Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture

by Malcolm Millais

The Modern movement began in the 1920s when a small group of young architects felt all that had gone before should be rejected and that architectural design should start afresh. This fresh start, they declared, should be based on modern technology and a new, modern approach to life. Their innovations became the 20th century’s dominant movement in architecture, crystallizing into the international style of the 1920s and '30s. In Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture, Malcolm Millais explores the forces and factors that led to the emergence of the Modern movement, arguing that it was based on completely false premises. Millais offers a rarely heard perspective on the Modern movement, explaining its failures and how the well-meaning “revolutionaries” behind it gained and maintained power.

Genres: Architecture

296 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2009

Reviews

[Malcolm · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a book that needs to be written because there are allot of misconceptions about modern architecture, how it began, the characters who brought it into being, and why it developed. The author doesn't seem to know what a footnote is. There was actually one footnote to a sentence regarding Gropius' admiration of the Pantheon that mentioned the fact that Hitler also happened to admire the Pantheon, which made me laugh out loud.

The arguments are quite stupid and the author seems very desperate to throw everything he has at destroying the reader's perception of modern art as anything but a mistake. Many of the complaints can be applied just as easily to buildings of other styles. If you're a school teacher wanting to teach your students to find grammatical and spelling mistakes, then they will get lots of practice with this book because I don't think it was edited or proofread at all.

[Jim Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A an entertaining and perceptive look at modern architecture from the perspective of a conservative engineer. He does set up straw men that he can easily knock down but does ask some basic questions about the nature of architecture. Sometimes simplistic and pedantic but really entertaining for anyone interested in modern architecture and the rise of the star architect.