Synopses & Reviews
An essential toolkit for understanding architecture as both art form and the setting for our everyday livesWe spend most of our days and nights in buildings, living and working and sometimes playing. Architecture is both the setting for our everyday lives and a public art form—but it remains mysterious to most of us.
In How Architecture Works, Witold Rybczynski, one of our best, most stylish critics and the winner of the Vincent Scully Prize for his writing on architecture, answers our most fundamental questions about how good—and not so good—buildings are designed and constructed. Introducing the reader to the rich and varied world of modern architecture, he reveals how architects as diverse as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Robert A. M. Stern envision and create their designs. He teaches us how to “read” plans, how buildings respond to their settings, and how the smallest detail—of a stair balustrade, for instance—can convey an architects vision. How Architecture Works explains the central elements that make up good building design, ranging from a war memorial in London to an opera house in Saint Petersburg, from the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., to a famous architects private retreat in Princeton, New Jersey. It is an enlightening humanists toolkit for thinking about the built environment and seeing it afresh.
“Architecture, if it is any good, speaks to all of us,” Rybczynski writes. This revelatory book is his grand tour of architecture today.
Review
Praise for Witold Rybczynski
“Home is serious, historically minded, and exquisitely readable. It is a triumph of intelligence.” —The New Yorker
“One Good Turn is a good short read in the classic Rybczynski mode—an ordinary thing, explained extraordinarily.” —Toronto Star
“A book that defines and evokes Olmsted as an American original.” —The Wall Street Journal review of A Clearing in the Distance
Review
Praise for How Architecture Works
“A commanding view of the field . . . Here, architecture is treated as craft executed with prudence and conviction.” —Publishers' Weekly (starred review)
Review
Praise for How Architecture Works
“The books chief pleasure may be that Rybczynski, ever the engaging and thoughtful writer, offers a wide-ranging tour of the glories and curiosities, old and new, in the field.” —Peter Whoriskey, The Washington Post “The beautiful and the useful, in buildings as well as books, never becomes obsolete. Neither do writers like Rybczynski, who can teach us how to recognize and appreciate both.” —Laura Miller, Salon
“In this conversational and invigorating treatise, Rybczynski deepens our understanding of allthat goes into the design and construction of buildings . . . [This] expert, holistic, down-to-earth guide awakens us to architectures profound humanness.” —Booklist
“[A] robust tour of architecture . . . Rybczynski is an artful conductor and learned hand who leaves much of the pleasure of architectural discovery to readers.” —Kirkus (starred review)
“A commanding view of the field . . . Here, architecture is treated as craft executed with prudence and conviction.” —Publishers' Weekly (starred review)
Synopsis
An essential toolkit for understanding architecture as both art form and the setting for our everyday lives
We spend most of our days and nights in buildings, living and working and sometimes playing. Buildings often overawe us with their beauty. Architecture is both setting for our everyday lives and public art form--but it remains mysterious to most of us.
In How Architecture Works, Witold Rybczynski, one of our best, most stylish critics and winner of the Vincent Scully Prize for his architectural writing, answers our most fundamental questions about how good--and not-so-good--buildings are designed and constructed. Introducing the reader to the rich and varied world of modern architecture, he takes us behind the scenes, revealing how architects as different as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Robert A. M. Stern envision and create their designs. He teaches us how to "read" plans, how buildings respond to their settings, and how the smallest detail--of a stair balustrade, for instance--can convey an architect's vision. Ranging widely from a war memorial in London to an opera house in St. Petersburg, from the National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, D.C., to a famous architect's private retreat in downtown Princeton, How Architecture Works, explains the central elements that make up good building design. It is an enlightening humanist's toolkit for thinking about the built environment and seeing it afresh.
"Architecture, if it is any good, speaks to all of us," Rybczynski writes. This revelatory book is his grand tour of architecture today.
Synopsis
An essential toolkit for understanding architecture as both art form and the setting for our everyday lives
Modern architecture runs the gamut from fantasy to engineering to retro. In How Architecture Works, Witold Rybczynski, whom Library Journal called “one of our most original, accessible, and stimulating writers on architecture,” introduces the reader to the rich and varied world of contemporary design. Taking us behind the scenes, he reveals how architects as different as Frank Gehry, Renzo Piano, and Robert A. M. Stern work their magic.
How Architecture Works moves effortlessly from a war memorial in London to an opera house in St. Petersburg, and from Alice Waltons museum in Arkansas to a famous architects private retreat in downtown Princeton. In the process, we learn how to “read” plans, how buildings respond to their settings, and how even a detail of a stair balustrade can convey an architects intentions.
Rybczynski, who was awarded the Vincent Scully Prize for his architectural writing, takes us on a voyage of discovery and offers a humanists toolkit for understanding our built environment and seeing it afresh. “Architecture, if it is any good, speaks to all of us,” he writes. This provocative book is his summa on architecture today.
About the Author
Witold Rybczynski has written about architecture for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, The New York Times, and Slate. Among his award-winning books are Home, The Most Beautiful House in the World, and A Clearing in the Distance, which won the J. Anthony Lukas Prize. He lives with his wife in Philadelphia, where he is the emeritus professor of architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. How Architecture Works is his eighteenth book.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS Introduction 1. Ideas2. The Setting3. Site4. Plan5. Structure6. Skin7. Details8. Style9. The Past10. Taste GlossaryNotes on SourcesAcknowledgementsIndex