Theory of architecture Books
Park Books Teaching Urbanism
£36.00
Park Books Totems and Other Essays
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£22.50
De Gruyter Hermann Czech und die Dialektik der Architektur
Book Synopsis Der Wiener Architekt Hermann Czech hat vom Beginn seiner Karriere in den späten 1960er Jahren bis heute ein heterogenes und von Ambivalenz geprägtes architektonisches Werk vorgelegt, das auf einer Engführung von Theorie und Praxis basiert seinem Denken zum Entwurf. Anhand von dialektischen Begriffspaaren wird gezeigt, wie er sich dabei mit den inneren Gegensätzen der Architektur auseinandersetzt und diese nach dialektischem Muster aufzulösen versucht.Diskutiert wird Czechs Position im Hinblick auf die Gegensatzpaare Übermut/Unterschätzung, Konsumtion/Produktion, Kunstwerk/Gebrauchsgegenstand, Manierismus/Partizipation, Subjektivität/Objektivität sowie Alt/Neu, wodurch Aspekte seines Schaffens in den Fokus gerückt werden sollen, welche in der Literatur bislang wenig Beachtung fanden. Dialektik der Architektur Architekturtheorie Wien
£999.99
Niggli Verlag A Book on Urban Thinking Architecture Human
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£39.92
Niggli Verlag Postmodern Non-Residential Berlin
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£36.00
Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig,Germany 2G 85: Leopold Banchini: No. 85. International
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£999.99
Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther Konig Josep Lluís Mateo In Transit
Book SynopsisIncludes texts by Josep Lluís Mateo, Juhani Pallasmaa, Toni Catany, Gabriel Ramon, Aldo Amoretti.
£16.00
Hatje Cantz Urban-Think Tank: The Architect and the City:
Book SynopsisUrban pilot projects from the informal city! Urban-Think Tank (UTT), an interdisciplinary design practice emerging from the turbulent political environment of Chávez-era Caracas, has pursued projects in Latin America, Europe, and Africa for almost twenty years. Their diverse work positioned the firm at the forefront of a social turn in architecture in the late 1990's, with concrete urban interventions encouraging social cohesion in the megacities of the Global South and Europe’s evolving metropoles. U-TT has also produced numerous media projects that harness film, theatre, exhibitions, and print to create new discursive spaces and question how our cities are shaped, and for whom. Most notable is its work on the squatted skyscraper for which the firm shared the Golden Lion at the Venice Biennale of Architecture in 2012. This book looks forward as well as back, imagining new spaces for a hyper-urbanized world and gaining insight from informal settlements, spatial play, and artistic interventions in public space.
£54.40
Hatje Cantz Motherland: PARANGOLÉ – A Journal About the
Book SynopsisParangolé is an annual, independent journal that challenges ideas on urbanization, design and architecture by initiating a global dialogue on topics such as mobility, migration, fluidity and multiplicity. The journal expands on the cultural, social and political significance of what it means to live in the city. The title of the magazine pays homage to the work of Brazilian artist Hélio Oiticica, extending his central tenet that "life is movement" from the body to the city. The first issue of Parangolé, titled Motherland, focuses on the space of habitation for those who live in precarious and transitory conditions due to economic hardship, conflict, and violence. People on the move face unique challenges and vulnerabilities that must be identified and addressed in urban settings. With Motherland, researchers and practitioners are brought together to think about these issues and their solutions.
£30.40
Hirmer Verlag Networks of Construction
Book SynopsisThe works of Vladimir G. Shukhov have been a topic of academic discourse in the West since the 1990s. Shukhov is now regarded as a pioneer of lightweight construction and as one of the leading proponents of Russian industrial design. However, some areas still require further investigation, including: The international networks that developed the prevailing construction materials and techniques used in Russia in the late techniques used in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Engineering training programs and the exchange of knowledge between Russia and Europe Questions concerning the evolution of theory and the exchange of knowledge including: The relationship between theory and practice; the exchange of ideas, materials and technology between the mechanical engineering and construction sectors; and the development of materials and contemporary theory on support structures. Historic calculation and planning methods, historic building and assembly processes. The proponents, conditions and peculiarities of industrialization that fostered the development of new types of support structures.
£31.96
Hirmer Verlag Singapore's Building Stock: Approaches to a
Book SynopsisState-of-the-art Singapore is constantly transforming and rejuvenating her building stock. Singapore's Building Stock documents and analyses these transformations of the efficiently organized global city over the past two centuries at multiple spatial scales. This book offers an alternative history of Singapore’s urban development: the history of construction, demolition and reconstruction. The collection of essays assesses what the changes in Singapore’s building stock meant for the preservation of physical and cultural values for the long view. In three sections – the island scale, the district scale, and the building scale – different data sources come together to show the relationship between development policies, the morphology of Singapore’s built environments and the speed of its transformation. Photos, maps and numerical charts illustrate the lost and new, revealing accidental survivors as well as carefully staged relics from the past.
