S. Giedion (1888–1968)

Sigfried Giedion wrote one of the most influential books on architecture last century, "Space, Time and Architecture," released in 1941 and updated four times more before Giedion died. If one masterpiece in his lifetime was not enough, Giedion also wrote this masterful volume seven years later on the "anonymous history" of mechanization taking hold of just about every aspect of people's lives. Having covered architecture in the earlier book, here he tracks the changes in the food we eat, the show more chairs we sit on, the rooms we bathe in, and even the locks that secure our homes. As much a product of its time as "Space, Time and Architecture," "Mechanization Takes Command" is, as Stanislaus von Moos states in the postscript to the 2013 printing (University of Minnesota Press) of the 1948 book, equal parts "factographic" historical account and manifesto. I prefer to read it in the former sense, since the balance of textual and visual evidence paints a clear picture of technology's advance, even as the unbiased nature of Giedion's writing comes through from time to time. It does make me wonder if a similar "anonymous history" could be done on the computer age, on the influence of the digital in similar areas of our life. Perhaps somebody's done that and I'm not aware; if not, Giedion's reprinted book is a wake-up call for somebody to dive in. show less

Showcasing the years prior to his tenure at the Bauhaus, and a few projects between 1928 to 1930. One volume of “Les Artistes Nouveaux” series published by G. Cres Editions in the early 1930s. Gropius was one of only four architects included in this modernist series, along with Adolf Loos and the pair of Le Corbusier and Pierre Jeanneret.

Contents include héliogravure plates of the Bauhaus Buildings, Dessau, 1926; Gropius House, Bauhaus, Dessau , 1926; Total Theater Models And Sketches show more and others.

First comprehensive study of the Bauhaus master by Sigfried Giedion (1888 – 1968 ) the Bohemian-born Swiss historian and architecture critic. His ideas and books, Space, Time and Architecture, and Mechanization Takes Command, had an important conceptual influence on the members of the Independent Group at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in the 1950s era. He was the first secretary-general of the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne [CIAM]. He has also taught at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. He was a cool dude and knew everybody.

Between 1911, when he started the Functionalist movement with his design of the Fagus Factory to his directorship of the Bauhaus (in Weimar and Dessau), to his brief adventures in England to his founding of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard, Walter Gropius (1883-1969) has been at the epicenter of the modern movement. As the founding director of the Bauhaus, Gropius made inestimable contributions to his field, to the point that knowing his work is crucial to understanding Modernism. His early buildings, such Fagus Boot-Last Factory and the Bauhaus Building in Dessau, with their use of glass and industrial features, are still indispensable points of reference. After his emigration to the United States, he influenced the education of architects there and became, along with Mies van der Rohe, a leading proponent of the International Style. show less

Canonical book, for it establishes some of the upcoming "moral values" of Modern Architecture.
Giedion's seminal work - first appeared as "Charles Eliot Norton Lectures for 1938-1939" - belongs to a centenary tradition of Classical Rationalists such as Viollet-le-Duc or Auguste Choisy, for whom architectural history derives directly from the history of building technology.
It is a classical work: a must-read for anyone interested in Modern Architecture and its early history.

Mechanization of various spheres of life, incl. complicated craft (art)