The Elements of Modern Architecture: Understanding Contemporary Buildings

About this book

Fifty of the worlds greatest modern buildings from 1950 to the present dissected and analyzed through specially commissioned freehand drawings After a period in which computation-derived architecturedriven by digital design tools data analysis and new formal expressionhas thrived students and their teachers have returned to age-old techniques before employing the digital tools that are a part of every architects studio. Tired of the perfectly rendered screen image architects are making presentations that are clearly the work of the hand and the mind not the computer. This ambitious publication organized chronologically is aimed at a new generation of architects who take technology for granted but seek to further understand the principles of what makes a building meaningful and enduring. Each of the fifty works of architecture is presented through detailed consideration of its site topology and surroundings; natural light volumes and massing; program and circulation; details fenestration and ornamentation. Over 2 500 painstakingly hand-drawn images of the buildings of the past seven decades help readers return to the core values of understanding site and creating buildings: looking with the eyes engaging through direct physical experience and constructing by hand. 50 photographs in black and white and 2 500 line drawings