Most houses are the product of multiple layers of norms and expectations built up over time, whether methods, materials, and technologies or social, cultural, economic, and political pressures. Yet at various moments houses have been built that break with the past and do something different-houses that stand outside of these expectations and instead are conceived to embody whole new theories or agendas. We call these “manifesto houses.”

For the first time, this compelling thread in the history of architecture is surveyed by Owen Hopkins. He brings together a collection of twenty-one such manifesto houses, exploring the visions for architecture conjured by Andrea Palladio, Eileen Gray, Frank Lloyd Wright, Harry Seidler, Lina Bo Bardi, Anupama Kundoo, and Sou Fujimoto, among others. The Manifesto House looks in detail at the ideas and ambitions embodied in each house, the contexts that shaped them, and their impact and influence on the future of architecture.

Visited by millions around the world every year, museums are one of mankind’s most essential creations.  They tell stories, shape cultural identities and hold valuable insight about the past and about the future. This captivating works charts a path from the very first collection through to the latest developments in cultural curation, interweaving  

Using examples of the greatest cultural institutions to shape the narrative, historian and academic Owen Hopkins draws on his deep knowledge of the field to  outline the history of the museum movement.  

Tracking the evolution from princely collections in Europe and the Enlightenment’s classically inspired temples of curiosities, via the public museums of the late nineteenth century, on to today’s global era oficonic buildings designed by the world’s leading architects,  this book is a vital work for anyone seeking to understand the development of the museum into what it is today.

Over the course of five chapters filled with stunning imagery that highlights the beauty of these  venerated buildings, the origins of  key institutions are revealed, including:

• Louvre
• Metropolitan Museum of Art
• British Museum
• Tate Modern
• The Hermitage
• Guggenheim
• Smithsonian Institute
• Acropolis Museum

Also outlined are the motivations of the architects, curators and patrons who have shaped how we experience the modern museum, a cast that includes names such as King George II, Napoleon, Henry Clay Frick, Peggy Guggenheim, Andrew Carnegie, Alfred Barr, Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Frank Gehry, Richard Rogers, Nicholas Serota and Zaha Hadid.

By examining how these venues became intrinsic to our shared cultural experience, analysing the changing roles they play in society and questioning what the future holds in a digital age, this book is for anyone who has stood in awe at the spectacle of a museum.