Understanding Architecture

Description

Intended both as an introductory text for students and professionals in the field as well as an accessible read for the general public, Primer on Architecture (working title) addresses the basic principles of architecture and uncovers its ongoing influence in contemporary culture. The volume is organized in a series of chapters based on key architectural themes–space, time, matter, gravity, light, silence, dwelling, ritual, memory, landscape, and place–with an introductory essay for each chapter that includes a wide variety of historical examples from around the world followed by more in depth analyses of key buildings that further exemplify the theme of a particular chapter. By combining a broad historical sweep with a jargon-free architectural study of space and the direct experience of architecture, this volume will  be a unique introduction to architecture as a timeless and  enduring art.

Robert McCarter is a practicing architect and has been Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis since 2007. He taught previously at the University of Florida, where he was Director of the School of Architecture from 1991–2001, and Columbia University, among other schools. He has written for numerous international publications, and his books include: Grafton Architects (2018); Marcel Breuer (2016); Steven Holl (2015); Alvar Aalto (2014); Carlo Scarpa (2013); Understanding Architecture, co-authored with Juhani Pallasmaa (2012); and Louis I Kahn (2005), all by Phaidon Press. He has also published The Work of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects: Economy as Ethic (2017); The Space Within: Interior Experience as the Origin of Architecture (2016); and Aldo van Eyck (2015), among other books.

Juhani Pallasmaa is one of Finland’s most distinguished architects and architectural thinkers. Pallasmaa is the author/editor of 24 books, including The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture an the Senses (1995, 2nd edition 2005), The Architecture of Image: Existential Space in Cinema (2001) and Encounters (2005).

“A renewed acquaintance with great buildings – always a refreshing venture.” —AIA NY’s Oculus

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