Theory of architecture Books

Book SynopsisFrom one of the world''s most imaginative designers comes a story about humanity told through the lens of our buildings.''This book is a super-accessible guide as to why we shouldn''t put up with soulless buildings and how we might change that'' GRAYSON PERRY*****Our world is losing its humanity.Too many developers care more about their shareholders than society. Too many politicians care more about power than the people who vote for them. And too many cities feel soulless and depressing, with buildings designed for business, not for us.So where do we find hope?Thomas Heatherwick has an alternative. By changing the world around us, we can improve our health, restore our happiness, and save our planet. The time has come to put human emotion back at the heart of the design process. Drawing on thirty years of making bold, beautiful buildings, neuroscience and cognitive psychology, Heatherwick brings together vivid stories and hundreds of beautiful images into a visual masterpiece. Humanise will inspire us to do nothing less than remake our world.*****''Thomas Heatherwick brings a velvet sledgehammer to the way we think about buildings and how they change our lives . . . I want to live in the kind of city Heatherwick imagines!'' SIMON SINEK''Humanise is a masterwork. It''s quietly furious, impassioned, rigorous and forensic in all the right doses. It leaves me very hopeful indeed about how things could go from here'' ALAIN DE BOTTONTrade ReviewHumanise is a masterwork. It's quietly furious, impassioned, rigorous and forensic in all the right doses. It leaves me very hopeful indeed about how things could go from here. The Age of Boring might just have ended right now -- Alain de BottonThomas Heatherwick echoes many things I find myself saying as I travel round the country. How the hell did that monstrosity get built? Why is this place so depressing? Why is so much of the built environment so boring? This book will wind up quite a few architects, planners and developers who labour under the delusion that they are the adults in the room. Good. These people need to develop some compassion for the people who have to live with their joyless, bland, unlovable creations. This book is a super accessible guide as to why we shouldn't put up with soulless buildings and how we might change that -- Grayson PerryThomas Heatherwick brings a velvet sledgehammer to the way we think about buildings and how they change our lives. In simple, elegant words, he demands that we put people first. Not developers, politicians or architects. I want to live in the kind of city Heatherwick imagines! Vive la revolution! -- Simon Sinek, Optimist and New York Times-bestselling author of Start with Why and The Infinite GameThis book will help frustrated ordinary people and communities see what is possible -- David ByrneA revelation. Humanise offers an accessible, compelling and entirely unique perspective on the world in which we live. Heatherwick’s storytelling ability shines through on each and every page - pushing boundaries and challenging perspectives. At a time where thoughtful and constructive ideas and solutions, that put the public at the centre of decision-making, are sought more than ever - this book provides a spark to ignite conversations across our city, country and the globe on how to build a better world for everyone -- Sadiq Khan, Mayor of LondonHeatherwick makes the case for human buildings that nurture our health and happiness. Out with the 'blandemic' of boring buildings and let's get back to interestingness. He calls for us all to engage with our built environment and so we should -- Dame Sally DaviesArchitecture has the ability to uplift and inspire, support connection, and fuel invention - bringing life and vitality to our cities by making them better, more beautiful, more sustainable places to live and work. Thomas Heatherwick's new book offers us a powerful prescription for buildings that put the public first and help set the course for a brighter future for humanity -- Mike Bloomberg, entrepreneur, philanthropist, former Mayor of New York CityIn a social and economic tour de force, Thomas Heatherwick explodes the waste of bad design: the neighbourhoods destroyed, the wellbeing lost, the carbon burned. And then he pivots to the potential of bending the straight line into a curve, the building into the feeling, and the narrowly rational into the fully human -- Mark CarneyHumanise ignites the urgent public conversation I've been calling for for years -- Sir Terry Farrell CBE, architect and urban designerA book that will change how you see the world -- Simon JenkinsThe climate crisis, a post-pandemic era and war. All these issues that the world is facing require unprecedented approaches in art, architecture and design. Humanise transcends all borders, cultures and fields of expertise. This book maintains an exquisite balance between quantitative evidence, architectural history, ideals and reality. It urges all of us on this planet to celebrate life -- Mami Kataoka, Director of the Mori Art Museum, TokyoInspiring, enlightening and provocative, Humanise arms us with a new way of seeing our built environment, and makes explicit what's at stake if we blindly accept the status quo -- Noreena Hertz, author of The Lonely Century: A Call to ReconnectThomas Heatherwick's humanity centred imagination is brought to life through his buildings and designs. He challenges us all to see the world differently, in harmony with nature, for the better. Humanise is a look behind the scenes and into the mind of his creative genius -- Tony Fadell, NYT bestselling author of Build, iPod inventor, Nest founderHeatherwick's fascinating book argues we must bring public value and delight back to the world of architecture which has been lost in boringness that is bad for people and planet -- Marianna Mazzucato, author of Author of Misson Economy: A Moonshot Guide to Changing CapitalismA world-renowned designer * Wall Street Journal *The Leonardo da Vinci of our times -- Terence ConranProbably the most creative person in the world -- Stephen Ross

Read more less

Book SynopsisWhat “really constitutes an architectural atmosphere”? Peter Zumthor says, is “this singular density and mood, this feeling of presence, well-being, harmony, beauty ... under whose spell I experience what I otherwise would not experience in precisely this way.” Zumthor’s passion is the creation of buildings that produce this kind of effect, but how can one actually set out to achieve it? In nine short, illustrated chapters framed as a process of self-observation, Peter Zumthor describes what he has on his mind as he sets about creating the atmosphere of his houses. Images of spaces and buildings that affect him are every bit as important as particular pieces of music or books that inspire him. From the composition and “presence”‎ of the materials to the handling of proportions and the effect of light, this poetics of architecture enables the reader to recapitulate what really matters in the process of house design.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBeloved and contemplated by philosophers, architects, writers, and literary theorists alike, this book examines the places in which we place our conscious and unconscious thoughts and guides us through a stream of cerebral meditations on poetry, art, and the blooming of consciousness itself.Trade ReviewPraise for Gaston Bachelard:"[Bachelard] is neither a self-confessed and tortured atheist like Satre, nor, like Chardin, a heretic combining a belief in God with a proficiency in modern science. But, within the French context, he is almost as important as they are because he has a pseudo-religious force, without taking a stand on religion. To define him as briefly as possible – he is a philosopher, with a professional training in the sciences, who devoted most of the second phase of his career to promoting that aspect of human nature which often seems most inimical to science: the poetic imagination ..."– J.G. Weightman, The New York Times Review of Books"[Bachelard] reminds me of skilled chess players who take the biggest pieces with pawns."-Michel Foucault (trans.)Praise for Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves:"Any hope or fear that the experimental novel was an aberration of the twentieth century is dashed by the appearance of Mark Z. Danielewski's House of Leaves, the first major experimental novel of the new millennium. And it's a monster. Dazzling."-Washington Post Book World"An intricate, erudite, and deeply frightening book." - The Wall Street Journal

