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Books > Arts & Architecture > Architecture > Theory of architecture
The seventh edition of the highly successful The City Reader
juxtaposes the very best classic and contemporary writings on the
city. Sixty-three selections are included: forty-five from the
sixth edition and eighteen new selections, including three newly
written exclusively for The City Reader. The anthology features a
Prologue essay on "How to Study Cities", eight part introductions
as well as individual introductions to each of the selected
articles. The new edition has been extensively updated and expanded
to reflect the latest thinking in each of the disciplinary and
topical areas included, such as sustainable urban development,
globalization, the impact of technology on cities, resilient
cities, and urban theory. The seventh edition places greater
emphasis on cities in the developing world, the global city system,
and the future of cities in the digital transformation age. While
retaining classic writings from authors such as Lewis Mumford, Jane
Jacobs, and Louis Wirth, this edition also includes the best
contemporary writings of, among others, Peter Hall, Manuel
Castells, and Saskia Sassen. New material has been added on compact
cities, urban history, placemaking, climate change, the world city
network, smart cities, the new social exclusion, ordinary cities,
gentrification, gender perspectives, regime theory, comparative
urbanization, and the impact of technology on cities. Bibliographic
material has been completely updated and strengthened so that the
seventh edition can serve as a reference volume orienting faculty
and students to the most important writings of all the key topics
in urban studies and planning. The City Reader provides the
comprehensive mapping of the terrain of Urban Studies, old and new.
It is essential reading for anyone interested in studying cities
and city life.
This book addresses the deltaic territories in Europe that are both
fragile and affected by important climate changes.
Le Corbusier not only designed and built churches, but also engaged
intensely with religion and faith and, through his oeuvre, had a
significant impact on church architecture of the twentieth century.
The book explains Le Corbusier's relationship with religion; it
introduces his designs for La Sainte-Baume, the Chapel of Notre
Dame du Haut de Ronchamp, La Tourette monastery, and the church of
St. Pierre, and investigates his impact on the ensuing modern
church architecture in Europe. This includes the Jubilee Church by
Richard Meier, the Ignatius Chapel by Steven Holl, the Santa Maria
Church by Alvaro Siza, Tadao Ando's Meditation Space, and the
Chapel of Reconciliation by Reitermann & Sassenroth. For this
edition, the introduction, the conclusion, and the bibliography
have been revised and supplemented.
Over the last three decades neoliberal ideology has irreversibly
changed our political and economic reality. But what-if
any-relationship exists between neoliberalism and our built
environment? Is There (Anti-)Neoliberal Architecture? seeks to
complement the prevailingly geographical and sociological
approaches to neoliberalism by (re)addressing the subject from the
specific perspective of architectural theory. The articles
collected in the volume focus on various dimensions of the
contemporary architecture-system including: architectural practice,
disciplinary status, discourse, exemplary projects, theoretical
concepts etc. The result offers a multifaceted picture of
architecture in the era of neoliberalism and its crisis.
This book gathers 14 architects, designers, performing artists,
film makers, media theorists, philosophers, mathematicians and
programmers. They all argue that matter in contemporary posthuman
times has to be rethought in its rich internal dynamism and its
multifaceted context. By transversally crossing disciplinary
boundaries, new and profound insights into contemporary thinking
and creating architecture emerge. Combining the dynamism of
materiality and the capacities of nonhuman machines towards
prototyping spatiotemporal designs and constructs leads to
alternative conceptions of the human, of ethics, aesthetics and
politics in this world yet-to-come.
Architecture Stuff is about a way of looking at architecture. It
examines 7 seminal projects and shows how they might have been
conceived with or without the design architect's awareness. More a
working method than a theory, the book deals with questions
pertinent to designers as well as to critics of buildings. More
Stuff then illustrates how the same sensibility and working method
can be used in the design of buildings as a tool for creating
architecture. The 7 buildings featured are chosen for their breadth
of styles and approaches to architecture, demonstrating that this
approach to architecture can be applied to any building. Presented
in reverse chronological order, the first project, Grace Farms, is
a building by SANAA. Noted for its meandering river form and
minimalist detailing, it is seen to be - among other things - a
juxtaposition of orthogonal and sinuous forms. The second project
is Villa Dall Ava by Rem Koolhaas/OMA. Located in the suburbs, the
house is a transition from city to country. The third project is
the Neue Staatsgalerie by James Stirling. The analysis shows how
the 'bad boy' of architecture subverts conventional architectural
tropes. Robert Venturi's Mother's House is shown to be a compressed
stately manor and an architect's conceit. The Kimbell Art Museum by
Louis Kahn can be understood as simple repetitive forms with
elaborated elements that organize a diverse collection of spaces.
