Playing to one of his strengths, Rybczynski ("One Good Turn", 2000,
etc.) takes a seemingly whimsical topic-the role of fashion in
architecture-and lightly teases from it some discomfiting truths.
Discomfiting, that is, for those architects-count them in
legions-who bridle at the suggestion they might work in a style.
But for Rybczynski it is plain as day that, of the three elements
of architecture (function, durability, and delight), style has much
to do with the last. "Architectural style is the manner in which
the architect communicates a particular kind of visual delight."
Furthermore, "if style is the language of architecture, fashion
represents the wide-and swirling-cultural currents that shape and
direct that language." (Then, devilishly, if not convincingly, "If
the relationship between dress and decor is intimate . . . there is
no doubt that dress comes first.") This short work is the result of
a series of lectures delivered at the New York Public Library, and
the author makes good use of the materials at hand-the library
itself, the famous series of buildings along the 40th Street side,
the infamous bunch along 42nd Street, and a few nearby
structures-not only to display his sharp use of imagery (as in the
"medieval verticality" of the RCA building or Raymond Hood's
black-and-gold Radiator Building glowing like hot coals) but to
chart the rise and fall of styles-along with representative
architects. Like his colleagues, Rybczynski doesn't like
confinement either, and he happily spins off to explore notions of
absorbing and extending traditions, the importance of expressive
detailing, and the folly of categorization (as architects
"instinctively understand that the history of
architecture-including the present-is a continuity rather than a
series of episodes"). A good demonstration that clothes make the
mansion, as well as the man. (Kirkus Reviews)
What is style in architecture? "Style is like a feather in a woman's hat, nothing more," said Le Corbusier, expressing most modern architects' low regard for the subject. But Witold Rybczynski disagrees, and in
The Look of Architecture, he makes a compelling case for the importance of style to the mother of the arts.
This is a book brimming with sharp observations--that form does not follow function; that the best architecture is not timeless but precisely of its time; that details do not merely complement the architecture--details are the architecture. But the heart of the book illuminates the connection between architecture, interior decoration, and fashion. Style is the language of architecture, Rybczynski writes, and fashion represents the wide--and swirling--cultural currents that shape and direct that language. The two, style and fashion, are intimately linked--indeed, architecture cannot escape fashion. To set these ideas in sharp relief, he shows us how style and fashion have been expressed in the work of major architects--including Frank Gehry, Mies van der Rohe, Charles McKim, Allan Greenberg, Robert Venturi, Enrique Norten, and many others. He helps us see their works anew and ultimately to look afresh at our surroundings.
Style is one of the enduring--and endearing--aspects of architecture, Rybczynski concludes. Furthermore, an architecture that recognizes the importance of style would not be as introspective and self-referential as are so many contemporary buildings. It would be part of the world--not architecture for architects, but for the rest of us.
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