Read more less

Book SynopsisTHE NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLERFrom one of our greatest voices in modern philosophy, author of The Course of Love, The Consolations of Philosophy and The School of Life, The Architecture of Happiness explores the fascinating hidden links between the buildings we live in and our long-term wellbeing.''Engaging and intelligent . . . Full of splendid ideas, happily and beautifully expressed'' IndependentWhat makes a house truly beautiful? Why are many new houses so ugly? Why do we argue so bitterly about sofas and pictures - and can differences of taste ever be satisfactorily resolved?To answer these questions and many more, de Botton looks at buildings across the world, from medieval wooden huts to modern skyscrapers; he examines sofas and cathedrals, tea sets and office complexes, and teases out a host of often surprising philosophical insights. The Architecture of Happiness will takTrade ReviewClever, provocative and fresh as a daisy * Literary Review *Full of splendid ideas, often happily and beautifully expressed . . . an engaging and intelligent book * Independent *Genuinely thought-provoking * Time Out *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA refreshed edition of the plain-speaking yet inspirational architecture primer that encourages the reader to take a broader look at the world around us and how we might shape it. Architecture is a discipline that requires constant collaboration with the wider world, but too often architectural teaching and indeed building designs don't reflect this important fact. The Architecture Concept Book encourages the reader to look and think again, to draw inspiration widely and to consider the context in which the building will sit before putting pen to paper, or cursor to screen. Building on the success of the first edition, James Tait has updated his original text with introductions to each section that inspire further creative thinking and understanding. With 18 new pages and 5,000 extra words of text, this revised edition is the perfect way in to the ideas and fundamentals that govern an often impenetrable industry for anyone interested in our built environment.

Read more less

Book SynopsisYes is More is the easily accessible but unremittingly radical manifesto of Copenhagen-based architectural practice Bjarke Ingels Group, or BIG.Unlike a typical architectural monograph, this book uses the comic book format to express its groundbreaking agenda for contemporary architecture. It is also the first comprehensive documentation of BIG’s trailblazing practice—where method, process, instruments, and concepts are constantly questioned and redefined. Or, as the group itself says:“Historically, architecture has been dominated by two opposing extremes: an avant-garde full of crazy ideas, originating from philosophy or mysticism; and the well organized corporate consultants that build predictable and boring boxes of high standard. Architecture seems entrenched: naively utopian or petrifyingly pragmatic. We believe there is a third way between these diametric opposites: a pragmatic utopian architecture that creates socially, economically, and environmentally perfect places as a practical objective. At BIG we are devoted to investing in the overlap between radical and reality. In all our actions we try to move the focus from the little details to the BIG picture.” Bjarke Ingels attracts highly talented coworkers, but also gifted and ambitious clients from all over the world. He then creates intelligent synergies from wild energies and unforeseen dynamics, and transforms them into surprising, functional, valuable, and beautiful solutions to the specific and complex challenges in each task. BIG projects have won awards from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts, and the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Architecture Biennale, as well as many other international prizes. Yes is More is a play on words that represents the company’s ethos and sums up its irreverent attitude towards excessive formalism, and its determination to involve the population at large in its creations. As an extension of its methods and results, its debut monograph uses the most approachable and populist means of communication available—the comic.Trade Review“As a vehicle for delivering Ingel’s can-do dynamism, it works.” * Architect Magazine *

Read more less

Book SynopsisBeautifully designed and featuring breathtaking photography, this book from the creator of The Modern House makes the perfect coffee table book and is the ultimate gift for home design enthusiasts ''A source of fascination, inspiration and fantasy'' GuardianIn 2005, childhood friends Matt Gibberd and Albert Hill set out to convince people of the power of good design and its ability to influence our wellbeing. They founded The Modern House - in equal parts an estate agency, a publisher and a lifestyle brand - and went on to inspire a generation to live more thoughtfully and beautifully at home.As The Modern House grew, Matt and Albert came to realise that the most successful homes they encountered - from cleverly conceived studio flats to listed architectural masterpieces - had been designed with attention to the same timeless principles: Space, Light, Materials, Nature and Decoration.In this lavishly illustrated bookTrade Review'A source of fascination, inspiration and fantasy' * Guardian *'A handsome new book (...) splits the pair's accumulated learnings about life enhancing design across five central tenets: space, light, materials, nature and decoration ... a culture destination for interiors obsessives' * Sunday Times *'This is a book filled with such insight and detail that you'll be rearranging and rethinking your space in the most useful of ways' * Stylist *'The Modern House transformed our search for the perfect home' * Financial Times *'If you are a frequent consumer of house porn, chances are The Modern House will feature heavily in your browser history. A sumptuously packaged estate agency for some of the UK's most remarkable homes' * Vogue *'A Modern Way to Live reads so beautifully. It's a lyrical love letter to the home and architecture, and the places and conditions that create the best of both worlds ... generously informative and inspirational' * Waitrose Weekend *'The Modern House sells the most incredible design-led homes in urban and rural locations in the UK' * Evening Standard *'Gibberd is co-founder of The Modern House, a design-led London estate agency whose website attracts 15 million page views a year. In handling the sale of thousands of homes, from small flats to listed architectural masterpieces, he noticed the same five principles for living emerging again and again: Space, Light, Materials, Nature and Curation. His delectable first book aims to expand on these transformative principles, from the effective positioning of doors and windows, to the anchor provided by possessions. Property porn with a point' * Bookseller *'An elegant, tasteful book as covetable as the houses it explores' * Sunday Express *

Read more less

Book SynopsisA collection of writings that sets out Kengo Kuma's theories of architecture, but also a left field critique of where the architecture world finds itself today. Kengo Kuma is one of Japan's leading architects and Professor Emeritus at the University of Tokyo. Widely known as a prolific writer and philosopher, he proposes architecture that opens up new relationships between nature, technology and human beings. Through a series of thought-provoking essays, he unveils his vision of architecture as a dynamic interplay between tradition and innovation, critiquing the megastructures and capitalist influences of the 20th century and challenging readers to reconsider the role of architecture in shaping our world. Drawing from diverse disciplines including art history, philosophy and literature, Kuma crafts a narrative that transcends the boundaries of traditional architectural theory, presenting a compelling manifesto for a new era of design one that dismantles hard concrete volumes into points, lines and planes that celebrate the simplicity and sustainability of human connection.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe first art book containing the work of Spanish photographers Anna Devís and Daniel Rueda. For Anna and Daniel, every unique story needs a unique location to be told in. Luckily for them, there are plenty of beautiful places on our planet waiting to be discovered. Set in all sorts of real-life environments, their images do not only celebrate constructions all over the world but also the cities they were built in. In ‘Happytecture’, Anna and Daniel challenge us to look at the immediate world around us in a way we’ve never seen it before, unfolding the hidden beauty of street elements such as doors, windows and other urban vernacular to which we might tend not to give a second look. The result is a visual love letter to architecture and urban design that is both personal and relatable.