£27.20
Hirmer Verlag 3.5 Square Meters: Constructive Responses to
Book SynopsisNatural disasters and their consequences dominate the news almost on a daily basis. Quick-impact preventive and aid measures are essential for the victims to survive. This volume presents a selection of projects which demonstrate impressively how both cutting-edge technology and locally available materials and resources can be used for this purpose. Government-backed aid programmes are often too slow to be immediate effective in natural disasters. Hence, 3.5 Square Meters explores how individuals and communities can unbureaucratically overcome such extreme situations using a bottom-up approach. Key approaches this book introduces in dedicated chapters include Sharing Knowledge, Social Technology, Story Telling and DIY. Presented are individual projects by NGOs and specialists such as engineers, architects, designers, computer scientists and social activists. Transfer of knowledge and communication are essential, as this publication demonstrates, and result in varied and novel solutions.
£16.16
Hirmer Verlag The Turning Point in Architectural Design
Book SynopsisAt the turn to the twentieth century, architects began to realize that architecture should no longer find ist expression in historic styles. They had recognized that the reason for arbitrarily resorting to historical building forms established in advance was that the design process had been completely separated from construction. In spite of the incidental paths of architectural design approaches, there seems to be a consensus emerging in view of today’s global challenges: It is no longer just a question of what shall I build or how shall I build. Instead, the question is how shall I organize and improve my design tools to new dimensions of architecture in order to increase building performance while saving resources and energy and to let digital design solve design tasks that could hardly be solved previously? Today, many projects are pointing in this direction and seem to inaugurate a sustainable fourth dimension of architecture. This book is a comparative critical analysis of such seemingly incidental design approaches, and thus it is an attempt to serve as a historical scenario for the future.Trade Review“A visually rich book that captures a lifetime of experiencing buildings and learning about architecture, condensing those many years and travels into an argument that is easy to grasp.” * A Daily Dose of Architecture Books *" The book is generous in its approach to history and includes examples—both early and contemporary—from varying cultures. Schulitz views and explains these not as shifting styles but as evolving technologies, structures, and material innovations. . . . Recommended." * Choice *
£29.75
JOVIS Verlag Planung für Morgen: Zukunft Stadt und Raum
Book SynopsisThe future of cities and their spaces lies in the redevelopment of existing housing stock and its associated transformation tasks. The discipline of urban planning needs to reposition itself, and—at the intersection of climate change and the mobility revolution—seek to champion the cause of increased participation and greater resilience. How can challenges be overcome in the face of more stringent planning requirements, faster implementation times, and limited resources? Renowned experts from the fields of urban policy, city management, and both practical and academic urban planning discussed the future of cities and urban planning at three symposia hosted by the Professor Albert Speer Foundation. Their arguments encourage us to leave behind established patterns of thinking and approach the tasks of the future with visionary ideas.
£29.70
JOVIS Verlag Reallabor Nachkriegsmoderne: Zum Umgang mit
Book SynopsisThe built heritage of postwar modernism has been under threat from climate change and the high expectations of society for years. The tremendous volume of building stock was erected with high hopes for the future within just a short period of time—and frequently using construction techniques that were as yet unproven. Despite the many research efforts focusing on spatial concepts and societal utopias between the 1950s and 1970s, the practice-oriented field of construction research lacks binding recording and evaluation strategies for buildings, materials, and construction methods for the majority of buildings of all types. This affects projects from solitary churches, residential settlements, and green spaces right through to large cultural, sporting, and education constructions, as well as the engineering structures of the urban and peripheral infrastructure.In order to preserve this existing stock as a resource for the future, new recording and evaluation tools that take into account technical, construction, ecological, and economic factors are necessary. This book presents possibilities for the management of our recent constructed heritage on the basis of ongoing projects by the DFG-Netzwerk Bauforschung Jungere Baubestande 1945+ buildings preservation network.
£28.35
Edition Axel Menges GmbH Ovale Blicke Beobachtungen zu Dominikus Zimmermanns Wallfahtskirche in Steinhausen
£30.60
Spurbuchverlag Dirty Theory: Troubling Architecture
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£15.20
Spector Books Bauhaus Issue 4 Photo: The Bauhaus Dessau
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£10.80
Spector Books Bauhaus Dessau
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£12.58
Vitra Design Museum On Time and Experience Luis Barragán and Modern Living
£14.40
Spector Books Housekeeping in the Modern Age
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£30.40
Spector Books Bauhaus N° 12: Habitat
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£14.19
ArchiTangle GmbH Cities Under Pressure: A Design Strategy for
Book SynopsisHistorical evolution and processes of cultural and economic globalization have brought out relevant and frightening risks on a global scale: from urbicide and violence to climate change and an increase in natural disasters, but also an enormous widening of economic and social inequality. Today, humanity as a whole is facing epochal challenges that require a radical metamorphosis of inhabited spaces. Cities Under Pressure illustrates a new design paradigm, an open intervention system that seeks the establishment of a dynamic equilibrium that is continuously renegotiated. Cities Under Pressure imagines and defines new urban environments that abandon a rigid design scheme in favor of growing evolutionary mechanisms capable of embodying the ongoing sustainable transition, so as to guarantee a resilient and peaceful future.
