ARCHITECTURE

Alvar Aalto (1898 1976) made a unique modernist mark. Influenced by both the landscape and the political independence of his native Finland, he designed warm, curving, compassionate buildings, wholly set apart from the slick, mechanistic, geometric designs that characterized much contemporary European practice.

Whether a church, a villa, a sauna, or a public library, Aalto s organic structures tended to replace plaster and steel with brick and wood, often incorporating undulating, wave-like forms, which would also appear in his chair, glassware, and lamp designs.

An adherent to detail, Aalto insisted upon the humanity and societal role of architecture, stating: Modern architecture does not mean using immature new materials; the main thing is to work with materials towards a more human line. Many of his public buildings such as Säynätsalo Town Hall, the lecture theatre at Otaniemi Technical University, the Helsinki National Pensions Institute and the Helsinki House of Culture may be seen as psychological as well as physical landmarks in the rebuilding of Finland after the ravages of war.

French architect and designer Jean Prouve (1901-1984) was one of the most important constructors of the 20th century. Prouve's design innovations included cleverly-shaped metal parts for building prefabricated structures; he designed buildings and furniture that could be produced with economy of labor and material and efficiency in use, while maintaining high technical standards and quality materials. His simple and elegant style, while born from the desire for inexpensive production, has become an imitable aesthetic and has earned him a position as one of the century's most influential designers.This introduction to Prouve's work gives a profound insight into the variety of his oeuvre and the progressiveness of his inspirational vision.

Audacious futurism: The forward-thinking work of a singular architect Zaha Hadidis a wildly controversial architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite her designs winning prizes and critical acclaim. Some even said her work was unbuildable. Yet over the past decade she has completed numerous structures including theRosenthal Center for Contemporary Artin Cincinnati (which the New York Times called the most important new building in America since the Cold War ), theMAXXI Museumin Rome, the Guangzhou Opera House, her first completed project in China, and theLondon Aquatics Centerfor the 2012 Olympics.Today, Hadid is firmly established among the elite of world architecture, her audacious and futuristic designs as well as her sense for style and fashion having catapulted her to international fame. About the series: Each book in TASCHEN s Basic Architecture series features: an introduction to the life and work of the architect the major works in chronological order information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts and plans) "

Born Charles-Edouard Jeanneret, Le Corbusier (1887 1965) is widely acclaimed as the most influential architect of the 20th century. From private villas to mass social housing projects, his radical ideas, designs, and writings presented a whole-scale reinvention not only of individual structures, but of entire concepts of modern living.

Le Corbusier s work made distinct developments over the years, from early vernacular houses in Switzerland through dazzling white, purist villas to dynamic syntheses of art and architecture such as the chapel at Ronchamp and the civic buildings in Chandigarh, India. A hallmark throughout was his ability to combine functionalist aspirations with a strong sense of expressionism, as well as a broader and empathetic understanding of urban planning. He was a founding member of the Congrès international d architecture moderne (CIAM), which championed architecture as a social art.

This book presents some of Le Corbusier s landmark projects to introduce an architect, thinker, and modern pioneer who, even in his unrealized projects, offered discussion and inspiration for generations to come.

Feats of design and engineering: The work of an unparalleled architectural engineer Santiago Calatravais not only one of the world s most prominent architects, but is also an engineer, sculptor, and painter. His reputation as an unparalleled architectural engineer was cemented with hisnumerous bridges for cities around the world. With more recent projects such as the stadium for the 2004 Athens Olympic Games and the railway station in Liege, Belgium, he has unarguably made his name in Europe and continues to look further ahead.Calatrava s work is closely related to his own drawings of the human body, and to his sculptures of geometric forms, inspired by the dynamics of movement and tension. Winner of the 2005 American Institute of Architects Gold Medal and the only architect ever to have his work exhibited at both the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Calatrava isone of today s greatest and most innovative architects. This book provides an introduction to and overview of his work to date.

Full of incredible tales of achievement and ingenuity, Engineers celebrates the greatest engineers that ever lived and the stamp they have left on our world.

Learn all about how engineering projects have changed the course of history and added to human progress, from those who built the Great Pyramid in Egypt to the Industrial Revolution and beyond. Discover the impressive structures of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the first forays into space travel, and the pioneering computer scientists of today.

From initial concepts to prototypes and finished designs, Engineers is full to bursting with technical drawings, specially commissioned artworks, blueprints and virtual tours that help bring engineering's greatest structures, inventions and technological breakthroughs to life.

With more than 280 entries, this architectural A Z, now part of our Bibliotheca Universalis series, offers an indispensable overview of the key players in the creation of modern space. From the period spanning the 19th to the 21st century, pioneering architects are featured with a portrait, concise biography, as well as a description of her or his important work.

Like a bespoke global architecture tour, you ll travel from Manhattan skyscrapers to a Japanese concert hall, from Gaudí s Palau Güell in Barcelona to Lina Bo Bardi s sports and leisure center in a former factory site in São Paulo. You ll take in Gio Ponti s colored geometries, Zaha Hadid s free-flowing futurism, the luminous interiors of SANAA, and Charles Rennie Mackintosh s unique blend of Scottish tradition and elegant japonisme.

