Style and epoch

Style and Epoch by Moisei Ginzburg, first published in 1924, was the architect’s key work; it became the philosophical basis for the Constructivist group of architects. Ginzburg defined the new style in architecture that signified a break from traditional styles. After two industrial revolutions, architects were faced with new challenges by society. The response was an innovative approach to architecture that put people – their needs and functions – at its centre.

The author’s understanding of global economic and cultural processes is evident in his description of the development of a style that came to define the nature of architecture in the twentieth century, which today we call modernism. The significance of this book in terms of an understanding of culture, the avant-garde and the subsequent development of modernist architecture is hard to overestimate.