Modern Architecture and the Sacred: Religious Legacies and Spiritual Renewal

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Description

Modern Architecture and the Sacred provides a timely reappraisal of the many ways in which architecture and the sacred have overlapped in the 20th century. A wide range of case studies are presented through 16 contributed chapters - including the work of iconic modernist architects such as Le Corbusier, Alvar Aalto and Mies van der Rohe - which together demonstrate how sacred and semi-sacred buildings are central phenomena in modernism. Such works have much to reveal to us about the deeper motivations and complexities at the core of the modernist project. The case material is not limited simply to discussions of explicitly religious buildings (churches, synagogues, etc), but looks outwards to invocations of the 'semi-sacred' within secular buildings too - museums, exhibition pavilions, and memorials - which can all make claims at times to a form of sacred space. This expansion of the notion of sacred space sets this collection apart, providing a deeper insight into the role that spirituality plays in modern architecture's philosophical foundations, whether explicitly religious or otherwise.

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As religiosity declined in the West, architecture became the bearer of a powerful secular spirituality, widely ignored in the standard histories. In its broad and inclusive approach, this volume argues persuasively that the pursuit of the sacred was a key constituent of 20th-century architectural design and theory: a revision long overdue. * Iain Boyd Whyte, Professor of Architectural History, University of Edinburgh, UK *

Author Bio

Ross Anderson is an Associate Professor of Architecture at the University of Sydney, Australia. Maximilian Sternberg is a University Senior Lecturer in Architecture and Fellow of Pembroke College at Cambridge University, UK.