Reconstructing Architecture for the Twenty-first Century

Reconstructing Architecture for the Twenty-first Century
Author :
Publisher : University of Toronto Press
Total Pages : 240
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0802075843
ISBN-13 : 9780802075840
Rating : 4/5 (43 Downloads)

Synopsis Reconstructing Architecture for the Twenty-first Century by : Anthony Jackson

Jackson exposes the inadequacies of old conceptions of architecture as embodying metaphysical properties, and of architects as the sole keepers of this esoteric knowledge. He challenges architects to acknowledge and celebrate building as an expression of the ideals and values of the broader-based classless communities to which they now belong.

Reconstructing Architecture

Reconstructing Architecture
Author :
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages : 346
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780816628094
ISBN-13 : 0816628092
Rating : 4/5 (94 Downloads)

Synopsis Reconstructing Architecture by : Thomas A. Dutton

Reconstructing Architecture was first published in 1996. Minnesota Archive Editions uses digital technology to make long-unavailable books once again accessible, and are published unaltered from the original University of Minnesota Press editions. To create architecture is an inherently political act, yet its nature as a social practice is often obscured beneath layers of wealth and privilege. The contributors to this volume question architecture's complicity with the status quo, moving beyond critique to outline the part architects are playing in building radical social movements and challenging dominant forms of power. The making of architecture is instrumental in the construction of our identities, our differences, the world around us-much of what we know of institutions, the distribution of power, social relations, and cultural values is mediated by the built environment. Historically, architecture has constructed the environments that house the dominant culture. Yet, as the essays in Reconstructing Architecture demonstrate, there exists a strong tradition of critical practice in the field, one that attempts to alter existing social power relations. Engaging the gap between modernism and postmodernism, each chapter addresses an oppositional discourse that has developed within the field and then reconstructs it in terms of a new social project: feminism, social theory, environmentalism, cultural studies, race and ethnic studies, and critical theory. The activists and scholars writing here provide a clarion call to architects and other producers of culture, challenging them to renegotiate their political allegiances and to help reconstruct a viable democratic life in the face of inexorable forces driving economic growth, destroying global ecology, homogenizing culture, and privatizing the public realm. Reconstructing Architecture reformulates the role of architecture in society as well as its capacity to further a progressive social transformation. Contributors: Sherry Ahrentzen, U of Wisconsin, Milwaukee; Bradford C. Grant, California Polytechnic State U, San Luis Obispo; Richard Ingersoll, Rice U; Margaret Soltan, George Washington U; Anthony Ward, U of Auckland, New Zealand. Thomas A. Dutton is an architect and professor of architecture at Miami University, Ohio. He is editor of Voices in Architectural Education (1991) and is associate editor of the Journal of Architectural Education. Lian Hurst Mann is an architect and editor of Architecture California. A founding member of the Labor/Community Strategy Center in Los Angeles, she is editor of its bilingual quarterly Ahora Now and a coauthor of Reconstructing Los Angeles from the Bottom Up (1993).

From Autos to Architecture

From Autos to Architecture
Author :
Publisher : Chronicle Books
Total Pages : 401
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781568989600
ISBN-13 : 1568989601
Rating : 4/5 (00 Downloads)

Synopsis From Autos to Architecture by : David Gartman

One of the most interesting questions in architectural history is why modern architecture emerged from the war-ravaged regions of central Europe and not the United States, whose techniques of mass production and mechanical products so inspired the first generation of modern architects like Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, and Walter Gropius. In From Autos to Architecture, sociologist David Gartman offers a critical social history that shows how Fordist mass production and industrial architecture in America influenced European designers to an extent previously not understood. Drawing on Marxist economics, the Frankfurt School, and French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, From Autos to Architecture deftly illustrates the different class structures and struggles of America and Europe. Examining architecture in the context of social conflicts, From Autos to Architecture offers a critical alternative to standard architectural histories focused on aesthetics alone.

