Joseph Rykwert - 213 - Alain Elkann Interviews

Alain Elkann Interviews

IN MEMORIAM. Joseph Rykwert CBE died on October 18th 2024 at the age of 98. One of the foremost architectural historians and critics of his generation, Rykwert spent most of his working life in the UK and the USA. He was the Paul Philippe Cret Professor Emeritus of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania and taught the history and theory of architecture at several institutions in Europe and North America. His many influential works on architecture include The Idea of a Town (1963), On Adam’s House in Paradise (1972), The Orders of Architecture (1982), The Dancing Column (1996), and The Seduction of Place (2000). All of his books have been translated into several languages.

I visited Joseph often at his house in London’s Hampstead, and on 9th July 2021 he generously agreed for our conversation to be recorded and to take part in what would become this final interview. We publish it here for the first time because it was made to be able to remember and celebrate Joseph’s ‘gloriously erudite’, light-hearted voice at the time of his passing. Sadly, even if he lived to a considerable age, that time is now upon us.

"I don't think there's one outstanding figure in my generation, there are a lot of second rank figures but there was not one figure of the stature of Corbusier."

"Frank Lloyd Wright was a genius. Some of Wright’s buildings are impressive. I met him once, but not as a pupil. He was very antipatico, very exploitative of all the people who came to learn from him."

"I think of myself as superficial and ignorant, because I just haven't read enough."