John Andrews: Architect of Uncommon Sense

John Andrews was an Australian architect who gained fame from 1960 to 1990 but faced waning fame due to postmodern cultural transformations and government-funded institutional commissions withdrawal. His body of work is a remarkable achievement that deserves to be better known. This book explores his most important buildings and how the internationalization of architecture during this period was an unexpectedly dispersed geographical phenomenon, following more complex flows and localized progressions than earlier modernist ideas. Andrews negotiated the advent of postmodernism by cultivating approaches that this new era foregrounded within the formal vocabularies of modernism. He influenced design culture beyond his own personal portfolio and assumed wider public roles and appointments that allowed him to shape architectural education. The book features essays from experts and nearly 100 new photographs from visual artist Noritaka Minami of existing buildings designed by Andrews.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 508 pages
Publication date: 28 July 2023
Publisher: Harvard University Press

Though he garnered global praise at the peak of his career from 1960 to 1990,Australian architect John Andrews faced waning fame as postmodern cultural transformations challenged modernist design values,and wider social and economic changes led to a withdrawal of government-funded institutional commissions. Yet his body of work is a remarkable achievement that deserves to be better known.

Following a path from Australia to the United States and Canada and back again, John Andrews: Architect of Uncommon Sense examines his most important buildings and reveals how the internationalization of architecture during this period was an unexpectedly dispersed geographical phenomenon,following more complex flows and localized progressions than earlier modernist ideas that travelled from center to periphery,metropole to outpost. Andrews negotiated the advent of postmodernism not by ignoring it,but by cultivating approaches that this new era foregrounded—identity,history,place—within the formal vocabularies of modernism. As Andrews assumed wider public roles and took appointments that allowed him to shape architectural education,he influenced design culture beyond his own personal portfolio. This book presents his legacy traversing local and international scenes and exemplifying late-modern developments of architecture while offering both generational continuities and discontinuities with what came after.

John Andrews: Architect of Uncommon Sense features essays from Paul Walker,Mary Lou Lobsinger,Peter Scriver and Antony Moulis,Philip Goad,and Paolo Scrivano,along with nearly 100 new photographs from visual artist Noritaka Minami of existing buildings designed by Andrews in North America and Australia.

Dimension: 232 x 171 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780674278561