Read more less

Book SynopsisDesign for the Real World has been translated into over twenty languages since it first appeared in 1971; it has become the worldâs most widely read book on design and is an essential text in many design and architectural schools. This edition offers a blueprint for survival in the third millennium. Victor Papanekâs lively and instructive guide shows how design can reduce pollution, overcrowding, starvation, obsolescence and other modern ills. He leads us away from âfetish objects for a wasteful societyâ towards a new age of morally and environmentally responsible design.Trade Review'Wonderfully alive, and full of examples to instruct, amuse and horrify' - New Scientist

Read more less

Book SynopsisToday, artists are engaged in investigation. They probe corruption, state violence, environmental destruction and repressive technologies. At the same time, fields not usually associated with aesthetics make powerful use of it. Journalists and legal professionals pore over open source videos and satellite imagery to undertake visual investigations. This combination of diverse fields is what the authors call "investigative aesthetics": mobilising sensibilities often associated with art, architecture and other such practices to find new ways of speaking truth to power.This book draws on theories of knowledge, ecology and technology, evaluates the methods of citizen counter-forensics, micro-history and art, and examines radical practices such as those of Wikileaks, Bellingcat, and Forensic Architecture. Investigative Aesthetics takes place in the studio and the laboratory, the courtroom and the gallery, online and in the streets, as it strives towards the construction of a new 'common sensing'.The book is an inspiring introduction to a new field that brings together investigation and aesthetics to change how we understand and confront power today.To Nour Abuzaid for your brilliance, perseverance, and unshaken belief in the liberation of Palestine.Trade ReviewThe most astonishing book on architecture that I have read in years. -- Edwin Heathcote, Financial Times * [for Hollow Land] *A masterpiece of political analysis. -- James Ron, The Nation * [for Hollow Land] *Weizman boldly attempts to create an entirely new method to conceptualize the relationship between surfaces, movement, and the tools of war -- Achille Mbembe * [for Hollow Land] *Eyal Weizman's work has become an indispensable source of both insight and guidance in these difficult times -- Paul GilroyWeizman continues to offer daring social and political commentary, questioning taken-for-granted structures and processes that perpetuate oppression and violence -- Legacy Russell, BOMB Magazine * [For The Least of All Possible Evils] *A fascinating treatise on how our political world functions today and how we might seek to interrupt it. -- Jack Smurthwaite * Art Monthly *Expansive ... [Fuller and Weizman] explore sense and sense-making in its fullest political terms: understanding the systemic forces of capitalism as well as an individual's sense of morality. -- Chris Hayes * Tribune *Sharp ... [Investigative Aesthetics] is invaluable as a hyper-aesthetic object itself. -- Michael Eby * Los Angeles Review of Books *Aesthetics is a battleground, a contested space; Investigative Aesthetics is part battle-plan or tactical guide and, more fundamentally, part user's manual for surviving this beautiful and terrifying world. -- Mark Rappolt * ArtReview *An undeviating announcement of the subversive potential of contemporary aesthetic practices. -- Lawrence Abu Hamdan * The White Review, Books of the Year 2021 *

Read more less

Book SynopsisWith his book The Good Life, Inaki Abalos takes the reader on a tour of seven iconic 20th-century houses. Some of them were actually built, others merely imagined or film sets: Mies van der Rohe's House with Three Patios, Martin Heidegger's cabin in the Black Forest, the houses from Jacques Tati's movie Mon Oncle, Picasso's house in Cannes, the New York loft of Andy Warhol and the Factory, the self-build house from Buster Keaton's movie One Week, the house in David Hockney's painting A Bigger Splash. Abalos's selection represents a variety of concepts for living. It is based on a clear archetypal assignment of a place to a particular modern way of living. He analyses each house from key philosophical points of view. He demonstrates relations between architectural concepts, philosophical schools, and various approaches to planning and designing, constructing, and inhabiting a space. Abalos offers an intellectual introduction to these icons, rather than a manual for the design of residential architecture. He focuses on the 20th-century's radical pluralism, rather than celebrating modernism as a triumph of positivism. This new and revised edition of this book, first published in 2001 by Gustavo Gili and out of print for many years now, makes the significant contribution to the perennial discourse on concepts of living available again.

Read more less

Book SynopsisRowan Moore is the architecture critic for the Observer and previously for the Evening Standard. He is also a trained architect, and between 2002 and 2008 was the Director of the Architecture Foundation.Rowan Moore is the architecture critic for the Observer and previously for the Evening Standard. He is also a trained architect, and between 2002 and 2008 was the Director of the Architecture Foundation.Trade Review‘A refreshingly humane and lucid book from one of our most intelligent architecture critics’ Daily Telegraph‘Vivid and witty . . . it’s a book about what happens when other non-architectural matter – capital, sex, family life, the caprices of function – barges into a discipline that sometimes likes to think of itself as pure’ Guardian‘Architecture critic for the Observer, Rowan Moore, has written a fantastic book which is well worth reading for anyone interested in architecture.’ Sir Paul Smith‘Moore has a lot to offer those who like verbal flexibility and thought-provoking aphorisms. There is also a sense of mischief . . . if famous architects were a coconut shy, Moore would go home with the giant teddy . . . Elegant and witty, with a sometimes 18th-century sensuality, this is a hard-hitting book with great panache.’ Sunday Telegraph'Moore has conjured a rare feat in producing a work that will be appreciated by professionals and punters alike.' Observer‘Moore writes with economy, clarity and wit’ Will Wiles, Building Design‘A paean to the way we inhabit, which explains why good architecture changes constantly’ Financial Times‘Intelligent and cultured . . . packed with passionately held ideas about the epiphanies, farces and humanity in architecture’ Independent‘Thoughtful and elegantly written, Why We Build will appeal to anyone with an interest in architecture . . . It benefits from a clear style and years of architectural criticism . . . the argument is forceful, but not prescriptive, the satisfying result of prolonged and sensitive observation of both buildings and human nature.’ Spectator‘Lively and engaging . . . Anyone with an interest in architecture will find good things here’ Evening Standard‘A subtle, often eccentric but always entertaining guide . . . A fascinating work of love, intellectual curiosity and endurance’ Literary Review‘Dazzling . . . there’s plenty to discover.’ Sunday TimesTable of ContentsChapter - 1: Desire shapes space, and space shapes desire Chapter - 2: The fixed and the wandering home Chapter - 3: The true fake Chapter - 4: The inconsistent horizon, or notes on the erotic in architecture Chapter - 5: Power and freedom Chapter - 6: Form follows finance Chapter - 7: The rapacity of 'hope' Chapter - 8: Eternity of overrated Chapter - 9: Life, and the look of life Chapter - 10: Indespensible as bread Section - 11: List of illustrations Section - 12: Selected bibliography Section - 13: Acknowledgements Section - 14: Index

