Principles of Modern Architecture is not a history of modern architecture. Its aim is theoretical and it represents an attempt to explain the basic tenets of the new architecture that came into being around the turn of the century. The many misunderstandings currently in circulation make such an attempt a timely one.

Modern Architecture represents an answer to the spatiality of the open world. “Pre-modern” currents, such as art nouveau and the new building technology paved the way for Le Corbusier’s concept of the “free plan” in 1926, later supplemented by Mies van der Rohe’s idea of “clear construction.” It became a “movement” with the institution of the CIAM (Congrès Internationaux d’Architecture Moderne) in 1928 and has remained the only true expression of the open world of pluralism and global interaction.

In this volume Christian Norberg-Schulz investigates the basic principles of modern architecture including the “free plan” and the “‘open form” as well as the manifestations of modern life in the terms “house,” “institution,” and “city.” He also discusses the problems of “regionalism” and “monumentality” (meaning), and concludes with a summing up of the endeavours of modern architecture. It is a clear, concise, accessible account of what the modern movement really wanted and what it achieved by one of the world’s leading architectural critics. Over 200 Illustrations.

About the Author:
Christian Norberg-Schulz, author of more than a dozen books on architecture, studied in Zürich with Siegfried Giedion and Harvard with walter Gropius, at IIT with Mies van der Rohe and in Rome with Nervi. He has been a professor at the Oslo School of Architecture since 1966 and has been a visiting lecturer at numerous universities throughout the world.