The Look of Architecture

What is style in architecture? "Style is like a feather in a woman's hat, nothing more," said Le Corbusier, expressing most modern architects' low regard for the subject. But Witold Rybczynski disagrees, and in this book, based on a series of lectures delivered at The New York Public Library, he makes a compelling case for the importance of style to the mother of the arts. The heart of the book illuminates the connection between architecture, interior decoration, and fashion. Rybczynski shows us how style and fashion have been expressed in the work of major architects--including Frank Gehry, Mies van der Rohe, Charles McKim, Allan Greenberg, Robert Venturi, and Enrique Norten--and helps us see their works anew and, ultimately, to look afresh at our surroundings.