Through the 1940s and 1950s, PAGON (Progressive Architects Group Oslo Norway) was an alliance of young CIAM-affiliated Norwegian architects known for their innovative joint projects. As a group, PAGON went on to become largely overlooked in the history of modern architecture, even though its individual members - which included Sverre Fehn, Jørn Utzon, Arne Korsmo, and Christian Norberg-Schulz - became defining figures in Scandinavian and international modernism.This book tells the story of PAGON for the first time, offering a definitive account of the group's projects, buildings, and approach, and demonstrating why PAGON's projects are ripe for reappraisal in the international history of modern architecture. It shows how PAGON's architecture constitutes a unique continuity between the Scandinavian functionalism of the late 1930s and the modern movement in the US, and an important transitional stage before the emergence of the better-known neo-avant-garde groups within CIAM and Team 10.Published as part of the Bloomsbury Studies in Modern Architecture series, which brings to light the work of significant yet overlooked modernist architects, this bookfills a gap in our understanding of mid-century modern architecture and highlights the internationally diverse nature of the modern movement.

It is an international story - PAGON were based in Norway but had multiple international connections including to the US (e.g. Charles and Ray Eames, and Mies van der Rohe)

List of IllustrationsCredits for figures and platesAcknowledgementsCreditsIntroduction1. Post-war architecture in Norway2. A new Norwegian CIAM group is activated (1947-50)3. Urban design and proposals for a radical transformation of Oslo4. Visuality and the impact of study tours to the US, Mexico and Morocco5. 'Meccano for the Home' and the idea of flexible housing6. New housing typologies and realized buildings7. Space, performativity and the home as an architectural work of art8. Spiritual and spatial dimensions of the glass wall and the landscape9. 1955-56: The end of PAGON?Note on archival sourceBibliography on the writings of PAGON and its members (1951-1956)General BibliographyIndex