THE PALACE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS.
AN ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION IN ITS SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT
Ron Herron and John McConnell [PENTAGRAM PAPERS 5]
Ron Herron and John McConnell: THE PALACE OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS. AN ARCHITECTURAL COMPETITION IN ITS SOCIAL AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT [PENTAGRAM PAPERS 5]. London: Pentagram Design, n.d [1978]. First edition [limited to @ 2,000 copies]. Sm. 4to. Plain black wrappers in a printed dust jacket.. 40 pp. Black and white photographs throughout. Trace of edgewear. A nearly fine copy.
5.75 x 8.25 perfect-bound booklet in dust jacket. Well illustrated with historical imagery. Archigram's Ron Herron provides an exceptional social and historical context to the architectural competition held in the 1920s to choose a design for the palace of the League of Nations in Geneva. The author shows the Competition as the final act of the first Age of Heroic Modernism.
The project was described thus:" The Palais, whose construction is the object of the competition, is intended to house all the organs of the League of Nations in Geneva. It should be designed in such a way as to allow these organs to work, to preside and to hold discussions, independently and easily in the calm atmosphere which should prevail when dealing with problems of an international dimension."
A jury of architects was selected to choose a final design from among 377 entries but was unable to decide on a winner. Ultimately, the five architects behind the leading entries were chosen to collaborate on a final design: Carlo Broggi of Italy, Julien Flegenheimer of Switzerland, Camille Lefèvre and Henri-Paul Nénot of France, and Joseph Vago of Hungary.
From the wrappers: "Pentagram Papers will publish examples of curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative, and occasionally controversial points of view that have come to the attention of, or in some cases, are actually originated by, Pentagram."
Since 1975 Pentagram has issued the Pentagram Papers, a limited edition series of booklets that examine "curious, entertaining, stimulating, provocative, and occasionally controversial points of view" related to design. Published once or twice a year, the Papers have been distributed exclusively to friends and clients of the firm.
Each Pentagram Paper explores a unique topic of interest -- from the lights of London’s famed Savoy hotel to the pop architecture of Wildwood, New Jersey; from the mailboxes of rural Australia to the classroom aids of Mexico. As partner architect James Biber says, "These [pamphlets] began with John McConnell, one of the early partners; he helped developed the ideas; they weren’t rubber-stamped. McConnell was keen on ideas. Especially the idea that you could actually learn something."
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