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OverviewWhy some architects fail to realize their ideal buildings, and what architecture critics can learn from novelists.The usual history of architecture is a grand narrative of soaring monuments and heroic makers. But it is also a false narrative in many ways, rarely acknowledging the personal failures and disappointments of architects. In Bleak Houses, Timothy Brittain-Catlin investigates the underside of architecture, the stories of losers and unfulfillment often ignored by an architectural criticism that values novelty, fame, and virility over fallibility and rejection. As architectural criticism promotes increasingly narrow values, dismissing certain styles wholesale and subjecting buildings to a Victorian litmus test of ""real"" versus ""fake,"" Brittain-Catlin explains the effect this superficial criticality has had not only on architectural discourse but on the quality of buildings. The fact that most buildings receive no critical scrutiny at all has resulted in vast stretches of ugly modern housing and a pervasive public illiteracy about architecture. Full Product DetailsAuthor: Timothy J. Brittain-Catlin (Senior Lecturer and Director of Research, University of Kent)Publisher: MIT Press Ltd Imprint: MIT Press Dimensions: Width: 15.20cm , Height: 1.10cm , Length: 22.90cm Weight: 0.295kg ISBN: 9780262528856ISBN 10: 0262528851 Pages: 192 Publication Date: 12 February 2016 Recommended Age: From 18 years Audience: General/trade , General Format: Paperback Publisher's Status: Active Availability: Manufactured on demand We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier. Table of ContentsReviews...there are few books I can think of that describe the emotional engagement with architecture with such acuity. And despite the subject, Bleak Houses is anything but a bleak read. -- Richard Williams The Times Higher Education ...this is one of the most intriguing, original and gently provocative books on the meaning of architecture for some while. Architecture Review ...It's a book that all who not only write on architecture but who also have a genuine interest in the welfare of the historic built environment ought to read. -- Alex Bremner The Victorian Author InformationTimothy Brittain-Catlin is a Reader at Kent School of Architecture, University of Kent. His writing has appeared in The World of Interiors, Architectural Review, and many other publications. Tab Content 6Author Website:Countries AvailableAll regions |