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Neil Spiller: Lost Architectures

by Neil Spiller

Summary

This book stands in opposition to the popular notion that the best architecture is built on compromise. Rather, Neil Spiller argues, the most original and brave products of the architectural mind are often to be found in those projects which, for whatever reason, never came to fruition.
Lost Architectures presents an array of such projects from the last decades of the twentieth century, consituting the unrealised dreams of some of the most inspirational architects working in the period. Most of the projects featured here have seldom, if ever, been published before, and some represent the last hand-drawn work of their creators before the age of the computer finally came into full force. Whilst they do not follow any specific style, these projects embody a spirit defined by Spiller as New Romanticism - a spirit which combines elements of aesthetic decadence and a certain camp mannerism with a love of angularity and mechanised ritual.
Some of the architects in question are still in practice, with a great deal of high-profile built work behind them; others have never been recognised as they perhaps should have been. In both cases, this book is an invaluable resource of information and inspiration for students of architecture, as well as for theorists, historians and lay readers. It provides essential exposure for a range of work of great vitality which might otherwise risk being lost in the course of time.