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe renowned architectural historian and critic, beloved Yale professor, and outspoken public activist Vincent Scully (19202017) emerged in the 1950s as a guiding voice in American architecture. This intellectual biography of Scully's life and career traces the formative moments in his thinking, mapping his relationships with a constellation of architects, artists, and cultural personalities of the past one hundred years. Scully charted an unlikely course from postwar modernism to postmodernism and New Urbanism, overturning outdated beliefs and changing the face of the built environment as he went. A teacher for more than 60 years and a figure of immense importance in the field, he was central to an expansive network of associations, from Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Kahn, and Robert Venturi to Robert Stern, Harold Bloom, and Norman Mailer. Scully's extensive body of work, with its range spanning centuries and civilizations, coalesced around the core beliefs that archit

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book Synopsis A broad range of diverse voices in architecture discuss issues of equity, access, and social justice embedded in and related to the built environment. Margin and Text is a collection of essays, interviews, and personal stories, as well as historical and current writings and lectures, contributed by BIPOC and female practitioners and educators in architecture. Each piece offers reflections on architecture’s troubled past, commentary on its fluid present, and visions of possible futures, all set amid today’s context of broad social activism, divisive politics, and the devastating toll of the COVID-19 pandemic. Edited by architecture educators Betsy West, Kelly Carlson-Reddig, and José L.S. Gámez, Margin and Text draws together contributors who are widely diverse in gender, ethnicity, age, religion, culture, point of view, and the nature of their work. Each chapter features an introduction by one of the editor

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book explores the impact of medical discourse and diagnostic technologies on the formation, representation, and reception of modern architecture. It challenges the normal understanding of modern architecture by proposing that the architecture of the early twentieth century was shaped by the dominant medical obsession of its time: tuberculosis and its primary diagnostic tool, the X-ray.If architectural discourse has from its beginning associated building and body, the body that it describes is the medical body, reconstructed by each new theory of health. Modern architects pre- sented their architecture as a kind of medical instrument for protecting and enhancing the body. X-ray technology and modern architecture were born around the same time and evolved in parallel. While the X-ray exposed the inside of the body to the public eye, the modern building unveiled its interior, inverting the relationship between private and public.Colomina suggests that if we want to talk about the state of the art in buildings, we should look to the dominant obsessions about illness and the latest techniques of imaging the body-and ask what effects they may have on the way we conceive architecture.

Read more less

Book SynopsisBuilding Theories speaks to the value of words in architecture. It addresses the author's fascination with the voices of architects, engineers, builders, and craftspeople whose ideas about building have been captured in text. It discusses the content of treatises, essays, articles, and letters by those who have been, throughout history, committed to the art of building. In this, Building Theories argues for the return of a practice of architectural theory that is set amongst building, buildings, and builders. This journey of close reading reinterprets the words of Vitruvius, Alberti, de L'Orme, Le Camus de Mézières, Boullée, Laugier, Rondelet, Semper, Viollet-le-Duc, Hübsch, Bötticher, Berlage, Muthesius, Wagner, Behrendt, Gropius, and Arup. With chapters dedicated to texts from antiquity, the Renaissance, and the nineteenth century, and with a critical eye on architectural theory popularized in the Anglo-Saxon world post-1968, readers are introduced to a wider,Trade Review"Trubiano reminds us that it is precisely the serial historic identity crisis of the architect around the irreconcilable meeting of thought and material that is architecture’s shapeshifting impetus for renewal. In a moment when architectural imagination around the becoming-of-things is more critical than ever, she navigates the minefield of past moralism, zealotry, despair and naïve hope with not another disciplinarian rappel a l’ordre, but an inspired coaxing of every architect, no matter how estranged from matter, back into the fray of the building site where materials feature as nature’s protagonists in the drama of construction. With cunning and rigour Trubiano exposes the opposition of text and material as false in order to harness anew the transformative power of making and its mutuality."Francesca Hughes, author of The Architecture of Error: Matter, Measure and the Misadventures of PrecisionTable of Contents1. Thinking through Building 2. Building and the Treatise 3. Architect as Builder and Thinker 4. Matter(s) Hidden in Plain Sight 5. Lost in Translation 6. From Aesthetics to Ethics, and back 7. Design and Construction - Walter Gropius and Ove Arup 8. The Composite Mind Re-Builds Theory Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade Review"[Bo Bardi's] drawings of buildings are freer and more colourful than is customary in architectural sketches, and are well reproduced here alongside street scenes, posters and magazine illustrations, and designs for furniture and theatrical costumes." * A Magazine *"This beautifully illustrated anthology is the . . . first publication to offer a glimpse of [Bo Bardi’s drawings] and it does so with thoughtful insight into the woman who created them." * Architectural Record *"This slim, beautifully produced selection of drawings by Bo Bardi (1914–1992), a modernist architect who emigrated from Italy to Brazil after World War II, suggests a playful, endlessly inventive intelligence (the drawing chosen for the cover is a perfect example). A delight!"---John Wilson, First Things

Read more less

Book SynopsisNo longer does it suffice to judge a building solely by its appearance; it must be measured and certified. When architects talk about ‘Excellence’, ‘Sustainability’, ‘Well-being’, ‘Liveability’, ‘Placemaking’, ‘Creativity’, ‘Beauty’ and ‘Innovation’, what do they actually mean? And what does this jargon tell us about the future of our homes, cities and planet?‘With dry wit, humor, and honesty, sets out to debunk the myths of contemporary architecture.’ Jaxson Stone, Metropolis‘feels like a stealth mission - an effort to slip something explosive into the carry-on luggage of the TED Talks class.’ Will Wiles, Literary Review‘Reflects on the current state of his field, arguing that constraints on creative autonomy, overcommercialization and a poor understanding of good design have transformed 'spaces of sponta

