Le Corbusier, Elements of a Synthesis
Author: Stanislaus von Moos
English, 352 pp / 240 x 170 mm / paperback, to be published May 2008, forthcoming

An updated edition of this acclaimed book, an essential read for students of architecture and architectural history.

Originally published in German (1968), this first comprehensive and critical survey of Le Corbusier’s life and work written after his death soon became a reference text. French, Spanish, English, Japanese and Korean editions followed - but the book has now been out of print for almost two decades. In the meantime, Le Corbusier’s archives in Paris have become available for research, which resulted in an avalanche of scholarship and produced a large number of detailed studies on topical aspects of the work. No less than three catalogues raisonnés of Le Corbusier’s entire production as an architect and artist are now available, not to mention various often serendipitous biographical studies. Von Moos’ straightforward prose, his critical take and the basic criteria by which the subject is organized and historicized remain surprisingly pertinent in the context of this recent jungle of Corbusier studies. This forthcoming edition is based on the revised 1979 version published in English by The MIT Press but offers a substantially updated body of illustrations. Each of the seven chapters will be supplemented by a critical survey of recent scholarship on the respective issues.