Zevi Bruno. The Modern Language of Architecture

Canberra: Australian National University Press, 1978. — 256 p. — ISBN 0 7081 0885 7.Frank Lloyd Wright called Bruno Zevi ”the most penetrating architectural critic of our time,” and one could ask for no better proof than Zevi's masterpiece, The Modern Language of Architecture . In it, Zevi sets forth seven principles, or ”antirules,” to codify the new language of architecture created by Le Corbusier, Gropius, Mies van der Rohe, and Wright. In place of the classical language of the Beaux Art school, with its focus on abstract principles of order, proportion, and symmetry, he presents an alternative system of communication characterized by a free interpretation of contents and function, an emphasis on difference and dissonance, a dynamic of multidimensional vision, and independent interplay of elements, an organic marriage of engineering and design, a concept of living spaces that are designed for use, and an integration of buildings into their surroundings. Anticipating the innovations of postmodern architecture, Zevi argues forcefully for complexity and against unity, for decomposition dialogue between architecture and historiography, finding elements of the modern language of architecture throughout history, and discussing the process of architectural innovation. Sumptuously illustrated, and written in a clear, accessible manner, The Modern Language of Architecture will long remain one of the classics of architectural criticism and history.A Guide to the Anticlassical CodeIntroduction: Speaking ArchitectureListing as Design Methodology
Asymmetry and Dissonance
Antiperspective Three-Dimensionality
The Syntax of Four-dimensional Decomposition
Cantilever, Shell, and Membrane Structures
Space in Time
Reintegration of Building, City, and LandscapeConclusion: Unfinished Architecture and KitschAfterthoughtsComing of Age
Mannerism and Language
The Historic Sequence of the Invariables
Misunderstandings of the Langue/Parole Relationship
The Seven Invariables in Town Planning
Questions and Answers about Architectural WritingArchitecture versus Architectural HistoryIntroduction: Anticlassicism and Le CorbusierMedievalist Culture, Arts and Crafts, and Neo-Romanesque: Functional Listing as Design Methodology
Gothic Historiography, Nineteenth-Century Engineering, Art Nouveau, Garden Cities: Asymmetry and Dissonance; Cantilever, Shell, and Membrane Structures
Renaissance and Rationalism: Antiperspective Three-Dimensionality, Syntax of Four-dimensional Decomposition
Mannerism and Baroque, Organic Architecture: Space in Time; Reintegration of Building, City, and LandscapeConclusion: Prehistory and the Zero Degree of Architectural Culture