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Can anyone suggest good books for people interested in architecture? I'm interested in adult books but also for home-school kids. Historical or modern is great... for example, I read Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King a few years ago and enjoyed it...anything else?
Can anyone suggest good books for people interested in architecture? I'm interested in adult books but also for home-school kids. Historical or modern is great... for example, I read Brunelleschi's Dome by Ross King a few years ago and enjoyed it...anything else?
The most relevant and important discussion about architecture concerns Modernism vs Traditionalism. It is the context from which all other discussions occur and all understanding of architecture is based.
As a home-schooler, one should, at least, understand the "war" Modernists have been waging (and winning) against Traditionalists.
Recognizing this "war" will help one see the bias in literature, bias in architectural education, and the bias in the architectural industry as a whole.
There's one book I might recommend: Exploding the Myths of Modern Architecture by Malcom Millais
This book will easily mention buildings (both modern and classical) that you might find interesting to seek out books about.
There is a book called, Cabin Porn, that is a very entertaining read, with lovely pictures. It has stories of people who built cabins in remote places, both simple and elaborate, and how and why they did it.
I bought it for cabin ideas, but I enjoyed it for the human interest stories, like the California couple who had visited the same nature preserve since they were children, and only by chance, got an opportunity to buy a part of it at auction. They spent their lives building a cabin and visiting it with their children and grandchildren. Now the old man goes every Sunday and carries his wifes ashes with him. Another story is about an architecture student who transforms one of the student dwellings in the desert at Taliesan.
Last edited by gentlearts; 02-17-2017 at 08:15 AM..
A great couple of books that delve into theory and the process of architecture in a fun and human context are A Pattern Language by Alexander, Ishikawa and Silverstein as well as the later, yet preface to it, The Timeless Way of Building by Christopher Alexander.
The first examines architecture from the macro: Cities, and then to towns, neighborhoods, blocks, buildings, all the way down to the micro: parts of buildings, rooms, ...to a window flower box - described in declarative language statements which together forms patterns or building blocks of how successful buildings, houses, rooms and communities are built. The 2nd, preface, looks into the qualities of spaces and examines why they evoke emotions that they do and how to discern those qualities and extract the parts and design from them to find out why they work or don't and from a historical and cultural context of why certain methods have been used successfully for millennia.
For most of us architects they represent the beginnings of our understanding of the built environment in a reflective, puposeful, humane and intelligent way.
If it sounds kind of stuffy they really aren't, you get statements as why Beer Halls and Dancing places should be in every good community, and the importance of a teenager's or old person's cottage, or why if you have a great view it should never knock you in the face right when you walk in the door, or be a wall of windows to gape at it every moment of the day until it disappears from your consciousness; it only becomes sacred when you are able to gain but a glance at it in a special corner of the stairs or a landing a few moments at a time throughout the day. Or how roof shapes and the arrangement of windows and doors (fenestration) are paramount in how a building functions and be aesthetically successful.
The most relevant and important discussion about architecture concerns Modernism vs Traditionalism. It is the context from which all other discussions occur and all understanding of architecture is based.
I agree. I think this is the key. That's why I can't get into McMansion hate, at least the way it is often presented, like that McMansion tumblr that has been popular. The person who writes that favors Brutalism. Which is fine but it makes perfect sense why she would dislike McMansions.
I'm also interested in church architecture, specifically Roman Catholic and this is also a traditionalist/modernist debate
My favorite stuff on architecture comes from Jonathan Meades. Both his books and documentaries. He has a very unique perspective on architecture and I find myself constantly challenged by his assertions. I don't always agree with him but he often presents a very strong case.
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