Adolf Loos (1870–1933) was a flamboyant character whose presence in the cultural hotbed of early 1900s Vienna galvanized the country’s architectural landscape. An early, impassioned advocate of modernism, he all-out rejected the grand Secessionist aesthetic prevalent at the time, as well as any hallmarks of the European fin de siècle.

Instead, in lectures and essays, such as the milestone Ornament and Crime of 1908, Loos articulated his “passion for smooth and precious surfaces.

He advocated that architectural ornamentation was, by its nature, ephemeral — locked into current trends and styles, and therefore quickly dated. Loos, himself a Classicist at heart, argued instead for simple, timeless designs with time-honoured aesthetic and structural qualities.In this essential introduction, we explore Loos’s writings, projects, and legacy, from his key concept of “spatial plan” architecture to his rejection of decorative fripperies in favour of opulent, fine-quality materials and crisp lines. Featured projects include Vienna’s Café Museum (1899), the fashion store Knize (1913), and the controversial Loos House (1912), which Emperor Franz Joseph I would refuse to travel past, bristling with rage at its insolently minimalist aesthetic.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect 
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

From Berlin to Beirut, David Chipperfield (born 1953) aspires to an architecture founded on collaboration, ideas, and excellence. His buildings are intended as physically immediate spaces in which “a sort of ordinariness” becomes remarkable, and by which the individual structure coexists with broader concepts of city-building.

Chipperfield’s vision has driven major projects around the globe, from the famed rebuilding of the Neues Museum in Berlin, Germany, to the Amorepacific Headquarters in Seoul. His architec­tural practice has won many international competitions and numerous awards and citations for design excellence.

In vivid images and accessible texts, this book covers Chipperfield’s most striking projects to introduce the architect suspicious of “starchitecture,” but nevertheless a global star on the architecture stage.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect 
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

Alvar Aalto (1898–1976) made a unique modernist mark. Influenced by both the landscape and the political independence of his native Finland, he designed warm, curving, compassionate buildings, wholly set apart from the slick, mechanistic, geometric designs that characterized much contemporary European practice.

Whether a church, a villa, a sauna, or a public library, Aalto’s organic structures tended to replace plaster and steel with brick and wood, often incorporating undulating, wave-like forms, which would also appear in his chair, glassware, and lamp designs. An adherent to detail, Aalto insisted upon the humanity of his work stating: “Modern architecture does not mean using immature new materials; the main thing is to work with materials towards a more human line.”

Many of Aalto’s public buildings such as Säynätsalo Town Hall, the lecture theatre at Otaniemi Technical University, the Helsinki National Pensions Institute and the Helsinki House of Culture may be seen as psychological as well as physical landmarks in the rebuilding of Finland after the ravages of war.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect 
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

That’s Wright! One of the greatest pioneers in the history of architecture

From prairie houses to skyscrapers and the Guggenheim Museum, explore the life and work of one of the greatest pioneers in the history of architecture, Frank Lloyd Wright. Sketches, plans, and photographs chronicle all of Wright’s major works, celebrating his organic architecture philosophy, innovative use of industrial materials, and vision for a new way of American living.

Acclaimed as the “father of skyscrapers,” the quintessentially American icon Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) was an architect of aspiration. He believed in giving cultivated American life its fitting architectural equivalent and applied his idealism to structures across the continent, from suburban homes to churches, offices, skyscrapers, and the celebrated Guggenheim Museum.

Wright’s work is distinguished by its harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture, and which found its paradigm at Fallingwater, a house in rural Pennsylvania, cited by the American Institute of Architects as “the best all-time work of American architecture.” Wright also made a particular mark with his use of industrial materials, and by the simple L or T plan of his Prairie House which became a model for rural architecture across America. Wright was also often involved in many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass, paying particular attention to the balance between individual needs and community activity.

Exploring Wright’s aspirations to augment American society through architecture, this book offers a concise introduction to his at once technological and Romantic response to the practical challenges of middle-class Americans.

The author

Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer became Frank Lloyd Wright’s apprentice at the Taliesin Fellowship in 1949. In 1957, he attended the Ecole Nationale des Beaux-Arts in Paris, returning in 1958 to continue his apprenticeship with Wright until his death in 1959. He remains at Taliesin to this day, as director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Archives, a vice-president of the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and author of numerous publications on Wright's life and work.

The editor

Peter Gössel runs an agency for museum and exhibition design. He has published TASCHEN monographs on Julius Shulman, R. M. Schindler, John Lautner, and Richard Neutra, as well as several titles in the Basic Architecture series.

About the series: 

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:
- an introduction to the life and work of the architect
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

In the architecture of Richard Neutra (1892-1970), inside and outside find their perfect modernist harmony. 

As the Californian sun glints off sleek building surfaces, vast glass panel walls allow panoramic views over mountains, gardens, palm trees, and pools. Neutra moved to the United States from his native Vienna in 1923 and settled in Los Angeles. He displayed his affinity with architectural settings early on with the Lovell House, set on a landscaped hill with views of the Pacific Ocean and Santa Monica Mountains. Later projects such as the Kaufmann House and Nesbitt House would continue this blend of art, landscape, and living comfort, with Neutra's clients often receiving detailed questionnaires to define their precise needs. 

