On the Wings of Modernism: The United States Air Force AcademyThe United States Air Force Academy stands as one of the most extensive architectural projects of the entire cold war era. Robert Allen Nauman's fascinating On the Wings of Modernism shows the project was also a volatile battleground for competing ideas about aesthetics and politics. It remains a key to fully understanding American modernism. Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill's (SOM) first public exhibition of plans and models for the project was designed by the former Bauhaus master Herbert Bayer, and it incorporated photographs of the Colorado Springs site by Ansel Adams and William Garnett. Myths and metaphors of flight and the American West were interwoven with those of modernism, both to justify the design and to free it from any lingering socialist or European associations. Questions of architectural imagery and meaning in postwar America were debated in numerous hearings as Congress considered the funding of the academy buildings. Nauman argues that contrary to the technological and teleological interpretations presented by the polemicists of "International style" modernism, the academy's actual production was squarely grounded in bureaucratic and political processes. He demonstrates that selection of both the site and the design firm was the result of political maneuverings involving the U.S. military leadership. On the Wings of Modernism examines the complete history of the academy's construction, from the earliest conception of the project to its eventual completion. Using previously unexplored resources of the U.S. Air Force Academy, SOM, and the Air Force Academy Construction Agency, Nauman uncovered materials such as negatives of original Ansel Adams photographs of the site. He also conducted extensive interviews with the SOM project director for the academy, Walter Netsch. This timely study of a cornerstone of American modernism offers new interpretations of the complex political and cultural environment of the postwar era and is sure to enrich any discussion of architecture, architectural history, or modernism generally. Book jacket. |
Other editions - View all
On the Wings of Modernism: The United States Air Force Academy Robert Allen Nauman No preview available - 2004 |
On the Wings of Modernism: The United States Air Force Academy Robert Allan Nauman No preview available - 2008 |
Common terms and phrases
academic building Academy Chapel Academy Construction Agency academy design academy project academy's AFACA Air Academy Air Force Academy American Ansel Adams April archi architects Architectural Forum Architectural Record Bauhaus Bayer Becket Belluschi Cadet Area cadet quarters chapel design Chicago chitectural Colonel Colorado Springs Committee congressional consultants cost Courtesy Skidmore criticism Denver dining hall discussion Eero Saarinen engineering Erler exterior Ferry Figure file 01 firm firm's Force Academy Construction glass Gordon Bunshaft Harmon Henry-Russell Hitchcock Hitchcock Husted Ibid included issue of Architectural joint venture July June Le Corbusier letter located March master plan meeting memo Merrill LLP military Modern Architecture modernist MoMA monument museum partner Pietro Belluschi presentation Robert and Company Saarinen Secretary selection board SOM's specific Stoltz Subcommittee Talbott technological tion U.S. Congress United States Air Walter Netsch Washbourne Welton Becket West Point World's Fair Wright York