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe name Montessori is widely and inextricably associated with an entirely child-centered and careful pedagogy and education of children. Maria Montessori (1870-1952) was an Italian physician, reform educator, and philosopher whose ideas and work have remained influential throughout the world ever since the 1910s. Her educational concept covers entire development from infancy to young adulthood. It is based on the image of the child as a “builder of his or her self” and therefore uses for the first time the form of open teaching and free work in a prepared learning environment. Montessori schools became trend-setting educational institutions early on, and their concept strongly reflects in their architecture and equipment. Montessori Architecture is the first book that comprehensively addresses architectural design, construction, the use of materials in and the furnishing of educational spaces according to Montessori’s ideas. The book’s first part explores spatial and design principles that make up good kindergarten and school buildings. In the second part, nine case studies are featured in detail through photographs, plans, and concise texts. These examples are located in Europe (Netherlands, Belgium, Great Britain) as well as in tropical countries (Burkina Faso, Tanzania, Bangladesh, Sir Lanka). Thus, this highly illustrative volume offers practical advice and a wealth of information that is of utmost importance for the design of school buildings in general.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisA comprehensive introduction to architecture and architectural history and exceptional in its approach, this book explores architecture as a current practice in relation to history and in relation to the wider context of cultures, conservation and the environment. This new edition brings in the new emphasis on sustainability, urbanism, urban regeneration and cultural identity, in order to take a holistic approach to the subject of architecture. Highly illustrated, this book enables the reader to make sense of the experience of architecture and the built environment by understanding more about the form, construction, meaning and history of the subject.Table of Contents1. Introduction 2. Architecture and Building 3. Architectural History 4. Space and Function 5. Plans and Images 6. Materials and Construction 7. The Exterior 8. Styles and Periods 9. Site and Place 10. Sources

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less

Book SynopsisRooted in feminist political thought, She City illuminates how gender shapes our urban spaces and city design. Through three sections: ''Resisting Sexist Cities'', ''Designing Feminist Cities'', and ''Prioritizing Safer Cities'', Kalms examines barriers to women''s public participation and focuses on the practical strategies, policies and actions to overcome them.Addressing significant themes such as violence against women and gender-sensitive design, She City not only provides direction for practitioners but also inspires confidence to pursue new paths towards women-centered urban environments. This book is an essential resource for architects, urban designers, planners and the plethora of built environment specialists committed to building cities that truly meet the diverse needs of women and girls.Table of ContentsList of Figures Preface Acknowledgments 1. Women in Cities: An Introduction 2. Don't Stand So Close to Me: Sexist Street Harassment and Women's 'Safety Work' 3. Fake Happy: Hypersexual Cities and Women's Inequity 4. Missing Women: Smart Women in the Data Gap 5. Girls to the Front: Mainstreaming Women's Needs 6. Not Neutral: Designing Cities for Women 7. Expanding Expertise: Women's Safety Audits 8. Train Wreck: Public Transport and Women's Safety 9. Eyes on the Street: Women and Urban Crime Prevention 10. On the Edge of the Night: Women and the Nighttime Economy 11. Run the World: Co-design in a Feminist Framework References Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisA decimated Shiite shrine in Iraq. The smoking World Trade Center site. The scorched cityscape of 1945 Dresden. Among the most indelible scars left by war is the destroyed landscapes, and such architectural devastation damages far more than mere buildings. Robert Bevan argues here"that shattered buildings are not merely "collateral damage," but rather calculated acts of cultural annihilation.From Hitler's Kristallnacht to the toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in the Iraq War, Bevan deftly sifts through military campaigns and their tactics throughout history, and analyzes the cultural impact and catastrophic consequences of architectural destruction. For Bevan, these actions are nothing less than cultural genocide. Ultimately, Bevan forcefully argues for the prosecution of nations that purposely flout established international treaties against destroyed architecture.A passionate and thought-provoking cri de coeur, "The Destruction of Memory "raises questions about the costs of war that run deeper than blood and money."The idea of a global inheritance seems to have fallen by the wayside and lessons that should have long ago been learned are still being recklessly disregarded.This is what makes Bevan's book relevant, even urgent: much of the destruction of which it speaks is still under way. "--"Financial Times Magazine" "The message of Robert Bevan's devastating book is that war is about killing cultures, identities and memories as much as it is about killing people and occupying territory."--"Sunday Times" "As Bevan's fascinating, melancholy book shows, symbolic buildings have long been targeted in and out of war as a particular kind of mnemonic violence against those to whom they are special."--"The Guardian"Trade Review"The message of Robert Bevan's devastating book is that war is about killing cultures, identities and memories as much as it is about killing people and occupying territory. War is not just licensed murder but licensed vandalism. Since people are replaceable but buildings and cultures not, the destruction of buildings is often the more ferocious." --Simon Jenkins"The Sunday Times (UK)" (02/26/2005)

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book is a collection of essays at the intersection of architecture and climate change. Neither a collective lament nor an inventory of architectural responses, the essays consider cultural values ascribed to climate and ask how climate reflects our conception of what architecture is and does. Which materials and conceptual infrastructures render climate legible, knowable, and actionable, and what are their spatial implications? How do these interrelated questions offer new vantage points on the architectural ramifications of climate change at the interface of resiliency, sustain- ability, and ecotechnology? Climates also contains a dossier of precedents for thinking about architecture and climate change drawn from a number of leading practitioners. New approaches to understanding climate in architecture make this book invaluable.This publication is a project by The Avery Review, a journal produced by the Office of Publications at Columbia University's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation.

Read more less

Book SynopsisThe Olympiapark in Munich is one of the most famous projects of the landscape architect Günther Grzimek (1915–1996), yet his entire oeuvre has proved to be pioneering and timeless. He advocated for a new form of urban green space in Germany, a “demokratisches Grün” (democratic green space), while also campaigning for practice-oriented training in landscape architecture. Grzimek’s biography offers a wellspring of new discoveries. It traverses the history of modern Germany and encompasses his collaborations with famous architects, town planners, and designers – including Otl Aicher, who developed the basic outline of this volume together with Grzimek in the 1980s. Featuring plans, images, texts, and excerpts from Grzimek’s own writings, this comprehensive new book offers a vivid and in-depth encounter with this major innovator and illustrates the lively history of landscape architecture in Germany from the 1930s in Berlin to the 1990s in Munich.

