Architecture After Modernism

World of Art

by Diane Ghirardo

An examination of the architectural world and its theories since the late 1960s in the context of social and political issues. It looks at a broad survey of buildings, but focuses on specific "megaprojects" as examples for discussion: the Disney empire and its amusement parks in the context of public space and the IBA in Berlin in the context of domestic space.

Genres: Architecture

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1996

Reviews

[Konrad · Rating 3 out of 5]

While I found myself enthralled by the sleek design of both the cover and interior of this book, I am left with a particular distaste for Ghirardo's editors, who likely cut much of the character from this publication. The depth of discussion into each megaproject is immense and worthy of academic appraisal, though these word counts are achieved through a meandering not unlike that of the papers I found myself writing during my time in academia.

This book has taught me the important lesson that, where there are soulless architectural installations funded by international conglomerates, there is also a media team that will fund multi-format explorations into the justification of why glorified brutalism is actually a positive thing.

A solid read for undergraduate architecture and urban planning students. Somewhat repetitive for anyone with knowledge above this level. At the time of writing this book, it appears that Ghirardo was confined by the definition of architectural poetry being an extension of geometric symmetry, rather than the physical manifestation of cultural soul. The ending of my copy is all too abrupt, though it appears the true poetry lies in Ghirardo's final, apt synthesis of modernism's effect on human spaces.

If you are looking for an architectural descriptor thesaurus that frames the modernist impact on contemporary architecture with well-cloaked bias, look no further.

[Ricardo Sérgio Alencar Tavares]

Título em português : Arquitetura Contemporânea: Uma história concisa

[M Motamedi · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was ok