£36.00
ArchiTangle GmbH Building to Heal: New Architecture for Hospitals
Book SynopsisBuilding to Heal: New Architecture for Hospitals examines the hardships and major challenges faced by the hospital system today and presents innovative models and solutions in healthcare architecture. Through critical, scientifically based discourse, a variety of authors examine healthcare systems and hospital architecture, what hospitals are missing, and how architecture can contribute to the healing process of patients. The publication answers these questions in three comprehensive chapters based on the medical process: “Symptoms,” “Diagnosis,” and “Therapy.” The introductory section describes the symptoms of the “sick house” and spotlights the urgent need to take these problems seriously in the contexts of both society as a whole and architecture. In the second section, experts from psychology, medicine, and the related sciences, as well as from architectural theory and philosophy, take a diagnostic look at the complex causes that lead to the “diseased house.” The third section presents seven “active ingredients” or scientifically investigated environmental variables for successful therapy, incorporating tools from evidence-based design. Finally, thirteen international case studies show how the conscious use of environmental variables leads to a hospital architecture that promotes healing. Building to Heal: New Architecture for Hospitals bridges the gap between the ever-growing expertise on healthcare architecture and the urgent need for planners, politicians, and the public to pay attention to one of the most important issues in architecture today: health.
£45.00
ArchiTangle GmbH Reading Visual Investigations
Book SynopsisThis volume focuses on a new disciplinevisual investigationsin which architecture intersects with advocacy, journalism, and law in the pursuit of justice and accountability. It illustrates this with intriguing case studies from around the world, highlighting the role of architecture as a key area of expertise.
£19.35
Steidl Publishers Heiner Thofern: Beautiful Games: Roman Entrances
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£28.00
Sorry Press 2038 The New Serenity
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£17.10
JOVIS Verlag Handbuch der Stadtbaukunst: Studienausgabe
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£69.75
JOVIS Verlag The Infraordinary
Book SynopsisZweisprachige Ausgabe (deutsch/englisch) / Bilingual edition (English/German) GAM 20 begibt sich auf die Suche nach dem Alltäglichen in der Architektur. Der Titel The Infraordinary bezieht sich dabei auf einen Kunstbegriff, der erstmals in den Arbeiten Paul Virilios und Georges Perecs auftaucht: Um das Gegenteil des Extraordinären, also des Außergewöhnlichen, zu beschreiben, führten sie in den 1970er Jahren den Begriff l'infra-ordinaire ein. Ganz in diesem Sinne beschäftigt sich GAM 20 eingehender mit dem Nicht-Außergewöhnlichen im Kontext von Architektur. Jenseits einer Idealisierung oder einer Emphase des Banalen geht es dabei um Geschichten der Neuperspektivierung und Neubewertung konkreter Architekturen sowie um deren alltägliche Gebrauchsweisen. Denn Architektur stellt sich im Alltag zumeist anders dar, als es die Abbildungen in den Hochglanzzeitschriften, die Webseiten namhafter Architekturbüros und die vielen Instagr
£16.62
JOVIS Verlag Piazza Spinelli
Book SynopsisHow can city planners of the green building transition rethink and reuse what already exists, rather than perpetually looking for something new? What planning cultures does an open society need? What points of collaboration are missing between city officials and local stakeholders? This book highlights Mannheim-Käfertal as a compelling case study to explore these questions, given its exceptional transformation driven by the conversion of former military sites in the neighborhood. Through an experimental process, diverse stakeholders are working to establish a social and green center that combines old and new. Cross-agency partnerships, urban development, the creation of public spaces, and interventions at a 1:1 scale are being employed as part of a cooperative strategy for revitalizing existing urban spaces. Piazza Spinelli demonstrates how complex urban environments can be reimagined, developed, and anchored in the local community.
£30.60
JOVIS Verlag Die Stadtstraße
Book SynopsisCity streets form the backbone of public spaces. In addition to serve mobility, they provide opportunities for shopping, entertainment, strolling, and much more. They are urban spaces shaped and characterized by the facades of buildings. In the face of today's climatic requirements, how can we design the city streets of the future to be distinctive and inviting urban spaces? For over a decade, the Konferenz zur Schönheit und Lebensfähigkeit der Stadt has dedicated itself to fundamental questions in urban development. The contributions in this volume present discussions from experts in both the theory and practice of a range of different disciplines, as well as from the heads of various German city planning departments, on how the functional and traffic needs of city streets can be combined with their architectural, urban design, and ecological requirements. Discusses the challenges and opportunities offered by urban streets Brings together contributions by renowned experts from bot
