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Books > Arts & Architecture > Architecture > Theory of architecture
Theories of the domestic stemming from the 19th century have focused on the home as a refuge and place of repose for the family, a nurturing environment for children and a safe place for visitors. Under this conception, domestic space is positioned as nurturing and private, a refuge and place of retreat which gave rise to theories of 'home as haven'. While, arguably, some social conditions might suggest this is the case, Domesticity Under Siege exposes a different world, one in which the boundaries of nurturing domesticity collide with both outside and inside agents. Whether these agents are external military forces, psychological trauma or familial violence, they re-position meta-narratives of domesticity, not through identity politics or specialized subgroup experience, but relative to the actions of the world around an inhabited domain. That is, when home is constituted as a private realm, a place where individuals or groups can reside in 'safety and comfort', it is argued as a place in which the individual exercises control or power. However, there are many occasions when forces act upon the home and threaten aspects of safety and comfort, often through such things as ruination, violence, mortality, and infestation. Organised around four thematic sections, 'Microbes, Animals and Insects', 'Human Agents', Wars and Disasters as Agents' and 'Hauntings, Eeriness and the Uncanny', chapters provide a range of approaches to the home which challenge notions of 'haven' and reflect major causes that have played an important role in undermining the modern home. Examples and case studies explore the domestic screen, hoarding, hauntings, violence and imprisonment in the home, wartime interior art, the Hanover Merzbau and Wolfgang Staudte's 1946 film Die Moerder sind unter uns ('The Murderers are Among Us').
Balbus: Or the Future of Architecture by Christian Barman This volume discusses the history and future of architecture by examining key social movements which have influenced architecture and town and country planning, such as the emancipation of women and urban traffic management in major European and American cities. 76pp Heraclitus: Or the Future of Films by Ernest Betts This volume traces the development of the film from its astonishing beginnings as a "show" to its future as one of the artistic marvels of the world, arguing that the film as an art form began without any inspiration. Euterpe Or The Future of Art by Lionel R McColvin In this volume the author suggests that the nature and amount of popular interest in The Arts is governed largely by economic and commercial influences and that these are not leading to the development of the best artistic life. This essay analyses the various factors responsible for this and suggests ways in which more people may be led to enjoy the beautiful. The visual and performing arts, literature and architecture are all considered. The Future of Futurism by John Rodker This volume considers the literature of the future in terms of the Futurism which had so great an effect on modern art and music. He forecasts what that literature will be and the sources from which it will draw its inspiration and special material.
This book offers an archaeological study on China's ancient capitals. Using abundant illustrations of ancient capital sites, it verifies the archaeological discoveries with documentary records. The author introduces the dynamical interpretation of each ancient capital to the interpretation of the entire development history of China's ancient capitals. The book points out that for most of the almost 2000 years from the earliest Erlitou ( )to the Ye city ( ), there was an era where ancient capitals didn't have outer enclosures due to factors such as the strong national power, the military and diplomatic advantage, the complexity of the residents, and the natural conditions. Thus an era of "the huge ancient capitals without guards" lasting for over 1000 years formed. The concept that "China's ancient capitals don't have outer enclosures" presented in the book questions the traditional view that "every settlement has walled enclosures". Combining science with theory, it offers researchers of history a clear understanding of the development process of China's ancient capitals.
Framing Places is an account of the nexus between place and power, investigating how the built forms of architecture and urban design act as mediators of social practices of power. Explored through a range of theories and case studies, this examination shows how lives are 'framed' within the clusters of rooms, buildings, streets and cities. These silent framings of everyday life also mediate practices of coercion, seduction and authorization as architects and urban designers engage with the articulation of dreams; imagining and constructing a 'better' future in someone's interest. This second edition has been thoroughly revised and updated to include a look at the recent Grollo Tower development in Melbourne and a critique on Euralille, a new quarter development in Northern France. The book draws from a broad range of methodology including: analysis of spatial structure discourse analysis phenomenology. These approaches are woven together through a series of narratives on specific cities - Berlin, Beijing and Bangkok - and global building types including the corporate tower, shopping mall, domestic house and enclave.
