by Scott Johnson
THE BIG IDEA: Criticality and Practice in Contemporary Architectures
In this engaging memoir from the design partner of award-winning Los Angeles architecture firm Johnson Fain, the author shares his personal experiences as a designer on the rise in the latter half of the twentieth century as he considers the last forty years of the relationship between practice and theory in American architecture. From his childhood days in California’s Salinas Valley to his tenure with legendary architect Philip Johnson to his time with Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to the formation of his own firm and its rise toward the top of the architectural firmament, Johnson’s unique insight makes for a fascinating discussion of each of the major movements that have characterized the world of architecture since Modernism.