Fleeing Europe in 1939 for the Australian state of Queensland, the
architect Karl Langer (1903-1969) found himself positioned at the very
edge of both European and Australian modernism.
Confronted by tropical heat and glare, the economics of affordable
housing, fiercely proud regional architectural practices, and a
suspicion of the foreign, Langer moulded the European language of
international modernism to the unique climatic and social conditions of
tropical Australia.
Published as part of the Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Architecture
series, which brings to light the work of significant yet overlooked
modernist architects, this book is both an examination of Langer's work
and international legacy, and also a case study in tropical modernism
and the trans-global dissemination of design ideas - revealing how
Langer sought to reconcile his training in international modernism with
a fascination for the formal and visual languages of a regional culture,
context, and climate.