The life of Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926) was full of complexity and contradictions. As a young man he joined the Catalonian nationalist movement and was critical of the church; toward the end of his life he devoted himself completely to the construction of one single spectacular church, La Sagrada Familia....

A century of great buildings and their creators The architecture of the 20th century is distinguished by an astonishing diversity. Just as the clash of aesthetic and commercial ambitions nevertheless produced many a happy symbiosis, so the purist and the expressive, the monumental and the picturesque came face to face....

An encyclopedia of modern architecture With more than 280 entries, this architectural A–Z, now part of our Bibliotheca Universalis series, offers an indispensable overview of the key players in the creation of modern space....

Less is more: Finding perfection in purity Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) was one of the founding fathers of modern architecture, and creator of the Barcelona Pavilion (1929), the Farnsworth House in Plano, Illinois (1945-1951) and the Seagram......

Acclaimed as the “father of skyscrapers”, the quintessentially American icon Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) was an architect of aspiration. He believed in giving cultivated American life its fitting architectural equivalent and applied his idealism to......

The illustrious career of Charles and Ray Eames Eventually everything connects--people, ideas, objects, etc. ... the quality of the connections is the key to quality per se. --Charles Eames .. . everything hangs on something else. --Ray Eames Nothing says modernist perfection like an Eames design....

The inspirational vision of Jean Prouve One should not sketch out utopian projects, because evolution can only result from practical experience. --Jean Prouve French architect and designer Jean Prouve (1901-1984) was one of the most important constructors of the 20th century....

A century of great buildings and their creators This is the be-all-end-all reference work for architecture in the 20th century. From Frank Lloyd Wright to Antoni Gaudi to Frank O. Gehry to Shigeru Ban and all the best stuff in between, it\"s all here....