Architect Albert Frey (1903-1998) saw a modernist utopia in the desert.
Born in Zurich, he studied in Europe with Le Corbusier before moving to
the United States in 1930, convinced it was the land of architectural
opportunity. On a visit to Palm Springs, he fell under the desert spell.
It was here, amid the arid and empty landscape, that he could truly
envisage a perfect modern future.
Like fellow Californian luminary, John Lautner, Frey would spend the
rest of his career nurturing the consonance of architecture and nature:
studying the fall of sunlight and rain, and merging aluminum, steel, and
glass with the boulders and sands of the West Coast wilds. His vision
centered in particular on Palm Springs, capitalizing on the city's
postwar population boom to create a bastion of the sleek, leisurely
modernism that defines midcentury California.
In this dependable architect introduction, we follow Frey's long and
prestigious career from his European beginnings through to the apogee of
his Californian practice, taking in his notes on De Stijl, Le Corbusier,
and Bauhaus, and exploring the stylistic, material, and geographic
makings of his unique "desert modernism."
About the series
Born back in 1985, the Basic Art Series has evolved into the
best-selling art book collection ever published. Each book in TASCHEN's
Basic Architecture series features:
an introduction to the life and work of the architect
the major works in chronological order
information about the clients, architectural preconditions as well as
construction problems and resolutions
a list of all the selected works and a map indicating the locations of
the best and most famous buildings
approximately 120 illustrations (photographs, sketches, drafts, and
plans)
