Age of the Masters

Banham assesses the impact of the Modern movement through its architects and buildings. The title refers to architects as like Frank Lloyd Wright, Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Walter Gropius. However, other are featured throughout the roughly chronological presentation of important works, for example the Schroder house by Rietveld to Mies's National Gallery in Berlin. What each work has in common is Banham's appreciation and his unique point of view comes across in every paragraph. Before he presents the individual objects and works, he sets up four chapters that lay out his definition of Modern architecture- function, form, construction and space- helping to frame the ideas he presents for each project. This helps to get a better understanding to these architects and their contributions to the environment.