Architecture For Dummies E-Book

Deborah K. Dietsch

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 453

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2011

Beschreibung

* Just the essential information for readers on the go who want to understand architecture.
* Covers the highlights of architectural history, from the Great Pyramids to Frank Gehry's Guggenheim museum in Bilbao.
* Explains how to look at a building and appreciate it. Explains when a building's a building and when it's art.
* Part of Tens includes: Ten Great Architectural Masterpieces, Ten Biggest Architectural and Engineering Failures, Ten of the Most Interesting Architects Working Today-and more.

Leseprobe

Architecture For Dummies®

by Deborah K. Dietsch

Foreword by Robert A. M. Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture

Architecture For Dummies®

Published byWiley Publishing, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774www.wiley.com

Copyright © 2002 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Library of Congress Control No.: 2002103281

ISBN: 978-0-7645-5396-7

Printed in the United States of America

10 9

About the Author

Deborah K. Dietsch is a Washington, D.C.-based writer who specializes in architecture and design. She is the author of Classic Modern: Midcentury Modern at Home and Dream Pools. Additionally, she frequently writes for The Washington Post and various magazines.

Dietsch received a Master of Architecture degree and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation degree from Columbia University. After working for several New York architecture firms, she began a career in journalism.

From 1989 to 1997, Dietsch was the editor-in-chief of Architecture magazine. Under her tenure, the magazine received dozens of editorial and design awards and critical praise from the profession. She subsequently joined the South Florida Sun-Sentinel as the newspaper’s art and architecture critic.

Over the past decade, Dietsch has helped judge many design competitions for civic, academic, and commercial buildings. She has served as an advisor to the U.S. General Services Administration in selecting architects for a new federal courthouse in Orlando, Florida, and research laboratories at the National Institutes of Health. The American Institute of Architects awarded her an honorary membership in recognition of her contributions to the architecture field.

Dedication

To all my architect friends — who keep me enthused about the art and craft of building.

Author’s Acknowledgments

Many thanks to all the smarties who helped make this Dummies book possible. I’m grateful to Bob Stern, whose thoughtful Foreword adds a grace note to the book. His teaching, writing, and passion for architecture continue to inspire me. A huge thanks to Barry Bergdoll of the Department of Art History & Archaeology at Columbia University, whose wise comments improved my text. Architects Charles Brickbauer and Andrea Leers deserve credit for taking their red pens to several chapters. I am also indebted to my agent Diane Maddex of Archetype Press, who urged me to undertake this project, and to editor Sherri Fugit for her dedication and support.

Publisher’s Acknowledgments

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Foreword

Architecture is an artistic and practical expression of the real world — it is the art of building in the service of individuals and institutions. It is the art of construction, not deconstruction; of representation, not communication; it is the solidity of the here-and-now. Architecture is important. It is the setting for life. Despite the reality of architecture, or perhaps because of it, architecture is a field whose very nature is endlessly questioned by its own practitioners and appointed experts — theorists and critics, who, to avoid confronting the simple but profound circumstances of architecture, try to judge it by criteria outside itself, whether from literature or science or the social sciences, or whatever. It’s a process of avoidance that reminds me of the Paul Simon song, Fifty Ways to Leave Your Lover. But architecture can stand on its own. Some architects and a few critics stick by it, even exult in it. Deborah Dietsch is one of these people — one who has the capacity to convey architecture’s meanings in clear terms. I first met Deborah Dietsch when she was a student at Columbia University, where she was the first ever to earn a Master of Architecture and a Master of Science in Historic Preservation in the same year. She went on to become editor of one of America’s foremost professional journals. Deborah is a passionate advocate for responsible building; a journalist, not an ideologue; and a teacher, not a preacher. Who better, then, to sweep away the cobwebs spun by the theoreticians to reveal the simple but fascinating lessons of architecture than Deborah?

— Robert A. M. Stern

Dean of the Yale School of Architecture, Robert A. M. Stern is a practicing architect, a teacher, and a writer with a dozen books to his credit. He is best known to the public for Pride of Place: Building the American Dream, a documentary television series that aired on PBS in 1986.