From Craft to Profession

From Craft to Profession
Author :
Publisher : Univ of California Press
Total Pages : 282
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780520921405
ISBN-13 : 0520921402
Rating : 4/5 (05 Downloads)

Synopsis From Craft to Profession by : Mary N. Woods

This is the first in-depth study of how the architectural profession emerged in early American history. Mary Woods dispels the prevailing notion that the profession developed under the leadership of men formally schooled in architecture as an art during the late nineteenth century. Instead, she cites several instances in the early 1800s of craftsmen-builders who shifted their identity to that of professional architects. While struggling to survive as designers and supervisors of construction projects, these men organized professional societies and worked for architectural education, appropriate compensation, and accreditation. In such leading architectural practitioners as B. Henry Latrobe, Alexander J. Davis, H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, and Stanford White, Woods sees collaborators, partners, merchandisers, educators, and lobbyists rather than inspired creators. She documents their contributions as well as those, far less familiar, of women architects and people of color in the profession's early days. Woods's extensive research yields a remarkable range of archival materials: correspondence among carpenters; 200-year-old lawsuits; architect-client spats; the organization of craft guilds, apprenticeships, university programs, and correspondence schools; and the structure of architectural practices, labor unions, and the building industry. In presenting a more accurate composite of the architectural profession's history, Woods lays a foundation for reclaiming the profession's past and recasting its future. Her study will appeal not only to architects, but also to historians, sociologists, and readers with an interest in architecture's place in America today. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1999. This is the first in-depth study of how the architectural profession emerged in early American history. Mary Woods dispels the prevailing notion that the profession developed under the leadership of men formally schooled in architecture as an art during t

Culture, Class, and Critical Theory

Culture, Class, and Critical Theory
Author :
Publisher : Routledge
Total Pages : 190
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780415524209
ISBN-13 : 0415524202
Rating : 4/5 (09 Downloads)

Synopsis Culture, Class, and Critical Theory by : David Gartman

This volume focuses on developing a theory of culture that reveals how ideas create and legitimize social inequality, using empirical case studies ranging from automobile design to architecture to compare and critique two of the most influential theories of culture in contemporary sociology. It questions to what extent our culture reflects class inequality, and to what extent our culture masks those inequalities through the sameness of unified mass culture.

The Architectural Capriccio

The Architectural Capriccio
Author :
Publisher : Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.
Total Pages : 556
Release :
ISBN-10 : 1409431916
ISBN-13 : 9781409431916
Rating : 4/5 (16 Downloads)

Synopsis The Architectural Capriccio by : Dr Lucien Steil

Bringing together leading writers and practicing architects including Jean Dethier, David Mayernik, Massimo Scolari, Robert Adam, David Watkin and Leon Krier, this volume provides a kaleidoscopic, multilayered exploration of the Architectural Capriccio. It not only explains the phenomena within a historical context, but moreover, demonstrates its contemporary validity and appropriateness as a holistic design methodology, an inspiring pictorial strategy, an efficient rendering technique and an optimal didactic tool. The book shows and comments on a wide range of historic masterworks and highlights contemporary artists and architects excelling in a modern updated, refreshed and original tradition of the Capriccio.

Reconstructing Architecture

Reconstructing Architecture
Author :
Publisher : U of Minnesota Press
Total Pages : 339
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781452900803
ISBN-13 : 1452900809
Rating : 4/5 (03 Downloads)

Synopsis Reconstructing Architecture by : Thomas A. Dutton

Reconstruction Fiction

Reconstruction Fiction
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 230
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0814257704
ISBN-13 : 9780814257708
Rating : 4/5 (04 Downloads)

Synopsis Reconstruction Fiction by : Paula Derdiger

Assesses the impact of World War II and the welfare state on literary fiction by focusing on housing.

Fake Heritage

Fake Heritage
Author :
Publisher : Yale University Press
Total Pages : 250
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780300246766
ISBN-13 : 0300246765
Rating : 4/5 (66 Downloads)

Synopsis Fake Heritage by : John Darlington

The first survey of the many redesigned and imitation historical landmarks and objects that dot the globe "John Darlington shows . . . it is not just written history that is malleable; it is also history on the ground, heritage in brick and stone, wood and metal."--Simon Jenkins, Times Literary Supplement What happens when the past--or, more specifically, a piece of cultural heritage--is fabricated? From 50 replica Eiffel Towers located around the world to Saddam Hussein's reconstructions of ancient cities, examples of forged heritage are widespread. Some are easy to dismiss as blatant frauds (the Piltdown Man), while others adhere to honest copying or respectful homage (the Parthenon in Nashville, Tennessee). This compelling book examines copies of historic buildings, faux archaeological sites, and other false artifacts, using them to explore the ethics and consequences of reconstructing the past; it also tackles the issues involved with faithful, "above-board" re-creations of ancient landmarks. John Darlington probes questions of historical authenticity, seeking the lessons that lurk when history is twisted to tell an untrue story. Amplified by stunning images, the narrative underscores how the issue of duplicating heritage is both intriguing and incredibly complex, especially in the twenty-first century--as communication and technology flourish, so too do our opportunities to be deceived.