BOOK REVIEW

MODERN ARCHITECTURE ‘a critical history’ by KENNETH FRAMPTON

‘Honest labor needs no master, simple justice needs no slaves.’

By all means, it is very difficult to give a specific definition to Modern Architecture; it is a quandary to achieve a probable meaning to it. Though it has been debated and worked upon, yet one can’t deny the fact that Modern Architecture has evolved, underwent a number of stages, and is still progressing in its own simplicity spun by a thread of complicated metamorphosis.

Modern Architecture by Kenneth Frampton tries to and succeeds to a great extent, in encompassing all the norms of Modern Architecture, the history of Modern Architecture is like a palimpsest, on which layers and layers of thought and reverie has been inscribed upon. The book covers the three major periods in the history of Modern Architecture:

Part I: Cultural Developments and predisposing techniques 1750–1939

Part II: A Critical History: 1836–1924

Part III: Critical Assessment and extension into the present 1925–91

It is very important to throw a light on the definition of Modern Architecture. Modern Architecture, the buildings and building practices of the late 19th and the 20th centuries. The history of modern architecture encompasses the architects who designed those buildings, stylistic movements, and the technology and materials that made the new architecture possible. Modern architecture originated in the United States and Europe and spread from there to the rest of the world. Among notable early modern architectural projects are exuberant and richly decorated buildings in Glasgow, Scotland, by Charles Rennie Mackintosh; imaginative designs for a city of the future by Italian visionary Antonio Sant’Elia; and houses with flowing interior spaces and projecting roofs by the American pioneer of modernism, Frank Lloyd Wright. Important modern buildings that came later include the sleek villas of Swiss-French architect Le Corbusier; bold new factories in Germany by Peter Behrens and Walter Gropius; and steel and glass skyscrapers designed by German-born architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe.

The author starts from the cultural transformations and Neo Classical Architecture, the writer emphasizes upon the fact that the reign of man and the reign of nature which merged into each other for the sake of ornamentation and prestige. The prefix neo means new. Neo classical architecture reflected a renewed interest in the architecture of ancient Greece and Rome; basically it was a return to the classicism of antiquity as the Italian Renaissance.

Neo classical architecture was inspired by the buildings discovered in the ancient Roman cities of Herculaneum and Pompeii. These cities had been buried by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius in A.D 79 and many buildings were preserved under the mud and ashes. Archeologists began excavating these cities in the mid 1700’s.

Neo-classical architects followed Greek and roman styles more closely than renaissance architects had done. Like baroque architects, the neoclassicists designed colonnades and large structures, especially public buildings. But in their designs, they used simpler geometric forms, such as the square and a sphere, rather than the Baroques swirls and curves. The concept of Neo-Classical Architecture has been well illustrated and it is worth mentioning the language of the author, which is comprehensible and at the same time, has the sophistication of a mature author. There are numerous examples to illustrate the transformation of Neo-Classical Architecture; the author throws light upon the various architects of this time period namely Cordemoy, Jacques German and Boullee. Overall, the matter has been well researched and worked upon.

The writer moves on to a critical history of Modern Architecture, Where through a series of chapters, he covers the time period from 1836–1967 mentioning about great Architects like Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Mies Van Der Rohe, Louis Sullivan who gave the future architects a theory that has become the focal point of every design i.e. ‘Form follows Function’.

He begins from Frank Lloyd Wright and the myth of the Priarie, where he hints at the exotic vision that inspired his early career, reserving a asymmetrical style for domestic buildings and a strictly symmetric style for most of his public institutions. There is a mention about Lloyd’s residential designs which were “Prairie Houses” (extended low buildings with shallow, sloping roofs, clean sky lines, suppressed chimneys, overhangs and terraces, using unfinished materials), so-called because the design is considered to complement the land around Chicago. The book is a boon for the lovers of Lloyd’s work and has been beautified in its language by the use of various quotes:

‘The Prairie has a beauty of its own and we should recognize and accentuate this natural beauty, its quiet level. Hence…. sheltering overhangs, low terraces and out reaching walls, sequestering private gardens.’

As examples the translation of tokonama ,a Japanese counterpart of the traditional fireplace, and his other works , such as the Winslow house, the houses for Ladies ‘ Home Journal ,Larkin Building which gave the world its first ‘Atrium’ ,and lastly, ‘Falling Water’, one of the best works of Lloyd.

The author begins about Le Corbusier with a soliloquy from Corbusier’s Vers une Architecture, 1923:

“You employ stone, wood and concrete and with these materials you build houses and palaces; that’s construction .Ingenuity is that work .But suddenly you touch my heart, you do me good. I am happy and I say ‘This is beautiful’. This is Architecture, art enters in.”

Le Corbusier (October 6, 1887–August 27, 1965) was a Swiss architect famous for what is now called the International Style, along with Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, and Theo van Doesburg. He was also an urban planner, painter, sculptor, writer and furniture designer. He is featured on the Swiss ten francs banknote. The author accounts the travelling experiences of the Architect which inspired him in his works, In about 1907 he travelled to Paris, where he found work in the office of Auguste Perret, the French pioneer in reinforced concrete. Between October 1910 and March 1911 he worked for the renowned architect Peter Behrens near Berlin, where he met a young Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and became fluent in German. Both of these experiences proved influential in his later career.

The author concludes the book with a critical assessment and the extension of Modern Architecture into the present. The book has been written after a great amount of research and brainstorming. The book has dealt with the concept of Modern Architecture with exceptional clarity and profound analysis. The book has been illustrated well to highlight its concepts and explanations. In fact, the book is a major step in the theory of Modern Architecture which sails smoothly from the beginning to the end giving the readers an insight into Architecture.