REYNER BANHAM, “ORNAMENT AND CRIME: THE DECISIVE CONTRIBUTION OF ADOLF LOOS.”

REYNER BANHAM,

''  THE DECISIVE CONTRIBUTION OF ADOLF                                             LOOS.  ”

Scarcely any twentieth-century scholars on engineering and configuration have delighted in the prestige of Reyner Banham (1922-1988). Conceived and prepared in England and an inhabitant of the United States beginning in 1976, Banham expounded sharply on American and European structures and culture. Presently perusers can appreciate a sequential cross-area of expositions, polemics, and audits drawn from over three many years of Banham's works. 

The volume, which incorporates dialogs of Italian Futurism, Adolf Loos, Paul Scheerbart, and the Bauhaus just as investigations of contemporary engineers Frank Gehry, James Stirling, and Norman Foster, passes on the full scope of Banham's faith in modern and innovative improvement as the engine of design advancement. Banham's interests and interests went from engineering and the way of life of pop craftsmanship to urban and modern plan. In splendid examinations of car styling, manufactured homes, sci-fi films, and the American preference for devices, he foreseen a significant number of the distractions of contemporary social investigations. Los Angeles, the city that Banham remembered in a book and a film, gets broad consideration in his thanks of Santa Monica Pier, the J. Paul Getty Museum, Forest Lawn graveyard, and the omnipresent expressway framework.

Eminently readable, provocative, and entertaining, this book is certain to consolidate Banham's reputation among architects and students of contemporary culture. For those acquainted with his writing, it offers welcome surprises as well as familiar delights. For those encountering Banham for the first time, it comprises the perfect introduction.

by KIMBERLY TIONG

1001852663