Philippe Trétiack

Few architects have had the privilege of shaping a city, and a capital city at that, a challenge that Oscar Niemeyer (1907-2012) boldly pursued in the futuristic Brasilia, a city of undulating, sensual forms. From Rio de Janeiro, via Paris and Milan, over the course of his long career this master of concrete created buildings that imposed his style, made up of domes, suspended columns and primary colours, grafting his idea of light and ‘tropical’ modernism also into furniture and design objects. An architect of excellence courted by illustrious patrons, he always remained faithful to communist thought, fully convinced that his work was only a pretext: what really counts is life, the human being, with his soul, his feelings and his perennial hunger for justice and beauty. With a text by Philippe Trétiack.A preview on the publisher's website.

A giant of design and architecture, the unparalleled creator of the Paimio sanatorium, the Savoy vase, and the designer par excellence of the curve, Alvar Aalto (1898-1976) is a national monument for Finland, the equivalent of Picasso for Spain and Joyce for Ireland.An architect of perception, emotion and inspiration, Aalto championed the spontaneity of energy flows and placed nature at the centre of his reflections. An introductory essay and an unpublished text by the architect himself retrace his human and professional stages: his first approach to drawing under his father's project table; his studies in Helsinki; his imagination influenced by national romanticism as well as by Finnish and Italian nature; his adhesion to functionalism and his final landing place in organic architecture. A path travelled together with his life and work companions, Aino and Elissa.