Synopses & Reviews
andlt;Pandgt;In Tower and Office, Spanish architects Inaki Abalos and Juan Herreros look at the role and impact of advanced building technologies in American architecture since World War II. The war, they claim, marked the end of the first cycle of modernism, challenging the belief that technological progress alone could produce a perpetually better future. At the same time, the war was the source of powerful new structural models and construction methods. The authors examine the ways these technologies have been inflected over the last half century by more subjective and integrated processes of spatial organization.In the first part of the book, Abalos and Herreros focus on the work of Le Corbusier, revealing the degree of complexity achieved in his interpretation of the modern skyscraper. In the second part, they look at the intersection of technical and cultural determinants in the design of high-rise structures since World War II. Among the issues they consider are the evolution of the load-bearing frame, the impact of high-tech systems on tall buildings, and the transparent building skin. In the third part, they address developments in office design and planning, tracing an evolution from the repetitive and homogeneous office skyscraper to the present-day mixed-use structure. Overall they demonstrate how the objective technical analysis associated with modernist architectural theory has given way in recent building practice to a variety of flexible, pragmatic, and environmental approaches. These, they suggest, have opened the way to new urban and architectural forms.andlt;/Pandgt;
Review
andquot;...insightful and integrated....andquot;
andmdash; Paul Glassman, Library Journal
Review
"An informed, informative, and well-documented analysis of the technical development of office buildings throughout the twentieth century, *Tower and Office* is a valuable resource for anyone thinking critically about architecture's status in today's world. From structural systems to skins to space planning to urbanism, the commercial skyscraper becomes an archive of knowledge in which alternative futures lay hidden, awaiting recognition."--Reinhold Martin, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Columbia University, author of *The Organizational Complex: Architecture, Media, and Corporate Space* The MIT Press
Review
"...insightful and integrated...."
— Paul Glassman, Library Journal
Review
"Much of what passes for research today consists in the mere accumulation of data around the borders of an architectural project. Not so in the case of Inaki Ábalos and Juan Herreros. For Ábalos and Herreros, research is necessarily informed as much by the imperatives of their creative design practice as by a keen awareness of the impact of changing technologies on contemporary building practice. *Tower and Office: From Modernist Theory to Contemporary Practice* records their patient search for a specifically architectural expertise. The result is a book dense with carefully collated information and incisive analysis that will both surprise and educate the reader."--Stan Allen, AIA, Dean of the School of Architecture, Princeton UniversityPlease note: The third sentence may be omitted for space reasons.
Review
"They read architecture's history with the eyes of designers. They think contemporary culture with the concepts of the historian. And with close attention to the interactions of forms, programs, and above all the construction technologies of the tall building, Ábalos and Herreros write a rich and compelling account of our present moment in architecture."--K. Michael Hays, Eliot Noyes Professor of Architecture Theory, Harvard University
Review
"With a sensibility conditioned by current design culture and an erudition leavened by wit and style, Sylvia Lavin's account of Neutra will convince a broad audience that architecture history really does matter. Like a skillful remix of an already good song, *Form Follows Libido* gives us Richard Neutra again for the first time. In Lavin's compelling story, the formerly minor modernist is rejuvenated as a psychospatial therapist who fills environments with psychic energies, affective atmospheres, and shifting moods. And her history of his work becomes a genealogy for much of what is interesting about current design practice."--K. Michael Hays, Eliot Noyes Professor of Architecture Theory, Harvard University
Review
andlt;Pandgt;"An informed, informative, and well-documented analysis of the technical development of office buildings throughout the twentieth century, *Tower and Office* is a valuable resource for anyone thinking critically about architecture's status in today's world. From structural systems to skins to space planning to urbanism, the commercial skyscraper becomes an archive of knowledge in which alternative futures lay hidden, awaiting recognition."--Reinhold Martin, School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation, Columbia University, author of *The Organizational Complex: Architecture, Media, and Corporate Space*andlt;/Pandgt; The MIT Press
Synopsis
A study of the complex relationship between technological development and the conceptual basis of architectural design, from World War II to early 1990s.