Read more less

Book SynopsisPeter Eisenman-world-famous for his Holocaust Memorial in Berlin (2005)-confronts historicism with theory and the analysis of form, whose distinguishing features he regards as the foundation of architectural composition. The architect illustrates his observations with numerous, extremely precise hand drawings. Eisenman wrote The Formal Basis of Modern Architecture, his dissertation, in 1963 at the University of Cambridge. The dissertation was first published as a facsimile edition by Lars Muller Publishers in 2006. The original content of the publication is now available again-the book is reprinted in a smaller format. "I knew what I wanted to write," Eisenman says of the dissertation. "An analytic work that related what I had learned to see, from Palladio to Terragni, from Raphael to Guido Reni, into some theoretical construct that would bear on modern architecture, but from the point of view of a certain autonomy of form." Hence the title of his research.

Read more less

Book SynopsisMichael Sorkin's iconic list is now in a handsome printed package, a perfect gift for any architect, student of architecture, or design-savvy urbanist. By turns poetic and humorous, practical and wise, this book is a joyful celebration of the craft of architecture. A posthumous book by critic, architect, urban theorist, and educator, Michael Sorkin (1948-2020), 250 Things An Architect Should Know is filled with details that architects love to obsess over, from the expected (golden ratio and the seismic code) to the unexpected (the heights of folly and the prismatic charms of Greek islands.)

Read more less

Book SynopsisInscriptions: Architecture Before Speech presents a theory of contemporary architecture that spans the work of 112 practices in 750 images. Against the popular characterization of contemporary architecture as a centerless field where anything goes and everything is possible, this book argues that much recent work belongs to a collective undertaking. Underneath the impression of kaleidoscopic difference produced by the rapid circulation of design images is a shared mechanism, an agreement about how architectural objects emerge from the procedures of design. This mechanism, which we call inscription, manages to both offer fundamentally intelligible form to architecture’s audiences and advance the field toward novel outcomes. The ensuing work is nothing less than democratically optimistic in its wide appeal and challenging in its cuts against convention.Featuring essays by Catherine Ingraham, Lucia Allais, Stan Allen, Phillip Denny, Edward Eigen, Sylvia Lavin, Antoine Picon, and Marrikka Trotter, Inscriptions offers a broad array of critical perspectives on work that defines architecture’s second decade of the twenty-first century.

Read more less

Book SynopsisArchitecture, Film, and the In-Between: Spatio-Cinematic Betwixt brings together some of the most prominent thinkers in contemporary architectural discourses with an investigation of the filmic imagination of architectural in-betweenness, as well as the in-between spaces within the architectural structure of filmic expression. 32 col illus.

Read more less

Book Synopsis

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis update of a classic text folds the new field of neuroscience for design into well-established environment-behavior (E-B) methods and approaches.Trade Review"I have rarely read a more fascinating book. Zeisel manages to provide easy-to-understand explanations of novel applications and familiar concepts." -- The Fulcrum"What John Zeisel does better than anyone else is to link social science research to design practice." -- Dr Francis Duffy, RIBA, founder, DEGW Architects and Planners"This book’s emphasis on the emerging connection between neuroscience, physical environment, and health improvement provides environmental designers with new and important keys to creating better supportive environments for everyone, including people living with Alzheimer’s." -- Elizabeth Brawley, author of Design Innovations in Aging"The design community is ripe for a revival of research, especially for ideas and practices that inform design’s contribution to human experience. Zeisel invites us into the tent to inspire us with the biggest idea of all: that neuroscience can help us create places that enhance the performance of our brains." -- Valerie Fletcher, Executive Director, Adaptive Environments"This extremely readable yet profound book provides every architect, building client, and policy maker with the practical steps needed to create buildings that ‘work’ and then to learn from both their successes and their mistakes to create even better buildings in the future. Illustrated case studies clearly demonstrate the constructive impact that Zeisel’s approach can have in design practice." -- Victor Regnier FAIA, professor of architecture and gerontology, University of Southern California

Read more less

Book SynopsisTrade ReviewSomething of a revelation…[De Graaf] has produced an original and even occasionally hilarious book about losing ideals and finding them again…He deftly shows that architecture cannot be better or more pure than the flawed humans who make it. * The Economist *[It] tells the stories that tend to get left out of official histories, but which actually shape our physical environment…De Graaf’s book is sharp, revealing, funny, drily passionate and not always encouraging. -- Rowan Moore * The Guardian *This is a book about power, money and influence, and architecture’s complete lack of any of them. It is a book not about architecture’s successes but about its failures. Witty, insightful and funny, it is a (sometimes painful) dissection of a profession that thinks it is still in control. -- Edwin Heathcote * Financial Times *De Graaf is an excellent, witty and perceptive essayist. The heart of the book is a series of astonishing accounts of the protracted—and as it turns out, all doomed—sagas to get big urban projects approved and built in London (just pre-crash), Moscow (just pre-Putin), the Emirates (just pre-oil slump), and Kurdistan (just pre-Isis). The way de Graaf builds up to each (in hindsight) inevitable disappointment is masterly…He emerges as an unlikely, deeply skeptical architectural Everyman. -- Hugh Pearman * The Spectator *This is the most stimulating book on architecture and its practice that I have read for years. Not only is de Graaf a good anecdotalist (his hilarious account of a long-winded and fruitless masterplanning competition in Russia should be turned into a film), but a perceptive analyst of how architecture represents, or connects with, wider political and economic movements and trends. -- Paul Finch * Architects’ Journal *Takes an idiosyncratic look at architectural history and dissects contemporary practice—from the quotidian (and sometimes comic) frustrations to the occasional triumphs and memorable failures. -- Josephine Minutillo * Architectural Record *Provocative…De Graaf has no fixed method. But the impressive extent and depth of his knowledge persistently inform his meditations, which take in many subjects. His mood is invariable. He is constantly and exhilaratingly cynical…Because he displays such candor—albeit polished candor, and such a perfectly gauged lack of tact—it is easy to forget that de Graaf is an architect, an insider, part of the system he dissects…De Graaf is likely to remain an architect for decades to come. In those circumstances, his enthusiasm for biting the hand that feeds him is admirably risky. -- Jonathan Meades * Literary Review *A refreshingly accessible, honest portrayal of a quixotic field from someone within the most successful architecture firm in the world today… One of the most intelligent, candid discussions on architecture I have read to date. Thus, Four Walls and a Roof offers an entertaining, penetrating, and much needed primer on the current state of the profession and the contemporary global forces influencing the built environment. A must-read list for architects, planners, and urban designers alike. -- Erick Villagomez * Spacing *Reinier de Graaf paints an honest picture of what it is like to work as an architect today…[He] provides engaging stories about the banal, everyday reality of working for an acclaimed firm. These vivid, uncompromising narratives are contextualized with shrewd essays about architecture’s lost ideals, its false pretentions, and utter dependence on forces far more powerful than design. -- Mark Minkjan * Failed Architecture *Ruthlessly honest about what it is like to work at architecture and wickedly cynical about how power works in our current economy, Reinier de Graaf’s vantage point from a top architectural firm doesn’t make him crow of success but, rather, pushes us architects, for better or worse, to keep fighting the good fight. Reading Four Walls and a Roof will make you laugh, cry, and so identify. -- Peggy Deamer, Yale School of ArchitectureThe title of this book, provided by an innocent enquirer, has provoked Reinier de Graaf into a shrewd, lucid, and engaging survey of the architecture and building scene. He seems to have been everywhere and listened to anyone who is—or has been—active and influential in building and planning, from Prince Charles to Buckminster Fuller. Yet he has also managed to direct attention to some neglected personalities, past and present—Ernst Neufert, Lucien Kroll. You will not find a better guide to planning, building, and architecture of the last half-century! -- Joseph Rykwert, Professor Emeritus, University of PennsylvaniaThis is a terrific book. It weaves together reflections on design, history, politics, and economics in a seamless and illuminating manner, offering a kaleidoscopic portrait of the state of architecture and its recent history. The writing is delightful, always irreverent, and at times exceedingly funny. -- Bernardo Zacka, Research Fellow, Stanford University and University of Cambridge

