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The magazine-style design and straightforward text introduce the reader to the basics of architecture so they can gain everything they need to know in order to "talk about" this hot topic. Talk About Contemporary Architecture provides the general public with the keys to understanding architecture from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and simultaneously recalls the great edifices of earlier eras. The work is broken down into chapters that decipher a diverse range of essential concepts and answer the fundamental questions on the subject: What is contemporary architecture? When did it arise? What is its purpose? What are its newest innovations? Who are the leading architects and their most significant contributions? How can different styles be recognized? The answers to all of these questions are explained in clear and engaging text, guiding the reader to appreciate this art form that pervades all public spaces and is of universal interest. Designed as an accessible introduction, this work highlights thirty essential dates that changed the face of architecture, as well as the movers and shakers of the architecture world who have initiated and propelled movements ranging from minimalism to modernism to neo-classicism. The book is completed by a detailed chronology and a glossary of the essential vocabulary needed to talk about architecture.

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CHOICE Review

Talk about Contemporary Architecture is one in a series of books (see also Talk about Design, by Elisabeth Couturier, CH, Jul'10, 47-6038) intended to give readers enough understanding to discuss the subject at hand, in this case architecture, presumably at a French cocktail party. This lavishly illustrated book, with a slight glossary of only 21 architectural terms, touches briefly on its topics, but the punch of the visual and of journalist/writer de Bure's stylish writing add to one's cocktail chatter. Coverage of most topics is incredibly short: "Heaven on Earth" discusses places of worship with one page of text and three pages of photographs. "Art, Technique, or Materials?" takes four pages, whereas the ten chapter title pages each take up two full pages. This reviewer counted only 11 buildings of the promised 12 under "Groundbreakers"--built before the 1977 Centre Pompidou, the date defined by the author as "contemporary." A chapter on 30 architects gives readers the names to drop, but not much more. Visually, the buildings leave no doubt that they are "contemporary" and will inspire more than the text informs. As for the text font, the use of two Vs for a W is affected. Summing Up: Optional. Lower-level undergraduates and general readers. V. E. Young Randolph-Macon College

Notas de autor provistas por Syndetics

Gilles de Bure is a journalist and expert on architecture. He contributes to numerous specialized magazines and journals including Architecture d'aujourdhui, Beaux Arts, and Le Journal des arts . He is the author of several monographs devoted to architects, including Jean Nouvel, Dominique Perrault, Christian de Portzamparc, and Bernard Tshumi .