Space, Time and Architecture

Space, Time and Architecture is a remarkable accomplishment in that it explores and throws new light on buildings and plans that were underestimated or unknown before this book appeared. It has also proved to be one of the most valuable reference books for students and professionals concerned with the reshaping of our environment. It not only reviews the varied fields of architecture and city planning in relation to an emerging industrial technology, but also shows their parallel development in the visual arts. Sigfried Giedion's accomplishment remains unmatched. -- Jose Luis Sert Dr. Sigfried Giedion is today recognized as one of the world's most eminent architectural critics and historians. The unusual success of his Space, Time and Architecture, first published in 1941 and now greatly revised and expanded, is due to his deep investigation into the whole philosophical and technical background of our modern civilization. This new edition ensures that the book will continue to be internationally acknowledged as the standard work on the development of modern architecture. -- Walter Gropius

A classic in its field, Space, Time and Architecture has been revised and expanded four times since its initial publication and translated into half a dozen languages. Giedion delves deeply into the technical advances that have made modern architecture possible while never losing sight of the human feeling that brings structures to life.

"The standard work on the development of modern architecture."—Walter Gropius

"Giedion’s accomplishment remains unmatched."—José Luis Sert

Sigfried Giedion was an unlikely candidate for the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship in Poetry at Harvard. Trained as a mechanical engineer and an art historian, the Swiss polymath had a tenuous command of English and little name recognition when he accepted the prestigious yearlong post in 1938, narrowly edging out the novelist Thomas Mann. After his twelve Norton Lectures were published in 1941, however, they quickly captured the imagination of a generation of artists, architects, and students.

Revised and expanded four times since its initial publication and translated into half a dozen languages, Space, Time and Architecture remains an unsurpassed classic in its field—a veritable bible of architectural modernism. Giedion delves deeply into the techniques that have made modern architecture possible, from the development of structural engineering to the increasingly sophisticated uses of concrete, glass, and steel. Yet he never loses sight of the human feelings and activities that bring structures to life. Starting with the one-point perspective that defined the Renaissance città ideale and moving through the stark geometries of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, he vividly illustrates how evolving conceptions of space, time, and motion have molded both the contours of our built environment and our daily lives.

Weaving a rich visual tapestry, Space, Time and Architecture juxtaposes over five hundred architectural drawings and photographs with painting, sculpture, and industrial design to make surprising connections across scale and medium. Throughout, Giedion remains tenaciously convinced that architecture offers hope for a grand unification: of reason and emotion, of science and art, and even of human civilization itself.