Various — Progressive Architecture

New York , Reinhold Publishing Co. 1950-73. Leather. A continuous 23 year run of selected sections from one of the 20th century's most significant architectural magazines, uniformly bound by Bayntun Riviere of Bath. The sections included from the magazine are those concerning the design of either real, planned, or hypothetical buildings. Sections such as the 'newsletter' or 'manufacturers' literature' are not included. Thus there is a streamlined focus on design content. The relevant sections from each month's magazine are bound together by year, with each volume running from January to December as one would expect. The pagination is truncated as a result: for most months the pagination will run from roughly 50-120. Thus there are twelve separately paginated sections in each volume, corresponding loosely to those figures. Replete with illustrations, both photographic and draughted. Colour photos become more frequent from the 1957 volume onwards. There is a general American focus, but the wider world is not neglected. Every imaginable sort of building is covered, from schools to hotels to offices and houses. Contemporary design is rigorously and intelligently discussed in the accompanying articles, which situate the featured buildings within their wider social and practical context. New materials and technology are explored, and ambitious theoretical designs are analysed. The architectural discussions, by their very nature, provide a fascinating angle on the wider cultural, economic, and political world of their particular year. For example, one will find the design and utility of bomb shelters discussed at the height of the cold war, and then 'omnibuildings' eagerly anticipated in the late 60s. In 1969 there is a feature titled 'Machine Art Past and Technology Art Present', while in 1970 the influence of modern technology on the design of movie theatres is explored. A beautifully bound unparallelled primary source for the history of architecture, as well as for socio-economic history, in the mid to late twentieth century. In half morocco by Bayntun Riviere. Externally excellent with just the occasional light mark to the boards. The 1955 volume has a small bookseller's stamp to the front pastedown. Internally, generally clean and bright, and firmly bound Fine . Ill.: Various. Fine .