Todd Cronan will join the MAK Center on Thursday, October 12, at 7:00 p.m. for a lecture discussing his new book, Nothing Permanent: Modern Architecture in California. Learn more about the event at MAK Center.

Nothing Permanent is a nuanced intellectual history of architectural innovation in California between 1920 and 1970. It demonstrates how this prolific era of modern architecture was propelled by divergent views about the dynamic between interior and exterior, the idea of permanence, and the extent to which architects could exercise control over the inhabitants of their structures.

"Todd Cronan’s original and provocative text reminds me of the deathbed words of Louis Sullivan. When a young architect came to report the destruction of one of his buildings, Sullivan said, ‘If you live long enough, you’ll see all your buildings destroyed. After all, it is only the idea that really counts!’ Nothing Permanent is an excellent contribution to thinking about architecture." —Steven Holl, principal, Steven Holl Architects

"Todd Cronan’s brilliant reinterpretation of the divergent strains of twentieth-century modern architecture in Southern California, which reveals that intentions remain while responses constantly change, is particularly relevant now as we contemplate a future in which not only the architecture but even the landscape of the region, with its earthquakes, floods, and fires, is not permanent." —Judith Sheine, author of R. M. Schindler