£30.15
Jovis Verlag GmbH Spacetimes Matter
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£33.30
Skira Conceiving the Plan: In Honor of Diane Lewis
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£29.75
Valiz Compendium for the Civic Economy
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£21.85
Valiz Luc Deleu - T.O.P. Office: Orban Space
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£26.60
Valiz Reactivate! - Responsive and Pragmatic New Dutch
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£28.50
Onomatopee Global Villaging: Stories of Cosmopolite
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£7.77
Wiels - Bookshop Rehabilitation: The Legacy of the Modern Movement
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£19.00
Valiz Valuing Architecture: Heritage and the Economics
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£23.75
MER Paper Kunsthalle Parallellen 1975-2016
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£23.75
The University of Chicago Press The Porch
Book SynopsisSolidly grounded in ideas, ecology, and architecture, Charlie Hailey's The Porch takes us on a journey along the edges of nature where the outside comes in, hosts meet guests, and imagination runs wild.Trade Review"The weighty intimations of myth on these pages are leavened by the book's beautifully prosaic and practical accounts of porch architecture. There could hardly be a more timely book when breathing walls, like bodies, are places where experiences of necessity meet those of freedom."-- "David Leatherbarrow, University of Pennsylvania" "The Porch displays the best traits of university press books: an enormous body of research, backed by years of careful engagement with intellectual and cultural history, and a faith that the world is worth close consideration. Hailey's prose is patient and deliberate, the mood reverent and ready for wonder. He has written an extraordinary book--literary and philosophical, sensuous and wise--a book with which to confront our changing world." -- "Daegan Miller, author of 'This Radical Land'"Table of Contents1. PORCH 2. TILT 3. AIR 4. SCREEN 5. BLUE 6. ACCLIMATE Acknowledgments Notes Illustration Credits Index
£19.95
University of Illinois Press Designing for Diversity
Book SynopsisA powerful statement about the repercussions of discrimination and the benefits of diversity in architectureTrade Review"Ground-breaking. . . . Deserves a place on the bookshelves, bedsides and desks of all educators, managers, [and] design principals. . . . Anthony is an unrepentant idealist, calling for nothing short of a 'transformation' of the culture of architecture; what she offers her readers are the tools by which . . . to begin the process."--Alice T. Friedman, Women's Review of Books "Anthony offers a comprehensive, hard-hitting study of problems that women and minorities face as architects in the US. She surveyed and interviewed some 400 architects and outlines various problems and discrimination against women and minorities, including lower salaries and more responsibility without a rise in position; being kept from contact with clients, field experiences, or construction supervision; and being confined to certain aspects of architecture."--Choice "This book is more than a . . . wake-up call. In a mundane, nuts-and-bolts sense, it provides a solid bibliography for further research on the contributions made by women and people of color to twentieth-century architecture. . . . The author's work articulates the human cost of professional discrimination."--Ludmilla Pavlova, Multicultural Review
£19.79
Yale University Press Rediscovering Architecture
Book SynopsisThe 18th-century rediscovery of the three archaic Greek-Doric temples in Paestum in southern Italy turned existing ideas on classical architecture upside down. In this book, the author analyzes extensive original source material, including letters, diaries, drawings, paintings, engravings and published texts, which are reproduced here.Trade Review “Coming with a splendid selection of drawings, the book is a rigorous presentation of that key moment in the history of European architecture”—Arquitectura Viva
£47.50
WW Norton & Co James Marston Fitch
Book SynopsisRevered as the father of historic preservation in the United States, architect James Marston Fitch was hailed by the New York Times at the time of his death in 2000 as an architect whose writings and teachings helped transform historic preservation from a dilettante's pastime into a vigorous, broadly based cultural movement.Trade Review"Preservationists (and others) should take a breather from their daily tasks and read this book. They’ll learn where they came from and might be heading." -- Architectural Record"[E]rudite, thoughtfully composed essays... . Recommended." -- L. M. Bliss, San Diego State University - Choice
£20.89
Taylor & Francis Ltd Composition Noncomposition
