Panayotis Tournikiotis

Writing, according to Panayotis Tournikiotis, has always exerted a powerful influenceon architecture. Indeed, the study of modern architecture cannot be separated from a fascinationwith the texts that have tried to explain the idea of a new architecture in a new society. Duringthe last forty years, the question of the relationship of architecture to its history -- ofbuildings to books -- has been one of the most important themes in debates about the course ofmodern architecture.Tournikiotis argues that the history of modern architecture tends to be writtenfrom the present, projecting back onto the past our current concerns, so that the "beginning" of thestory really functions as a "representation" of its end. In this book the buildings are thequotations, while the texts are the structure.Tournikiotis focuses on a group of books by majorhistorians of the twentieth century: Nikolaus Pevsner, Emil Kaufmann, Sigfried Giedion, Bruno Zevi,Leonardo Benevolo, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, Reyner Banham, Peter Collins, and Manfredo Tafuri. Inexamining these writers' thoughts, he draws on concepts from critical theory, relating architectureto broader historical models.

The Historiography of Modern Architecture

Few if any would dispute the Parthenon's position as the most important monument in Western civilization. In its art and architecture, it is the ultimate expression of the golden age of Pericles, when democracy was born. But few also realize that the Parthenon achieved that "ideal" status only in relatively modern times; until the late eighteenth century, when the first detailed pictures of the structure were published and the Elgin Marbles removed to London, the Parthenon was perceived only as a superb work of the Classical Greek period. As work now proceeds atop the Acropolis on the restoration of the monument, what better time for a multifaceted examination of the Parthenon. This fascinating volume brings together eleven original essays by noted scholars and writers, each of whom offers a different perspective on this greatest of all cultural monuments. In addition to providing detailed descriptions of the sculpture and architecture of the Parthenon, the essays treat such diverse topics as the place of the Parthenon in the history and theory of modern architecture, depictions of the Parthenon in art through the ages, the Parthenon as appreciated by contemporary Greek society, and the Parthenon in the consciousness of modern Greek poets and thinkers.

The Parthenon and Its Impact in Modern Times

Adolf Loos

Viennese architect Adolf Loos was one of the most important pioneers of the European Modern Movement. Born in 1870, he was an early opponent of the decorative trends of Art Nouveau, believing instead that architecture devoid of ornament represented pure and lucid thought. His rationalist design theories were put into practice in the Karntner Bar, Vienna (1907), Steiner House, Vienna (1920), and Villa Muller, Prague (1930). Surprisingly, there is no other monograph on Loos in English currently available. Adolf Loos joins Adalberto Libera and Albert Kahn in Princeton Architectural Press's historical monographs series and presents this great modernist's complete works through numerous illustrations.

Panayotis Tournikiotis

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