Reyner Banham (1922-1988) was an English critic and historian whose articles, books, and lectures helped define the understanding of modern architecture and technology. He is the author one of the classic books on Los Angeles landscape and urbanism, Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies (1971)as well as numerous other important books including Theory and Design in the First Machine Age (1960), The New Brutalism Ethic or Aesthetic?(1966), and Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment (1969).
Todd Gannon is Robert S. Livesey Professor and Head of the Architecture Section at The Ohio State University's Knowlton School. His most recent book is Reyner Banham and the Paradoxes of High Tech(2017) and is author and coeditor of several books including Swimming to Suburbia (2018), The Light Construction Reader (Monacelli, 2002), Et in Suburbia Ego: José Oubrerie's Miller House (2013), and monographs on the work of Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Steven Holl, Morphosis, Eric Owen Moss, Oyler Wu Collaborative, Mack Scogin Merrill Elam Architects, Bernard Tschumi, and UN Studio.