Book SynopsisIn architecture, composition refers to the conception of a building according to principles of regularity and hierarchy, or according to the principles of obtaining equilibrium. However, it is not until the beginning of the nineteenth century that the notion of composition becomes truly associated with architectural conception, notably under the influence of Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand and his statement on the Marche à suivre dans la composition d'un project quelconque [Procedure to be followed in the composition of any project]. The concept quickly erodes during the twentieth century, with the adoption of neutral architectural devices, the use of aggregative processes, and the adoption of objective operations, all of which can be understood as an attempt to move beyond compositional principles. In Composition, Non-Composition, Jacques Lucan invites his readers to consider this novel historical perspective of architectural theory. The author describes the interaction of ideas that often Table of Contents1. Distribution, Disposition, Composition Part I: Closed Order 2. "Procedure to Be Followed in the Composition of Any Project" - Jean-Nicolas-Louis Durand Part II: Symmetry and Hierarchy 3. Symmetrical Suites and Interior Landscapes 4. To Compose an Ensemble 5. Compositional Hierarchy and Intelligibility Part III: The Beaux-Arts System 6. The Ateliers 7. Les Concours 8. Architectural Theory Part IV: The Composition, beyond styles 9. A Theory of La Pièce - Julien Guadet 10. Implicit Principles 11. The End of the École de Beaux-Arts System 12. The American Deviation Part V: New Paradigm – The Construction 13. Systems of Architecture 14. The Architectural Organism - Eugène Viollet-le-Duc 15. Modern Construction - Composition or Growth Part VI: New Paradigm – Irregularity 16. Composition and Juxtaposition 17. Composition and Picturesque 18. Formal, Informal Part VII: Open Order 19. Composition and Parcours 20. Convex Space - Le Corbusier and the Free Plan 21. The Enclosure Breached 22. Painting and Architecture 23. Collage and Assemblage Part VIII: Between Composition and Non-Composition 24. Grid and Neutrality 25. Aggregative Structures and the Non-Plan 26. The Room and Beyond - Louis I. Kahn 27. Concavity and Convexity, Once Again 28. Formalism and Linguistic Paradigm 29. Process and Program Versus Composition - Rem Koolhaas 30. Operation Versus Composition - Unitary Form and Interdependence of Elements Index
£95.00
John Wiley and Sons Ltd The Architects Brain
Book SynopsisThis richly detailed study explores the issue of how architects view the phenomenal world. Mallgrave sketches various moments of architectural thought as a cognitive manifestation of philosophical, psychological, and physiological theory. He later repositions this question from the perspective of contemporary neuroscience.Trade Review"Hence these two books from the same publisher and by the same author, Harry Francis Mallgrave, sole writer of the former and co-author with David Goodman of the second book, make a valuable contribution to this growing field of knowledge." (Architectural Review, 1 July 2011)Table of ContentsIntroduction Part One: Historical Essays 1. The Humanist Brain (Alberti, Vitruvius, and Leonardo). 2. The Enlightened Brain (Perrault, Laugier, and Le Roy). 3. The Sensational Brain (Burke, Price, and Knight). 4. The Transcendental Brain (Kant and Schopenhauer). 5. The Animate Brain (Schinkel, Bötticher, and Semper). 6. The Empathetic Brain (Vischer, Wölfflin, and Göller). 7. The Gestalt Brain (The Dynamics of the Sensory Field). 8. The Neurological Brain (Hayek, Hebb, and Neutra). 9. The Phenomenal Brain (Merleau-Ponty, Rasmussen, and Pallasmaa). Part Two: Neuroscience and Architecture. 10. Anatomy: Architecture of the Brain. 11. Ambiguity: Architecture of Vision. 12. Metaphor: Architecture of Embodiment. 13. Hapticity: Architecture of the Senses. 14. Epilogue: The Architect's Brain. Endnotes. Bibliography. Index.
£26.55
John Wiley & Sons Inc The Autopoiesis of Architecture Volume II
Book SynopsisThis is the second part of a major theoretical work by Patrik Schumacher, which outlines how the discipline of architecture should be understood as its own distinct system of communication. Autopoeisis comes from the Greek and means literally self-production; it was first adopted in biology in the 1970s to describe the essential characteristics of life as a circular self-organizing system and has since been transposed into a theory of social systems. This new approach offers architecture an arsenal of general comparative concepts. It allows architecture to be understood as a distinct discipline, which can be analyzed in elaborate detail while at the same time offering insightful comparisons with other subject areas, such as art, science and political discourse. On the basis of such comparisons the book insists on the necessity of disciplinary autonomy and argues for a sharp demarcation of design from both art and engineering. Schumacher accordingly argues controversialTable of ContentsIntroduction to Volume 2 1 6. The Task of Architecture 5 6.1 Functions 7 6.1.1 Functions versus Capacities 11 6.1.2 Substantial versus Subsidiary Functions 17 6.1.3 Tectonics 19 6.1.4 The Categorization of Function-types 22 6.1.5 Problem-types (Function-types) vs Solution-types (Archetypes) 24 6.1.6 Patterns of Decomposition/Composition 30 6.1.7 Functional Reasoning via Action-artefact Networks 32 6.1.8 Limitations of Functional Expertise 39 6.2 Order via Organization and Articulation 42 6.2.1 Organization and Articulation: Historical and Systematic 47 6.2.2 Architectural Order 52 6.2.3 A Definition of Organization for Contemporary Architecture 57 6.2.4 Complicated, Complex, Organized, Ordered 61 6.3 Organization 70 6.3.1 