Modern Architecture: A Planetary Warming History

Hans Ibelings’s latest publication, Modern Architecture: A Planetary Warming History, is presented as a “rough sketch of a proposed history of modern architecture.” It is a timely concept, given the role that modern buildings, cities, and infrastructure have played in causing the current environmental crisis. There is also no doubt that there is a need for new interpretations of modern architectural history: ones that would augment and challenge the well-worn narratives found in standard texts by writers like Kenneth Frampton and William J.R. Curtis. By drawing from recent literature and trawling through historical case studies, Ibelings attempts to chart a new reading of history that focuses on architecture and planetary warming since the late 18th century.