Read more less

Book SynopsisSomewhere between 1910 and 1970, architecture changed. Now that modern architecture has become familiar (sometimes celebrated, sometimes vilified), it''s hard to imagine how novel it once seemed. Expensive buildings were transformed from ornamental fancies which referred to the classical and medieval pasts into strikingly plain reflections of novel materials, functions, and technologies. Modern architecture promised the transformation of cities from overcrowded conurbations characterised by packed slums and dirty industries to spacious realms of generous housing and clean mechanised production set in parkland. At certain times and in certain cultures, it stood for the liberation of the future from the past.This Very Short Introduction explores the technical innovations that opened-up the cultural and intellectual opportunities for modern architecture to happen. Adam Sharr shows how the invention of steel and reinforced concrete radically altered possibilities for shaping buildings, transforming what architects were able to imagine, as did new systems for air conditioning and lighting. While architects weren''t responsible for these innovations, they were among the first to appreciate how they could make the world look and feel different, in connection with imagery from other spheres like modern art and industrial design. Focusing on a selection of modern buildings that also symbolize bigger cultural ideas, Sharr discusses what modern architecture was like, why it was like that, and how it was imagined. Considering the work of some of the historians and critics who helped to shape modern architecture, he demonstrates how the field owes as much to its storytellers as to its buildings.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewAdam Sharr has succeeded in making modern architecture modern again, with this refreshing and original account of the technological revolutions and individual designers that shaped our world from the 1850s to the 1970s. Rather than concentrate on questions and debates over style and ideology, or follow the self-promotional versions of the architects themselves, he has preferred to go to the root of the revolution: the technologies and their innovative utilization. This little book will have an effect far beyond its size, providing more than an introduction for students and the public, and for architects themselves a salutary set of careful worked case studies, from Miess IIT Campus to Rogers and Pianos Centre Pompidou. * Anthony Vidler, Professor of Architecture, The Cooper Union *The great strength of Adam Sharr's book is that it relates modern architecture to wider cultural, philosophical, and technological trends. It is also written in a very accessible style and, despite its brevity, covers a wide territory. * Jeremy Till, Head of Central Saint Martins, Pro Vice-Chancellor University of the Arts London *Table of Contents1: Introduction 2: Iron and steel 3: Reinforced concrete 4: Brick 5: Light and air 6: Conclusion Further reading Bibliography Index

Read more less

Book SynopsisGriffins, centaurs and gorgons: the Greek imagination teems with wondrous, yet often monstrous, hybrids. Jeremy McInerney discusses how these composite creatures arise from the entanglement of humans and animals. Overlaying such enmeshment is the rich cultural exchange experienced by Greeks across the Mediterranean. Hybrids, the author reveals, capture the anxiety of cross-cultural encounter, where similarity and incongruity were conjoined. Hybridity likewise expresses instability of identity. The ancient sea, that most changeable ancient domain, was viewed as home to monsters like Skylla; while on land the centaur might be hypersexual yet also hypercivilized, like Cheiron. Medusa may be destructive, yet also alluring. Wherever conventional values or behaviours are challenged, there the hybrid gives that threat a face. This absorbing work unveils a mercurial world of shifting categories that offer an alternative to conventional certainties. Transforming disorder into images of wonder, Greek hybrids ? McInerney suggests ? finally suggest other ways of being human.

Read more less

Book SynopsisIn this thought-provoking book, Deborah Wright examines the role of both space and objects as they become manifest in the psychoanalytic process and looks at how the role of the consulting room in the therapeutic process is both primitive and transferential. Wright explores spatialisation as simultaneously being a psychological projection of meaning and as physically acting upon the environment, utilised to master the undifferentiated, relentless, internal pressure of instinct. Throughout The Physical and Virtual Space of the Consulting Room, she considers the spatial aspects of work with patients by foregrounding the importance of the consulting room and its contents, including the impact of changes of consulting room, travelling, and in working virtually. Illustrated with clinical material and hand-drawn artwork, Wright orients the reader in the new territory by going beyond the existing literature that considers the objects and space of the consulting room solely asTrade Review'Dr Wright has written a remarkable book. She shows that spatial organization is fundamental to structuring experience: outside and inside the consulting room, outside and inside the transference. She bases her profound theory on diverse sources, including Freud’s many drawings, and extensive clinical experience. Her ideas on spatialization will generate new areas of investigation and practice and will evoke a eureka recognition of the unconscious ordering of everyday life.'Karl Figlio, Clinical Associate, British Psychoanalytical Society; Professor Emeritus, University of Essex, UK'Deborah Wright shows us an interesting and somewhat hidden tradition from Freud onwards. The consulting room and indeed all living spaces are given individual meanings by each of us, depending on our individual and cultural experiences. Our Unconscious ‘space’ offers a necessary dimension in addition to the transference to the person of the therapist who inhabits the space. The author provides clinical evidence, as well as cultural, to show how it can be exposed and used.'Dr. R.D. Hinshelwood, Psychoanalyst, and Professor Emeritus, University of Essex, UK'It is a truth universally acknowledged in psychoanalytic/psychodynamic discourse that the consulting room or 'setting', in which clinical work takes place, is of particular importance. Why that should be, beyond what seems 'obvious', however is under-theorised in the literature. Dr Wright rectifies this in her scholarly and accessible book in which she presents clinical observation which advances current theory and practice. She formulates a clear language and terminology to articulate her theory of spatial dynamics, and her own uncanny illustrations add depth to her discourse. The book is a delight to read and essential for teaching and training purposes.'Meg Errington, Psychoanalytic Psychotherapist; British Psychoanalytic Council, UK"This book is ground-breaking and contains an abundance of ideas to seed thinking. What Wright so generously offers here, others will no doubt build upon in their own imaginations, theorizing and clinical practices. It earns a place on our bookshelves." - Catriona Wrottesley, Society of Analytical Psychology and Tavistock RelationshipsTable of Contents1. Introduction and Background: Spatialisation in Spaces and Rooms 2. Sigmund Freud, Spatialisation, and Rooms 3. Spatial Concepts and Formulation of the Room-object Spatial Matrix 4. The Room-object Spatial Matrix in the Physical Space of the Consulting Room Clinical Study 5. Discussion of Findings of the Original Study of the Room-object Spatial Matrix in the Physical Space of the Consulting Room and Implications for Practice 6. The Room-object Spatial Matrix in the Virtual Consulting Room Space 7. Beyond the Consulting Room; Psychosocial Applications of the Room-object Spatial Matrix to E. M. Forster's Post-colonial, Capitalist, Pre-neo-liberal, Queer, and Virtual Rooms and Spaces of his Novels 8. The End Chapter, the End Room-object and Post Room-object Spaces; Conclusions of Clinical and Psychosocial Considerations of the Room-object Spatial Matrix

