Makers of Modern Architecture, Volume II: From Le Corbusier to Rem Koolhaas (New York Review Collections (Hardcover))

In this much-anticipated sequel to his critically acclaimed Makers of Brand new Architecture (2007)
longtime New York Review of Books contributor Martin Filler—“probably the most productive all-round architecture critic currently working in the US,” in step with the architectural journalist David Cohn—offers another penetrating series of concise but authoritative studies on leading exponents of the building art from the late nineteenth to the early twenty-first century. Exemplifying his belief that an architect’s personality and character have an instantaneous and profound bearing on this most public and social of art forms, Filler’s vigorous melding of biographical and aesthetic perspectives gives these accessible yet scrupulously researched interpretations a rare human immediacy.

From profiles of such universally admired masters as Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier to emerging figures including Michael Arad, writer of New York City’s National September 11 Memorial, and the international design collaborative Snøhetta, Filler’s shifting center of attention remains consistently trained on the enduring values of great architecture. His panoramic vision encompasses the historically inspired Gilded Age urbanism of the celebrated New York bon vivant Stanford White in addition to the expressive collages of ancient and Brand new elements orchestrated by the reclusive Venetian intellectual Carlo Scarpa. The increasing role of women in architecture is given special emphasis in this new collection, from the pioneering work in 1920s Germany of Margarete Schütte-Lihotzky, inventor of the standardized Brand new kitchen, to such innovative up to date practitioners as Elizabeth Diller, Kazuyo Sejima, and Billie Tsien.