Robert Stern has an international reputation as an architect, writer and teacher. Born in New York, he has taught and designed throughout America and Europe and is widely acknowledged as one of the originators and key theorists of the Post-Modern movement in architecture. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Architects from which he was awarded the New York Chapter's Medal of Honour in 1984.
Robert Stem's work as an architect is indivisible from his abiding concern with history and historical style. He regards Post-Modernism not as a random recycling of past styles, but as a necessary liberation from what he calls the 'perennial present' of the Modern Movement. In the four essays reproduced in this Monograph he urges contemporary architects to widen their vocabulary, to learn from the past in order to 'reunite current production with the traditions that a previous generation tried so hard to subvert'.
The 33 projects featured here reveal the range of influences which have informed Robert Stern's projects and buildings: from the Lutyens and Kahn inspired Lang and Westchester houses of the early 70s to later 'Shingle Style’ solutions such as the Lawson and Marblehead residences. Also featured are a number of larger scale buildings such as the Mexx international Headquarters in the Netherlands and the Disney Casting Center in Florida which have consolidated Stem's reputation over the last five years.