The book s A to Z entries also cover groups, movements, and styles to position these leading individual architects within broader building trends across time and geography, including International Style, Bauhaus, De Stijl, and much more. With illustrations including some of the best architectural photography of the modern era, this is a comprehensive resource for any architecture professional, student, or devotee.

Landmarks: An impeccable blend of building and environmentIn the architecture of Richard Neutra (1892 1970), inside and outside find their perfect modernist harmony. As the Californian sun glints off sleek building surfaces, vast glass panel walls allow panoramic views over mountains, gardens, palm trees, and pools.Neutra moved to the United States from his native Vienna in 1923 and settled in Los Angeles. He displayed his affinity with architectural settings early on with the Lovell House, set on a landscaped hill with views of the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Mountains. Later projects such as the Kaufmann House and Nesbitt House would continue this blend of art, landscape, and living comfort, with Neutra s clients often receiving detailed questionnaires to define their precise needs.This richly illustrated architect introduction presents the defining projects of Neutra s career. As crisp structures nestle amid natural wonders, we celebrate a particularly holistic brand of modernism which incorporated the ragged lines and changing colors of nature as much as the pared down geometries of the International Style

Designing private residences has its own very special challenges and nuances for the architect. The scale may be more modest than public projects, the technical fittings less complex than an industrial site, but the preferences, requirements and vision of particular personalites becomes priority. The delicate task is to translate all the emotive associations and pratical requirements of home into a workable, constructed reality.
This publication rounds up 100 of the world s most interesting and pioneering homes from the past decade, featuring a host of talents both new and established, including John Pawson, Richard Meier, Shigeru Ban, Tadao Ando, Zaha Hadid, Herzog and de Meuron, Daniel Libeskind, Alvaro Siza, UNStudio, and Peter Zumthor. Accommodating daily routines of eating, sleeping, and shelter, as well as offering the space for personal experience and relationships, this is architecture at its most elementary and its most intimate.
About the Series:
Bibliotheca Universalis Compact cultural companions celebrating the eclectic TASCHEN universe at an unbeatable, democratic price!
Since we started our work as cultural archaeologists in 1980, the name TASCHEN has become synonymous with accessible, open-minded publishing. Bibliotheca Universalis brings together nearly 100 of our all-time favorite titles in a neat new format so you can curate your own affordable library of art, anthropology, and aphrodisia.
Bookworm s delight never bore, always excite!

Building virtuoso: The exploration and iconoclasm of an Italian masterWhile some architects have a signature style, Renzo Piano seeks to apply coherent ideas to extraordinarily different projects. His buildings impress as much for their individual impact as for their diversity of scale, material, and form.Piano rose to international prominence with his codesign of the Pompidou Center in Paris, described by The New York Times as a building that turned the architecture world upside down. Since then, he has continued to craft many high-profile cultural spaces, including the Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago; the Morgan Library Renovation and Expansion in New York; and, most recently, the Whitney Museum of American Art, an asymmetric nine-story structure in Manhattan s Meatpacking District with both indoor and outdoor galleries. In New York and London, the Renzo touch has also transformed the skyline with the towers of the New York Times Building and the Shard, the tallest building in the European Union.This essential introduction travels from Osaka, Japan, to Bern, Switzerland, and through many cities, structures, and islands in between, to explore the staggering scope of the Renzo Piano repertoire. From the inside-out Pompidou to the airy shells of the Tjibaou Cultural Center in Noumea, New Caledonia, this is a thrilling journey through the beauty of architecture, where, in Piano s own words, each time, it is like life starting all over again.

Acclaimed as the father of skyscrapers , the quintessentially American icon Frank Lloyd Wright (1867 1959) was an architect of aspiration. He believed in giving cultivated American life its fitting architectural equivalent and applied his idealism to structures across the continent, from suburban homes to churches, offices, skyscrapers, and the celebrated Guggenheim Museum.

Wright s work is distinguished by its harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture, and which found its paradigm at Fallingwater, a house in rural Pennsylvania, cited by the American Institute of Architects as the best all-time work of American architecture . Wright also made a particular mark with his use of industrial materials, and by the simple L or T plan of his Prairie House which became a model for rural architecture across America. Wright was also often involved in many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass, paying particular attention to the balance between individual needs and community activity.

Exploring Wright s aspirations to augment American society through architecture, this book offers a concise introduction to his at once technological and Romantic response to the practical challenges of middle-class Americans.

From ancient and classical masterpieces to contemporary, cutting-edge buildings, architecture has defined our world throughout history. Drawing its examples from all around the globe, Architecture: The Whole Story is a richly illustrated and comprehensive account of the architects, plans, designs and constructions that over the centuries have most engaged our minds, inspired our imaginations and raised our spirits. For everyone who has ever wished for greater insight into the art of building design, Architecture: The Whole Story provides the analytical tools to appreciate to the fullest the variety of architectural achievement and the built environment in the world.