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The author considers 450 buildings as representing the spirit of mid-century modernism. There are obviously photos of famous examples of the style, like the World Trade Center, Sydney Opera House, Capitol Records Tower, Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut, TWA Flight Center at JFK airport and Seagram Building but what I liked about the book is the opportunity to see lesser known buildings around the world. For example: the Dollan Baths, East Kilbride, Scotland showing the massive flying buttresses; a multi-storey car park in Amsterdam, Holland with two sets of seven discs placed on each other; State Capital Bank in Oklahoma City made up of seventeen flying saucer-looking canopies; Hotel President in the Ivory Coast with a massive octagonal cantilevered extension over-hanging the roof (it contains a restaurant); Hong Kong's Jardine Tower with fifty-two storey's and all the windows are circular.
This book is the author's second building atlas, the first was the excellent 'Atlas of mid-century modern houses' published in 2021. Both books follow the same format with the world divided into nine sections. Each starts with a map of the section and a country index listing the buildings. Each photo (some a spread wide) has a long caption about the architect, the building's technical aspects and the location. A worthwhile feature is a set of symbols to reveal each structure's type, status and condition.
At the back of the house atlas and this book is a fascinating Timeline with a thumbnail of each building and it's possible to see how the International Style of the thirties morphed into the much more fluid lines of Modernism with plenty of buildings using curves for their side walls or roof and decorative elements to enclose windows.
I thought this was a thorough look at the 450 examples of mid-century masterpieces.
UK
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