Edward Robert de Zurko: Origins of Functionalist Theory (1957)

“The main purpose of this book is to study the idea of functionalism from a historical point of view. The research media are the literary sources of functionalism. Early functionalist trends in writings on architecture shall be analyzed and compared with each other and with modern interpretations of the concept. By means of this es­sentially semantic study I hope to demonstrate (1) the antiquity of functionalist ideas, especially the tendency to connect ideas of use with ideas of beauty; (2) the variety of guises assumed by this type of theory; and (3) the recurrent ideas which have generally charac­terized functionalist theory.” (from the Introduction)

Publisher Columbia University Press, 1957
265 pages
via Charles

PDF (9 MB)

Svetlana Boym: Architecture of the Off-Modern (2008)

“Svetlana Boym’s Architecture of the Off-Modern is an imaginative tour through the history and afterlife of Vladimir Tatlin’s legendary but unbuilt Monument to the Third International of 1920. Generally considered to be the defining expression of architectural constructivism, the structure was envisioned as a towering symbol of modernity and a twisting, turning memorial and media center for the Bolshevik Revolution that would have dwarfed the Eiffel Tower. Boym traces the vicissitudes of Tatlin’s tower from its reception in the 1920s to its privileged recall in ‘the reservoir of unofficial utopian dreams’ of the Soviet era. Boym offers an alternative history of modernism, postulating the ‘architecture of adventure’ as a poetic model for ‘third-route’ thinking about technology, history, and aesthetic culture.”

Publisher Buell Center / FORuM Project, and Princeton Architectural Press, NY, 2008
ISBN 1616891033, 9781568987781
80 pages

Review: Brian Dillon (Frieze, 2008).

Publisher

PDF

Iannis Xenakis: Music and Architecture: Architectural Projects, Texts, and Realizations (2008)

“This work fills a major lacuna in the literature by bringing together for the first time all of the projects, realizations and texts related to architecture by the multi-faceted Iannis Xenakis who worked with Le Corbusier for 12 years. Sharon Kanach assisted the composer in gathering the texts for this his last ambitious project.

The material in the book is presented under four main headings: “The Le Corbusier Years”, “Xenakis as Independent Architect”, “Writings on Architecture”, and “The Polytopes”. Three annexes include a commented bibliography of writings by and on Xenakis compiled by Makis Solomo, a critical index of Xenakis’s architecture by Sven Sterken, and a comparative chronology of Xenakis’s life and work by Sharon Kanach. The latter’s commentary throughout the book strives to bridge the reciprocal influences between music and architecture in the Xenakis oeuvre.”

Compiled, Translated and Commented by Sharon Kanach
Publisher Pendragon Press, Hillsdale/NY, 2008
The Iannis Xenakis Series, 1
ISBN 9781576471074
337 pages
via philip

Reviews: M.J. Grant (Music & Letters, 2010), James Harley (MusicWorks, 2010).

Publisher

PDF (84 MB, no OCR, updated on 2020-9-23)