The first practical yet in-depth exploration of how to reclaim the post-industrial landscape, this volume includes excellent case studies by practitioners and policy makers from around the US, giving first rate practical examples. The book addresses new thinking about landscape, which applies new techniques to the task of transforming outdated and disused post-extraction landscapes through design. In the USA alone, there are nearly 500,000 abandoned mines in need of reclamation and this book provides the first in-depth guidance on this real and pressing issue. Drawing on the work of the well-known Project for Reclamation Excellence at Harvard's Graduate School of Design, this volume outlines the latest design thinking, theory and practice for landscape planners, landscape architects and designers and others interested in maximizing the future potential of reclaimed land.
For Christopher Day, architecture isn't just about the appearance of buildings but how they're experienced as places to be in. Occupants' experience can differ radically from designers' intentions as their concerns and thinking differ. Additionally, multi-sensory ambience, spatial sequential experience and embodied spirit resonate in the human soul. Sustainable design means much more than energy-efficiency: if sustainable buildings don't also nourish the soul, occupant-building interaction will lack care and eco-technologies won't be used efficiently. This major revision of his classic text builds on more than forty years of experience ecological design across a range of climates, cultures and budgets, and 25 years hands-on building. Treating buildings as environments intrinsic to their surroundings, the book explores consensus design, economic and social sustainability, and how a listening approach can grow architectural ideas organically from the interacting, sometimes conflicting, requirements of place, people and situation. This third edition, comprehensively revised to incorporate new knowledge and address new issues, continues Day's departure from orthodox contemporary architecture, offering eye-opening insights and practical design applications. These principles and guidelines will be of interest and value to architects, builders, planners, developers and homeowners alike. Reviews of the first edition ... one of the seminal architecture books of recent times Professor Tom Wooley, Architects Journal The 'bible' of many architects and those interested in architecture. Centre for Alternative Technology ... an inspiration to all those who care about the influence of the environment on Man's health and well-being. Barrie May, The Scientific and Medical Network At last an architect has written a sensitive and caring book on the effects of buildings on all our lives. Here's Health This gentle book offers a route out of the nightmare of so much callous modern construction. I was inspired. Colin Amery, The Financial Times
Susannah Hagan boldly discusses the fraught relationship between
key dominating areas of architectural discourse - digital design,
environmental design, and avant-garde design. Digitalia firstly demonstrates that drawing such firm lines
between architectural spheres is damaging and foolish, particularly
as both environmental and avant-garde practices are experimenting
with the digital, and secondly remonstrates with an avant-garde
that has repudiated the social/ethical agenda of the modernist
avant-garde because it failed the first time round. It is
environmental architecture that has picked up the social/ethical
ball and is running with it, using the digital to very different,
and more far-reaching, ends. As the debates rage, this book is a key read for all who are involved or intrigued.
Critical Architecture examines the relationship between critical practice in architecture and architectural criticism. Placing architecture in an interdisciplinary context, the book explores architectural criticism with reference to modes of criticism in other disciplines - specifically art criticism - and considers how critical practice in architecture operates through a number of different modes: buildings, drawings and texts. With forty essays by an international cast of leading architectural academics, this accessible single source text on the topical subject of architectural criticism is ideal for undergraduate as well as post graduate study.
