Architecture Today

This work is a comprehensive overview of architecture worldwide since the 1960s. A guide to the many and varied contemporary architectural trends, it leads the reader through the styles and movements of architecture in the latter half of the 20th century. The Modern Movement in architecture early in the 20th century gave rise to the “International Style” – architecture was intended to transcend its time and place and provide a new world order in building and city planning. In the 1960s, modernism was seriously challenged by architects who began to question the validity of its principles. In place of modernism, a diverse array of building types and styles, driven by new architectural beliefs and theories, began to emerge. This text is an attempt to make sense of the pluralistic nature of contemporary architecture, by offering an accessible critique of the world’s most prominent architectural movements and trends.

Author Biography

James Steele is Associate Professor at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. He has previously taught at Texas Tech University, the University of London and the Prince of Wales Institute of Architecture. His many publications include Los Angeles Architecture: the Contemporary Condition, and the Architecture in Detail monographs Eames House, Barnsdall House and Lawson-Westen House (all Phaidon).