Contents

Title

Introduction

About This Book

How This Book Is Organized

Icons Used in This Book

Where to Go from Here

Part I : Knowing and Appreciating Architecture

Chapter 1: Knowing When a Building Is Just a Building and When It’s Architecture

The Beauty of Form Meets Function

Why Is Architecture Important?

What Makes Architecture Good?

How to Spot Good Architecture

Where Can You See Architecture?

If You Do Go . . .

Chapter 2: How to Look at a Building

Space: Solids and Voids

Scale and Proportion: Size Matters

Weight and Mass: It Ain’t Heavy, It Just Looks That Way

The Elements of Design

Chapter 3: Building Your Architectural Vocabulary

Defining Architectural Style

Essential Elements of Architecture

Part II : Nuts and Bolts: Looking at How Architecture Is Designed and Built

Chapter 4: How Buildings Are Born

In the Beginning: The Program

Different Building Types and the Evolution of Style

Using the Past to Design the Future

Chapter 5: Just What Do Architects Do, Anyway?

The Roles They Are A-Changin’

How Architects Get to Be Architects

What Architects Really Do from 9 to 5

Okay, Now Do It Like I Drew It

Chapter 6: A Simple Structure: How Buildings Stand Up

May the Force Be with It: Carrying the Loads

Structural Forces: How a Building Gets Stressed

Posts and Lintels: Trabeated Systems

Watch Those Curves: Arcuated Systems

New Shapes for Modern Structures

Part III : Western Architecture: A Survey of the Most Important Structures

Chapter 7: Gimme Shelter: Prehistoric Structures and the Ancient World

From Tipis to Tombs: Prehistoric Architecture

Ancient Pyramids: Stairways to Heaven

Mythology Comes to Life: The Aegean

Chapter 8: Acropolis Now: Classical Greece and Rome

The Greeks: Pursuit of Perfection

The Etruscans: Prelude to Rome

The Romans: Structural Revolution

Chapter 9: Domes, Arches, and Vaults, Oh My: Byzantine and Medieval Architecture

Early Christian Churches

Aspiring to New Heights: Byzantine Churches

The Middle Ages: Not as Dark as You Think

Roman Glory Lives On: Romanesque Churches

The Super Church: Gothic Cathedrals

Chapter 10: Beauty Meets Mathematics and Drama: From Renaissance to Rococo

The Renaissance: A Classical Revival with Some Mathematical Stuff

Bridges to the Baroque: Mannerism

Here Come the Drama Kings: Here Here Here Come the Drama Kings: The Baroque

Early Funhouses: The Rococo

Chapter 11: Revivals Everywhere: The Classical and Gothic Are New Again

Rage Against the Baroque: Classical Revivals

Playing on Your Emotions: Romanticism

Coming Full Circle: Beaux-Arts Eclecticism

Chapter 12: Here Comes the Industrial Age: Prefab Is Here to Stay

Mass Production Begins: Materials Get a Revamp

Managing the Forces: Enter the Engineer

Chapter 13: Flying High and Close to the Sun: Skyscrapers!

Buildings Go Up, the Sky Falls Down: The First Skyscrapers

Chicago’s Steel Skeletons

A Skyscraper State of Mind: Rise of the New York Skyline

More Recent Skyscapers

Chapter 14: Mother Nature versus the Machines: Modern Styles

All You Need Is Art: Arts and Crafts for Everyday People

A Modern Style Takes Root: Art Nouveau and Its Architects

Mother Nature’s Out the Door: More “isms” and Other Styles

Modernism Gets Real: The International Style

Chapter 15: The Only Constant Is Change: From Modern Purism to Postmodern Pluralism