In Tower and Office, Spanish architects Inaki Abalos and Juan Herreros look at the role and impact of advanced building technologies in American architecture since World War II. The war, they claim, marked the end of the first cycle of modernism, challenging the belief that technological progress alone could produce a perpetually better future. At the same time, the war was the source of powerful new structural models and construction methods. The authors examine the ways these technologies have been inflected over the last half century by more subjective and integrated processes of spatial organization.
In the first part of the book, Abalos and Herreros focus on the work of Le Corbusier, revealing the degree of complexity achieved in his interpretation of the modern skyscraper. In the second part, they look at the intersection of technical and cultural determinants in the design of high-rise structures since World War II. Among the issues they consider are the evolution of the load-bearing frame, the impact of high-tech systems on tall buildings, and the transparent building skin. In the third part, they address developments in office design and planning, tracing an evolution from the repetitive and homogeneous office skyscraper to the present-day mixed-use structure. Overall they demonstrate how the objective technical analysis associated with modernist architectural theory has given way in recent building practice to a variety of flexible, pragmatic, and environmental approaches. These, they suggest, have opened the way to new urban and architectural forms.
Synopsis
A study of the complex relationship between technological development and the conceptual basis of architectural design, from World War II to the early 1990s.
Synopsis
In Tower and Office, Spanish architects Inaki Abalos and Juan Herreros look at the role and impact of advanced building technologies in American architecture since World War II. The war, they claim, marked the end of the first cycle of modernism, challenging the belief that technological progress alone could produce a perpetually better future. At the same time, the war was the source of powerful new structural models and construction methods. The authors examine the ways these technologies have been inflected over the last half century by more subjective and integrated processes of spatial organization.In the first part of the book, Abalos and Herreros focus on the work of Le Corbusier, revealing the degree of complexity achieved in his interpretation of the modern skyscraper. In the second part, they look at the intersection of technical and cultural determinants in the design of high-rise structures since World War II. Among the issues they consider are the evolution of the load-bearing frame, the impact of high-tech systems on tall buildings, and the transparent building skin. In the third part, they address developments in office design and planning, tracing an evolution from the repetitive and homogeneous office skyscraper to the present-day mixed-use structure. Overall they demonstrate how the objective technical analysis associated with modernist architectural theory has given way in recent building practice to a variety of flexible, pragmatic, and environmental approaches. These, they suggest, have opened the way to new urban and architectural forms.
Synopsis
In Tower and Office, Spanish architects Inaki Abalos and Juan Herreros look at the role and impact of advanced building technologies in American architecture since World War II. The war, they claim, marked the end of the first cycle of modernism, challenging the belief that technological progress alone could produce a perpetually better future. At the same time, the war was the source of powerful new structural models and construction methods. The authors examine the ways these technologies have been inflected over the last half century by more subjective and integrated processes of spatial organization.
In the first part of the book, Abalos and Herreros focus on the work of Le Corbusier, revealing the degree of complexity achieved in his interpretation of the modern skyscraper. In the second part, they look at the intersection of technical and cultural determinants in the design of high-rise structures since World War II. Among the issues they consider are the evolution of the load-bearing frame, the impact of high-tech systems on tall buildings, and the transparent building skin. In the third part, they address developments in office design and planning, tracing an evolution from the repetitive and homogeneous office skyscraper to the present-day mixed-use structure. Overall they demonstrate how the objective technical analysis associated with modernist architectural theory has given way in recent building practice to a variety of flexible, pragmatic, and environmental approaches. These, they suggest, have opened the way to new urban and architectural forms.
About the Author
Madrid-based architect Iñaki Ábalos was, along with Juan Herreros, the recipient of Columbia University's Buell Book Fellowship.Madrid-based architect Juan Herreros was, along with Iñaki Ábalos, the recipient of Columbia University's Buell Book Fellowship.