Twentieth-Century Residential Architecture

As the basic building block of the human environment, the house has served as an inexhaustible playground where architects experiment with theories, styles, forms, and materials. Arguably, the best and most innovative residential architecture has been conceived and realized over the past 100 years -- from the cantileveral serenity of Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater to the spectacular Chemosphere, which resembles a UFO that has planted its landing gear in the Hollywood Hills. This book, the first to chronicle the development of the modern house, examines major shifts in international domestic design over the past century as it highlights a superb selection of extraordinary homes. Author Richard Weston engagingly tells the story of the twentieth-century house through eight semi-chronological design themes. From the Arts and Crafts period to the present, he covers a wide range of homes exemplifying each period and presents more than 100 benchmark dwellings with detailed architectural drawings. Weston also addresses the fascinating ways in which domestic design has both reflected and influenced the changing social climates and lifestyles of the past century, making this a book that will appeal to anthropologists, as well as architects, designers, and homeowners.