This richly illustrated architect introduction presents the defining projects of Neutra's career. As crisp structures nestle amid natural wonders, we celebrate a particularly holistic brand of modernism which incorporated the ragged lines and changing colours of nature as much as the pared-down geometries of the International Style.

About the series: 

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:
- an introduction to the life and work of the architect
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

Ever since his self-proclamation as part of the "New York Five," Richard Meier has risen through one top commission after another to the dizzy heights of architectural stardom. 

From Madison Square Garden to Shenzhen, China, his sleek, luminously white modernism has created some of the most high-profile and distinctive buildings of the 20th and 21st centuries. Meier's portfolio is as varied as it is illustrious. He has worked with Roman treasures (Ara Pacis Museum), seaside resorts (Jesolo Lido Village), civic centers (San Jose City Hall), and private clients in the Hamptons. On each project, Meier's hallmarks are careful grid plans and expansive use of white surfacing and glass. The buildings are as much beacons of brilliance from the exterior as they are temples to clarity and purpose inside. 

This introductory book traces Meier's complete career to explore the making of a cult architect. With abundant images, we take in all his most famous projects, such as the Getty Center in Los Angeles, as well as his most recent works such as the OCT Shenzhen Clubhouse in Shenzhen, China; and the Burda Collection Museum in Baden-Baden, Germany.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect 
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

In 1956, TIME magazine called him one of the defining "form-givers of the 20th century." 

Today, Marcel Breuer (1902-1981) remains a locus classicus of modernism for architects and designers alike. As a Bauhaus pioneer, even his earliest work was marked by a material restraint; the balance of texture, colour, and shape; and a symbiosis of local and global, big and small, rough and smooth. In this essential introductory monograph, we survey Breuer's complete career through some of his most influential projects and ideas, from his landmark tubular furniture to the MoMA Research House to his innovation of "binuclear" housing, splitting living and sleeping areas into separate wings. 

Along the way, we follow Hungarian-born Breuer's journey to international acclaim, with featured projects from Germany, France, England, Switzerland, and across the United States contributing to his global status as a modernist maestro.

About the series:

Each book in TASCHEN’s Basic Architecture series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect 
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and plans)

Utilitarian simplicity and graceful beauty

The inspirational vision of Jean Prouvé

French architect and designer Jean Prouvé (1901–1984) was one of the most important constructors of the 20th century. Prouvé’s design innovations included cleverly-shaped metal parts for building prefabricated structures; he designed buildings and furniture that could be produced with economy of labor and material and efficiency in use, while maintaining high technical standards and quality materials. His simple and elegant style, while born from the desire for inexpensive production, has become an imitable aesthetic and has earned him a position as one of the century’s most influential designers.

This introduction to Prouvé’s work gives a profound insight into the variety of his œuvre and the progressiveness of his inspirational vision.

About the Series:
Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:

an introduction to the life and work of the architect
the major works in chronological order
information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts and plans)

The editor:
Peter Gössel runs an agency for museum and exhibition design. For TASCHEN he published monographs on Julius Shulman, R.M. Schindler, John Lautner and Richard Neutra as well as several titles in the Basic Architecture Series.

The author:
Nils Peters studied art history at the University of Hamburg, architecture at TFH Berlin, and urban sociology at Columbia University in New York. He has taught, published, and exhibited on the subject of architecture and has had his own practice since 1998.

Design's dynamic duo. The illustrious career of Charles and Ray Eames

Nothing says modernist perfection like an Eames design. Though they are best known to the general public for their furniture, the husband and wife duo of Charles and Ray Eames (1907–78 and 1912–88, respectively) were also forerunners in the fields of architecture, industrial design, photography, and film. This book covers all the aspects of their illustrious career, from the earliest furniture experiments and molded plywood designs to the Case Study Houses to their work for Herman Miller and films such as the seminal short, Powers of Ten.

About the Series:

Each book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:

- an introduction to the life and work of the architect
- the major works in chronological order
- information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as construction problems and resolutions
- a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of the best and most famous buildings
- approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts and plans)

The editor:

Peter Gössel runs an agency for museum and exhibition design. For TASCHEN he published monographs on Julius Shulman, R.M. Schindler, John Lautner and Richard Neutra as well as several titles in the Basic Architecture Series.

The author:

Gloria Koenig is an architectural historian and author. She has published and lectured widely on a variety of topics in contemporary architecture and served as consultant with filmmakers on a documentary about her late husband, modernist architect Pierre Koenig.