THE NUMBER ONE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER From 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' Independent What 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 take you on a beguiling tour through the history and psychology of architecture and interior design, and will change the way you look at your home. 'Alain de Botton takes big, complex subjects and writes about them with thoughtful and deceptive innocence' Observer 'Clever, provocative and fresh as a daisy' Literary Review
Josep Lluis Mateo is one of Spain's leading architects and one of Europe's most influential intellectuals. He runs a firm called mateoarquitectura in Barcelona, which has designed buildings in many countries such as Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, the Netherlands and Switzerland. Alongside his work as guest lecturer, Mateo was Professor of Design at the Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) Zurich from 2002 to 2014. Mateo's standing as a pacesetter in the international intellectual discourse about the future of architecture is closely tied to the journal Quaderns d'Arquitectura i Urbanisme, which has appeared in Catalan, Spanish and English since 1985 and of which he was editor-in-chief between 2002 and 2014. Under Matteo, it developed into the leading platform for discussions on architectural issues, urban design, and aesthetic concepts. Footprints: Writings 2005-2020 collects his most important texts from the last fifteen years - short and longer essays and vignettes, along with interviews touching on questions about the elements, environmental and urban contexts, as well as on Matteo's own designs. The texts are illustrated and arranged thematically, to allow the juxtaposition to inspire new connections.
With a practical approach to theory, Designing the City of Reason offers new perspectives on how differing belief systems and philosophical approaches impact on city design and development, exploring how this has changed before, during and after the impact of modernism in all its rationalism. Looking at the connections between abstract ideas and material realities, this book provides a social and historical account of ideas which have emerged out of the particular concerns and cultural contexts and which inform the ways we live. By considering the changing foundations for belief and action, and their impact on urban form, it follows the history and development of city design in close conjunction with the growth of rationalist philosophy. Building on these foundations, it goes on to focus on the implications of this for urban development, exploring how public infrastructures of meaning are constructed and articulated through the dimensions of time, space, meaning, value and action. With its wide-ranging subject matter and distinctive blend of theory and practice, this book furthers the scope and range of urban design by asking new questions about the cities we live in and the values and symbols which we assign to them.
This visually stunning, conceptually rich and imaginative book investigates the cultural connection between new media and architectural imaging. Through a range of material, from theoretical texts to experimental design projects, Tierney explores notions of what the architectural image means today. Within the book's visually imaginative design framework, Abstract Space engages discourses from architecture, visual and cultural studies to computer science and communications technology to present an in-depth multi-media case study. Tracing a provisional history of the topic, the book also lends a provocative and multivalent understanding to the complex relations affecting the architectural image today.
In a world of increasing globalisation, where one high street becomes interchangeable with the next, Identity by Design addresses the idea of place-making and the concept of identity, looking at how these things can be considered as an integral part of the design process.Structured around a series of case studies including Prague, Mexico, Malaysia and Boston, the authors discuss an array of design approaches to explain and define the complex interrelated concepts. The concluding sections of the book suggest ideas for practical application in future design processes. With full colour images throughout, this book takes the discussion of place-identity to the next level, and will be valuable reading for all architects, urban designers, planners and landscape architects.
A sweeping history of American cities and towns, and the utopian aspirations that shaped them, by one of America's leading urban planners and scholars. The first European settlers saw America as a paradise regained. The continent seemed to offer a God-given opportunity to start again and build the perfect community. Those messianic days are gone. But as Alex Krieger argues in City on a Hill, any attempt at deep understanding of how the country has developed must recognize the persistent and dramatic consequences of utopian dreaming. Even as ideals have changed, idealism itself has for better and worse shaped our world of bricks and mortar, macadam, parks, and farmland. As he traces this uniquely American story from the Pilgrims to the "smart city," Krieger delivers a striking new history of our built environment. The Puritans were the first utopians, seeking a New Jerusalem in the New England villages that still stand as models of small-town life. In the Age of Revolution, Thomas Jefferson dreamed of citizen farmers tending plots laid out across the continent in a grid of enlightened rationality. As industrialization brought urbanization, reformers answered emerging slums with a zealous crusade of grand civic architecture and designed the vast urban parks vital to so many cities today. The twentieth century brought cycles of suburban dreaming and urban renewal-one generation's utopia forming the next one's nightmare-and experiments as diverse as Walt Disney's EPCOT, hippie communes, and Las Vegas. Krieger's compelling and richly illustrated narrative reminds us, as we formulate new ideals today, that we chase our visions surrounded by the glories and failures of dreams gone by.
