Cubism in Architecture and the Applied Arts: Bohemia and France, 1910–1914 by Ivan Margolius (review)

Books 345 Shinto village and shrine. The Japanese concept of oku (innermost space) could reinforce his argument. There are important differences, but the Earth was sacred for the Japanese as it was for the Greeks. Supported by extensive notes and an index, the text isscholarly and for those familiar with at least some of the 150 illustrated sites at the end of the book. The photographs are poorly printed and the maps are inadequate. Scully acknowledges 'the severe limits of photography' in capturing the sense of the Greek landscape and the extent of the sites, but better ones could have been taken to support his hypothesis. Hailed as a milestone in architectural history upon its initial publication, the book is indispensable for those interested in the architecture of ancient Greece. Of major importance wasScully's consideration of building design in terms of cultural and landscape contexts. Cubism in Architecture and the AppliedArts: Bohemia and France, 1910-1914. Ivan Margolius. David & Charles, Newton Abbot, Devon, England, 1979.128pp., iIIus.£9.SO. Reviewed byMichael Levin* The author in the last chapter says: 'The Cubist trend in architecture which appeared so strongly and in such isolation in Bohemia, apart from the brief involvement of R. DuchampVillon , is not recorded fully anywhere in Western architectural studies. It seems rather incredible that the buildings which were born in the style which started off the whole modern movement have been entirely missing from all the truly historical accounts.' Indeed, the book is an interesting addition to the architectural history of the 20th century. However, some of these buildings and projects have already been recorded in several other books. The book's title led me to high expectations, since the term Cubism has been used mainly to refer to painting and to sculpture. In describing and illustrating its influence on architecture, however, Margolius is obliged to emphasize the design of facades. Building plans and interior designs were not influenced by Cubism, although Gocar's Sanatorium isdescribed as 'cubist architecture at its best' (p, SO). The only French example is Raymond Duchamp-Villon's 'La Villa Cubiste' (he designed only two plaster models, whose whereabouts are unknown). Reyner Banham says this about the design: 'His ideas lay a long way from the progressive trends of the time of its conception, 1912. It is little more than the routine structure ofa symmetrical villa in the Mansardic tradition ticked out with fans of prismatic moulding instead of Rococo (or even Art Nouveau) details' [Theory and Design in the First Machine Age (London: Architectural Press, 1960) p. 203]. Although, according to Margolius, the Czech styleof Bohemia played an important role in the early stages of the development of some major building styles of this century, it appears that it wasa provincial extension of aspects of Cubism neglected in France. But, even so, the Czech style did not crystallize into something substantial. Only later was a more substantial, if less direct, influence of Cubism found in the designs of architects (Le Corbusier and Gropius, for example). Paris: A Century of Change, 1878-1978. Norma Evenson. Yale Univ. Press, London. 1979. 383 pp., iIIus. £18.00. Reviewed by Barry S. Maitland** Since the urbanization of societies is one of the most compelling common factors of economic and political changes that have occurred in this century, then records and analyses of how it has taken place is very important. Accounts of the transformation of individual cities over periods of time provide some of the most vivid insights into this phenomenon. A particular difficulty isthe extraordinary complexity of the variety at functional, physical and symbolic levels. In her study of the last 100 years of the *21 Kubovy St. Apt. 24, Jerusalem, Israel. UDept. of Architecture, University of Sheffield, The Arts Tower, Sheffield 510 2TN, England. development of Paris, Evenson has chosen to meet this difficulty by providing six essays, each dealing with a distinct aspect ofthe planning of the city. This causes some problems, since the phenomenon cannot be dealt with neatly in this way, for example the westward development of the Voie Triomphale to La Defense, recur in a number of contexts. Despite this,- however, the approach allows her to develop her themes...