Synopses & Reviews
We humans owe an immense architectural debt to many other species.Indeed, the first hexagons humans saw may have been in honeycombs, the firstskyscrapers termitaries (termite high-rises), and the first tents those of Africanweaver ants. In The Monumental Impulse, art historian George Hersey investigatesmany ties between the biological sciences and the building arts. Natural buildingmaterials such as wood and limestone, for example, originate in biologicalprocesses. Much architectural ornament borrows from botany and zoology. Hersey drawsstriking analogies between building types and animal species. He examines therelationship between physical structures and living organisms, from bridges tomosques, from molecules to mammals.Insects, mollusks, and birds are given separatechapters, and three final chapters focus on architectural form and biologicalreproduction. Hersey also discusses architecture in connection with the body'sinterior processes and shows how buildings may be said to reproduce, adapt, andevolve, like other inanimate or nonbiotic entities such as computer programs androbots. The book is both learned and entertaining, and is abundantly illustratedwith fascinating visual comparisons.
Review
"In this engaging, eminently readable, and frequently surprisingexploration of the human urge to build, Hersey invites us to viewarchitecture from an unaccustomed perspective—the perspective ofbiology.... With this coupling of architecture and biology, Herseyis fully engaged in that Enlightenment spirit biologist E. O. Wilsoncalls 'the quest for the unity of knowledge.'" Norman Crowe , Department of Architecture, University of Notre Dame The MIT Press The MIT Press
Synopsis
In The Monumental Impulse, art historian George Hersey investigates many ties between the biological sciences and the building arts. Hersey draws striking analogies between building types and animal species. He examines the relationship between physical structures and living organisms, from bridges to mosques, from molecules to mammals. Insects, mollusks, and birds are given separate chapters, and three final chapters focus on architectural form and biological reproduction. Hersey also discusses architecture in connection with the body's interior processes and shows how buildings may be said to reproduce, adapt, and evolve, like other inanimate or "nonbiotic" entities such as computer programs and robots.
Synopsis
A highly original view of the relationship between architecture and the biological sciences.
In The Monumental Impulse, art historian George Hersey investigates many ties between the biological sciences and the building arts. Hersey draws striking analogies between building types and animal species. He examines the relationship between physical structures and living organisms, from bridges to mosques, from molecules to mammals. Insects, mollusks, and birds are given separate chapters, and three final chapters focus on architectural form and biological reproduction. Hersey also discusses architecture in connection with the body's interior processes and shows how buildings may be said to reproduce, adapt, and evolve, like other inanimate or "nonbiotic" entities such as computer programs and robots.
Synopsis
A highly original view of the relationship between architecture and the biological sciences.
We humans owe an immense architectural debt to many other species. Indeed, the first hexagons humans saw may have been in honeycombs, the first skyscrapers termitaries (termite high-rises), and the first tents those of African weaver ants. In The Monumental Impulse, art historian George Hersey investigates many ties between the biological sciences and the building arts. Natural building materials such as wood and limestone, for example, originate in biological processes. Much architectural ornament borrows from botany and zoology. Hersey draws striking analogies between building types and animal species. He examines the relationship between physical structures and living organisms, from bridges to mosques, from molecules to mammals. Insects, mollusks, and birds are given separate chapters, and three final chapters focus on architectural form and biological reproduction. Hersey also discusses architecture in connection with the body's interior processes and shows how buildings may be said to reproduce, adapt, and evolve, like other inanimate or nonbiotic entities such as computer programs and robots. The book is both learned and entertaining, and is abundantly illustrated with fascinating visual comparisons.
Synopsis
Art historian George Hersey investigates the many ties between the biological sciences and the building arts.
About the Author
George Hersey is Emeritus Professor of Art History at Yale University. He is the author of numerous books, including The Evolution of Allure: Sexual Selection from the Medici Venus to the Incredible Hulk (MIT Press, 1996) and The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture: Speculations on Ornament from Vitruvius to Venturi (MIT Press, 1988).