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'Any red-blooded architect or fan of architecture must get this one ... passionate ... a document of our times' --Peter Cook, The Architectural Review
'A pleasing object ... beautifully illustrated and well designed ... a poke in the eye to banal architecture' --The Architects' Journal
'A seriously cool book ... a very useful resource ... anyone who loves modern buildings will appreciate all this building has to offer'
--The Glasgow Herald
'A pleasing object ... beautifully illustrated and well designed ... a poke in the eye to banal architecture' --The Architects' Journal
'A seriously cool book ... a very useful resource ... anyone who loves modern buildings will appreciate all this building has to offer'
--The Glasgow Herald
Product Description
Architects have been drawing for centuries on their creative abilities to produce astonishing works of imagination, but the greatest period of experimentation has been from the Second World War to the present. This book, newly available in paperback, is a highly acclaimed survey of the breathtakingly visionary and experimental architecture of this period. With its copious illustrations and analyses of the early, radical work of many of today's most important architects, as well as seminal work of earlier practitioners, it is a complete resource for students and professionals and the authoritative source on a subject of essential interest for all in the world of architecture.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
An interesting read and view, covering a lot of ground. One criticism would be that there seems to be a large emphasis on London tutors from the Bartlett and Architectural Association, who are all excellent, but possibly not "visionary" in the way that Gaudi, Hadid etc are. The book goes from "here is the truly visionary and world famous Sagrada Familia" on one page to "here's a visionary doodle and a photo of a table with wobbly iron legs down in the 80s by yours truly, the author, Neil Spiller." A lot of London centric stuff and some of the arrogance that comes with it. The language does not always flow easily, verging on the deliberately prententious and over complex, in place of trying to really explain a point. Apart from that it's great.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a hard book to review, actually it was even quite a hard book to read.
On the plus side it is a robust survey of 'visionary architecture', I am not an expert but it does seem to be impressively broad in scope, stretching back to such people as Piranesi, through Cedric Price and Archigram and onto an awful lot of people from Bartlett School of Architecture. I suspect that 'visionary architecture' means pretty much whatever you want it to mean, so inclusion or exclusion in a book of this nature is ultimately rather arbitrary. It does seem to have a distinctly Anglo Saxon bias, and a seeming preference for people who did not build much.
The writing is fairly impenetrable, though where he writes about people I like and am interested in, it seemed to make sense, where I just do not get the architect, it just seemed incredibly pretentious. Personally I would have preferred more on people like Buckminster Fuller, but in fairness I don't think there any obvious omissions. Most readers will probably come away wanting to know more about an architect that they did not formerly know about.
If you are studying architecture then this is a useful resource. For the lay reader it is by turns fascinating and wilfully obscure.
Although the subject matter would lend itself to a truly stunning book, visually it is somewhat underwhelming. Images seem to be rather randomly plonked down, it is generally unclear what they are, and why they are significant. It would be easy to be hugely irritated by the author, he is potentially hugely pretentious and self important, for example including himself in the glossary of significant contributors to visionary architecture, but on balance his enthusiasm and thoroughness won me over. That said, I don't think I'll be buying another book by him.
On the plus side it is a robust survey of 'visionary architecture', I am not an expert but it does seem to be impressively broad in scope, stretching back to such people as Piranesi, through Cedric Price and Archigram and onto an awful lot of people from Bartlett School of Architecture. I suspect that 'visionary architecture' means pretty much whatever you want it to mean, so inclusion or exclusion in a book of this nature is ultimately rather arbitrary. It does seem to have a distinctly Anglo Saxon bias, and a seeming preference for people who did not build much.
The writing is fairly impenetrable, though where he writes about people I like and am interested in, it seemed to make sense, where I just do not get the architect, it just seemed incredibly pretentious. Personally I would have preferred more on people like Buckminster Fuller, but in fairness I don't think there any obvious omissions. Most readers will probably come away wanting to know more about an architect that they did not formerly know about.
If you are studying architecture then this is a useful resource. For the lay reader it is by turns fascinating and wilfully obscure.
Although the subject matter would lend itself to a truly stunning book, visually it is somewhat underwhelming. Images seem to be rather randomly plonked down, it is generally unclear what they are, and why they are significant. It would be easy to be hugely irritated by the author, he is potentially hugely pretentious and self important, for example including himself in the glossary of significant contributors to visionary architecture, but on balance his enthusiasm and thoroughness won me over. That said, I don't think I'll be buying another book by him.
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
A brilliant work, for anyone keen to know more on the world of architecture beyond their immediate environment. Lavishly illustrated, concisely indexed and easily referenced; the book is set out as an ambling history of conceptual and adventurous architecture, intersposed by detailed case studies. Examples included are of living and long-deceased arhitects, breaking from (but with relevant reference to) the usual suspects of corbusier, mies, and so on.
The book is consistently rewarding becasue at first the text is a little esoteric, but in such a way as to provoke further thought in place of discouraging it. Well recommended.
The book is consistently rewarding becasue at first the text is a little esoteric, but in such a way as to provoke further thought in place of discouraging it. Well recommended.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Fantastic Book
An incredibly inspiring book, beautiful drawings and illustrations with a deep and thorough commentary. This book is fantastic!!! Read more
Published 10 months ago by Emma Jensen
excellent overview of some tuly visionary architects
having bought this book some months ago ive constantly used it as a reference and for inspiration as i finish my final year as an architect student. Read more
Published 22 months ago by eoghan
A Masterpiece of Visions of Genius
A tour-de-force of architectural research and design. Spiller reveals the roots and futures of architectural genius. This is a visual and literary masterpiece. Read more
Published on 2 Feb 2010 by Book Buff
My review of Visionary Architecture
This book was bought for my husband's firm here in Brunei - they are completely satisfied with the condition and content of the book
Published on 1 May 2009 by Mr. David W. P. Price
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