Responding to msg by David.Smith@xxxxxx (David Lee Smith) on
>>Are there any good books out there which treat this
>history (history which
>>include engineering >concerns other than/in addition
>to structures)?
>>- Ray Lauzzana
>"Arcitecture of the Well Tempered Environment" by
>Banham
>
>David Lee Smith
Please add Banham's peer in environmental architecture research
long before it became popular:
"American Building 2; The Environmental Forces That Shaped
It", by James Marston Fitch.
Also, for unconventionally distinguished architectural
commentary see Fitch's:
"Architecture and the Aesthetics of Plenty". A for
head-in-the-sand-ism.
And, best of all, brace yourself, read Viollet-le-Duc, who
wrote about all forces on architecture in his:
"Dictionaire Raissone de L'Architecture", 10 volumes!; and
other works.
John Summerson claims that Viollet was the last great
architectural theorist and the source for the theories of many
moderns like Wright, Le Corbusier et al, although not nearly
sufficiently credited. After reading Viollet's magnificently
detailed descriptions and drawings of architecture in all its
multiple facets, you will probably agree.
Don't be put off by Viollet's undeserved demonization for
liberated preservation. He was actually attacked for his
political activism under the guise of architectural criticism.
Viollet and Fitch, each in his own way, are truly heroes of
alternative architecture and architectural history. Both
deserve highest praise and careful study in schools of design
world-wide.
Admirably, they share, along with Lewis Mumford, a combative
devotion to political affairs, and, not least, all three were
brave enough to avoid settling for narrow professionalism.
Ahem.
John
>>Are there any good books out there which treat this
>history (history which
>>include engineering >concerns other than/in addition
>to structures)?
>>- Ray Lauzzana
>"Arcitecture of the Well Tempered Environment" by
>Banham
>
>David Lee Smith
Please add Banham's peer in environmental architecture research
long before it became popular:
"American Building 2; The Environmental Forces That Shaped
It", by James Marston Fitch.
Also, for unconventionally distinguished architectural
commentary see Fitch's:
"Architecture and the Aesthetics of Plenty". A for
head-in-the-sand-ism.
And, best of all, brace yourself, read Viollet-le-Duc, who
wrote about all forces on architecture in his:
"Dictionaire Raissone de L'Architecture", 10 volumes!; and
other works.
John Summerson claims that Viollet was the last great
architectural theorist and the source for the theories of many
moderns like Wright, Le Corbusier et al, although not nearly
sufficiently credited. After reading Viollet's magnificently
detailed descriptions and drawings of architecture in all its
multiple facets, you will probably agree.
Don't be put off by Viollet's undeserved demonization for
liberated preservation. He was actually attacked for his
political activism under the guise of architectural criticism.
Viollet and Fitch, each in his own way, are truly heroes of
alternative architecture and architectural history. Both
deserve highest praise and careful study in schools of design
world-wide.
Admirably, they share, along with Lewis Mumford, a combative
devotion to political affairs, and, not least, all three were
brave enough to avoid settling for narrow professionalism.
Ahem.
John