"In this insightful and innovative book, Kasper Lęgring draws on Nelson Goodmans rigorous constructivist epistemology of symbol systemsespecially Goodmans logical typology for investigating their degree of notationalityto reassess the watershed transformation between premodernist and modernist architecture in the mid-twentieth century. Partly through shedding almost all denotation, or reference to an external object, modernist architecture could sometimes approach the formal conditions of a pure notation. Nonetheless, it continued to work representationally by way of privileging exemplification (as analyzed by Goodman), both literal and metaphorical, and in this regard its aesthetic symbolization did not diminish. Lęgring carefully and convincingly assesses the degree of exemplificationwhich can be surprisingly variousin a range of different projects by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Walter Gropius, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright. He shows not only that antimodernist objections to the formality and abstraction of high modernist architecturealienating and even brutalarent inherently misguided. But he also shows that its supposed ideal formality is not meaninglessness; rather, it creates a choreographed appearance that can be the vehicle of new forms of expression and allusion. Neither a defense nor a rejection of modernist architecture, Lęgrings subtle and sensitive analysis will appeal not only to historians and theorists of architecture and the modernist arts but also to philosophers, cognitive psychologists, and others interested in the symbol systems by which architecture and other arts help make our worlds.
Whitney Davis, George C. and Helen N. Pardee Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History and Theory of Ancient and Modern Art, University of California at Berkeley, USA
Among the merits of this book is to give semiotics back its proper place in the theory of architecture. To this end, Kasper Lęgring goes back to Nelson Goodmans aesthetic theory of 1968. He rightly places Goodmans concept of exemplification at the center of his analysis of classical modern architecture. Lęgring shows how, on the basis of Goodmans aesthetics, it is not only possible to profitably reassess modernist architecture and the canonized criticism of its protagonists. Beyond this on the basis of semiotics the book succeeds in recalibrating the architecture of the 21st century. How the author links the historical foundation of contemporary architecture with its theoretical conceptualization makes the book so enriching and timely.
Jörg H. Gleiter, Professor of Architectural Theory, Technical University of Berlin, Germany
Kasper Lęgrings book, Nelson Goodman and Modern Architecture, proposes that the concept of exemplification, as offered in Goodmans understanding of art in Languages of Art, serves as a key aesthetic reference mode when experiencing modern architecture. This perspective can account for the distinctive character of modern architecture. Exemplification is one of the dominant features of symbol systems cited by Goodman, calling for both possession and reference as properties of aesthetic symbols, including buildings. Lęgrings study focuses on the symbolic features of individual buildings, and by bringing a phenomenological perspective to the study of modern architecture, he insightfully combines Goodmans aesthetic theory with developments in architectural phenomenology. In this book, Lęgring effectively applies Goodmans take on modern architecture to advance our understanding of both architectural symbolism and Goodmans critical insights into modern architecture.
Curtis L. Carter, Professor of Philosophy, Marquette University, USA
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