Auguste Perret

by Karla Britton

French architect Auguste Perret (1874-1954) was a pioneering precursor to the Modern movement. His career is inextricably linked to the constructional technique of reinforced in works such as his 1903 apartment building in Rue Franklin, Paris, concrete - a material that previously had been perceived as common and industrial - was reinvented, handled artistically and granted its own idiom. Le Corbusier described this building as 'a foretaste of the modern world'. With his projects in France and abroad - such as the Musée des Travaux Publics in Paris, the Church of Notre-Dame at Raincy and many other domestic, industrial and urban buildings - Perret caught the attention of a generation searching for a new architecture appropriate to the twentieth century. A committed constructor and innovator, Perret simultaneously adhered to structural classicist principles, continuously resisting the more transitory aspects of the avant-garde. This monograph is the first sustained study of Perret in English, richly illustrated with new colour photography as well as drawings and photographs from the Perret archive. It also includes an appendix of Perret's aphorisms and other writings, which provide a penetrative insight into his craft and its artistic social priciples.

Genres: Architecture

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 22, 2001

Reviews

[Topaz · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book on Auguste Perret, a very important architect of the early 20th century, but it's not a full monograph. It covers a number of key projects and is divided up by project type. The author does a good job analyzing and describing the works and their significance in a non-academic way.

There are many illustrations throughout, including perspective drawings, floor plans, archival photographs, and contemporary photos in color. There are not many books written about Auguste Perret in English so this is one of the few that is worth reading.

Photos of the actual book can be found at Amazon

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

If I were a betting man, I would say this covers all you will ever wish to know about Perret. Obviously exhaustively researched, nice images, well written, I would recommend to anyone who, well, wants to curl up to a good/long book about Perret. [disclaimer: I’m an enthusiastic acquaintance with the author – “Hello Karla! How’s the fam.?”] If one aspect is lacking, I would say a comparison to that coeval concrete innovator Irving Gill might have been interesting. But alas, that will be some even longer doctoral thesis any day now, heavily utilizing this most comprehensive production.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

!S!S