Pierre Chareau's Maison de Verre is much more than types of
transparency and mechanisation. One of its major themes is the use
of 'L' shaped spaces. Finally, St George's Bloomsbury by Nicholas
Hawksmoor is a parish church swallowed by a classical temple. The
critique exposes how the architect used that idea to juxtapose the
clerical and the civic to develop all of the details in the
building. These are not singular idea buildings and, as a way of
seeing architecture, there are overlapping themes in this
collection. The history of architecture of specific periods is a
common theme, as is architecture's stasis with spaces expanding or
contracting. A dry sense of humour is always appreciated. What
separates these buildings from any other building is the density of
ideas presented. More Stuff accounts for the same working methods
as a way to make architecture. Here the author illustrates eleven
projects across the span of his career. Though often done in
collaboration with others, in all cases the author generated the
design ideas. One of the key aspects of architecture stuff is that
it is unpretentious and accessible and these projects are meant to
illustrate that quality. Architecture can be serious and playful at
the same time.
This volume explores connections between architecture and theatre,
and encourages imagination in the design of buildings and social
spaces. Imagination is arguably the architect's most crucial
capacity, underpinning memory, invention and compassion. No simple
power of the mind, architectural imagination is deeply embodied,
social and situational. Its performative potential and holistic
scope may be best understood through the model of theatre. Theatres
of Architectural Imagination examines the fertile relationship
between theatre and architecture with essays, interviews and
entr'actes arranged in three sections: Bodies, Settings and
(Inter)Actions. Contributions explore a global spectrum of examples
and contexts, from ancient Rome and Renaissance Italy to modern
Europe, North America, India and Japan. Topics include: the central
role of the human body in design; the city as a place of political
drama, protest and phenomenal play; and world-making through
language, gesture and myth. Chapters also consider sacred and
magical functions of theatre in Balinese and Persian settings;
eccentric experiments at the Bauhaus and 1970 Osaka World Expo; and
ecological action and collective healing amid contemporary climate
chaos. Inspired by architect and educator Marco Frascari, the book
performs as a Janus-like memory theatre, recalling and projecting
the architect's perennial task of reimagining a more meaningful
world. This collection will delight and provoke thinkers and makers
in theatrical arts and built environment disciplines, especially
Architecture, Landscape and Urban Design.
The Fundamentals of Interior Architecture (second edition) offers
an introduction to the key elements involved in the creation of
aesthetically appealing and practically appropriate interior
architecture. The book contains five sections, which together
encapsulate the principle ideas, skills and knowledge that are
employed in effective interior architecture and design. Areas of
study include space and form, site and function, materials and
texture, light and mood, and presentation and representation.
Emphasis is placed on spatial solutions that support the needs of
the client and which recognise the qualities of the building and
its situation. The theory is contextualised using practitioner
biographies and work from leading designers. The new material in
this highly illustrated second edition includes interviews with
leading practitioners. In addition, at the end of each chapter
there are new projects to encourage readers to explore further the
creative possibilities of working as an interior architect.
A building cannot be good to look at if it is unplanned, with its
parts totally unrelated to one another; but on the other hand if
the arrangement is too regular it becomes boring and dull. The
object of architectural proportion is to strike the balance between
these extremes, creating an interesting visible order by the
repetition of similar shapes. In this book, first published in
1958, Mr Scholfield deals with the history of the theory of
proportion, and in doing so develops his own positive theory, which
reconciles the apparent contradictions of rival systems and serves
as a key to historical understanding. Even when he is dealing with
complex themes, Mr Scholfield's exposition can be followed by the
uninitiated reader. Those already interested in architecture and
the visual arts will certainly want the book; and those who are not
will find, on reading it, that their interest is stimulated.
Avant-garde theorist and architect Bernard Tschumi is equally
well known for his writing and his practice. Architecture and
Disjunction, which brings together Tschumi's essays from 1975 to
1990, is a lucid and provocative analysis of many of the key issues
that have engaged architectural discourse over the past two decades
-- from deconstructive theory to recent concerns with the notions
of event and program.The essays develop different themes in
contemporary theory as they relate to the actual making of
architecture, attempting to realign the discipline with a new world
culture characterized by both discontinuity and heterogeneity.
Included are a number of seminal essays that incited broad
attention when they first appeared in magazines and journals, as
well as more recent and topical texts.Tschumi's discourse has
always been considered radical and disturbing. He opposes modernist
ideology and postmodern nostalgia since both impose restrictive
criteria on what may be deemed "legitimate" cultural conditions. He
argues for focusing on our immediate cultural situation, which is
distinguished by a new postindustrial "unhomeliness" reflected in
the ad hoc erection of buildings with multipurpose programs. The
condition of New York and the chaos of Tokyo are thus perceived as
legitimate urban forms.
