Books: Denys Lasdun

London’s Royal College of Physicians is rare in the history of architecture - a truly modern building for an august, traditional institution. The title of this slim monograph on Denys Lasdun’s late masterpiece, A Monumental Act of Faith, goes some way towards illustrating just how brave the commission seemed at the time, not least because the new structure was intended to nestle down amongst the serene façades that line John Nash’s Regent’s Park.

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The RCP is a complex structure, an arrangement of formal and informal spaces that includes one of the finest modernist interpretations of the grand staircase, bespoke stained glass and acres of white Sicilian marble. Calder’s slim volume tells you all you need to know about the building’s genesis.

15 August 2008 | Architecture