Synopses & Reviews
Review
"Knowles reminds us that we can connect to the temporal rhythms of nature and weather in profound and sustainable ways, through the very shelters we create to counter the elements."
Review
"My influences are many and varied, but during my years as a student, Ralph Knowles may have been the most important. Only recently have I come to understand that he was 50 years ahead of his time…I am grateful that he continues to contribute to our built environment through his intelligent analysis and synthesis of contemporary issues in architecture."
Review
"Knowles was one of the first architectural thinkers to introduce modern architects to the sun. Now, in Ritual House, he shows us how to restore dignity, meaning and sensibility to the design of homes and communities—by paying attention to the qualities of nature that are essential for human well being and survival."
Review
"
Ritual House is easily placed among the most important books in architecture in the past 100 years."
Sim Van der Ryn - Emeritus Professor of Architecture, University of California, Berkeley
Review
"Ritual House is easily placed among the most important books in architecture in the past 100 years."
Synopsis
Celebrated architect Ralph Knowles, Distinguished Emeritus at USCs School of Architecture, has carefully crafted a book for architects, designers, plannersanyone who yearns to reconnect to the natural world through the built environment. He shows us how to re-examine a shadow, a wall, a window, a landscape, as they respond to the natural cycles of heat, light, wind, and rain. Analyzing methods of sheltering that range from a Berber tent to a Spanish courtyard to the cityscape of contemporary Los Angeles, Ritual House shows us the future: by coining the concept of solar access zoning, he introduces a radical yet increasingly viable solution for tomorrows mega-cities.
Table of Contents
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1. Sheltering
Chapter 2. Migration
Chapter 3. Transformation
Chapter 4. Metabolism
Chapter 5. Sheltering the Soul
Chapter 6. Settings and Rituals
Chapter 7. Boundaries and Choices
Chapter 8. The Solar Envelope
Chapter 9..The Interstitium
Chapter 10. The New Architecture of the Sun
Notes
Bibliography
Index