Britain: Modern Architectures in History

Description

In this book, Alan Powers shows how beneath today's achievements in architecture, past conflicts have not been resolved, as the country that invented industrial civilisation has struggled to control its effect on cities and countryside. He examines developments and changes from 1900 to the present day in a series of thematic chapters, giving equal weight to technical, economic and moral aspects and demonstrating how architecture has responded to specific social needs and political pressures. Rather than giving a conventional account of stylistic tendencies, Powers listens to the arguments and conversations of the time in order to recapture the dominating issues of each decade and locate the moments of transition in architecture and in the wider culture.

Featuring more than 220 images, including both recent and historical photographs, Britain is an authoritative yet highly accessible account of20th centuryBritish architecture. Giving due regard to the separate identities of England, Scotland and Wales, the book also adds a new and original dimension to the perennial problem of defining 'Britain' in the modern world.

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About the Author

Alan Powers

Alan Powers is Professor of Architecture and Cultural History at the University of Greenwich and Chairman of The Twentieth Century Society. He has published widely on twentieth century architecture, art and design. His recent books include Britain in the series Modern Architectures in History from Reaktion Books, and Art and Print: the Curwen Story, published by Tate. His book on Serge Chermayeff was published by RIBA Publishing in 2001 and is still available. Other activities include curating exhibitions, such as Eric Ravilious: imagined realities at the Imperial War Museum, 2003 and Modern Britain 1929-39 at the Design Museum, 1999. In October 2009, he is curating an exhibition at the De La Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea, in which the Royal Mail Sorting Office at Hemel Hempstead by Aldington, Craig and Collinge, will represent the firm’s work in a selection of eight ‘principled buildings’ chosen at 25 year intervals from 1834, the foundation of the RIBA, to 2009, its 175th anniversary.