What's so great about the Eiffel Tower? : 70 questions that will change the way you think about architecture / Jonathan Glancey.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Glancey, Jonathan, author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Architecture--History.

Architecture.

History.

Local Subjects:

Architecture.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

176 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 21 cm

Other Title:

What is so great about the Eiffel Tower?

Place of Publication:

London : Laurence King Publishing, 2017.

Summary:

Why do we find the idea of a multi-coloured Parthenon so shocking today? Why was the Eiffel Tower such a target for hatred when it was first built? Is the Sagrada Família a work of genius or kitsch? Why has 'Le Corbusier', one of the greatest of all architects, been treated as a villain? This book examines the critical legacy of both well known and either forgotten or underappreciated highpoints in the history of world architecture.

Contents:

Machine generated contents note: Parthenon: Cold formalism or classical exuberance?

Venice: Architectural museum or living city?

Mies van der Rohe: Less is more or less is a bore?

St Paul's Cathedral: Baroque masterpiece or Renaissance sham?

Great Pyramid of Giza: Overscaled royal tomb, or sublime gateway to the cosmos?

Stonehenge: International symbol or isolated monument?

Chartres Cathedral: Labyrinth of sacred geometry or maze of ineffable kitsch?

Manhattan Skyline: Ancient or modern?

Sagrada Familia: Genius or gimcrackery?

Volkshalle by Albert Speer: A new Pantheon or set design for Gotterdammerung?

Eiffel Tower: Engineering masterpiece or aesthetic blunder?

Casa del Fascio/Casa del Popolo: Classical or Modern? Totalitarian or democratic?

Guggenheim Bilbao: Iconic folly or inspired urban sculpture?

Bauhaus, Dessau: Vision of a Modern paradise or functionalist purgatory?

Note continued: Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin: Religious or architectural miracle?

Deconstructivism: Architecture meets philosophy or fashion?

Palacio de Alvorada, Brasilia: Bauhaus in Brazil, or Brazil into Bauhaus?

Crystal Palace: One-year wonder or one of history's most influential buildings?

Centre Pompidou, Paris: Oil refinery or refined public gallery?

Saynatsalo Town Hall, Finland: Convincing new vernacular or precursor of vernacular kitsch?

Carcassonne: Medieval Europe revisited, or the seeds of Disneyland sown?

Russian Revolutionary Architecture: A revolution for communism or capitalism?

Mud: Glorious, or primitive building material?

Shreve, Lamb and Harmon: Can you design one of the world's most famous buildings and be forgotten?

Stansted Airport: Ideal air terminal or banal shopping mall?

Taj Mahal: Great architecture or greater story?

San Carlo alle Quattro Fontane: Madness or masterpiece?

Note continued: Bibliotheque du Roi, Paris: Absolutist fantasy, or poetry from the French Enlightenment?

Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris: Folly on the Seine, or sane new national library?

Le Corbusier: Hero or villain?

City of London Skyline: Nightmare, or happy reflection of the world of high finance?

Villa Capra: Italian home or Renaissance idea?

De architectura: A philosophy of architecture or DIY manual?

Thomas Jefferson: Ancient Roman or modern American political values?

Altes Museum: Symbol of the Prussian Enlightenment, or foundation stone for Miesian Modernism?

Les Espaces d'Abraxas, Marne-la-Vallee: Versailles for the people, or Postmodern Parisian ghetto?

Dymaxion House: A Model T Ford house or an eccentric one-off design?

National Assembly Building, Dhaka: Self-conscious antiquity or timeless design?

Sinan the Magnificent: Brilliant bureaucrat or great architect?

John Portman: Futurist architect or real estate developer?

Note continued: Temples of Khajuraho, India: Religious experience or erotic playground?

Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral: Sixties period piece or canonic place of worship?

TWA Flight Center, New York: Future or past of commercial flight?

John Pawson: Slight minimalist or quiet visionary?

Postmodernism: Modernism redeemed or duped?

Fallingwater: Keepsake or liability?

Thermal Baths, Vals: Building into landscape or landscape into building?

Metabolism: Japanese fashion statement or truly radical design?

Eladio Dieste: Too much with too little or great architecture on a shoestring?

Zaha Hadid: Considerable or wayward talent?

St Petersburg: Neoclassical Arcadia or Tsarist Hades?

High Tech: Boy's Own adventure or revolutionary style for our times?

Brutalism: Grim or lovable concrete?

The Car: Liberator of citizens or conqueror of cities?

Parametric Design: Computer-game fad or a lasting new future for architecture?

Note continued: Victorian Gothic: Nineteenth-century romance or vulgar blight?

Sydney Opera House: Symbol of altruism or pettiness?

Shaker Style: Design for life or death?

Outrage: Valiant or pointless campaign?

Albert Kahn: American hero or Soviet stooge?

Adolf Loos: Hovering on genius or insanity?

Philip Johnson: An architect for every occasion or New York hooker?

Arts and Crafts: Noble rusticity, or Morris dancing for architects?

Charles Rennie Mackintosh: Great Scot or tourist attraction?

Architecture and Morality: Imperative or opportunism?

Art Nouveau: Innovative artistry or frivolous conceit?

Concrete: Grim utility or rock bed of invention?

United States Airforce Academy Chapel, Colorado Springs: Homage to God or to military?

Eco-towns: Green credentials, or greenwash?

Dunmore Pineapple, Scotland: Costly self-indulgence, or investment in architectural delight?

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

178067919X

9781780679198

OCLC:

951711352

Publisher Number:

40026927184