Modernising post-war France : architecture and urbanism during les trente gloreiuses /
This book is about the role played by architects, engineers and planners in transforming France during the three postwar decades of growing prosperity, a period when modernization was a central priority of the state, promising a way forward from the shame of defeat in 1940 to a place at the center o...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
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London ; New York :
Routledge,
[2023].
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| Summary: | This book is about the role played by architects, engineers and planners in transforming France during the three postwar decades of growing prosperity, a period when modernization was a central priority of the state, promising a way forward from the shame of defeat in 1940 to a place at the center of the new Europe. The first part of the book examines the scale of transformation, showing how architecture and urbanism both served the cause of modernization and shaped the identity of the new France. Mainstream modernism was co-opted to the service of the state, from major public buildings to Gaullist plans for the transformation of Paris to establish the city as the 'capital' of Europe. By contrast, the second part of the book explores the critique of state-sponsored modernisation by radical architects from Le Corbusier to the young Turks of the 1960s such as Georges Candilis and the students who attacked the banality of mainstream modernism and its inability to address the growing problems of France's cities. Following May 1968, the Beaux-Arts was closed, the Grand Prix de Rome, symbol of the old order, abolished, for a while the establishment might continue as before, but progressive architecture was set on a new course. Beautifully illustrated and written to be accessible to all, the book sets the discussion of architecture and urbanism in its social, political and economic contexts. As such, it will appeal both to students and scholars of the history of architecture and urbanism and to those with a wider interest in France's postwar history. |
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| Physical Description: | ix, 294 pages : illustrations, maps ; 26 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780367556501 0367556502 9780367556518 0367556510 |