Product Description

A milestone in modern thought, Space, Time and Architecture has been reissued many times since its first publication in 1941 and translated into half a dozen languages. In this revised edition of Mr. Giedion's classic work, major sections have been added and there are 81 new illustrations.

The chapters on leading contemporary architects have been greatly expanded. There is new material on the later development of Frank Lloyd Wright and the more recent buildings of Walter Gropius, particularly his American Embassy in Athens. In his discussion of Le Corbusier, Mr. Giedion provides detailed analyses of the Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Le Corbusier's only building in the United States, and his Priory of La Tourette near Lyons. There is a section on his relations with his clients and an assessment of his influence on contemporary architecture, including a description of the Le Corbusier Center in Zurich (designed just before his death], which houses his works of art. The chapters on Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto have been brought up to date with examples of their buildings in the sixties. There is an entirely new chapter on the Danish architect Jorn Utzon, whose work, as exemplified in his design for the Sydney Opera House, Mr. Giedion considers representative of post-World War II architectural concepts.

A new essay, "Changing Notions of the City," traces the evolution of the structure of the city throughout history and examines current attempts to deal with urban growth, as shown in the work of such architects as José Luis Sert, Kenzo Tange, and Fumihiko Maki. Mr. Sert's Peabody Terrace is discussed as an example of the interlocking of the collective and individual spheres. Finally, the conclusion has been enlarged to include a survey of the limits of the organic in architecture.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #473718 in Books
• Published on: 2009-02-28
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 960 pages

Review
This book is an important collection of historical and critical surveys and a brilliant study of the trends and developments of the modern scene with its historical background and true significance. For the general reader interested in the past and its relation to our present, and the specialist in architecture preoccupied with its facets of change, the author has succeeded in presenting a consistently developing process and a clear, concise picture.
--Edward Larocque Tinker (New York Times Book Review )

[Giedion's] survey of our architectural inheritance, beginning with the "organization of space" in the early Renaissance, is masterly, selective, and instructive. In his treatment of individual architects he calls a famous roll, and leaves us with a clear impression of the significance of each man's work... This is a big book, and one that no reader will exhaust quickly. (Saturday Review )

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

About the Author
Sigfried Giedion was the first secretary-general of the International Congress of Modern Architecture. He taught at the University of Zurich, MIT, and Harvard, where he became chairman of the Graduate School of Design.

Customer Reviews

A history of linear progression
This book is based on lectures Giedion gave at Harvard 1938-39. It is considered a modernist manifesto and after WW II, and well into the 1960s, it was often used in the training of architects all over the western world. European readers found the book interesting primarily because of it's section on the American history of architecture. The subtitle - The growth of a new tradition - refers to Giedion's conviction that the modern movement was the logical outcome of what he saw as a linear historical development. To make his case he gives his version of the history of architecture, and a big portion deals with the industrial era and how new technologies changed architecture and society as a whole. Giedion's all-inclusive way of reasoning was inspired by his teacher Heinrich Wölfflin. He also admired Wölfflin's mentor Jakob Burchardt. Giedion's mission is clear and he states that laissez faire mentality hinders development and that with common goals and values the world would be able to make changes for the better on a grand scale. Today the book in my view is primarily interesting as a time document and it gives insight into the modernist world of universal ideals.

Excellent history
I enjoyed this book for the author's insights into how 20th century architecture, starting from certain antecedents in the 19th century, such as the early iron-reinforced concrete structures of William LeBaron Jenny, progressed through Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, the Bauhaus school, and so on, up to the style which he calls "the hanging curtain of glass."

Giedion shows how this spectacular 20th-century building originated around the turn of the last century and how it's modern variations represent a triumpth of this type of design.

The basic principle, as exemplified early on in the Carson, Pirie, Scott, and Co. building in Chicago, is that as stuctural members receeded from the outlying masonry walls into the interior skeleton of the building, this allows the architect to open up the facade with windows, skylights, and other penetrating elements in order to let the maximum amount of air and light into the building. Eventually no real supporting structural members need reside on the outside of the building, and the aesthetic result is the "hanging curtain of glass" effect... Whatever one thinks of this type of building, it has become a major landmark of 20th-century architectural design in cities all over the world.

Giedion's treatment of Robert Maillart's graceful, parabolic spanning bridge designs in the Swiss Alps and some other places, such as the Tavanasa Bridge in the U.S., which he specifically discusses as one of Maillart's most important achievements, is also very interesting.

Overall, Giedion's book is a fine treatment of an important and difficult period in the history of architecture, and is one of the most important books on architecture to be written in recent decades.

The seminal work on Modern Architecture
One cannot even presume to understand modern architecture until one has read Giedion's classic work. This book did more to shape the view of modern architecture than did any other book. Giedion provides an impressive survey of architecture down through the ages, illustrating those aspects which had an influence on modern architecture. One of his more illucidating chapters is "The Demand for Morality in Architecture," which underscores the content of this work.

The heart of the book is his chapter on "Space-Time in Art, Architecture, adn Construction," in which he examines the leading figures and movements in modern architecture, with the spotlight on Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto. These were the founding fathers. He examines the roots of their ideas as well as the influence they had in shaping the modern movement. This later edition also includes a chapter on "Jorn Utzon and the Third Generation," which Giedion felt had successfully carried the principles of modern architecture into contemporary society.

Giedion also explores the shifts in attitude toward city planning in the late 19th century and early 20th century, reviewing such seminal figures as Ebenezer Howard, Patrick Geddes, Arturo Soria y Mata, and Tony Garnier, which ultimately lead to the creation of C.I.A.M, the International Congress of Modern Architecture.

Giedion is unabashed in his support of modern architecture, which has made this book the favorite whipping post of post-modern critics. But, few have explored the subject as deeply as has Giedion. Don't rely on other interpretations of Giedion. Read "Space, Time and Architecture" before drawing any conclusions.