The Springboard in the Pond – An Intimate History of the Swimming Pool - Softcover

Van Leeuwen, Thomas A P

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0262720329 ISBN 13: 9780262720328

Publisher: MIT Press, 2000

Synopsis

A dazzling reflection on the American swimming pool as an icon of modernism and a social, architectural, and psychological phenomenon. Although others have written eloquently on the relationship of water to built form, until now no one has investigated the swimming pool as a quintessentially modern and American space, reflecting America's infatuation with hygiene, skin, and recreation. In The Springboard in the Pond, Thomas van Leeuwen looks at a familiar hole-the domestic swimming pool-and discovers an icon indispensable to the reading of twentieth-century modernism. At one level, the book is a rereading of modern architecture that will leave that story permanently altered. At another level, it is the story of the origin and evolution of the private swimming pool as a building type and cultural artifact. And at still another level, it is a material philosophy of water. Van Leeuwen explores the human relationship to water from a variety of viewpoints: social, religious, artistic, sexual, psychological, technical, and above all architectural. Throughout the book, he weaves a series of analogies to three emblematic animals-frog, swan, and penguin-that represent the three prevailing human attitudes toward water: hydrophilia, hydrophobia, and ambivalence. The books many illustrations-drawings, plans, and photographs-come from an unusual variety of sources, creating what is surely the most provocative visual archive of the swimming pool ever assembled. This book is the second in a planned tetralogy by the author, with each volume centered on the relationship of architecture to one of the four classical elements: sky, water, fire, and earth. The first volume was The Skyward Trend of Thought: The Metaphysics of the American Skyscraper (MIT Press, 1988). The third volume, The Springboard in the Pond, is currently in preparation.

About this title

Review

" "The Springboard in the Pond" is a bracing intellectual plunge. A searching exploration of manners, morals, and darker truths in cultural and architectural history, it is both insightfully serious and wildly funny." -- Thomas S. Hines, "Los Angeles Times" " [R]ichly written and generously illustrated... van Leeuwen succeeds in showing us the depths beneath the tinest ripples of history." -- Phil Patton, "Civilization"

& quot; The Springboard in the Pond is a bracing intellectual plunge. A searching exploration of manners, morals, and darker truths in cultural and architectural history, it is both insightfully serious and wildly funny.& quot; -- Thomas S. Hines, Los Angeles Times & quot; [R]ichly written and generously illustrated... van Leeuwen succeeds in showing us the depths beneath the tinest ripples of history.& quot; -- Phil Patton, Civilization

""The Springboard in the Pond" is a bracing intellectual plunge. A searching exploration of manners, morals, and darker truths in cultural and architectural history, it is both insightfully serious and wildly funny."--Thomas S. Hines, "Los Angeles Times""[R]ichly written and generously illustrated... van Leeuwen succeeds in showing us the depths beneath the tinest ripples of history."--Phil Patton, "Civilization"

Synopsis

Although others have written eloquently on the relationship of water to built form, until now, no-one has investigated the swimming pool as a quintessentially modern and American space, reflecting America's infatuation with hygiene, skin and recreation. This text looks at the domestic swimming pool and discovers an icon through which to read 20th-century modernism. At one level, the book is a rereading of modern architecture that seeks to alter its story. At another level, it is the story of the origin and evolution of the private swimming pool as a building type and cultural artefact. At yet another level, it is a material philosophy of water. Van Leeuwen explores that human relationship to water from a variety of viewpoints: social, religious, artistic, sexual, psychological, technical, and above all, architectural. Throughout the book he weaves a series of analogies to three emblematic animals - frog, swan and penguin - that represent three prevailing human attitudes towards water: hydrophilia, hydrophobia and ambivalence. The book's many illustrations - drawings, plans and photographs - come from an unusual variety of sources.

The book is the second in a planned tetralogy by the author, with each volume centered on the relationship of architecture to one of the four classical elements.

Edition details

• Publisher: MIT Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0262720329
• ISBN 13: 9780262720328
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 330