La Buena Vida

by Iñaki Abalos

Description

What is the role of architecture if not to realize a shared vision of the "good life," a vision that in the age of architectural modernism shaped--and was shaped by--a range of ideas about the home? With The Good Life, Iñaki Ábalos serves as our guide for a tour of seven iconic twentieth-century homes that represent various concepts for living. Some of the homes were actually built, while others were merely planned, painted, or created as part of a film set. We see Mies van der Rohe's show more House with Three Patios, Martin Heidegger's cabin in the Black Forest, Picasso's Villa La Californie in Cannes, and the New York loft that Andy Warhol called The Factory. From the ultramodern geometric houses and gardens in Jacques Tati's Mon Oncle, we travel to the famed hobby-kit house in Buster Keaton's One Week and on to the sunny swimming pool and home in David Hockney's painting A Bigger Splash. Ábalos guides readers through the key philosophical precepts that likely guided the creation of these homes, making insightful points about the relationship between ideas about a particular modern way of living and approaches to architecture and design. What he concludes is that modernism marks less a coherent triumph of positivism, as is often assumed, than a loose celebration of the radical pluralism of the twentieth century. A fascinating work by one of Spain's most prominent architects, The Good Life presents a powerful picture of the concerns that guided the course of architectural modernism. show less

Recommendations

Modern Architecture: A Critical History by Kenneth Frampton

Modern Architecture: A Critical History

Kenneth Frampton

Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects by Rafael Moneo

Theoretical Anxiety and Design Strategies in the Work of Eight Contemporary Architects

Rafael Moneo

Differences: Topographies of Contemporary Architecture by Ignasi de Solà -Morales

Differences: Topographies of Contemporary Architecture

Ignasi de Solà -Morales

History of Architectural Theory by Hanno-Walter Kruft

History of Architectural Theory

Hanno-Walter Kruft

Theory and Design in the First Machine Age by Reyner Banham

Theory and Design in the First Machine Age

Reyner Banham

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture by Robert Venturi

Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture

Robert Venturi

Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture by Kenneth Frampton

Studies in Tectonic Culture: The Poetics of Construction in Nineteenth and Twentieth Century Architecture

Kenneth Frampton

Building in France, Building in Iron, Building in Ferroconcrete (Texts and Documents Series) by Sigfried Giedion

Building in France, Building in Iron, Building in Ferroconcrete (Texts and Documents Series)

Sigfried Giedion

A Little House by Le Corbusier

A Little House

Le Corbusier

From Bauhaus to Our House by Tom Wolfe

From Bauhaus to Our House

Tom Wolfe

Urbanisme by Le Corbusier

Urbanisme

Le Corbusier

Architecture Theory since 1968 by K. Michael Hays

Architecture Theory since 1968

K. Michael Hays

Domesticity at War by Beatriz Colomina

Domesticity at War

Beatriz Colomina

Conversations with Mies van der Rohe by Moisés Puente

Conversations with Mies van der Rohe

Moisés Puente

Rethinking Architecture: Reader in Cultural Theory by Neil Leach

Rethinking Architecture: Reader in Cultural Theory

Neil Leach

Architecture Depends by Jeremy Till

Architecture Depends

Jeremy Till

Modernity and the Classical Tradition: Architectural Essays 1980-1987 by Alan Colquhoun

Modernity and the Classical Tradition: Architectural Essays 1980-1987

Alan Colquhoun

The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely by Anthony Vidler

The Architectural Uncanny: Essays in the Modern Unhomely

Anthony Vidler

Le Corbusier - An Analysis of Form by Geoffrey H. Baker

Le Corbusier - An Analysis of Form

Geoffrey H. Baker

On Adam's House in Paradise: The Idea of the Primitive Hut in Architectural History by Joseph Rykwert

On Adam's House in Paradise: The Idea of the Primitive Hut in Architectural History

Joseph Rykwert

Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media by Beatriz Colomina

Privacy and Publicity: Modern Architecture as Mass Media

Beatriz Colomina

Thinking Architecture by Peter Zumthor

Thinking Architecture

Peter Zumthor

S,M,L,XL by Rem Koolhaas

S,M,L,XL

Rem Koolhaas

Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition by Sigfried Giedion

Space, Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition

Sigfried Giedion

Team 10 Primer by Alison Smithson

Team 10 Primer

Alison Smithson

The Architecture of the City by Aldo Rossi

The Architecture of the City

Aldo Rossi

A Scientific Autobiography by Aldo Rossi

A Scientific Autobiography

Aldo Rossi

Modern Architecture by Vincent Joseph Scully

Modern Architecture

Vincent Joseph Scully

A Critic Writes: Selected Essays by Reyner Banham (Centennial Books) by Reyner Banham

A Critic Writes: Selected Essays by Reyner Banham (Centennial Books)

Reyner Banham

Oppositions Reader: Selected Essays 1973-1984 by K. Michael Hays

Oppositions Reader: Selected Essays 1973-1984

K. Michael Hays

Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan by Rem Koolhaas

Delirious New York: A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan

Rem Koolhaas

Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000 by Peter Eisenman

Ten Canonical Buildings: 1950-2000

Peter Eisenman

Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture by Ulrich Conrads

Programs and Manifestoes on 20th-Century Architecture

Ulrich Conrads

Essays in Architectural Criticism: Modern Architecture and Historical Change by Alan Colquhoun

Essays in Architectural Criticism: Modern Architecture and Historical Change

Alan Colquhoun

Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture:: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965 - 1995 by Kate Nesbitt

Theorizing a New Agenda for Architecture:: An Anthology of Architectural Theory 1965 - 1995

Kate Nesbitt

The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design by Nikolaus Pevsner

The Sources of Modern Architecture and Design

Nikolaus Pevsner

Rem Koolhaas: Conversations with Students by Rem Koolhaas

Rem Koolhaas: Conversations with Students

Rem Koolhaas

Modern Architecture Since 1900 by William J. R. Curtis

Modern Architecture Since 1900

William J. R. Curtis

The International Style: Exhibition 15 and The Museum of Modern Art by Terence Riley

The International Style: Exhibition 15 and The Museum of Modern Art

Terence Riley

The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses by Juhani Pallasmaa

The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses

Juhani Pallasmaa

Elements of architecture at the 2014 Venice architecture Biennale by Rem Koolhaas

Elements of architecture at the 2014 Venice architecture Biennale

Rem Koolhaas

Bauhaus by Jeannine Fiedler

Bauhaus

Jeannine Fiedler

The International Style by Henry-Russell Hitchcock

The International Style

Henry-Russell Hitchcock

Architecture Culture: 1943-1968 by Joan Ockman

Architecture Culture: 1943-1968

Joan Ockman

The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture by Juhani Pallasmaa

The Thinking Hand: Existential and Embodied Wisdom in Architecture

Juhani Pallasmaa

Architecture and Utopia : design and capitalist development by Manfredo Tafuri

Architecture and Utopia : design and capitalist development

Manfredo Tafuri

Histories of the Immediate Present: Inventing Architectural Modernism by Anthony Vidler

Histories of the Immediate Present: Inventing Architectural Modernism

Anthony Vidler

Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing by Michael Merrill

Louis Kahn: The Importance of a Drawing

Michael Merrill

Collage City by Colin Rowe

Collage City

Colin Rowe

The Architecture of Happiness by Alain de Botton

The Architecture of Happiness

Alain de Botton

Member Recommendations

La diva en casa by Adam Bresnick

raulvilar Ambos libros revisan y analizan viviendas particulares de personajes excepcionales diseñadas por grandes arquitectos que han marcado un hito en la historia de la arquitectura.

Complete Recommendations