Master of innovation. Challenging accepted notions of architecture

Famed Japanese architect Shigeru Ban attended SCI-Arc in California and earned his degree at the Cooper Union School of Architecture in New York. With offices in Tokyo and Paris, Ban consistently challenges accepted notions of architecture, designing a house without walls, or an exhibition space made from paper tubes and shipping containers. This survey traces his entire career to date, showing clearly why he is one of the world’s most innovative and significant architects. Unlike many of his peers, Ban can create remarkable residences and still find time to design emergency relief housing for disaster areas from Kobe to New Orleans. Often using paper or cardboard tubes as a structural element, his designs give new meaning to the term "Paper Architect." His major completed works include the Furniture House at Lake Yamanaka, Japan, the Curtain Wall House in Tokyo, the Naked House in Kawagoe, Japan, the Japanese Pavilion at Hannover Expo 2000, the mobile Nomadic Museum, and his most recent masterpiece, the Centre Pompidou-Metz in France.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:

• approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans
• introductory essays exploring the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects
• the most important works presented in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes as well as construction problems and resolutions
• an appendix including a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography, and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings

The mechanics of lightness

The wide-ranging career of the Italian virtuoso

"The array of buildings by Renzo Piano is staggering in scope and comprehensive in the diversity of scale, material, and form. He is truly an architect whose sensibilities represent the widest range of this and earlier centuries." Such was the description of Renzo Piano given by the Pritzker Prize jury citation as they bestowed the prestigious award on him in 1998. Whereas some architects have a signature style, what sets Piano apart is that he seeks simply to apply a coherent set of ideas to new projects in extraordinarily different ways. "One of the great beauties of architecture is that each time, it is like life starting all over again," Piano says. "Like a movie director doing a love story, a Western, or a murder mystery, a new world confronts an architect with each project." This explains why it takes more than a superficial glance to recognize Piano’s fingerprints on such varied projects as the Pompidou Center in Paris, the Kansai Airport in Osaka, Japan, the Tjibaou Cultural Center in Nouméa, New Caledonia, the Zentrum Paul Klee in Bern, Switzerland, The New York Times Building in New York, and his most recent structure, the London Bridge Tower, which will be upon completion the tallest building in Western Europe.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:

• approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans
• introductory essays exploring the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects
• the most important works presented in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes as well as construction problems and resolutions
• an appendix including a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography, and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings

The man who built the future. Seven decades of work from the Brazilian visionary

On the occasion of Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer’s 100th anniversary, the New York Times wrote, "In the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s he established himself as one of Modernism’s greatest luminaries, infusing stark abstract forms with a beguiling tropical hedonism that reshaped Brazil’s identity in the popular imagination and mesmerized architects around the globe."

Until his death at age 104 in 2012, over seven decades since one of his first projects - a 1936 collaboration with Lucio Costa and Le Corbusier - Oscar Niemeyer was still practicing. A technical pioneer and one of the 20th century’s most important architects, Niemeyer has designed close to 700 realized and unrealized buildings and, most notably, was the architect for the principal monuments in Brasilia, his homeland’s futuristic capital city and his undisputed major masterpiece.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:

• approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans
• introductory essays exploring the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects
• the most important works presented in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes as well as construction problems and resolutions
• an appendix including a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography, and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings

Audacious futurism. The forward-thinking work of a singular architect

Zaha Hadid is a wildly controversial architect, who for many years built almost nothing, despite her designs winning prizes and critical acclaim. Some even said her work was unbuildable. Yet over the past decade she has completed numerous structures including the Rosenthal Center for Contemporary Art in Cincinnati (which the New York Times called ’’the most important new building in America since the Cold War’’), the MAXXI Museum in Rome, the Guangzhou Opera House, her first completed project in China, and the London Aquatics Center for the 2012 Olympics. Today, Hadid is firmly established among the élite of world architecture, her audacious and futuristic designs as well as her sense for style and fashion having catapulted her to international fame.

About the Series:

Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:

- approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans

- introductory essays exploring the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects

- the most important works presented in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes as well as

- an appendix including a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography, and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings

Фрэнк Ллойд Райт - один из пионеров американского искусства и культуры. Художник при жизни был признан гением, законодателям мод, вдохновителям будущих поколений. Он принадлежал к западной культуре, сознавал, что его работа является отступлением от европейской традиции и служит новым этапом в развитии американского искусства, тесно связанного с территорией и условиями жизни в стране. Райт благоговел перед восточными культурами, никогда не увлекался авангардными тенденциями и не пытался стать деятелем направлений, которые повлекли бы за собой отказ от индивидуальности - вечно присутствующей черты в культуре США.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:

• approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans
• introductory essays exploring the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects
• the most important works presented in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes as well as construction problems and resolutions
• an appendix including a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography, and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings

Посмотреть англоязычное издание этой книги - Wright

Альбом содержит хронологию, избранную библиографию, фотографии проектов и документы, иллюстрирующие жизнь и творчество известного австрийского архитектора Отто Вагнера, отчего данное издание становится серьезным справочником об этом великом мастере.

About the Series:
Every book in TASCHEN's Basic Architecture Series features:

• approximately 120 images, including photographs, sketches, drawings, and floor plans
• introductory essays exploring the architect's life and work, touching on family and background as well as collaborations with other architects
• the most important works presented in chronological order, with descriptions of client and/or architect wishes as well as construction problems and resolutions
• an appendix including a list of complete or selected works, biography, bibliography, and a map indicating the locations of the architect's most famous buildings