Reckoning with Colin Rowe

Book excerpt: While the first half of the 20th century in architecture was, to a large extent, characterized by innovations in aesthetics (accompanied by succinct and polemical manifestoes), the post-war decades saw emerge a more refined and intellectual disciplinary framework that eventually metamorphosed into the highly theory-focused moment of the 'postmodern'. Colin Frederick Rowe (1920 - 1999) was a leader of this epistemic shift due to his aptitude to connect his historical and philosophical erudition to the visual analysis of architecture. This book unites ten different perspectives from architects whose lives and ideas intersected with Rowe’s, including: Robert Maxwell Anthony Vidler Peter Eisenman O. Mathias Ungers Léon Krier Rem Koolhaas Alan Colquhoun Robert Slutzky Bernhard Hoesli Bernard Tschumi With an introduction by Emmanuel Petit and a postscript by Jonah Rowen In their critical assessment of a key 20th century formalist, these renowned architects reflect on how their own positions came to diverge from Rowe’s. Reckoning with Colin Rowe is a thought-provoking discussion of key schools, places, concepts and people of architectural theory since the post-war years, illustrated with over forty beautiful black and white drawings and photographs.