’s cities face myriad global challenges, this book provides ample food for thought for anyone concerned with socially responsible architecture.
Collective Housing