Modern Architecture
The Basics
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Taylor & Francis Ltd
Published:15th Nov '24
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This hardback is available in another edition too:
- Paperback£19.99(9781032517940)
Modern Architecture: The Basics examines technological, stylistic, socio-political, and cultural changes that have transformed the history of architecture since the late 18th century. Broad definitions of modernity and postmodernity introduce the book, which comprises 24 short thematic chapters looking at the concepts behind the development of modern and postmodern architecture. These include major historical movements, key figures, and evolving building typologies. There is also an emphasis on the changing city during the 19th and 20th centuries. Approaches to representation and its impacts on architecture are studied, along with the changing global role of architecture as cultural expression. The book introduces new topics, including gender, race, postcolonialism, and indigeneity. An undaunting, contemporary, and inclusive account of modern architectural history, this is a must-read for all students of architecture as well as those outside the discipline approaching the subject for the first time.
"Livesey tackles subjects such as the Bauhaus, Russian Constructivism and Postmodernism, in texts that are laudable in offering a rapid fire of architects, buildings and centres of influence. Collectively, this forms a holistic understanding of how our profession has evolved from Monticello to Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission… The many short references and sources supplied by Livesey offer thousands of little breadcrumbs as he revisits—and indeed corrects—the many subjects and periods discussed, such as dedicating overdue attention to the many women whose history was forgotten or subjugated by white men. This book recognizes the contributions of Black architects and the innovation and brilliance that emerged from countries like India, Malaysia, China, and Africa over the past 250 years. It also provides insightful connections to politics, technology, landscape architecture, and design that help contextualize the evolution of modern architecture. The work of practicing architects is supported by this volume, too. Including discussions of notable academics focussing on socialism, phenomenology, poststructuralism, and the effects of colonialism helps us understand the trajectory of thought that defined several generations of architects."
- Ian Chodikoff. Review of the book Modern Architecture: The Basics, by G Livesey. Canadian Architect magazine, April 2025 issue, p48.
"Modern Architecture: The Basics, by Graham Livesey, is an important revision of the architectural canon that includes many lesser-known pioneers of modernism who happened to belong to visible minorities or practiced in so-called “marginal” regions of the world. Accompanied by beautifully drawn architectural drawings and explained in a writing style free of obfuscation, this highly readable primer places the rise of modernism within broad cultural, technological, economic and political contexts, revealing that it is the complex outcome of both disciplinary innovation as well as extra-disciplinary factors and conditions."
- Rafael Gómez-Moriana, Architect/Writer/Educator, Barcelona.
ISBN: 9781032517964
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: 690g
276 pages