Jump to ratings and reviews
Rate this book

Patkau Architects

Rate this book
The firm of Patkau Architects, founded in 1978 and based in Vancouver, British Columbia, has achieved international renown for work that draws on the principles of modern architecture and is simultaneously inspired by the traditions and often spectacular landscape of the Pacific Northwest. The office is known for a straightforward, multifaceted expression of material and detail as well as a focus on the sculpture that is inherent in architecture. This comprehensive monograph includes cultural and institutional projects, such as the Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery, the National Library of Quebec in Montreal, and a major addition to the Winnipeg Centennial Library; schools, notably the Seabird Island School and the Strawberry Vale School; and a series of residences, including the Shaw house, with a dramatic elevated lap pool, and the inventive Petite Maison du Weekend (Small Weekend House), a prototype for a self-sufficient holiday house for two. Kenneth Frampton is the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation at Columbia University. Among his numerous influential books is Modern Architecture: A Critical History.

240 pages, Hardcover

First published June 8, 2006

8 people want to read

About the author

Kenneth Frampton

271 books88 followers
Kenneth Frampton is a British architect, critic, historian and the Ware Professor of Architecture at the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation at Columbia University, New York.

Frampton studied architecture at Guildford School of Art and the Architectural Association School of Architecture, London. Subsequently he worked in Israel, with Middlesex County Council and Douglas Stephen and Partners (1961–66), during which time he was also a visiting tutor at the Royal College of Art (1961–64), tutor at the Architectural Association (1961–63) and Technical Editor of the journal Architectural Design (AD) (1962–65).
Frampton has also taught at Princeton University (1966–71) and the Bartlett School of Architecture, London, (1980). He has been a member of the faculty at Columbia University since 1972, and that same year he became a fellow of the Institute for Architecture and Urban Studies in New York -- (whose members also included Peter Eisenman, Manfredo Tafuri and Rem Koolhaas) -- and a co-founding editor of its magazine Oppositions.
Frampton is a permanent resident of the USA.
Frampton is well known for his writing on twentieth-century architecture. His books include Modern Architecture: A Critical History (1980; revised 1985, 1992 and 2007) and Studies in Tectonic Culture (1995). Frampton achieved great prominence (and influence) in architectural education with his essay "Towards a Critical Regionalism" (1983) — though the term had already been coined by Alexander Tzonis and Liliane Lefaivre. Also, Frampton's essay was included in a book The Anti-Aesthetic. Essays on Postmodern Culture, edited by Hal Foster, though Frampton is critical of postmodernism. Frampton's own position attempts to defend a version of modernism that looks to either critical regionalism or a 'momentary' understanding of the autonomy of architectural practice in terms of its own concerns with form and tectonics which cannot be reduced to economics (whilst conversely retaining a Leftist viewpoint regarding the social responsibility of architecture).
In 2002 a collection of Frampton's writings over a period of 35 years was collated and published under the title Labour, Work and Architecture.

Ratings & Reviews

What do you think?
Rate this book

Friends & Following

Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!

Community Reviews

5 stars
3 (37%)
4 stars
3 (37%)
3 stars
2 (25%)
2 stars
0 (0%)
1 star
0 (0%)
Displaying 1 of 1 review
Displaying 1 of 1 review

Can't find what you're looking for?

Get help and learn more about the design.