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Morality and Architecture Revisited David Watkin

Morality and Architecture Revisited By David Watkin

Morality and Architecture Revisited by David Watkin


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Condition - Very Good
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Summary

This volume examines the impact of David Watkin's 1977 text Morality and Architecture in which Watkin took on the entire modernist architectural establishment. Here Watkin provides an overview of what has happened since and a summary of the architectural situation today.

Morality and Architecture Revisited Summary

Morality and Architecture Revisited by David Watkin

When Morality and Architecture was first published in 1977 it received passionate praise and equally passionate criticism; an editorial in Apollo, entitled The Time Bomb, claimed that it deserved to become a set book in art school and university art history departments, whilst the Times Literary Supplement savaged it as an example of that kind of vindictiveness of which only Christians seem capable.;In writing his polemic, David Watkin, a young don at Peterhouse, Cambridge, had the temerity to take on the entire modernist architectural establishment, then at the height of its power and throwing up brutal buildings in the hearts of our communities. Watkin showed how such an approach was rooted in a long theoretical tradition stretching back to Pugin, Viollet-le-Duc and Corbusier who claimed that their chosen style had to be truthful and rational, reflecting the needs of contemporary society. Any critic of such ethical, mechanical and populist fallacies was labelled anti-social and immoral.;The book rapidly became a cult text. And here it is again with, for the first time, the story of its impact.Only covertly did the giants of the architectural establishment, men like Sir John Summerson, Sir Denys Lasdun, Sir Ove Arup, Sir Karl Popper and Sir Ernst Gombrich, support the author. Watkin goes on to give an overview of what has happened since and summarizes the situation today, arguing that many of the old fallacies still persist. This return to the attack is a revelation for anyone concerned with the past, current and future direction of architecture.

About David Watkin

David Watkin is Reader in the History of Architecture at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Peterhouse. His many books include monographs on Thomas Hope, 'Athenian Stuart' and C.R. Cockerell; A History of Western Architecture (3rd ed. 2000); and Sir John Soane: Enlightenment Thought and the Royal Academy Lectures (1996), for which he received the Sir Banister Fletcher Award. He lives in London.

Table of Contents

Prologue; The Philosophic Background; Critical Reaction; The Position Today; Introduction to the original edition; Part I: The Theme in the Nineteenth Century; 1. Pugin; 2. Viollet-le-Duc; Part II: The Theme in the Twentieth Century; 1. Lethaby; 2. The Brave New World; 3. Furneaux Jordan; Part III: Pevsner; 1. Early Writings; 2. The Historic Mission; 3. 'Historicism'; Conclusion; References; Index

Additional information

GOR004332617
9780719564048
0719564042
Morality and Architecture Revisited by David Watkin
Used - Very Good
Paperback
John Murray Press
20010614
169
N/A
Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
This is a used book - there is no escaping the fact it has been read by someone else and it will show signs of wear and previous use. Overall we expect it to be in very good condition, but if you are not entirely satisfied please get in touch with us

Customer Reviews - Morality and Architecture Revisited