the library room: The library has over 3,000 titles, including books on architecture; architectural drawing, history and photography; architectural guidebooks, rare twentieth century architectural journals of the modernist era from 1930 to 1960; books on graphic design, poster design, art, landscape, and catalogues from architectural exhibitions and architectural awards programmes. All the books are arranged by country, not by author or title. No central computerised index is used – I find all books can be remembered by their title and visual appearance of the graphic design. New books and journals are added on a monthly basis. Why architectural modernism from 1930 to 1960? I am a dyed- in-the-wool modernist, not an antiquarian. The remarkable fact about this style of architecture is that it was an entirely new invention, a clean, stripped down and dramatically handsome presentation of architectural ideas and forms with an elegant simplicity that caught the imagination of architects around the world. Architectural journals from Europe played a key role in disseminating images of this new style, and they capture the immediacy and excitement of this style which first appeared in France, then Germany, and then to Italy and Spain, spreading rapidly across eastern Europe, England, the Americas, thence to the Middle East and parts of Africa. I have about 700 publications from 18 different countries, including bound and unbound copies. My theory is that these journals were the most important way to spread the modernist style, inspiring hundreds of architects to experiment with these concepts in their own countries.
David Duncan Livingston
Robert G Hill
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