描述
For 200 years architecture has been the subject of considerable debate. This work explores the re-interpretations of the original aims and principles of modern architecture, many of which were suppressed in the 1930s and all of which were flouted in the 1960s. Where the postmodern critique takes the form of an attempt to retreat into the past the author of this book argues that a renewal of the overlooked humanist basis of modern architecture is the only sound approach to the future. The book is divided into four parts: five essays explore the philosophical and ethical basis of architecture; five further studies explore what the author defines as “the other tradition of modernism” which looks at the work of Aalto, Scharoun, Lewerentz, Asplund and Rietveld; the third section sees the author set this “other traditions” against the rise and decline of postmodernism; and the final piece is a case study of Waterhouse’s Law Courts, a complex urban project. Combined, these pieces show how the concerns of architectural theory can enter into a dynamic relationship with the pragmatic concerns of architectural practice.
