Gunnar Asplund Paperback – January 23, 2012

Nice

The influence of Scandinavian design in the United States, if not in the whole world has been immense. The clean simple lines of functional design pioneered over there have influenced more designs than have been built in Scandinavia. Gunnar Asplund is one of the lessor known (in the United States) architects of Scandinavian design.Born in 1885, he began his career in 1907 with a small villa. A few years later he won his first competition for a school which launched his professional career. From then until his death in 1940 he designed a range of structures that reach from small homes through large commercial/government/public buildings. They remain classics of their type.This profusely illustrated book is unusual in that it includes not only photographs of the buildings as they exist now, but also many line drawings that illustrate the original concepts. As such this is both a tribute to his designs and an idea book for designs being made today.

This is a beautifully illustrated, comprehensive monograph on the underrated Swedish architect Gunnar Asplund. Although Asplund's work is contemporary with Mies, Le Corbusier, and Aalto, it is of an entirely different current -- Asplund weaves together vernacular, classical and modernist influences in a way that stands solidly outside standard, official history of Modern Architecture. Like the Slovenian architect Plecnick, Asplund's work has always been tricky for historians to place in the march from Wright to Gropius to Mies that is the standard trajectory of early 20th c architectural history.While that fact may contribute somewhat to the neglect of his reputation, this is undeserved. Aplund's best projects, like the Snellman House, the Enskede Cemetery, or the Stockholm City Library are phenomenal masterpieces of 20th century architecture. The photographs of the work in this book are excellent, and fortunately plenty of line drawings are included too. Jones' summary of Asplund's career is lucid and solidly researched. I would highly recommend this book to anyone interested in early modernist architecture or Scandinavian design.

Bello

I like it

Als ich im Stockholmer Waldfriedhof von Asplund stand, war ich zutiefst beeindruckt: Da hat einer die vorhandene Landschaft mit Landschaftsarchitektur und Architektur genial vereint. Die Ausstrahlung ist gewaltig und hat mich nachhaltig geprägt. Weil das schon 10 Jahre her ist, habe ich das Buch gekauft und ich merkte: 2D ist nicht gleich 3D (was zwar klar ist, aber immer wieder in Erinnerung gerufen werden muss, gerade weil die Architekten mit Publikationen als Vehikel ihrer Bauten bekannt werden, nicht mit den Bauten selbst).Die vorgestellten Bauten sind teils klassizistisch und somit eher für Kunsthistoriker interessant. Bei einigen Bauten spürt man anhand ihrer Abstraktion und Ausgestaltung die beginnende Moderne - und diese taugen durchaus als Ideenfudus auch für zeitgenössische Lösungen.

The most definitive summary of the works of one of the world's great architect. A must have in any library of the period.