A new type of architecture has emerged in the last 10 years: the iconic landmark building. Driven by social and commercial forces and the demand for instant fame, it has to be both an amazing piece of surreal sculpture and an understated insertion into the urban fabric. Following in the wake of Frank Gehry's New Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, architects such as Norman Foster, Peter Eisenman, Enric Miralles, Zaha Hadid, Coop Himmelblau, Daniel Libeskind, Renzo Piano, Will Alsop and Rem Koolhaas have created a series of lively architectural icons that have courted publicity and controversy in equal measure. Some are successful creations that fulfil their contradictory requirements; others are Malapropistic metaphors that make the public wince. With a mixture of wit, irreverance and sympathy, leading architecture critic Charles Jencks surveys the recent history of the iconic building and then focuses on ten key examples. These include Norman Foster's Swiss Re. building in London (known as 'The Gherkin'), Frank Gehry's Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles and Daniel Libeskind's project for Ground Zero in New York. Short interviews with some of the major architects are included, and a series of imaginative analytical drawings by Madelon Vriesendorp reveal some of the provocative associations that bring the buildings to life.
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About the Author:
Charles Jencks is the author of several best-selling books on architecture. He divides his time between lecturing, writing and designing in the USA, in the UK and in Europe. To visit Charles Jencks' website click here
From Publishers Weekly:
Starred Review. The cover of Jencks's snappy survey of the post-Bilbao boom in flamboyant public building has a Photoshopped image of Norman Foster's Swiss Re headquarters in London launching itself like the rocket ship it resembles, complete with flaming thrusters and billowing smoke. The cover's combination of satire, affection and awe sets the tone for the book. Neither a pious jeremiad nor a jargon-ridden manifesto, Jencks's volume is more interested in outsize buildings and personalities than in prescriptions and complaints. And a couple of the architects Jencks (The New Paradigm in Architecture) discusses—including Daniel Liebeskind and Will Alsop—are allowed to answer back, in interviews with the author that are sometimes sparring and combative. The most sustained and brilliant of the book's seven sections is on the still-evolving plans for the site formerly occupied by the World Trade Center. Here Jencks traces the charged intersection of politics, finance and media with lucidity and healthy cynicism. In addition to the numerous expected photographs of famous buildings, the book also includes Jencks's own crude but vivid collages and a fascinating series of white-on-black drawings that wittily depict the underlying forms of some of the buildings under discussion. Brimming with critical energy, this volume often feels as big, shiny and in-your-face as the buildings it describes. (Oct.)
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- PublisherFrances Lincoln
- Publication date2005
- ISBN 10 0711224269
- ISBN 13 9780711224261
- BindingHardcover
- Number of pages192
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