Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The A-Z of modern architecture: An unprecedented architecture encyclopedia Unlike most architecture encyclopedias, which tend to concentrate more on buildings and floor plans than on their designers, this tome puts the architects in the spotlight, profiling individuals so that readers can get a clear overview of their bodies of work.



With more than 270 entries, the book covers not only architects but also groups, movements, and styles from the 19th to the 21st centuries. Each architect's entry features a portrait and short biography as well as a description of important works, historical context, and general approach. The lavish illustrations include examples of the best architectural photography in the modern era.



The selected works in this two-volume edition form an overview of the modern movement, providing a context for modern architecture in today's world. Modern Architecture A-Z is a comprehensive resource that no architecture professional, fan, or student should be without.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

Taschen is a publisher recognized for the quality of its books. Certainly this two-volume quarto is a heavy, beautiful artifact. Its principal contribution: dozens of color photographs, many full page, which are well chosen and well produced. The form of the text suggests that it is only a supplement to the images. The gray sans serif 11-point type is elegant but hard to read. An introductory two-page essay by Peter Gossel defines "modern architecture" broadly and conventionally, emphasizing its beginnings in industrialization but offering no suggestion about its end. Some 600 brief entries, alphabetically arranged from Aalto to Peter Zumthor, are provided for a rather canonical selection of the best-known architects--with few exceptions, all European and American--ranging from the end of the 19th century to the present. Most are one or two pages long. Frank Lloyd Wright is predictably allotted six. A very few entries, such as "Art Deco," "Neoclassicism," and "Futurism," treat movements or styles. The book lacks a bibliography and features not a single building plan. The value of this publication beyond its monumentality is unclear. More information on every one of the entries is readily available on the Internet. Summing Up: Optional. General readers. A. J. Wharton Duke University

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Peter Gössel runs a practice for the design of museums and exhibitions. He is the editor of TASCHEN's monographs on Julius Shulman, R. M. Schindler, John Lautner and Richard Neutra, as well as the editor of the Basic Architecture Series.