New Vernacular Architecture FROM THE PUBLISHER
"New Vernacular Architecture considers the synthesis of modernity and tradition in contemporary architecture. Focusing on 37 international examples of buildings of different types completed in the last decade, it examines architecture that reinterprets rather than revives traditional forms, materials and construction techniques. The projects covered range from better known works by renowned architects such as Michael Graves, Renzo Piano and David Chipperfield, to less familiar buildings in Hungary, Nepal, Latvia and elsewhere." The fragmentation of nation states and the greater plurality of political and cultural identities that have occurred over recent years have led to a growing reaction in architecture against "global blanding" - the worldwide homogenization of images and designs. As a result, local context, materials and culture are becoming increasingly important concerns for many architects. Architecture has captured the public imagination as a means of lending form to evolving regional identity and as a way of reflecting difference. Each project features a thoroughly researched and detailed commentary, and is generously illustrated with photographs, sketches and plans.
SYNOPSIS
This oversize volume (9.5x11.75") focuses on 37 international examples of buildings of various types completed in the last decade; some are well known by renowned architects such as Michael Graves and Renzo Piano; others are less familiar buildings in Hungary, Nepal, Latvia, and elsewhere. Richardson, who has written extensively about architecture, provides a sophisticated historical analysis of architectural trends, in particular the significance and the signifying aspects of building designs that aim to reinterpret, rather than simply revive, traditional forms, materials, and construction techniques. Each project is described in text and illustrated with color photos and architectural drawings.
Annotation © Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
FROM THE CRITICS
Library Journal
This book proves that good, old-fashioned modern architecture is alive and well, living in our new millennium and featuring splintered sections, complex elevations, slanted walls, angular roofs, imaginative lighting, indigenous materials, etc. Modern architecture has survived the onslaught of postmodernism in several forms. Cubism is the paramount style here, aided and abetted by Sustainability, 1950s Retro, High Tech, and even a new pragmatism. Primarily a picture book, this volume catalogs and documents the distribution of the modern Cubist industrial architecture throughout the globe in terms of six themes: tradition, technology, landscape, regionalism, civics, and identity. Richardson is a prize-winning writer, the deputy editor of the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and the coauthor of In Defense of Domes. Very focused in its purview, this book is aimed at the professional design community. Recommended for architecture libraries only. Peter Kaufman, Boston Architectural Ctr. Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.
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