Rethinking Modernity

Rethinking Modernity-Towards Post Rational Architectre

Author: Jaimini Mehta Publisher: Niyogi Books
(Pp 155, ISBN 978-81-89738-72-3)

Architectural discourse in India has been waiting to break the boundaries of practice from the introduction of modernism into our corporate cultural milieu. The book re-examines the very idea of modernity in architecture, and drawing from a number of diverse sources such as philosophy, social science, art and technology.

The author, Prof. Mehta, argues that the normal historical progression of architectural thought and production suffered an epistemological break in mid-18th century, caused by the separation between architecture and engineering and resulted in increasing rationalization of architecture. He gives an insightful analysis of the contours of post rational architecture that are already visible in the works of several contemporary architects.

The book is alive with black-and-white images of various popular architectures. Strategically divided into eight chapters – rise of the rational, the gospel of efficiency, the rational totem pole, the cerebral and the existential, critiquing the model, discourse on techniques, overlapping narratives and post-rational architecture, the book is a lucid exploration of the historical evolution of ideas in architecture. An informative book for both students of architecture s as well as professionals.