Relating Spatial to Social Organization 72 6.3.2 Territorialization and Integration 77 6.3.3 Systems, Configurations, Organizations 80 6.4 Supplementing Architecture with a Science of Configuration 88 6.4.1 Set Theory 88 6.4.2 Harnessing Network Theory 93 6.4.3 Excursion: Network Theory 99 6.4.4 A City is not a Tree 106 6.4.5 Space Syntax: Concepts and Tools of Analysis 112 6.4.6 Space Syntax: Theoretical Claims 125 6.4.7 From Organization to Articulation: Taking Account of Cognition 131 6.5 Articulation 134 6.5.1 Articulation vs Organization 134 6.5.2 The Problem of Orientation and the Problematic of Legibility 137 6.5.3 Articulate vs Inarticulate Organization 138 6.5.4 Articulation as the Core Competency of Architecture 139 6.5.5 Generalizing the Concept of Function 140 6.6 The Phenomenological vs the Semiological Dimension of Architecture 142 6.7 The Phenomenological Dimension of Architectural Articulation 145 6.7.1 The Perceptual Constitution of Objects and Spaces 147 6.7.2 Cognitive Principles of Gestalt-Perception 153 6.7.3 Parametric Figuration 165 6.8 The Semiological Dimension of Architectural Articulation 167 6.8.1 The Built Works of Architecture as Framing Communications 171 6.8.2 Analogy: Language and Built Environment as Media of Communication 176 6.8.3 Signs as Communications 181 6.8.4 Territory as Fundamental Semiological Unit 183 6.8.5 Saussure’s Insight: Language as System of Correlated Differences 189 6.8.6 Extra-Semiological Demands on Architecture’s Medial Substrate 193 6.8.7 Syntagmatic vs Paradigmatic Relations 196 6.9 Prolegomenon to Architecture’s Semiological Project 200 6.9.1 The Scope of Architecture’s Signified 201 6.9.2 The Composite Character of the Architectural Sign 206 6.9.3 Absolute and Relative Arbitrariness 210 6.9.4 Natural and Artificial Semiosis 215 6.9.5 Designing Architecture’s Semiological Project 222 6.9.6 Cognitive and Attentional Conditions of Architectural Communication 229 6.9.7 Speculation: Expanding the Expressive Power of Architectural Sign Systems 232 6.10 The Semiological Project and the General Project of Architectural Order 238 6.10.1 The Semiological Project in Relation to the Organizational and the Phenomenological Project 239 6.10.2 Relationship between Architectural Languages and Architectural Styles 244 6.10.3 The Requisite Variety of Architectural Articulation 246 7. The Design Process 251 7.1 Contemporary Context and Aim of Design Process Theory 254 7.2 Towards a Contemporary Design Process Reflection and Design Methodology 257 7.2.1 Method vs Process 258 7.3 The Design Process as Problem-solving Process 263 7.3.1 The Design Process as Information-processing Process 264 7.3.2 The Structure of Information-processing Systems 269 7.3.3 Programmes 272 7.3.4 The Task Environment and its Representation as Problem Space 277 7.3.5 Problem Solving as Search in a State Space 284 7.3.6 Planning Spaces 295 7.3.7 Heuristic versus Exhaustive Problem-solving Methods 298 7.4 Differentiating Classical, Modern and Contemporary Processes 311 7.5 Problem Definition and Problem Structure 318 7.5.1 Wicked Problems 319 7.5.2 The Structure of Ill-structured Problems 323 7.5.3 An Information-processing Model for Information-rich Design Processes 332 7.6 Rationality: Retrospective and Prospective 337 7.6.1 Rational in Retrospect: Observing Innovative Design Practice 341 7.6.2 Prospective Rationality 355 7.6.3 Processing the Three Task Dimensions of Architecture 358 7.7 Modelling Spaces 361 8. Architecture and Society 379 8.1 World Architecture within World Society 382 8.2 Autonomy vs Authority 385 8.3 Architecture’s Conception of Society 390 8.3.1 The Crisis of Modernism’s Conception of Society 394 8.3.2 Social Systems Theory and the Theory of Architectural Autopoiesis 396 8.4 Architecture in Relation to other Societal Subsystems 398 8.4.1 Architecture In Relation to the Economic System 401 8.4.2 The Economy and the Design-Principle of Economy of Means 402 8.4.3 Economic Conditions of Architectural Discourse 406 8.4.4 Architecture and Education 407 8.5 Architecture as Profession and Professional Career 410 8.5.1 Authorship, Reputation, Oeuvre 411 8.5.2 Centre-periphery Differentiation within Architecture 414 8.5.3 The Absorption of Uncertainty 418 8.5.4 The Architectural Design Studio as Organization 420 8.6 The Built Environment as Primordial Condition of Society 422 8.6.1 The Built Environment As Indispensable Substrate of Social Evolution 423 8.6.2 From Spatial Order to Conceptual Order 426 8.6.3 Beauty and the Evolution of Concepts of Order 434 9. Architecture and Politics 439 9.1 Is Political Architecture Possible? 440 9.1.1 Political Vacuum 441 9.1.2 Normal vs Revolutionary Politics 445 9.2 Theorizing the Relationship between Architecture and Politics 448 9.2.1 The Incommensurability of Architecture and Politics 448 9.2.2 Architecture Responds to Political Agendas – Three Scenarios 450 9.2.3 Service Provisions Between Architecture and Politics 453 9.3 Architecture Adapts to Political Development 459 9.3.1 Modern Architecture Calls on Politics 461 9.3.2 The ABC Group: Political Agitation Within Architecture 462 9.3.3 The Vicissitudes of Political Polarization 466 9.4 The Limitations of Critical Practice in Architecture 470 9.4.1 General Political Critique and Macro-political Ambitions 470 9.4.2 Architecture’s ‘Micro-Political’ Agency: Manipulating Non-political Power 472 9.4.3 Who Controls the Power-distributing Capacity of Design? 