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For Siegfried Kracauer, the urban ornament was not just an aspect of design; it was the medium through which city dwellers interpreted the metropolis itself. In "Ornaments of the metropolis", Henrik Reeh traces variations on the theme of the ornament in Kracauer's writings on urbanism, from his early journalism in Germany between the wars to his "sociobiography" of(...)
Ornaments of the metropolis : Siegfried Kracuaer and the Modern urban culture
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For Siegfried Kracauer, the urban ornament was not just an aspect of design; it was the medium through which city dwellers interpreted the metropolis itself. In "Ornaments of the metropolis", Henrik Reeh traces variations on the theme of the ornament in Kracauer's writings on urbanism, from his early journalism in Germany between the wars to his "sociobiography" of Jacques Offenbach in Paris. Kracauer (1889-1966), often associated with the Frankfurt School and the intellectual milieu of Walter Benjamin, is best known for his writings on cinema and the philosophy of history. Reeh examines Kracauer's lesser-known early work, much of it written for the trendsetting newspaper Frankfurter Zeitung in the 1920s and early 1930s, and analyzes Kracauer's continuing reflections on modern urban life, through the pivotal idea of ornament. Kracauer deciphers the subjective experience of the city by viewing fragments of the city as dynamic ornaments; an employment exchange, a day shelter for the homeless, a movie theater, and an amusement park become urban microcosms. Reeh focuses on three substantial works written by Kracauer before his emigration to the United States in 1940. In the early autobiographical novel "Ginster, written by himself", a young architect finds aesthetic pleasure in the ornamental forms that are largely unused in the profession of the time. The collection "Streets of Berlin and elsewhere", with many essays from Kracauer's years in Berlin, documents the subjectiveness of urban life. Finally, "Jacques Offenbach and the Paris of his time" shows how the superficial - in a sense, ornamental - milieu of the operetta evolved into a critical force during the Second Empire. Reeh argues that Kracauer's novel, essays, and historiography all suggest ways in which the subjective can reappropriate urban life. The book also includes a series of photographs by the author that reflect the ornamental experience of the metropolis in Paris, Frankfurt, and other cities.
Urban Theory
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ix, 397 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm
Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1993.
Frank Lloyd Wright--the lost years, 1910-1922 : a study of influence / Anthony Alofsin.
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ix, 397 pages : illustrations, maps ; 27 cm
books
Chicago : University of Chicago Press, 1993.
$29.95
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A new edition of one of the most widely read books on modern design Nikolaus Pevsner's landmark work was first published in 1936. Pevsner saw Modernism as a synthesis of three main sources: William Morris and his followers; the work of the 19th-century engineers; and Art Nouveau. All these form the essential background to the work of the early Modernists, with their(...)
Pioneers of modern design: from William Morris to Walter Gropius
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A new edition of one of the most widely read books on modern design Nikolaus Pevsner's landmark work was first published in 1936. Pevsner saw Modernism as a synthesis of three main sources: William Morris and his followers; the work of the 19th-century engineers; and Art Nouveau. All these form the essential background to the work of the early Modernists, with their rejection of ornament, their use of new materials and their commitment to "utility" and the machine age. Pevsner looks at the early masters of the movement, such as Voysey and Rennie Mackintosh in Britain; Sullivan and Lloyd Wright in America; and Loos and Wagner in Vienna, ending in 1914, with Walter Gropius and the Bauhaus movement representing design's most radical break with the past.
Design Theory
books
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xii, 172 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, ©1994.
The progressive architecture of Frederick G. Scheibler, Jr. / Martin Aurand.
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xii, 172 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
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Pittsburgh : University of Pittsburgh Press, ©1994.
$52.95
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Vitruvius' Ten Books of Architecture was the fountainhead of architectural theory in the Italian Renaissance. Offering theoretical and practical solutions to a wide variety of architectural issues, this treatise did not, however, address all of the questions that were of concern to early modern architects. This study examines the Italian Renaissance architect's efforts to(...)
The architectural treatise in the Italian Renaissance
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Vitruvius' Ten Books of Architecture was the fountainhead of architectural theory in the Italian Renaissance. Offering theoretical and practical solutions to a wide variety of architectural issues, this treatise did not, however, address all of the questions that were of concern to early modern architects. This study examines the Italian Renaissance architect's efforts to negotiate between imitation and reinvention of classicism. Through a close reading of Vitruvius and texts written during the period 1400-1600, Alina Payne identifies ornament as the central issue around which much of this debate focused.
Treatises