Shows in hundreds of illustrations, diagrams, and photographs what
it is that makes an artful facade, so that readers are equipped to
design beautiful, meaningful buildings Discusses proportional
systems, the language of composition, how to use precedents, the
importance of context, the role of structure, and much more
Nontechnical approach will ground readers in the basics of how
architecture expresses meaning by looking at both historic and
contemporary buildings
The space we live in, reduced to a minimum, has been fascinating us
for generations - the writer Thoreau lived in a self-built hut in
the forest from 1845 -1847. In 1952, Le Corbusier built a hut at
the Cote d'Azur for himself and his wife. Inspired by this, Urs
Peter Fluckiger, together with his students, built an ecologically
and economically sustainable cabin in the Texan prairie. All three
projects share the idea of minimal space and its relationship with
the surrounding nature. In text, drawings, and photographs, this
book analyses the three projects and shows parallels and
similarities. Inspired by Tolstoy's story How Much Land Does A Man
Need?, the author asks: "How much house does a man need?", thereby
providing a pointed contribution to the current discussion on the
requirement for housing.
In this book, we review a set of Plan:b projects in Colombia
through the environmental, social, and voluntary constraints we
faced, and the interim agreements we built around them. We carry
out a reconstruction of the central facts behind these buildings
through an "inverse" exercise - explaining each project based on
contextual constraints and not on singular architectural ideas. We
review the work of other authors and the way they understand
limitations and difficulties that are part of their creative
activity and attempt to generate a broad reflective base to
approach our architectural projects and the predominant role that
restrictions have played in them.
This book proposes alternative interpretations of broadly-debated
concepts within architectural modernity. Bringing into view the
work of lesser-known architects from across the globe, alongside
previously unexplored aspects of mainstream masters of the Modern,
Rethinking Modernity puts forward a compelling case for the range
and diversity of architectural projects encompassed by this term.
Exploring themes such as the use of colour, materials, ornament,
local traditions and identities, Rethinking Modernity challenges
readers to build a better understanding of a crucial moment in
architectural history, and of design trends shaping the present-day
production of the built environment. Complementing the RIBA
Publishing titles Redefining Brutalism and Revisiting
Postmodernism, this book sits within a series of books aiming to
explore new interpretations of well-loved architectural movements,
richly illustrated with rarely-seen archive photography and
lesser-known projects. Offers a comprehensive review of modernity,
discussing its various strands through less typical case studies,
rich and original visual material (photographs, redrawn plans, and
spatial diagrams), as well as descriptions Illustrates the range of
possibilities the umbrella term of Modernity encompasses,
questioning stereotypical definitions and proposing alternative
descriptions Offers a window onto lesser-known architectural
figures of the modern alongside mainstream masters of the Modern
Explores both historical modernity globally and its connection with
present-day trends
Modern Architectural Theory is the first book to provide a
comprehensive survey of architectural theory, primarily in Europe
and the United States, during three centuries of development. In
this synthetic overview, Harry Mallgrave examines architectural
discourse within its social and political context. He explores the
philosophical and conceptual evolution of its ideas, discusses the
relation of theory to the practice of building, and, most
importantly, considers the words of the architects themselves, as
they contentiously shaped Western architecture. He also examines
the compelling currents of French rationalist and British
empiricist thought, radical reformation of the theory during the
Enlightenment, the intellectual ambitions and historicist debates
of the nineteenth century, and the distinctive varieties of modern
theory in the twentieth century up to the profound social upheaval
of the 1960s. Modern Architectural Theory challenges many
assumptions about architectural modernism and uncovers many new
dimensions of the debates about modernism.
Basics Urban Analysis is a new addition to the module on city
planning. Building on the elements of cities as described in the
volume Basics Urban Building Blocks, it provides techniques for
analyzing cities. As a basis for city planning and architectural
design work, a solid understanding of the existing and surrounding
urban structures is indispensable. This volume not only explains
the possible approaches; it also describes in practical terms how
to implement those approaches in the areas analyzed and how to
evaluate the data one has collected.
Library as Stoa is a reflection on the building design and
construction in essays and photographs of Snohetta's Charles
Library at Temple University. The library demonstrates the role of
public space and innovation in architecture. By using an Automated
Storage and Retrieval System (ASRS) for the storage of Temple's
entire collection which includes two million books on site, the
Charles Library was designed to balance the amount of space for
books vs. people, and significantly increase the social spaces to
accommodate student and faculty research and collaboration. Using
the models of library as studio and creative commons, it is a place
for discovery, creation, preservation, and sharing of knowledge.
The library includes university partners and important library
functions in strategic locations for improved support services for
the university community. University Special Collections, an
important institutional asset for the university and the city of
Philadelphia, is visible and accessible for visitors from the city
community. Snohetta's design approach took into account the
diversity of the university community, the site conditions and the
university's aspirations. The design process included collaboration
with the campus community to fully understand the social aspects
and future needs of the university. Sited in a prime location on
the university's campus, the library is an inspirational
destination for the campus and city communities and serves as a
change agent, reflective of the future direction of the university.
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