Space Time & Architecture

A classic in its field, Space, Time and Architecture has been revised and expanded four times since its initial publication and translated into half a dozen languages. Giedion delves deeply into the technical advances that have made modern architecture possible while never losing sight of the human feeling that brings structures to life. "The standard work on the development of modern architecture."—Walter Gropius"Giedion’s accomplishment remains unmatched."—José Luis SertSigfried Giedion was an unlikely candidate for the Charles Eliot Norton Professorship in Poetry at Harvard. Trained as a mechanical engineer and an art historian, the Swiss polymath had a tenuous command of English and little name recognition when he accepted the prestigious yearlong post in 1938, narrowly edging out the novelist Thomas Mann. After his twelve Norton Lectures were published in 1941, however, they quickly captured the imagination of a generation of artists, architects, and students. Revised and expanded four times since its initial publication and translated into half a dozen languages, Space, Time and Architecture remains an unsurpassed classic in its field—a veritable bible of architectural modernism. Giedion delves deeply into the techniques that have made modern architecture possible, from the development of structural engineering to the increasingly sophisticated uses of concrete, glass, and steel. Yet he never loses sight of the human feelings and activities that bring structures to life. Starting with the one-point perspective that defined the Renaissance città ideale and moving through the stark geometries of Le Corbusier and Mies van der Rohe, he vividly illustrates how evolving conceptions of space, time, and motion have molded both the contours of our built environment and our daily lives. Weaving a rich visual tapestry, Space, Time and Architecture juxtaposes over five hundred architectural drawings and photographs with painting, sculpture, and industrial design to make surprising connections across scale and medium. Throughout, Giedion remains tenaciously convinced that architecture offers hope for a grand unification: of reason and emotion, of science and art, and even of human civilization itself.

A milestone in modern thought, Space, Time and Architecture has been reissued many times since its first publication in 1941 and translated into half a dozen languages. In this revised edition of Mr. Giedion's classic work, major sections have been added and there are 81 new illustrations.The chapters on leading contemporary architects have been greatly expanded. There is new material on the later development of Frank Lloyd Wright and the more recent buildings of Walter Gropius, particularly his American Embassy in Athens. In his discussion of Le Corbusier, Mr. Giedion provides detailed analyses of the Carpenter Center at Harvard University, Le Corbusier's only building in the United States, and his Priory of La Tourette near Lyons. There is a section on his relations with his clients and an assessment of his influence on contemporary architecture, including a description of the Le Corbusier Center in Zurich (designed just before his death], which houses his works of art. The chapters on Mies van der Rohe and Alvar Aalto have been brought up to date with examples of their buildings in the sixties. There is an entirely new chapter on the Danish architect Jorn Utzon, whose work, as exemplified in his design for the Sydney Opera House, Mr. Giedion considers representative of post-World War II architectural concepts.A new essay, ''Changing Notions of the City,'' traces the evolution of the structure of the city throughout history and examines current attempts to deal with urban growth, as shown in the work of such architects as José Luis Sert, Kenzo Tange, and Fumihiko Maki. Mr. Sert's Peabody Terrace is discussed as an example of the interlocking of the collective and individual spheres. Finally, the conclusion has been enlarged to include a survey of the limits of the organic in architecture.