The Master Builders: Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright (Norton Library

by Peter Blake

Alternate Cover Edition can be found here.


The story of modern architecture is told here through the lives and works of three men who changed the face of the cities we live in: France's Le Corbusier, Germany's Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, and America's Frank Lloyd Wright. Virtually no modern office building, apartment house, or private home constructed today would look the way it does but for the influence of these men. Le Corbusier gave to modern design a sure and brilliant sense of form; Mies brought an almost Gothic discipline of structure; and Wright heralded a new and dramatic concept of space and freedom. Through this triple focus, Peter Blake provides a perspective on the entire range of twentieth-century architecture.

Genres: Architecture, Biography, Nonfiction, History, Art History, Art

1 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

Reviews

[Kiel Bryant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Peter Blake was an individual and for that reason, rare. He possessed a sharp mind never hardened into inflexibility by the need for self-preservation. When the built environment of the 1960's laid bare the lies of "modernism" (the adornments of which are sold at etsy and everywhere now as "mid century modernism") he, against all of his contemporaries, seized the moment and discarded the false movement, and all its suave velleities, entirely — long before the recriminations spread and ignited into pomo, another boring dogma, under Venturi, Graves and the rest. He cared for architecture because he practiced it — and practiced it rather superbly, as exampled in his surviving residences. This fact alone elevates him above mere critics, the Barmecides who so recklessly — and so easily — lob imprecations from positions of unearned authority. You'll complete this book regretting that so pleasant a conversation had to end.

[Wayne · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ran out of steam halfway through Mies. Perhaps I'll pick it up again in the future.

[Leandro Llorente · Rating 5 out of 5]

Best read regarding the lives of the three important Architects.

[Scott Cox · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent introduction into the architectural theories of three great 20th architects: Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, and Frank Lloyd Wright. I was amazed to learn how Le Corbusier designed high-rise apartment buildings in Paris "to stand (the) traditional French street up on its end: the street was now a vertical circulation shaft." Hence city parks become rooftop gardens, home gardens & courtyards become balconies. Everything in a horizontal city block was turned vertically on their sides! So was the impact that these architectures on had on 20th century design.

[June · Rating 3 out of 5]

This isn't the actual title of the book I read. I couldn't find any listing for "Le Corbusier:Architecture and Form" by Peter Blake. I think that the publishers split the book up into three volumes later. Though I'm not sure how Blake works up any enthusiasm for the other architects...This is my first experience reading a HAGIOGRAPHY...

[Theabbey abbey]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3dpzW...