Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities (Architecture Briefs) - Softcover

Lange, Alexandra

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1616890533 ISBN 13: 9781616890537

Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press, 2012

Synopsis

Writing About Architecture: Mastering the Language of Buildings and Cities, the latest addition to the Architecture Briefs series, is a handbook on how to write effectively and critically about the contemporary city. The book offers works by some of the best architecture critics of the twentieth century-including Ada Louise Huxtable, Lewis Mumford, Herbert Muschamp, Michael Sorkin, Charles Moore, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Jane Jacobs- explains some of the most successful methods with which to approach architectural criticism. Each chapter opens with a reprint of a historically significant essay (and organised by typology-such as the skyscraper, the museum, and parks) discussing a specific building or urban project. The author, Alexandra Lange, then offers a close reading of that essay, as well as her own analysis through contemporary examples, to further enlighten the reader about how to write an effective piece of architectural criticism.This book, based on lessons learned from the author's courses at New York University and the School of Visual Arts, could serve as the primary text for a course on criticism for undergraduates or architecture and design majors. Architects covered include Marcel Breuer, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Field Operations, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Frederick Law Olmsted, SOM, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

About this title

About the Author

Alexandra Lange is an architecture and design critic, journalist and historian. Her work has appeared in the Architect's Newspaper, Dwell, Icon, Metropolis, New York Magazine, and the New York Times. She teaches at New York University and the School of Visual Arts. She is co-author, with Jane Thompson, of the book Design Research: The Store That Brought Modern Living to American Homes (Chronicle, 2010). She blogs weekly in the Observers Room at Design Observer on all things visual.

From the Back Cover

Extraordinary architecture addresses so much more than mere practical considerations. It inspires and provokes while creating a seamless experience of the physical world for its users. It is the rare writer that can frame the discussion of a building in a way that allows the reader to see it with new eyes. Writing About Architecture is a handbook on writing effectively and critically about buildings and cities. Each chapter opens with a reprint of a significant essay written by a renowned architecture critic, followed by a close reading and discussion of the writer's strategies. Lange offers her own analysis using contemporary examples as well as a checklist of questions at the end of each chapter to help guide the writer. This important addition to the Architecture Briefs series is based on the author's design writing courses at New York University and the School of Visual Arts. Lange also writes a popular online column for Design Observer and has written for Dwell, Metropolis, New York magazine, and The New York Times. Writing About Architecture includes analysis of critical writings by Ada Louise Huxtable, Lewis Mumford, Herbert Muschamp, Michael Sorkin, Charles Moore, Frederick Law Olmsted, and Jane Jacobs. Architects covered include Marcel Breuer, Diller Scofidio + Renfro, Field Operations, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Frederick Law Olmsted, SOM, Louis Sullivan, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Edition details

• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press
• Publication date: 2012
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1616890533
• ISBN 13: 9781616890537
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160