Iconicon: A Journey Around the Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain

(Hardback, Main)

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Description

Barratt homes. Spectacular skyscrapers. Millennium monuments. City centre apartments. Out of town malls.

These icons of our age, be they modest or monumental, present us with a living history of Britain. They are both symbols of the ways we have lived, and reminders of the political, financial and social forces that have shaped our modern landscape.

In Iconicon, John Grindrod takes us on a captivating journey around these landmark buildings, from 1980 to the present day. Along the way he encounters the architects and planners of these national icons, as well as the people who have lived and worked within their walls. From the Right to Buy to Generation Rent, and from postmodernist exuberance to Passivhaus eco efficiency, this is at once a revelatory architectural grand tour and an endlessly engaging and witty piece of social history.

Reviews

"[A] punchy polemic...Highly readable." -- Times BOOK OF THE WEEK

Author Bio

John Grindrod is the author of Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain (Old Street, 2013) and Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt (Sceptre, 2017) which was shortlisted for the Wainwright Prize. @Grindrod / johngrindrod.co.uk