Customer Reviews

The Architecture Reader: Essential Writings from Vitruvius to the Present

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Knowledgeably compiled and expertly edited by Krista Sykes (Managing Editor of the 'Journal of 'Society of Architectural Historians'), "The Architecture Reader: Essential Writings From Vitruvius to The Present" is an impressively presented anthology of commentaries encompassing two thousand years of building history. A work of seminal and articulate scholarship, forty key texts drawn from architects of international reputation address key and continuing issues with respect to architecture and design -- including the role of the architect and the relationship of architecture to nature, art, and science. A very strongly recommended addition to personal, professional, and academic library Architectural Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists, "The Architecture Reader" combines historical and contemporary perspectives that are as informed and informative as they are thoughtful and thought-provoking.

I love this book. It is made up of 38 essays written by some of history's most prominent architects: Vitruvious, Palladio, Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, Koolhaas, Frank Gehry, Gropius, Corbusier, to name just a few. Love, love, love Adolf Loos's infamous essay Crime and Ornamentation. This book gives a person a lot to think about in terms of architecture as art, architecture and its relationship to nature, and what defines an architect. It also has several essays on the future of architecture, one penned by Norman Foster, which I thought was particularly good. I also enjoyed reading the essays by the early pioneers of the Modern Movement, who sought to destroy everything they knew of the previous ages and build anew--basically from the standpoint that every generation deserves to create their own cities and homes and not rely on a past that no longer has meaning. For the budding architure geek, this is the book. A fantastic primer.