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How to Read Modern Buildings

How to Read Modern Buildings - Main image
$10 $20 In stock

Category: Architecture

This eighth entry in Rizzoli’s popular How to Read… series is a one-stop guide to understanding the world’s iconic modern buildings: an indispensable pocket-sized guide to the architecture of the modern era.

This volume takes the reader on a tour of modern architecture through its most iconic and significant buildings, showing how to read the hallmarks of each architectural style and how to recognize them in the buildings. From Art Deco and Arts and Crafts through Bauhaus, the International Style, and Modernism to today’s environmental architecture and the rise and fall of the “starchitect”, all the major architectural movements from the 1900s to the present day are traced through their classic buildings. Examining the key architectural elements and hidden details of each style, we learn what to look for and where to look for it.

How to Read Modern Buildings is filled with detailed drawings, plans, and photographs, this book is a fascinating architectural history—a must-read for anyone with an interest in architecture, urbanism, and modern design.

Customer Reviews (5.0 / 5 · 5 reviews)

Richard ★★★★★

Finally, a guide that actually explains the why behind the weird shapes and raw concrete instead of just listing dates. I’ve been flipping through it before bed and the pocket size makes it easy to keep on my desk for quick reference.

Nicholas ★★★★★

I can toss it in my coat pocket and pull it out whenever I’m walking past a glass tower or a concrete block, and the bite-sized explanations actually stick. The way each building gets its own spread with clear labels makes it feel like a cheat sheet for every city stroll.

Chloe I. ★★★★★

The way it breaks down modern architecture into digestible visual guides makes a complex topic feel approachable, and the pocket-sized format means I can actually carry it on site visits. I’ve already used it to identify three buildings on my commute I never understood before.