Modernism Gets a Makeover by Late Modern Masters

Lotsa Concrete, Folks: The New Brutalism Branch of Modernism

The Modernism Backlash: Postmodernism and the Past to the Rescue

Modernism with a Postmodernist Twist

New Directions for a New Millennium

Part IV : Eastern Architecture: A Survey of the Most Important Structures

Chapter 16: China and Japan: Traditions in Wood

Chinese Architecture: The Basics

Japanese Architecture: Chinese Refinements

Chapter 17: More Than the Taj Mahal: Architecture in India

Early Temples and Shrines

India’s Influence on Southeast Asia

The Islamic Golden Age, Mughal Style

Spoils of the British Empire: West Meets East

Contemporary Architecture in India

Chapter 18: The Islamic World

Bow and Pray to Mecca

Royal Calling Cards: Middle Eastern Mosques

Mosques for All Seasons: African Mosques

The Moors Create Their Own Style in Spain

Part V : Arranging the Present and Saving the Past

Chapter 19: Understanding Urban Design

The First Cities of Humankind

Ancient Greek and Roman Town Order: Hooked on a Classic

Medieval Towns: Defense and Commerce

The Ideal Cities of the Renaissance

Royal Bombast and Power: Baroque Grand Plans

Cities in the Age of Enlightenment

American Cities: Growing on the Grid

Staying Connected: Urban Growth Explosion

Modern Cities of Tomorrow: The ’Burbs

Postwar Plans: From Sprawl to Smart Growth

Chapter 20: Historic Preservation: Saving the Past for the Future

Just How Far Should It Go?

The Gold Standards of Architectural Rescue

The Upside of Preservation

Patriotism Saves the Day (And a Few Buildings, Too!)

The Face of Preservation Today

Part VI : The Part of Tens

Chapter 21: The Ten Most Fascinating Architects Working Today

Tadao Ando

Elizabeth Diller and Ricardo Scofidio

Frank Gehry

Zaha Hadid

Jacques Herzog and Pierre De Meuron

Rem Koolhaas

Daniel Libeskind

Jean Nouvel

Renzo Piano

Antoine Predock

Chapter 22: Ten Architectural Masterpieces

The Parthenon

The Pantheon

Chartres Cathedral

Tempietto di San Pietro in Montorio

Katsura Palace

San Ivo della Sapienza

Altes Museum

Thomas Crane Library

Villa Savoye

Seagram Building

Chapter 23: Ten Amazing Items of Trivia That’ll Impress All Your Friends!

One of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World Is Still Around!

French Gothic Cathedral Collapses!

World’s Largest Art Gallery Is Russian!

Disney Steals Design from Bavarian Castle!

Women Join All-Male Architecture Profession!

Architect Murdered by Jealous Husband!

Hotel Survives Worst Japanese Earthquake of the Twentieth Century!

New York City Home to the World’s Largest Gothic Cathedral!

Famous Architect Disqualified for Using the Wrong Ink!

Skyscraper Resembles Chippendale Furniture!

Chapter 24: The Top Ten Skyscrapers

Chrysler Building: Art Deco Fantasy

Empire State Building: New York’s Highest

Lever House: Cleaning Up the Avenue

John Hancock Center: “Big John”

Sears Tower: Office in a Tube

Boston’s Hancock Tower: Blowing in the Wind

Hong Kong Shanghai Bank: High-Tech Beauty

Petronas Towers: The World’s Tallest

World Trade Towers: An Icon Destroyed

: Color Insert

Introduction

C hances are, unless you’re reading this book in the middle of nowhere, you are experiencing architecture right now. You’re probably sitting inside a room, surrounded by walls, a floor, a ceiling, windows, and doors. These commonplace elements make up the buildings where people live, work, and play. In the hands of a talented designer, they are transformed into the art of architecture.

The creations drawn by architects affect us more directly than other art forms. You don’t have to look at a painting or attend a concert, but you do have to interact with architecture on a daily basis. Architecture is unique in its capability to blend utility and beauty.

Most people don’t understand architecture or what architects do. And with good reason. Architecture, especially contemporary architecture, can feel forbidding, inscrutable, and cold. Talking about its stylistic development can sound effete, and discussion of its methods and materials of construction can make it seem too technical.

In contrast to painting or sculpture, it’s harder to look at architecture and take it all in. You can wander around a building and walk through room after room without comprehending the structure’s overall design. Trying to understand architecture from plans and other types of drawings can also be confusing if you don’t know what you’re looking at.