Josep Lluis Sert

Josep Lluís Sert (1902–1983) was the last president of CIAM (International Congresses of Modern Architecture) and dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design from 1953 to 1969, where he founded the discipline of urban design. His writings offer a new view of his activities in architecture and urban planning, and provide the intellectual context for his own work as an architect, much of which is still controversial and often poorly understood. This book includes 16 essays dating from 1951 to 1977, ten of which are previously unpublished. The Writings of Josep Lluís Sert illuminates Sert’s contributions to 20th-century architecture, urban design, and design pedagogy, and makes clear the similarities and differences between his ideas and those of his mentor, Le Corbusier. The essays reveal Sert’s advocacy both for pedestrian urbanism and for planning in relation to the natural environment, ideas that have become important issues in contemporary urban design. Each text is introduced by the editor, Eric Mumford, a scholar of CIAM, Sert, and modern urbanism.

This book examines the emergence and evolution of the discipline of urban design as articulated through the work of Josep Lluís Sert (1902–1983), one of its most influential practitioners. Sert was noted for his city planning and urban development projects in Europe, South America, and the United States, and the master plans of his later career were significant for their integration of natural landscape features into the urban building scheme. With essays by leading scholars and a wide selection of archival materials, illustrations, plans, and maps, this book provides a timely look at the man who advocated the idea of “urban consciousness” and an architecture that dealt with the total environment--well before these concepts became commonplace.

José Luis Sert (1902-1983), architect and town planner, friend and collaborator of Le Corbusier, member of CIAM, and founder of the Grupo Este of the GATEPAC in Barcelona, took the Spanish architectural avant-garde of the thirties as the starting point for his work. Sert left Spain in 1939 to settle in the United States, where he eventually suceeded Walter Gropius as head of the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University. Among Sert's most representative works are the Fundación Joan Miró and the Dispensari Antitubercolosi in Barcelona, the Fondation Maeght at Saint-Paul-de-Vence in France, the American Embassy in Baghdad and town plans for several cities in South America, including Medellín, Bogotá, Lima and Havana. Through careful archival research, the author has assembled the entire legacy of Sert's projects and has reconstructed the profile of one of the greatest Spanish architects of the twentieth century. The book also conveys an excellent overview of the avant-garde art and architecture movements of the time, with illustrations of important CIAM meetings, art, sculpture and architecture by artists who influenced Sert.

Inspired by the early style of Corbusier and ideas on Mediterranean architecture espoused by the likes of Bernard Rudofsky and Josep Lluís Sert, a younger generation of architects found the perfect conditions to explore the future of the Mediterranean house in Cadaqués?a small fishing village on the Spanish Costa Brava that was also home, or the summer meeting ground, for some of the past century?s greatest artistic figures, including Dalí, Picasso, Miró, and Duchamp.0In this new book, photos from the period show the distinctive style and environment of Cadaqués and 22 homes designed by Federico Correa, Alfonso Milà, José Antonio Coderch, Francesc Joan Barba Corsini, Peter Harnden, Lanfranco Bombelli, Oscar Tusquets, and Lluís Clotet. Edited by Nacho Alegre, it features an introduction by Oscar Tusquets and also tells of the friendships and influences that existed between this group of architects, and how their architecture came to be.

"Josep Lluais Sert (1902-1983) was the last president of CIAM (International Congresses of Modern Architecture) and dean of the Harvard University Graduate School of Design from 1953 to 1969, where he founded the discipline of urban design. His writings offer a new view of his activities in architecture and urban planning, and provide the intellectual context for his own work as an architect, much of which is still controversial and often poorly understood. This book includes 16 essays dating from 1951 to 1977, ten of which are previously unpublished. The Writings of Josep Lluais Sert illuminates Sert's contributions to 20th-century architecture, urban design, and design pedagogy, and makes clear the similarities and differences between his ideas and those of his mentor, Le Corbusier. The essays reveal Sert's advocacy both for pedestrian urbanism and for planning in relation to the natural environment, ideas that have become important issues in contemporary urban design. Each text is introduced by the editor, Eric Mumford, a scholar of CIAM, Sert, and modern urbanism."--Publisher's website.

The second edition of The Urban Design Reader draws together the very best of classic and contemporary writings to illuminate and expand the theory and practice of urban design. Nearly 50 generous selections include seminal contributions from Howard, Le Corbusier, Lynch, and Jacobs to more recent writings by Waldheim, Koolhaas, and Sorkin. Following the widespread success of the first edition of The Urban Design Reader, this updated edition continues to provide the most important historical material of the urban design field, but also introduces new topics and selections that address the myriad challenges facing designers today. The six part structure of the second edition guides the reader through the history, theory and practice of urban design. The reader is initially introduced to those classic writings that provide the historical precedents for city-making into the twentieth century. Part Two introduces the voices and ideas that were instrumental in establishing the foundations of the urban design field from the late 1950s up to the mid-1990s. These authors present a critical reading of the design professions and offer an alternative urban design agenda focused on vital and lively places. The authors in Part Three provide a range of urban design rationales and strategies for reinforcing local physical identity and the creation of memorable places. These selections are largely describing the outcomes of mid-century urban design and voicing concerns over the placeless quality of contemporary urbanism. The fourth part of the Reader explores key issues in urban design and development. Ideas about sprawl, density, community health, public space and everyday life are the primary focus here. Several new selections in this part of the book also highlight important international development trends in the Middle East and China. Part Five presents environmental challenges faced by the built environment professions today, including recent material on landscape urbanism, sustainability, and urban resiliency. The final part examines professional practice and current debates in the field: where urban designers work, what they do, their roles, their fields of knowledge and their educational development. The section concludes with several position pieces and debates on the future of urban design practice. This book provides an essential resource for students and practitioners of urban design, drawing together important but widely dispersed writings. Part and section introductions are provided to assist readers in understanding the context of the material, summary messages, impacts of the writing, and how they fit into the larger picture of the urban design field.

Joan Miro's paintings evolved from the rich, poetic realism of his early works to later symbolic, abstract, organic forms, yet all retained the bold, decorative colours of the Catalan landscape. Josep Lluis Sert's growing concern with urban planning and balancing technology with humanity remained informed by his Mediterranean

This series was the winner of the American Institute of Architects' prestigious "Award for Excellence in International Book Publishing". Each volume in this series is introduced with an essay on the architect, and a chronological or stylistic presentation of their most outstanding buildings and projects. No other series provides such a complete and concise summary of the world's leading architects' works. The volumes are fully illustrated in black-and-white with photos and project renderings.