When Buildings Speak

Architecture as Language in the Habsburg Empire and Its Aftermath, 1867-1933

Anthony Alofsin

300 pages, parution le 26/11/2006

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Résumé

The canonical inventors of the International Style have long dominated studies of modern European architecture. But in When Buildings Speak, Anthony Alofsin broadens this scope by exploring the rich yet often overlooked architecture of the late Austro-Hungarian Empire and its successor states. He shows that several different styles emerged in this milieu during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Moreover, he contends that each of these styles communicates to us in a manner resembling language and its particular means of expression.

Covering a wide range of buildings-from national theaters to crematoria, apartment buildings to warehouses, and sanatoria to postal savings banks-Alofsin proposes a new way of interpreting this language. He calls on viewers to read buildings in two ways: through their formal elements, on the one hand; and through their political, social, and cultural contexts, on the other. By looking through Alofsin's eyes, readers can see how myriad nations sought to express their autonomy by tapping into the limitless possibilities of art and architectural styles. And such architecture can still speak very powerfully to us today about the contradictory issues affecting parts of the former Habsburg Empire.

When Buildings Speak is essential reading not only for students and scholars, but also for any travelers to Central Europe who want to better understand the complex forces at play in the region. Lavishly illustrated with newly commissioned color photographs, it will become the standard introduction to the wide-ranging varieties of modern architecture in the Habsburg Empire and its aftermath.

Sommaire

Preface
Introduction
Issues of Architecture, Language, and Identity
The Language of History
The Language of Organicism
The Language of Rationalism
The Language of Myth
The Language of Hybridity
Conclusion
Continuities, Discontinuities, and Transformations
Appendix: Place-Names, Educational Institutions, Translation of Secession
Notes
Selected Bibliography
Illustration Credits
Index

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Caractéristiques techniques

	PAPIER
Éditeur(s)	The University of Chicago Press
Auteur(s)	Anthony Alofsin
Parution	26/11/2006
Nb. de pages	300
Format	22 x 29
Couverture	Relié
Poids	1656g
Intérieur	Quadri
EAN13	9780226015064
ISBN13	978-0-226-01506-4