Product Description

Since the collapse of Modernism in the late 1960s, international architecture has fragmented, evolving in numerous different directions, each driven by its own ideologies and theories. "Architecture Today" provides a clear, comprehensive guide to these pluralistic styles and movements, offering incisive critiques of the world's most prominent architectural trends of the last 25 years. 500 photos, 350 in color.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1361900 in Books
• Published on: 1997-04-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 512 pages

Amazon.com Review
This lushly illustrated, 500-page compendium is indispensable for any student of architecture, and many professional architects should find it a handy, although heavy, reference guide. James Steele covers the world of contemporary architecture with style, insight, historical perspective, and--perhaps most helpful--a powerful sense of organization. In his capable hands, a vast amount of information falls neatly into place under sixteen chapter headings: The Modernist Legacy, European Rationalism, High Tech, Minimalism, The Classical Revival, Post-Modernism, Deconstructivism, Contemporary Vernacular, The New Expressionists, Ecological Architecture, The New Moderns, Populist Architecture, Megastructures, The Los Angeles Avant-Garde, Experimentation in Japan, and World Cities. The balanced text is multi-faceted. Steele can list the sources of Post-Modernist architecture (correcting the popular view that the movement was an attempt to do away with Modernism) or suggestively draw a correspondence between the roofscape of Gustav Peichl's Federal Art Gallery in Bonn and the use of nature in David Lynch's film Blue Velvet.

As with so many architecture books from Phaidon Press, the picture editors and book designers have carefully matched the photographs to the text, and have given precisely the right kind of caption information for each one. The back of the book includes brief architect's biographies, chapter notes, a lengthy bibliography, and a chronology from 1945 to 1997. This beautifully produced book is a one-volume course on postwar architecture and the social and political milieu in which it exists. --Peggy Moorman

About the Author
James Steele is Associate Professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He has previously taught at Texas Tech University, the University of London and the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture. His many publications include Los Angeles Architecture: the Contemporary Condition, and the Architecture in Detail monographs Eames House, Barnsdall House and Lawson-Westen House (all Phaidon).

Customer Reviews

Comprehensive overview without needless information
Architecture Today is the best single volume reference I have found to date that covers not only the diversity of current architectural theory and practice but successfully relates the various "pieces" into a comprehensive, intelligible whole. Steele deftly handles a complex set of interrelated issues and personalities in a knowing and confident manner without being overwhelming. It was useful for introducing me to less-than-famous architects who none the less are having a profound effect on the built environment. The book really lives up to its title. (The profuse photographs printed on almost photo-grade paper are stunning as well and I'm tempted to buy another copy just to frame the pictures!)

Comprehensive Overview Of Contemporary Architecture
James Steele's mammoth compendium of modern architecture is as definitive as can be imagined. The book combines fascinating text, highlighting his years of professional knowledge, with amazing color photographs, to yield one of the most breathtaking large-format architectural books I have ever seen.

Most stunning in this book is the photography. The breadth of buildings photographed is amazing, and all developments in modern architecture including minimalism, post-modernism, European rationalism, and deconstructivism are well covered. I particularly enjoyed the sections on megastructures, world cities, and populist architecture. I noted that London seemed a tad over-represented, but I didn't mind as the examples showcased (The Ark and The Circle, for instance) were so interesting. Also displayed heavily is the deconstructivist Bernard Tschumi, whose Parc de la Villette is modestly interesting, but who otherwise seems a bit more conventional than his reputation would tend to indicate.

My favorites in the book include all the works by Michael Graves, particularly the Benacerraf House Addition, and Ken Yeang's Menara Mesiniaga Tower in Kuala Lumpur, which is a peculiarly skeletal, yet overstated building. Of course there are many other wonders in this book, and I highly recommend that anyone with an interest in contemporary architecture buy it today.

The architecture of our time
James Steele has assembled an impressive compendium of contemporary architecture up to 1997. The photographs are glorious and rightly dominate this book. The chapters correspond to various currents, more or less stemming from Modern Architecture, which is given a rather cursory review in the first chapter.

The aim is to help readers chart the often tempestuous waters of contemporary architecture, as it branches into numerous streams of thought that seem to grow ever more divergent. Steele's chapters are a little too tidy in that they encapsulate, rather than expand on the attitudes of the architects. One's appetite is barely wetted before Steele brings a chapter to a close.

He offers some alluring examples of Green Architecture of both the hi-tech and lo-tech sort, illustrating the different attitudes that emerged in the 90's. This seems the direction architecture is heading as sustainable development becomes an ever more pressing concern. It is a sharp contrast to the various intellectual movements covered in this book that deal almost exclusively with abstract architectural ideas. Steele also takes in the various popular movements such as historic revivalism, contemporary vernacular, and the theme park architecture of Disney and Las Vegas. I was drawn to his concluding chapter on "World Cities," in which he discusses the urban impact of globalization, a recurring theme in the book. He touches on some of the current popular theories on urbanism, various urban renewal projects and the unchecked sprawl of Asian cities like Shanghai.

James Steele is a committed writer who has published numerous works. I particularly liked his book on Los Angeles Architecture, which is given a chapter in this compendium. Although a Modernist at heart, he offers an even-handed treatment of the various approaches to architecture, including the ever-contentious Post-Modernism.