An important architectural debate about the changing urban realm has been ongoing since the Second World War. Retrospectively, architects seem to have focused most often on particular facets - traditional, vernacular or modern - of the urban territory. Rarely have attempts been made to integrate these different aspects into a larger, coherent view. This book argues that a more integrated architectural perspective on the urban realm can be found in the work of the Team 10 - a group of architects formed in 1953 as an internal critique of one of the most prominent organizations of the Modern Movement in architecture: the Congrès Internationaux d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM).
This book focuses on the theory and practice of the French contributors to Team 10: Georges Candilis, Alexis Josic and Shadrach Woods (all disciples of Le Corbusier). Relying for the first time on the archives of both Georges Candilis and Shadrach Woods, it re-situates the work of the Candilis-Josic-Woods partnership (1952 - 1970) within the international framework of CIAM as well as within the French context of decolonization and modernization during les trente glorieuses (the 'thirty glorious years' between 1945 and 1975).