Top
ten lists are a recurring meme on the Internet. I recently came across the #TopTenBooks Challenge on Twitter,
orchestrated by writer K.D. Rush (http://j.mp/AblYxD). Rush is urging his
followers to list their favorite books and explain why each one is special to
them.
While
a less-than-literary architect is probably the last person he’d expect to
respond, his challenge did get me thinking. Could I identify ten books that I
regard as my favorites on the subject of architecture?
The
answer is yes. I had a tough time winnowing my list down to just ten books from
the substantial library of volumes about architecture I’ve accumulated over the
years; nevertheless, the following titles (in no particular order) do stand out:
By Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray Silverstein (1977) A Pattern Language is one of the most important texts on architecture ever written. It codifies a community-based approach to design, which points in the direction of what Christopher Alexander conceives of as an all-encompassing theory of life, one based upon notions of organic wholeness and scalable, self-sustaining systems.
By
Michael Pollan (1997)
I have
yet to discover as thoroughly enjoyable a book on the subject of architecture
as Michael Pollan’s engaging account of his quest to build a writing hut for
himself in the forest. It isn’t simply a joy to read; his reflections on the
power of place and architecture’s “unique power to give our bodies, minds, and
dreams a home in the world” are bookmark-worthy for even the most
jaded and world-weary among us.
By John
Lobell (1979)
Although several members of the University of
Oregon faculty under whom I studied were former employees and disciples of
Louis Kahn, Between Silence and Light
served as my primary introduction to his architecture and teaching. As the back
cover notes explain, Kahn regarded architecture as the study of human beings,
their highest aspirations and most profound truths. He searched for forms and
materials to express the subtlety and grandeur of life.
The fundamental awe with which Kahn approached his work is why his buildings
and words are so meaningful to me.
By Robert Venturi
(1966)
I purchased Complexity and Contradiction in Architecture
during my freshman year in college. Venturi’s scholarly and pluralistic analysis
was an essential and (at that time) provocative counterpoint to the prevailing
Modernist dogma. In my opinion, his “gentle manifesto” for “non-straightforward”
architecture and the “difficult whole” deserves renewed attention. Architectural
literacy is too easily stunted by the overwhelming technical and societal demands
architects confront today. This is an important book that reminds us of the
theory base upon which architecture is founded.
By Peter Eisenman, Michael Graves, Charles
Gwathmey, John Hejduk, and Richard Meier, with Colin Rowe and Kenneth Frampton
(1975)
Another one of the earliest books in my collection, Five Architects had an outsized impact upon my development as an architect. What a revelation: Here was a collection of (seemingly) like-minded designers for whom "form follows function" and envisioning a better world were hardly guiding credos. Instead, these five shared an obsessive fixation upon formalism betraying a bourgeois lack of conscience. For better or worse, the book presented me with a glimpse of a vastly broader architectural universe than I'd previously imagined.
By Moshe Safdie (1982)
Form and
Purpose is a surpisingly breezy read. Safdie lambasts fad and fashion and the ego of arrogant architects who ignore the more basic and fundamental purposes of architecture. I read the book at a moment when I found myself in the thrall of trendy "starchitects." Form and Purpose was the antidote I needed to rid me of misguided cynicism and self-indulgence.
By Kenzo Tange and Noboru Kawazoe (1965)
Ise is simultaneously
perfect and primitive, at once both ancient and new. The elemental architecture
stirs an instinctive response; one need not be of Japanese heritage (as I am)
to grasp Ise’s sacredness upon seeing the beautiful black & white images in
this book. Ise is re-built at enormous expense every 20 years as part of the Shinto belief of the death and renewal of nature and the impermanence of all things. Ironically, Ise's perpetual regeneration is frozen in time by an immutably perfect book.
By Charles
Jencks (1973)
Jencks' analytical biography of Le Corbusier exposes the Swiss master's tragic, Nietzchean view of the human condition, a "dark bitterness just barely balanced by joy and light." Corbu possessed an uncompromising belief in the necessity of struggle to the creative process. Why hasn't someone produced a dramatic motion picture about Le Corbusier? The story of his life and work begs for cinematic treatment.
By
Alain de Botton (2006)
Should
we be surprised it is a non-architect who most eloquently explains how the
built environment influences who we are and conversely why it is a reflection
of our values? No, not when that non-architect is the brilliant Alain de
Botton. Enlisting philosophy, psychology, and everyday observations to
introduce principles of architecture to a wide audience, de Botton has probably
done more to honor and elucidate our profession’s aesthetic ideals than any
architect has recently.
By
Charles W. Moore, Gerald Allen, and Donlyn Lyndon (1974)
The Place of Houses is a book about people’s dreams and visions about
home and how they are translated into personally meaningful and place-specific houses.
It was an essential text during my undergraduate studies. The book would
resonate again when I later had the good fortune to work professionally with
Charles Moore as an employee of the Urban Innovations Group in Los Angeles. As
accomplished and influential as Moore was as an architect, his lasting legacy
may instead prove to be his books about architecture. He was an immensely
talented writer.
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What are your ten favorite books about architecture?
2 comments:
Randy, I could not have been more surprised to see an architecture list in response to the TopTenBooks challenge! It was a nice break sir, and it reminds me that the beauty of design is no less a creative work of art than a classic literary tale.
Well done sir!
--Rush
Thanks KD!
The best literature is as beautifully structured, ordered, and nuanced as any outstanding piece of architecture. Artistry is common to both.
It'll be interesting to see your list of challengers grow and if there are other surprises in store.
Randy
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