Join the New England Chapter of the ICAA The College Club of Boston for a lecture by distinguished architectural historian James Steven Curl on his new book, Making Dystopia. Making Dystopia tells the story of the advent of architectural Modernism in the aftermath of the First World War, its protagonists, and its astonishing, almost global acceptance after 1945. He argues forcefully that the triumph of architectural Modernism in the second half of the twentieth century led to massive destruction, the creation of alien urban landscapes, and a huge waste of resources. Moreover, the coming of Modernism was not an inevitable, seamless evolution, as many have insisted, but a massive, unparalleled disruption that demanded a clean slate and the elimination of all ornament, decoration, and choice.

Tracing the effects of the Modernist revolution in architecture to the present, Curl argues that, with each passing year, so-called "iconic" architecture by supposed "star" architects has become more and more bizarre, unsettling, and expensive, ignoring established contexts and proving to be stratospherically remote from the aspirations and needs of humanity. In the elite world of contemporary architecture, form increasingly follows finance, and in a society in which the 'haves' have more and more, and the "have-nots" are ever more marginalized, he warns that contemporary architecture continues to stack up huge potential problems for the future, as housing costs spiral out of control, resources are squandered on architectural bling, and society fractures. Curl’s message contains salutary warnings that we ignore at our peril. And it asks awkward questions to which answers are long overdue.

Professor James Stevens Curl is a leading British architectural historian, Member of the Royal Irish Academy, Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. He read for his Doctorate at University College London, was twice Visiting Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge, and won The British Academy President’s Medal for ‘outstanding service to … the humanities’.

He has an international reputation for ‘thoroughness of research, impeccable scholarship, and lucidity of style’: one eminent critic described his works as combining ‘wit with compassion, the art … of the great humourists’, evident in his wide-ranging scholarly publications. His Oxford Dictionary of Architecture (with Susan Wilson) was hailed as ‘the finest in existence’.

His Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism is a passionate critique of why towns today are so unpleasant: he castigates those who can only look with their ears.