Last Futures: Nature, Technology and the End of Architecture - Softcover

Douglas Murphy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1781689822 ISBN 13: 9781781689820

Publisher: Verso, 2022

Synopsis

In the late 1960s the world was faced with impending disaster: the height of the Cold War, the end of oil, and the decline of great cities throughout the world. Out of this crisis came a new generation of thinkers, designers and engineers who hoped to build a better future, influenced by visions of geodesic domes, walking cities, and a meaningful connection with nature.

In this brilliant work of cultural history, architect Douglas Murphy traces the lost archeology of the present-day through the works of thinkers and designers such as Buckminster Fuller, the ecological pioneer Stewart Brand, the Archigram architects who envisioned the Plug-In City in the '60s, as well as co-operatives in Vienna, communes in the Californian desert, and protesters on the streets of Paris. In this mind-bending account of the last avant garde, we see not just the source of our current problems but also some powerful alternative futures.

About this title

About the Author

DOUGLAS MURPHY is an architecture critic, journalist, academic and designer. He trained as an architect at the Glasgow School of Art and the Royal College of Art, and is currently "architecture correspondent" at Icon magazine, as well as writing for a wide range of publications on architecture, fine art and photography. His first book, was The Architecture of Failure(2012). He has taught and lectured at Oxford University, UCL, The Royal College of Art, The Architecture Association, ETH Zurich, and appeared on radio and TV.

From the Back Cover

In the late 1960s the world was faced with impending disaster: the height of the Cold War, the end of oil, and the decline of great cities throughout the world. Out of this crisis came a new generation that hoped to build a better future, influenced by visions of geodesic domes, walking cities, and a meaningful connection with nature. In this brilliant work of cultural history, architect Douglas Murphy traces the lost archeology of the present-day through the works of thinkers and designers such as Buckminster Fuller, the ecological pioneer Stewart Brand, the Archigram architects who envisioned the Plug-In City in the '60s, as well as co-operatives in Vienna, communes in the Californian desert, and protesters on the streets of Paris. In this mind-bending account of the last avant garde, we see not just the source of our current problems but also some powerful alternative futures.

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1781689822
• ISBN 13: 9781781689820
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 224