Read more less

Book SynopsisThis book introduces architectural applications of parametric methods in design, drawing direct connections between each phase of the architectural design process with relevant parametric approaches.Readers will find applications of parametric methods with straightforward explanations of concepts, commands as well as applicable examples for each phase of the architectural design process. In addition to learning about the historical and conceptual background of parametric design, readers can use this book as a go-to source during their day-to-day design practice. Chapters are organized according to different phases of the architectural design process, such as site analysis, spatial organization, skin systems, and environmental performance analyses. Together, they deliver concepts, applications, and examples utilizing in-depth visual guides that explain commands, their outcomes, and their interrelationships. With over 350 images, this book includes examples from the author's owTable of Contents1. Introduction to Parametric Design: Basics in Relation to Architectural Design Process Phases 2. History and Conceptual Framework of Parametric Design in Architecture 3. Site Analysis: Understanding the Site and Its Context Using Parametric Methods 4. Conceptual and Preliminary Development: Formal Explorations and Iterations with Parametric Methods 5. Spatial Organization: Spatial Configuration and Visibility Analysis Using Parametric Methods 6. Skin Systems: Repetition, Subdividing Geometries and Paneling Approaches 7. Evolutionary Applications: Using Parametric Applications to Generate, Analyze and Select Design Iterations 8. Parametric Methods for Introductory Environmental Performance Analyses 9. Practical Matters: Parametric Methods and Digital Fabrication for Architectural Model Making 10. Recontextualizing Parametric Methods in Architecture: Routes for Further Development

Read more less

Book Synopsis***Shortlisted for theArchitectural Book Awards 2024***Thinking Through Twentieth-Century Architecture connects the practice of architecture with its recent history and its theoretical origins those philosophical ideas that lay behind modernism and its aftermath. By analyzing in straightforward and jargon-free language the genesis of modernism and the complex reactions to it, the book clarifies a continuing debate. It has been specifically written to connect issues of theory, history and contemporary practice and to allow students to make these connections easily.This is a history of twentieth-century architecture, written with close critical attention to the theories that lie behind the works described. Importantly, unlike other historical accounts, it does not take sides and urge the reader to identify with one strand of thinking or style of architecture at the expense of others, but it presents a dispassionate view, with persuasive argumenTrade Review"This book is welcome for treating theory and practice together, as the architects of the period did, giving students tackling current concerns a coherent account of the built legacy of twentieth-century architecture and ‘where it all came from’."Harry Charrington, Head of School of Architecture and Cities, University of Westminster"This book is the fruit of a lifetime’s consistent engagement with modern architecture’s moral and aesthetic aims. Nicholas Ray writes with a lucidity and a seriousness of purpose that are much needed amidst the cultural confusion of today."Andrew Saint, author, formerly editor of the Survey of London and historian at Historic England"This book will be welcomed by practicing architects because it stimulates us to look beyond the usual day-to-day preoccupations – describing a philosophical dimension which Ray argues has always accompanied ‘thoughtful buildings’ and which must surely be central in determining our profession’s priorities in the face of unprecedented existential challenges."Ben Zucchi, Principal & Chair of Architecture Profession, BDP"Why were early modern architects so hell-bent on their agenda? Why were reactions to it so passionately debated? What’s with all the manifestos? Why did it all matter so much? Understanding the to-and-fro of twentieth-century modernism is indispensable for anyone wanting to understand architecture today, but navigating its waters requires a gentle, patient and plain-spoken guide. Fortunately, we have Nick Ray for this. A keen observer, a sometime participant and experienced teacher, Ray is the ideal guide for explaining not only the ‘what happened?’ of modern architecture, but more importantly, the ‘why?’ of a movement that ultimately conquered the world."Tom Spector, Oklahoma University, General Editor Journal of the International Society for the Philosophy of Architecture“Weaving between architectural practice and theory, this books explores design through the convictions of their creators….An outline of each architect is provided with a summary of key designs and theories. The book will therefore serve as a useful resource for a wide market, including students…..and if the philosophical approach deters casual audiences, illustrations on almost every page will help.”Alborz Dianat, C20 Magazine"Ray combines short biographies, project descriptions, historical contexts, and a panoply of secondary literature to present readers with the fundamentals of numerous architects’ works, their design principles, the larger architectural culture of their time, and the present relevance of their ideas. An abundance of representative images illustrates each step of the narrative like visual footnotes […] it fulfils its purpose by retelling a familiar story in an abridged and accessible yet intricate and informative way."André Patrão, Drawing MatterTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. A philosophical framework 2. Origins of Modernism – the European picture 3. Fin de siècle Vienna as a paradigm of Modernism 4. The Modernist Canon: the Bauhaus, Le Corbusier and CIAM 5. Positive Scepticism: Alvar Aalto as an alternative modernist 6. Ideals and their representation: Louis Kahn 7. Humanizing Modernism: Team Ten and the Dutch 8. Postmodernism: Irony and Inclusiveness 9. The typological critique 10. Conflicting existential ideals 11. Conclusions – 21st century hindsight Acknowledgements Select bibliography Index

Read more less

a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.

Read more less