Brokers of Modernity. East Central Europe and the Rise of Modernist Architects. 1910-1950

The first half of the 20th century witnessed the rise of modernist architects. ‘Brokers of Modernity’ reveals how East Central Europe turned into one of the pre-eminent testing grounds of the new belief-system of modernism. By combining the internationalism of the CIAM organization and the modernizing aspirations of the new states built after 1918, the reach of modernist architects extended far beyond their established fields. Yet, these architects paid a price when Europe’s age of extremes intensified. Using mainly Polish, but also wider Central and Eastern European, examples this book delivers a pioneering study of the dynamics of modernist architects as a group, including how they became qualified, how they organized, how they communicated and their own attempts to live the modernist lifestyle themselves. In so doing ‘Brokers of Modernity’ raises questions concerning collective work and the social role of architects today.nrpages: 400status: publishe