Ruins of Modernity - Erich Mendelsohn's Hat Factory in Luckenwalde

Essays by Frank Barkow, Kathleen James, John McAslan, Rowan Moore, Ken Powell, Francesca Rogier. Photography by Charles Tashima. This book maps the genesis and decline of a building thought by many to represent a radical break in Mendelsohn's thinking - his first step towards a rational form of expression. The re-evaluation of the building also provides an opportunity for a debate on the larger issue of the conservation of modern structures. What are we to make of buildings that no longer perform their intended function? Is there a way to carry out a programme of conservation that is not a literal attempt to turn back the clock, to preserve a 'dead' monument? Through texts and speculative projects, Ruins of Modernity explores possible approaches to this increasingly acute problem. The endpiece - a presentation of John McAslan's work on Mendelsohn and Chermayev's Bexhill Pavilion - documents one actual solution.