No Place Like Utopia: Modern Architecture and the Company We Kept

Peter Blake had long been one of the defining voice in Modern Architecture. In this book, he tells the story of the Modern era as a memoir, looking back on the architects, artists and ideas that shaped it with a wonderful range of personal stories that give you a more human view of the time. Blake focuses on the heydey of the movement after WWII when many of the leading architects had moved to the States and were transforming the country into a modern vision. He pokes fun at Frank Lloyd Wright's enormous ego, as he found himself challenged by the new European emigrees like Mies van der Rohe. Blake gives a lot of space to Philip Johnson, with whom he worked closely at MoMA, noting the enormous role Johnson had in shaping the Modern movement in America through the many exhibitions he sponsored at this New York museum. He also speaks fondly of Marcel Breuer, or Lajko as he calls him, whose early designs shaped much of the modern furniture design of the era and whose work never let go of the modern vision when others seemed to drift into the increasingly more corporate world of modern architecture. There are also amusing anecdotes of Le Corbusier and artists like Jackson Pollack, who was a close friend of Blake. Blake tells of his struggles at Architectural Forum to create a unique magazine that captured the modern era rather than just serving as a trade journal or coffee table book. These are probably the most interesting sections as Blake talks candidly about the battles that took place and how his own ideas were reshaped when Jane Jacobs issued a clarion call for a more responsive urban architecture in The Death and Life of American Cities. The two had worked together for many years, but her attack on modern architecture came as a great surprise as Blake subscribed to the utopian visions of Le Corbusier and other modernists and wasn't yet willing to let go of these ideas. He offers no apologies. In fact, he roundly castigates the Post-Modern era that followed. But, he recognized the need for modern architecture to better adapt itself to regional and local needs, noting the later of work of Le Corbusier and Team X.

Peter Blake does an engaging and insightful job of bringing together his experiences as an architect and historian as well as those prominent figures with whom he's crossed paths. Not only does the book do a good job of documenting the shapings of our modern urban role but Blake also reveals the myths and realities of the 20th century's view on utopias. In addition, by chronicling his experiences with various prominent artists and architects, all signficant contributors to the modern urban landscape, Blake provides an entertaining glimpse at the relationships between artists/creators and their environments, the intertwining of how they shaped environments and how their environments impacted their own work. A worthwhile read for any fan or architecture, urbanism or those interested in the role/life of artists and designers.