474 9.4.4 Public Competitions As Structural Coupling between Architecture and Politics 477 10. The Self-descriptions of Architecture 484 10.1 Theoretical Underpinnings 485 10.1.1 Reference as Self-reference 489 10.1.2 Levels of Self-reference 490 10.2 The Necessity of Reflection: Architectural Theory as Reflection Theory 496 10.2.1 Continuity vs Consistency 501 10.2.2 Categorical vs Variable Structures of Communication 504 10.3 Classic Treatises 509 10.3.1 Alberti’s De re aedificatoria 511 10.3.2 Durand’s Précis des lecçns d’architecture 543 10.3.3 Le Corbusier’s Vers une architecture 568 10.3.4 The Autopoiesis of Architecture 592 10.4 Architectural Historiography 606 10.4.1 History of Architecture’s Autonomization and Internal Structuration 608 10.4.2 History of Architectural Styles as Responses to Epochal Shifts in the Societal Environment 610 10.5 Architectural Criticism 615 11. Parametricism – The Parametric Paradigm and the Formation of a New Style 617 11.1 Parametricism as Epochal Style 622 11.1.1 Historiographical Sketch: The Epochal Alignment of Styles 627 11.1.2 A Unified Style for the 21st Century 642 11.1.3 The Maturity of Parametricism 646 11.1.4 Polarized Confrontation: Parametricism versus Minimalism 648 11.1.5 Styles as Design Research Programmes 651 11.2 The Parametricist Research Programme 654 11.2.1 Conceptual Definition of Parametricism 654 11.2.2 Operational Definition of Parametricism: The Defining Heuristics of Parametricism 656 11.2.3 Genealogy of the Parametricist Heuristics 660 11.2.4 Analogies: Emulating Natural Systems 663 11.2.5 Agendas Advancing Parametricism 669 11.2.6 The Agenda of Ecological Sustainability 676 11.3 Parametricist vs Modernist Urbanism 680 11.3.1 Simple Order, Disorder, Complex Order 681 11.3.2 Implementing Parametricist Urbanism 686 11.4 Elegance 700 12. Epilogue – The Design of a Theory 710 12.1 Theoretical Foundation: Communication Theory vs Historical Materialism? 714 12.2 The Theory of Architectural Autopoiesis as Unified Theory of Architecture 719 12.3 Notes on the Architecture of the Theory 722 12.4 The Theory as the Result of Contingent Theory Design Decisions 726 Concluding Remarks 735 Appendix 3: The Autopoiesis of Architecture in the Context of Three Classic Texts 737 Appendix 4: Theses 25–60 742 References 748 Index 759
£39.85
John Wiley & Sons Inc The Autopoiesis of Architecture Volume I
Book SynopsisTake a theoretical approach to architecture with The Autopoiesis of Architecture, which presents the topic as a discipline with its own unique logic. Architecture''s conception of itself is addressed as well as its development within wider contemporary society. Author Patrik Schumacher offers innovative treatment that enriches architectural theory with a coordinated arsenal of concepts facilitating both detailed analysis and insightful comparisons with other domains, such as art, science and politics. He explores how the various modes of communication comprising architecture depend upon each other, combine, and form a unique subsystem of society that co-evolves with other important autopoietic subsystems like art, science, politics and the economy. The first of two volumes that together present a comprehensive account of architecture''s autopoiesis, this book elaborates the theory of architecture?s autopoeisis in 8 parts, 50 sections and 200 chapters. Each of the 50 sTable of ContentsPreface xi 0 Introduction: Architecture as Autopoietic System 1 0.1 Architecture as a System of Communications 1 0.2 A Unified Theory of Architecture 4 0.3 Functional vs Causal Explanations 14 0.4 The Quest for Comprehensiveness 17 0.5 The Premises Imported from Social Systems Theory 19 0.6 Architecture’s Place within Society 25 1 Architectural Theory 29 1.1 The Unity of Architecture 29 1.1.1 Architectural System-formation and Self-regulation 30 1.2 The Evolution of Architecture 32 1.2.1 Architectural Theory as Mechanism of Selection 33 1.3 The Necessity of Theory 35 1.3.1 The Function of Architectural Theory 36 1.3.2 Types of Theories 39 1.3.3 The Necessity to Reflect Architecture’s Societal raison d’être 47 1.3.4 Super-theories 54 1.3.5 The Theory of Architectural Autopoiesis as Domain-specific Super-theory 58 1.3.6 From Deconstruction to the Programme of Critical Theory 62 2 The Historical Emergence of Architecture 71 2.1 The Emergence of Architecture as Self-referential System 72 2.1.1 Inside-descriptions vs Outside-descriptions 72 2.1.2 Function Systems 74 2.1.3 The Historical Crystallization of Architecture 77 2.2 Foundation and Refoundation of Architecture 81 2.2.1 Autonomization: The Origin of the Discipline in the Italian Renaissance 81 2.2.2 The Refoundation of the Discipline as Modern Architecture 87 2.2.3 The Exclusive Competency and Universal Scope of Modern Architecture 89 2.2.4 The Liberation from Traditional Formal Constraints 91 2.2.5 The Switch from Edifice to Space 93 2.3 Avant-garde vs Mainstream 95 2.3.1 A Prerequisite for Evolution 97 2.3.2 The Autonomy of the Avant-garde 99 2.3.3 Communications between Avant-garde and Mainstream 102 2.3.4 The Reciprocal Dependency between Avant-garde and Mainstream 107 2.3.5 The Time Structure of the Avant-garde Process: Cumulative vs Revolutionary Periods 110 2.3.6 Concrete Exemplars vs Abstract Principles 115 2.3.7 