Architecture in the 20th Century by Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser

I am currently working on Alexander Tcherepnin's Andante, Op. 65 with a Euphoniumist.  Is that correct?  Sounds a little classier than "Euphonium player".  The latter sounds like a rake who happens to have musical talent.  Not that there's any shortage of those.  The young man with whom I am performing is very much a gentleman so we'll stick with Euphoniumist, even if I made the word up.  

Here's a link to the same piece performed by Tubist Philip Sinder and Pianist Deborah Moriarty if you'd like to listen while you read today's book review.

Architecture in the Twentieth Century by Peter Gossel

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is a simply dazzling coffee table book filled with glossy photographs on every page. I don't know why the Goodreads picture has two books, mine is only one.  And it was only twenty dollars on clearance at Books A Million (Score!).  Peter Gossel and Gabriele Leuthauser chronicle the development of twentieth century architecture. Backing up to the year 1773 to show how the industrial age prepared the world for twentieth century modernism, the authors take readers through every year from the production of iron to the production of iron structure buildings, such as the birth of sky scrapers.

Much of architecture's artistic sensiblity accompanied the art world arm in arm down the years. Skyscrapers were Art Deco in the turn of the century until the Depression stripped people of frivolity. The misery of reality was averted through fantasy and in the thirties we see houses and businesses reflecting man's hope in science. Many structures developed then looked like Spaceships out of a pulpy Sci Fi magazine. The Second World War produced edifices that were meant to express power. Albert Speer buildings in Germany hearkened back to the Ancient Roman temples.

After the War, architects became minimalist, striving for homes and offices that offered clean, clear space without clutter, but wrap around glass, which allowed the resident's view to be filled with the surrounding landscape.

Rationality and reason were expressed through materials of concrete and steel. As the sixties, seventies and eighties marched down through the corridors of time, architects combined the rationality of the early half of the century with experimentation and creativity. Some of the buildings are so curvaceous it's amazing they are made out of concrete.

There were many architects I was unfamiliar with, yet their work was no less profound. Japanese architect Tadao Ando seamlessly interwove traditional Japanese form with modern materials. His influence on Frank Lloyd Wright is unmistakable.

And of course we get to read about the more famous ones such as Louis Kahn, Philip Johnson, Louis Sullivan and Le Corbusier, with no shortage of photos of their work.

If you are a layperson, like me, who enjoys a good overview of modern architecture, I recommend this book.



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