Building in France, Building in Iron, Building in Ferroconcrete (Texts & documents): 1995

This example of 20th-century architectural literature presents Siegfried Giedion's vision of architecture in the industrial era and his response to technological advances in the production of key building materials. The author shows how iron and reinforced concrete allowed the construction of buildings of unprecedented size and openness in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Focusing on the radical possibilities of skeletal support structures, he celebrates uses of these materials in buildings from the Eiffel Tower and the Crystal Palace to glass-canopied railroad stations, department stores, and exhibition halls. This classic of twentieth-century architectural literature, now available in English for the first time, presents Sigfried Giedion's provocative vision of architecture in the industrial era and his response to technological advances in the production of key building materials.Giedion shows how iron and reinforced concrete allowed the construction of buildings of unprecedented size and openness in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Focusing on the radical possibilities of skeletal support structures, he celebrates innovative uses of these materials in buildings from the Eiffel Tower and the Crystal Palace to glass-canopied railroad stations, department stores, and exhibition halls.With this volume, first published in 1928, Giedion became a leading advocate of modern architecture. He was the first to exalt Le Corbusier as the champion of the new style, at the expense of a considerable body of Germanic theory and practice, and his arguments strongly influenced the direction of architecture for the next four decades. Later, although diluting his criticism of architectual thought in previous periods, Giedion incorporated much of this text into Space, Time, and Architecture, his best-known work Cover Contents Preface Sokratis Georgiadis — Introduction SIGFRIED GIEDION BUILDING IN FRANCE, BUILDING IN IRON, BUILDING IN FERROCONCRETE INTRODUCTION CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY ARCHITECTURE CONSTRUCTOR AND ARCHITECT CONSTRUCTORS THE NINETEENTH CENTURY THE NINETEENTH CENTURY IN FRANCE IRON 1800-1850 FIRST ATTEMPTS FIRST FORMATION 1850-1890 EXPERIMENTAL ARCHITECTURE EXHIBITIONS EXHIBITIONS OF WORLD COMMERCE FURTHER DEVELOPMENT FERROCONCRETE 150-204 NATIONAL CONSTANTS 1900-1920 A.G.PERRET TONY GARNIER 1920-1927 LE CORBUSIER AND THE YOUNGER GENERATION THE CURRENT STATUS OF FERROCONCRETE Appendix Illustration Credits Sigfried Giedion: A Biographical Sketch Index Introduction / Sokratis Georgiadis -- Building In France, Building In Iron, Building In Ferroconcrete / Sigfried Giedion -- Iron. 1800-1850 First Attempts. 1850-1890 Experimental Architecture -- Ferroconcrete. 1900-1920 A. G. Perret. 1920-1927 Le Corbusier And The Younger Generation -- Sigfried Giedion: A Biographical Sketch. Sigfried Giedion ; Introduction By Sokratis Georgiadis ; Translation By J. Duncan Berry. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Translation Of: Bauen In Frankreich, Bauen In Eisen, Bauen In Eisenbeton. Leipzig : Klinkhardt & Biermann, 1928. With this text--published here for the first time in English--Sigfried Giedion positioned himself as an eloquent advocate of modern architecture, exalting Le Corbusier as the artistic champion of the new movement.