cover of Utopias and Architecture

Utopias and Architecture

By Nathaniel Coleman

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About the Book

Utopian thought, though commonly characterized as projecting a future without a past, depends on golden models for re-invention of what is. Through a detailed and innovative re-assessment of the work of three architects who sought to represent a utopian content in their work, and a consideration of the thoughts of a range of leading writers, Coleman offers the reader a unique perspective of idealism in architectural design.

With unparalleled depth and focus of vision on the work of Le Corbusier, Louis I Kahn and Aldo van Eyck, this book persuasively challenges predominant assumptions in current architectural discourse, forging a new approach to the invention of welcoming built environments and transcending the limitations of both the postmodern and hyper-modern stance and orthodox modernist architecture.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Utopias & Architectures? Part I: Conceptualizing Utopias Architecture & Orientation. Situating Utopians. Real Fictions. Varieties of Architectural Utopias. Post War Possibilities. Part II: Optimistic Architectures Le Corbusier's Monastic Ideal. The Life Within. Fairy Tales & Golden Dust. Kahn & Salk's Challenge to Dualistic Thinking. Aldo van Eyck's Utopian Discipline. Story of Another Idea. The Unthinkability of Utopia. Into the Present. Notes. Bibliography