In order to understand architecture in all its cultural complexity it is necessary to grasp such basic concepts as representation, form and space. The aim of this book is to provide teachers, students, practising architects and general readers with a set of ideas that will enrich their conversation, their writing, and above all their thinking about architecture. The book is divided into eight chapters, each covering a particular aspect of architecture, and introduces difficult concepts gradually. Architectural theorists and philosophers are mentioned in passing and their works are listed in the bibliography, but they are not the subject of the book. Architecture, rather than philosophy, is at the centre of the picture. The aim is to enable the reader to understand architecture in all its aspects, rather than to learn the names of particular theorists. Written in a conversational style, Thinking about Architecture is an invaluable and accessible standard introduction to architectural theory.

A clearly distilled architectural atlas based on 144 major designs from ancient times to the twenty-first century, showcasing the cultural dimension of building. However disparate the style or ethos, beneath architecture's pluralism lies a number of categorical typologies. In Thinking Design, Austrian architect Andreas Lechner has condensed his profound typological understanding into a single book. Divided into three chapters--Tectonics, Type, and Topos--Lechner's book reflects upon twelve fundamental typologies: theater, museum, library, state, office, recreation, religion, retail, factory, education, surveillance, and hospital. Encompassing a total of 144 carefully selected examples of classic designs and buildings, ranging across an epic sweep from antiquity to the present, the book not only explains the fundamentals of collective architectural knowledge but traces the interconnected reiterations that lie at the heart of architecture's transformative power. As such, Thinking Design outlines a new building theory rooted in the act of composition as an aesthetic determinant of architectural form. This emphasis on composition in the design process over the more commonplace aspects of function, purpose, or atmosphere makes it more than a mere planning manual. It reveals also the cultural dimension of architecture that gives it the ability to transcend not only use cycles but entire epochs. Each example is meticulously illustrated with a newly drawn elevation or axonometric projection, floor plan, and section, not only invigorating the underlying ideas but also making the book an ideal comparative compendium.

Revealing how architects can use human rights as powerful tools for better, fairer urban planning - to create livable, sustainable cities of the future.

Architecture is a doing word. You can learn a great deal about the workings of architecture through analysing examples but a fuller understanding of its powers and potential comes through practice, by trying to do it... This book offers student architects a series of exercises that will develop their capacity for doing architecture. Exercises in Architecture builds on and supplements the methodology for architectural analysis presented in the author’s previous book Analysing Architecture (third edition, Routledge, 2009) and demonstrated in his Twenty Buildings Every Architect Should Understand (Routledge, 2010). The three books taken together deal with the three aspects of learning: description, analysis of examples, and practice. The book offers twelve exercises, each divided into a short series of tasks aimed at developing a particular theme or area of architectural capacity. The exercises deal with themes such as place-making, learning through drawing, framing, light, , uses of geometry, stage setting, eliciting emotional responses, the genetics of detail and so forth.

An inspiring monograph that captures the practical yet beautiful architecture of one of the leading architectural firms in the world

An innovative examination of how material practices and constructed environments have shaped cultures.

Dancing about Architecture: A Little Book of Creativity is a compendium of outrageous ideas: ideas about how to take more risks, and about how to go about coming up with better ideas. Ideas about how to plan experiences that leave people who are in the same room as those ideas awestruck, and ideas to help you avoid the textbook, the worksheet the barely stifled yawn. From using The Book of Revelation as a planning device; to seeing every experience through the prism of physical activity or song; to measuring a poem to find its real heart; it outlines a methodology that, if you use it, will make you an even greater creative force than you already are.

As the digital economy changes the rules of the game for enterprises, the role of software and IT architects is also transforming. Rather than focus on technical decisions alone, architects and senior technologists need to combine organizational and technical knowledge to effect change in their company’s structure and processes. To accomplish that, they need to connect the IT engine room to the penthouse, where the business strategy is defined. In this guide, author Gregor Hohpe shares real-world advice and hard-learned lessons from actual IT transformations. His anecdotes help architects, senior developers, and other IT professionals prepare for a more complex but rewarding role in the enterprise. This book is ideal for: Software architects and senior developers looking to shape the company’s technology direction or assist in an organizational transformation Enterprise architects and senior technologists searching for practical advice on how to navigate technical and organizational topics CTOs and senior technical architects who are devising an IT strategy that impacts the way the organization works IT managers who want to learn what’s worked and what hasn’t in large-scale transformation

A collection of illuminating essays exploring what theory makes of architecture and what architecture makes of theory in philosophical and materialized contexts. From poststructuralism and deconstruction to current theories of technology and nature, critical theory has long been closely aligned with architecture. In turn, architecture as a thinking profession materializes theory in the form of built work that always carries symbolic loads. In this collection of essays, Catherine Ingraham studies the complex connectivity between architecture's discipline and practice and theories of philosophy, art, literature, history, and politics. She argues that there can be no architecture without theory. Whether considering architecture’s relationship to biomodernity or exploring the ways in which contemporary artists and designers engage in figural play, Ingraham offers provocative interpretations that enhance our understanding of both critical theory and architectural practice today. Along the way, she engages with a wide range of contemporary theorists, including Giorgio Agamben, Judith Butler, Jacques Derrida, Graham Harman, and Timothy Morton, considering buildings around the world, including the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, the Viceroy’s House complex in New Delhi, Mack Scogin and Merrill Elam's Wolfsburg Science Center project in Germany, and the Superdome in New Orleans. Approaching its subject matter from multiple angles, Architecture’s Theory shows how architecture's theoretical and artifactual practices have a unique power to alter culture.