This book presents and analyses the results of the use and adaptation of ancient Egyptian architecture in modern times. It traces the use of ancient Egyptian motifs and constructions across the world, from Australia, the Americas and Southern Africa to Western Europe. It also inquires into the cultural, economic and social contexts of this practice. Imhotep Today is exceptional not only in its global coverage, but in its analyses of thorny questions such as: what was it about Ancient Egypt that inspired such Egyptianizing monuments, and was it just one idea, or several different ones which formed the basis of such activities? The book also asks why only certain images, such as obelisks and sphinxes, were incorporated within the movement. The contributors explore how these 'monuments' fitted into the local architecture of the time and, in this context, they investigate whether 'Egyptianizing architecture' is an ongoing movement and, if so, how it differs from earlier, similar activities.
With a bias for action, this book offers valuable insight into the origins of the much-celebrated Danish design tradition and how it can be employed to create design solutions to address today's environmental crisis using the planetary boundaries as positive creative constraints. Danish design has long been revered for its high-quality aesthetics, materials and craftmanship, encouraging sustainability without compromise. This book explores the lessons to be learnt from Scandinavian design ideals, introduces the philosophy and principles of circular economy, and showcases the potential power of combining circular economy and design in helping to mitigate the effects of climate change. It presents a range of case study examples across multiple sectors and includes interviews with Danish designers in architecture, furniture, fashion, digital design and industrial design, providing unique insights from some of the world's leading contemporary designers. Bridging theory and real-world insights and experiences, the book builds on the framework of the 4R’s The Circular Way: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and Replace to encourage innovation through the replacement of environmentally damaging materials and business models. A must-read for product designers, industrial designers, consultants, business developers, sustainability professionals and students interested in learning how to design and implement circular, sustainable models into practice.
A new edition of the bestselling introduction to design styles and movements in architecture. This is an easy-to-use guide to a wide range of architectural styles, from classical times through to the post-modern era. For each style there is a definition, an introduction to the topic, a list of key architects, keywords, and major works as well as suggestions of other styles you might be interested in. This new edition now includes four brand new chapters covering Performatism, Ornamentalism, Giganticism and Bioclimatism. Understanding Architecture is a must for anyone interested in architecture and wanting to know more - whether you are a sightseer, a visitor of historic buildings or an architecture connoisseur.
Architecture is expected to be solid, stable and
reassuring-physically, socially and psychologically. Bound to each
other, the architectural and the material are considered
inseparable.
A cast of leading writers and practitioners tackle the ethical questions that architects are increasingly facing in their work, from practical considerations in construction to the wider social context of buildings, their appearance, use and place in the narrative of the environment. This book gives an account of these ethical questions from the perspectives of historical architectural practice, philosophy, and business, and examines the implications of such dilemmas. Taking the current discussion of ethics in architecture on to a new stage, this volume provides an accumulation of diverse opinions, focusing on architects' actions and products that materially affect the lives of people in all urbanized societies.
This book examines the ways in which a historic, and so-called
"traditional" city quietly mutated into one that was modern in its
own terms not only in form but also in its use and meaning. Through
a study of Delhi, the author challenges some prevalent dichotomies
and myths in architecture and urbanism and identifies an
interpretation of modernism that expands upon conventional
understandings of it. Conventional discourse in the West defines
modern as the antithesis of that which is 'not-modern' or is
'traditional.' Many scholars have debated the significance of the
words and most agree that the very word 'tradition' was a modernist
creation that variously implied threatened by change, backwardness,
resistance to innovation.
