From Bauhaus to Our House

It's amazing how Tom Wolfe packed the whole sorry history of the failure of modern architecture into this brief, funny, sarcastic book. Of course, architects and architectural students hate this book. It so pithily lays out how the emperor of modern architecture has no clothes. I'm not talking about Gropius or LeCorbusier, I'm talking about the very concept of modern architecture as the emperor with no clothes. There are very few "great ideas" that have failed so miserably. I recommend buying several copies and keeping it in your hip pocket to hand out to (sadly) deluded young architects who believe that vast sheets of smooth glass, granite, concrete and/or stucco lined with a little bit of stainless steel somehow constitutes a building worthy of human habitation. Of course, some architects have now added vast smooth areas of flat wood to humanize their failures. Yes, Robert Hughes' book Shock of the New, along with the film program, are must viewing, too. Whether Tom Wolfe cribbed from Hughes or not, Wolfe makes his points quickly and clearly. If you doubt the truth of Wolfe's book just start visiting architects' websites on the internet and look at the gray and/or white bunkers that are supposed to pass for houses. Notice how every building now comes in a few basic styles: Prison/medieval fortress (vast stretches of concrete with narrow vertical slits for windows), bunker (a favorite both for houses and for public buildings), Cyclops/Star Trek Planet Eater=a giant rectangular box with one huge window/set of windows at one end, the Iron Giant--a variation on the Cyclops where a set of windows is surrounded by a square concrete frame that juts out like a jaw, the ship (really popular, "the image is of a ship"), glass curtain walls on a stucco box, the coffin: a long low 70's style/DDR Plattenbau building with horizontal windows. Throw in a few windows wrapped around a corner; have a little flat piece of metal stick out over the roof edge or somewhere AND, especially in Germany, long, thin, tall, spindly pillars. Wolfe's book will never be out-of-date as long as the totally out-of-date (and never any good in the first place) Bauhaus style is used as a bible by architects who have lost all sense of proportion, art, beauty, humanity and practicality. And, don't forget: it's a terribly fun read!

Smart and insightful with passages of rare delight. Wolfe is in top form as he skewers our skylines and redeems Rand.

Este es una critica muy aguda y ingenuosa de las tonterias de la architectura moderna. Muy bien hecho.

A friend asked if I had read this book by Tom Wolfe. Somehow, I missed it when it came out, but its commentary is still timely and humorous. My husband, father and a cousin all are or were architects who tried to balance our human need for coy comfort and light, privacy and openness. The balance is difficult to achieve. With Tom Wolfe, the topic of a "house" becomes a sociological, political and ethical study, while keeping its humor. I liked it so much bought extra copies to give away!

This little expose is replete with wit and a profound knowledge of modern architecture. It starts at the turn of the 20th century and takes us from Vienna, Berlin and Amsterdam to Los Angeles and to California in general. Several big names set the tone, and the author has intimated knowledge of what moved them and their contemporaries. Rivalries and friendships among equals define what is viewed as great architecture. A must read for any one even remotely interested in architecture.