The Experience of Modernism: Modern Architects and the Future City, 1928-53

This book fills the gap in understanding of the complex origins of modern architects' thinking about the future city, and of the many different strands in their ideas for its reconstruction. Drawing on previously unpublished documentation and the author's transcripts of interviews with architects active in the Modern Movements between 1928-1953, this lively text builds a sympathetic understanding of the architectural role in reshaping the fabric and structure of British metropolitan cities in the post-war period. As the account unfolds, it sifts the evidence of a quarter-century of exhibition projects, paper plans, pipe-dreams and realized commissions, in the process showing how modern architects developed a wide range of visionary designs for both the future city and its society. With its unique case-study material, experiential approach, copious illustrations and theoretical framework, this book challenges the existing understanding of the impact of modernism on the twentieth-century city.