Crosses disciplinary boundaries to explore German Romantic writing about visual experience and the interplay of text and image in Romantic epistemology. The work of the groundbreaking writers and artists of German Romanticism -- including the writers Tieck, Brentano, and Eichendorff and the artists Caspar David Friedrich and Philipp Otto Runge -- followed from the philosophical arguments of the German Idealists, who placed emphasis on exploring the subjective space of the imagination. The Romantic perspective was a form of engagement with Idealist discourses, especially Kant's Critique of Pure Reason and Fichte's Science of Knowledge. Through an aggressive, speculative reading of Kant, the Romantics abandoned the binary distinction between the palpable outer world and the ungraspable space of the mind's eye and were therefore compelled to develop new terms for understanding the distinction between "internal" and "external." In this light, Brad Prager urges a reassessment of some of Romanticism's major oppositional tropes, contending that binaries such as "self and other," "symbol and allegory," and "light and dark," should be understood as alternatives to Lessing's distinction between interior and exterior worlds. Prager thus crosses the boundaries between philosophy,literature, and art history to explore German Romantic writing about visual experience, examining the interplay of text and image in the formulation of Romantic epistemology. Brad Prager is Associate Professor of Germanat the University of Missouri, Columbia.
Marginalized due to the deployment of both a highly specialized jargon and a novel stylistic approach meant to upset established norms and conventions, Baudrillard's thought has suffered from the lack of an accessible, consistent and comprehensive exposition able to make it relevant to diverse contemporary disciplines. As a result, its impact on architecture has always been confined to academia. By presenting an introductory but in-depth formalization of Baudrillard's interest in architecture and related fields, this book makes intelligible his philosophical premises thus showing, through the prism of architecture, their relevance and persuasiveness today. Key concepts such as the object system, the code, simulation, hyperreality and precession, to name a few, are addressed in the light of the specially reconceptualized key construct of ambience, thus emphasizing how the mutual concerns of architecture, urban studies and cultural studies provide a fertile ground for debate. Such an approach, which focuses on the contradictions inherent in contemporary society from the vantage point of Baudrillard's original involvement in architectural analysis, philosophy and criticism, is one which students, practitioners and scholars alike from as diverse disciplines as architecture, interior design and urban studies - but also fine art, anthropology, sociology, economics, human geography, social psychology and cultural studies to start with - will benefit from immensely.
How do we think about architecture historically and theoretically? Forty Ways to Think about Architecture provides an introduction to some of the wide-ranging ways in which architectural history and theory are being approached today. The inspiration for this project is the work of Adrian Forty, Professor of Architectural History at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London (UCL), who has been internationally renowned as the UK s leading academic in the discipline for 40 years. Forty s many publications, notably Objects of Desire (1986), Words and Buildings (2000) and Concrete and Culture (2012), have been crucial to opening up new approaches to architectural history and theory and have helped to establish entirely new areas of study. His teaching at The Bartlett has enthused a new generation about the exciting possibilities of architectural history and theory as a field. This collection takes in a total of 40 essays covering key subjects, ranging from memory and heritage to everyday life, building materials and city spaces. As well as critical theory, philosophy, literature and experimental design, it refers to more immediate and topical issues in the built environment, such as globalisation, localism, regeneration and ecologies. Concise and engaging entries reflect on architecture from a range of perspectives. Contributors include eminent historians and theorists from elsewhere such as Jean-Louis Cohen, Briony Fer, Hilde Heynen, Mary McLeod, Griselda Pollock, Penny Sparke and Anthony Vidler as well as Forty s colleagues from the Bartlett School of Architecture including Iain Borden, Murray Fraser, Peter Hall, Barbara Penner, Jane Rendell and Andrew Saint. Forty Ways to Think about Architecture also features contributions from distinguished architects, such as Tony Fretton, Jeremy Till and Sarah Wigglesworth, and well-known critics and architectural writers, such as Tom Dyckhoff, William Menking and Thomas Weaver. Many of the contributors are former students of Adrian Forty. Through these diverse essays, readers are encouraged to think about how architectural history and theory relates to their own research and design practices, thus using the work of Adrian Forty as a catalyst for fresh and innovative thinking about architecture as a subject. |
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