Synopses & Reviews
"Transparency" is a key text and required reading for all students of modern architecture. As members of the 1950s group known as the "Texas Rangers", Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky tested new methods for teaching and developing architectural design skills. Through their exploration of the common basis of modern art and architecture they identified and elaborated on the concept of transparency as a fundamental principle of spatial organisation, beyond the curtain wall. Their essay titled Transparency, first published in 1964, provided the theoretical and didactical fundament, exemplified and illustrated by 2 of Le Corbusier's buildings.
Synopsis
"Transparency," by Colin Rowe and Robert Slutzky, originally published in English in 1964 (in Perspecta 8), followed by a German translation in 1968, is one of the main modern reference texts for any student of architecture.
Rowe and Slutzky co-founded the architects group "Texas Rangers" at the University of Texas in Austin, together with John Hejduk, Werner Seligmann and Bernhard Hoesli. In conjunction with their teaching activities, the group members sought to develop a new method for architectural design and proceeded to test their models in the teaching environment.
This edition of "Transparency" is provided with a commentary by Bernhard Hoesli and an introduction by the art and architecture historian Werner Oechslin.