Revolution and Philosophy 120 2.3.8 Latent Utopias vs the Utopian Ambitions of the Historical Avant-garde 123 2.3.9 Retroactive Manifestos 129 2.4 Architectural Research 132 2.4.1 Architectural Research as Avant-garde Design Research 133 2.4.2 Architecture Schools as Laboratories 138 2.5 The Necessity of Demarcation 144 2.5.1 The Differentiation of Art and Architecture 146 2.5.2 The Differentiation of Science and Architecture 155 2.5.3 The Differentiation of Architecture and Engineering 160 2.5.4 The Rationality of Demarcation 163 2.5.5 The Specificity of Architecture within the Design Disciplines 166 3 Architecture as Autopoietic System – Operations, Structures and Processes 171 3.1 Architectural Autopoiesis within Functionally Differentiated Society 177 3.1.1 Niklas Luhmann’s Theory of Modern Society 177 3.1.2 Third Order Observation 182 3.1.3 Codes and Media 183 3.1.4 The Concept of Social Autopoiesis 184 3.2 The Autonomy of Architecture 188 3.2.1 Openness through Closure 190 3.2.2 Irritations 193 3.2.3 Communication Structures 195 3.3 The Elemental Operation of Architecture 197 3.3.1 Design Decisions 199 3.3.2 Network-dependency of Elemental Operations 200 3.3.3 Design Decisions and External Demands 202 3.4 The Lead-distinction within Architecture and the Design Disciplines 204 3.4.1 The Primacy of Distinctions 205 3.4.2 Form vs Function as the Lead-distinction within the Design Disciplines 207 3.4.3 The Double Reference of the Design Disciplines 209 3.5 The Codification of Architecture 215 3.5.1 Binary Codes 217 3.5.2 Utility and Beauty as the Double Code of Architecture 219 3.5.3 Polycontexturality 224 3.5.4 The Unique Double Code of Architecture as Demarcation Device 226 3.5.5 The Double Code of Architecture and the Triple Code of Avant-garde Architecture 228 3.5.6 Discursive Oscillation: Coping with an Expanding Universe of Possibility 233 3.5.7 Abstraction and Openness 238 3.6 Architectural Styles 241 3.6.1 The Concept of Style(s) 241 3.6.2 The Rationality of Style(s) 254 3.6.3 Styles as the Necessary Programmes of Architecture 256 3.6.4 Styles Regulate Form and Function 258 3.6.5 Reluctant Styles 261 3.6.6 The Inescapability of the Formal A Priori 263 3.6.7 The Double Contingency of Style Formation 267 3.6.8 Stylistic Awareness as Second Order Observation 271 3.6.9 Progress as Progression of Styles 273 3.7 Styles as Research Programmes 277 3.7.1 The Creativity of Styles/Research Programmes 279 3.7.2 The Tenacity of Styles/Research Programmes 280 3.7.3 The Structure of Styles/Research Programmes: Autonomy, Hard Core, Heuristics 283 3.7.4 The Great Historical Styles: Hard Core and Heuristics 287 3.7.5 Problem Domain and Solution Space as Sources of Stylistic Innovation 290 3.7.6 Paradigmatic Mainline and Speculative Extrapolation 293 3.7.7 Progressive vs Degenerate Styles/Research Programmes 294 3.7.8 Methodological Tolerance 297 3.8 The Rationality of Aesthetic Values 300 3.8.1 The Historical Transformation of Aesthetic Values 302 3.8.2 Aesthetic Values and the Code of Beauty 305 3.8.3 The Mystery of Beauty 306 3.8.4 Formal A Priori, Idiom and Aesthetic Values 308 3.8.5 The Necessity of Aesthetic Revolutions 310 3.8.6 Aesthetic Values: Designers vs Users 313 3.9 The Double-nexus of Architectural Communications: Themes vs Projects 315 3.9.1 The Unity of the Difference between Themes and Projects 316 3.9.2 The Difference between Themes and Projects 317 3.9.3 The Interaction between Themes and Projects 318 4 The Medium of Architecture 323 4.1 Medium and Form 324 4.1.1 Symbolically Generalized Media of Communication 326 4.1.2 The Medium as Revealing and Concealing 330 4.1.3 The Medium as Universe of Possibilities 331 4.1.4 Medium and Manner 333 4.1.5 The Standard Medium of Architecture 335 4.1.6 Recursive Self-reference 338 4.2 The Medium and the Time Structure of the Design Process 342 4.2.1 Différance: The Productive Vagueness of the Medium 342 4.2.2 The Diagram 346 4.2.3 Specious vs Point-like Time: The Time Structure of the Architectural Project 355 5 The Societal Function of Architecture 363 5.1 Architecture as Societal Function System 364 5.1.1 Function vs Service 365 5.1.2 Function Systems and the Functional Exigencies of Society 367 5.1.3 Framing as Societal Function of Architecture 371 5.1.4 The Definition of the Situation as Precondition of Social Interaction 376 5.1.5 Framing Double Contingency 378 5.1.6 Double Contingency Radicalized 383 5.1.7 The relationship between Art and Architecture in terms of their Societal Function 389 5.2 Innovation as Crucial Aspect of Architecture’s Societal Function 391 5.2.1 The Burden and Risk of Permanent Innovation 392 5.2.2 The Innovative Capacity of Architecture’s Operations and Structures 394 5.2.3 Variation, Redundancy and Adaptive Pertinence 396 5.3 Strategies and Techniques of Innovation 398 5.3.1 The Power of Abstraction 398 5.3.2 The history of Architectural Innovations 402 5.3.3 Conceptual Manoeuvres 408 5.4 Key Innovations: Place, Space, Field 411 5.4.1 The Emergence of Architectural Space 413 5.4.2 The Hegemony of Architectural Space 417 5.4.3 The Transcendence of Architectural Space 419 5.4.4 From Space to Field 421 Concluding Remarks 435 Appendix 1: Comparative Matrix of Societal Function Systems 437 Appendix 2: Theses 1–24 441 References 445 Index 453 Picture Credits 463
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