Overview

If you've ever wondered what goes through architects' minds when they design buildings, you'll be happy to know that there's no shortage of brilliant reading material to satisfy your curiosity. Wading through the archives at your local library may prove fruitful to your endeavor, but it won't give you the instant gratification that Architecture Theory will. This book brings together all of the most important and influential essays about architecture written since the Renaissance, copiously illustrated and neatly organized chronologically by country. From Alberti and Palladio to Le Corbusier and Koolhaas, the best treatises by architecture's greatest masters are gathered here, each accompanied by an essay discussing its historical context and significance. This is the all-in-one, must-have book for anyone interested in what architects have to say about their craft. This is the comprehensive overview that will help transform even the most uninformed novices into well-informed connoisseurs!

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9783822816998

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Many architects over the last 500 years have set their ideas and theories down on paper, and in fact the foundation of this type of discussion in the West is the work of Vitruvius in the first century BC. His ten books on architecture have been enormously influential, not only about the principles of the architecture of antiquity but also about working methods. His ideas on the threefold purpose of architecture - that every building should be 'sound, functional and attractive' - were the norms until about 1800. The 89 essays here by a variety of authors offer an overview of the widening debates on architectural theories both before and after the new methods developed in the 19th century. The Gothic style had developed through the centuries, but when the Renaissance style based on classical antiquity became fashionable a new way of disseminating knowledge became necessary, and writing treatises was the way in which architects could communicate their ideas, initially to princely courts, then to bourgeois cities such as Florence and Siena. Printed illustrations were essential, and later became an instrument of structural planning. In the 19th century, freehand sketches of buildings culminated in architectural photography. There is a wealth of such illustrations and architectural plans in this wide-ranging book. Each essay focuses on the work of a particular architect, grouped according to country - Italy, France, Spain, Britain and Germany, with the final section dealing with the 20th century in general and the advent of 'international style'. The three-page section on Walter Gropius, one of the most influential architects of the 20th century, also has eight photographs of his work - some from the earlier Bauhaus period, and others from the USA, where his forced relocation from Germany in 1933 kindled new energy. Following him, the section on Frank Lloyd Wright has seven pages of his drawings and plans, and Venturi's work is given even more emphasis, as present-day postmodernism would be almost unimaginable without his theories and sketches. Brief bibliographies are included, and a thorough index listing not only all the architects but also the references to architectural elements such as the arch, dome and vault. There are also numerous entries relating to 'column orders', churches and the later urban planning. This book is certainly accessible to the interested amateur, as well as providing an excellent professional overview. (Kirkus UK)

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