The Look of Architecture - Softcover

Rybczynski, Witold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195156331 ISBN 13: 9780195156331

Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A., 2003

Synopsis

A witty and engaging examination of style in architecture by bestselling author Witold Rybczynski

About this title

Review:

"As always, Rybczynski has an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the felicitous phrase."--Eric P. Nash, New York Times Book Review
"In his absorbing and accessible book-length essay on the relationship between fashion and building design...Rybczynski argues eloquently that, as in fashion, a building's form is molded by the tastes of its age."--One: Design Matters
"Rybczyniski takes a seemingly whimsical topic--the role of fashion in architecture--and lightly teases from it some discomfiting truths."--Kirkus (starred review)
"A thoughtful and thought-provoking look at how buildings reflect the desires of their age."--The Boston Globe
"As always, Rybczynski has an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the felicitous phrase."--Eric P. Nash, New York Times Book Review
"In his absorbing and accessible book-length essay on the relationship between fashion and building design...Rybczynski argues eloquently that, as in fashion, a building's form is molded by the tastes of its age."--One: Design Matters
"Rybczyniski takes a seemingly whimsical topic--the role of fashion in architecture--and lightly teases from it some discomfiting truths."--Kirkus (starred review)
"A thoughtful and thought-provoking look at how buildings reflect the desires of their age."--The Boston Globe
"As always, Rybczynski has an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the felicitous phrase."--Eric P. Nash, New York Times Book Review
"In his absorbing and accessible book-length essay on the relationship between fashion and building design...Rybczynski argues eloquently that, as in fashion, a building's form is molded by the tastes of its age."--One: Design Matters
"Rybczyniski takes a seemingly whimsical topic--the role of fashion in architecture--and lightly teases from it some discomfiting truths."--Kirkus (starred review)
"A thoughtful and thought-provoking look at how buildings reflect the desires of their age."--The Boston Globe
"As always, Rybczynski has an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the felicitous phrase."--Eric P. Nash, New York Times Book Review

"In his absorbing and accessible book-length essay on the relationship between fashion and building design...Rybczynski argues eloquently that, as in fashion, a building's form is molded by the tastes of its age."--One: Design Matters

"Rybczyniski takes a seemingly whimsical topic--the role of fashion in architecture--and lightly teases from it some discomfiting truths."--Kirkus (starred review)

"A thoughtful and thought-provoking look at how buildings reflect the desires of their age."--The Boston Globe

"As always, Rybczynski has an eye for the telling detail and an ear for the felicitous phrase."--Eric P. Nash, New York Times Book Review

"In his absorbing and accessible book-length essay on the relationship between fashion and building design...Rybczynski argues eloquently that, as in fashion, a building's form is molded by the tastes of its age."--One: Design Matters

"Rybczyniski takes a seemingly whimsical topic--the role of fashion in architecture--and lightly teases from it some discomfiting truths."--Kirkus (starred review)

"A thoughtful and thought-provoking look at how buildings reflect the desires of their age."--The Boston Globe

Synopsis:

What is style in architecture? "Style is like a feather in a woman's hat, nothing more," said Le Corbusier, expressing most modern architects' low regard for the subject. But Witold Rybczynski disagrees, and in this book, makes a compelling case for the importance of style to the mother of the arts. This is a book brimming with observations - that form does not follow function; that the best architecture is not timeless but precisely of its time; that details do not merely complement the architecture - details are the architecture. But the heart of the book illuminates the connection between architecture, interior decoration and fashion. Style is the language of architecture, Rybczynski writes, and fashion represents the wide - and swirling - cultural currents that shape and direct that language. The two, style and fashion, are intimately linked - indeed, architecture cannot escape fashion. To set these ideas in sharp relief, he shows us how style and fashion have been expressed in the work of major architects - including Frank Gehry, Mies van der Rohe, Charles McKim, Allan Greenberg, Robert Venturi, Enrique Norten and many others.

He helps us see their works anew and ultimately to look afresh at our surroundings. Style is one of the enduring and endearing aspects of architecture, Rybczynski concludes. Furthermore, an architecture that recognizes the importance of style would not be as introspective and self-referential as are so many contemporary buildings. It would be part of the world - not architecture for architects, but for the rest of us.

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press, U.S.A.
• Publication date: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0195156331
• ISBN 13: 9780195156331
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 150