For the past 15 years, Nicolas Grospierre has traveled the globe documenting modern architecture. Now the Geneva-born, Warsaw-based photographer has compiled his striking images, many of which have never before been published, in a new book, Modern Forms: A Subjective Atlas of 20th-Century Architecture (Prestel Publishing, $50). It contains nearly 200 photographs arranged by form, rather than geography, allowing Grospierre to create a complete look at the many ways that architecture follows political and social ideologies. Here, Architectural Digest considers several photographs from the book.
Tehran City Theatre, Tehran, Iran
This performing arts center, designed by Ali Sardar Afkhami and completed in 1972, is home to the largest theater in Iran. Featuring elaborate tilework on the exterior, the round structure was a harbinger of an era of modern design that swept the country’s capital in the following decades.
Yellow Housing Estate, Warsaw, Poland
This particular building resembles a large number of prefabricated East German designs that were exported to Poland in the mid-1980s. With aluminum frames and tempered stained glass, these utilitarian structures dotted the Warsaw landscape before being demolished in recent years.
Sanctuary of the Divine Mercy, Kalisz, Poland
Although the church was designed by Jerzy Kuźmienko and Andrzej Fajans in 1952, construction did not begin until 1977 and wasn’t completed until 1993. A single, undulating plane forms the roof, the most striking feature of the building.
Balneological Hospital Water Tower, Druskininkai, Lithuania
Built in 1980, this tower designed by Aušra Šilinskienė and Romualdas Šilinskaswater held the waters used for treatments at the adjacent hospital. It has since been torn down, and, fittingly, a water park now sits in its place.
Photographer Nicolas Grospierre’s newly published book is for sale online. prestelpublishingandomhouse.de
