Labour, Work and Architecture

Labour, Work and Architecture : Collected Essays on Architecture and Design

’For his entire career Mr. Frampton has looked beneath the aesthetic surface of buildings in search of deeper meaningsÖ’ (Paul Goldberger, New York Times)

This anthology of writings by the architectural critic Kenneth Frampton brings together his most influential essays from the last thirty-five years. The essays focus on twentieth-century architecture, dealing with themes and movements, built works and the architects responsible for these buildings.

The essays are presented in chronological order within three sections - Theory, History and Criticism - which together serve to situate modern architecture in its broader cultural and historical context. The anthology includes early critical reviews from the 1960s and 1970s analysing contemporary buildings, as well as lengthier pieces covering architecture and the ideological circumstances in which buildings are produced. As a collection, Labour, Work and Architecture is an important document in the historiography of twentieth-century architecture by a highly respected and readable scholar committed to the understanding and improvement of our built environment.