Customer Reviews

For an Architecture of Reality

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I'm in the middle of an M.ARCH degree right now and this book has been the most influential thing I've read so far. It reminds me why I'm in school and what I'm supposed to be learning how to do. You can make sexy images and wonderful compositions that pretend to be sections and plans, or, you can think about the actual presence of the building. It's the difference between Hadid's work - which is incredibly beautiful on paper and in her paintings and yet often disorienting in real life - and Kahn's work which has fairly boring plans and sections (to me), but is powerful beyond words in actuality.

Without a doubt, one of the most elegant contemporary arguments about the strength and possibilities of architecture. If every architect thought about this small book, we'd live in a fundamentally different environment. Highly recommended.

This is a delightful little book (nevertheless with large ideas) and a marvelous counter to the excesses of our times. It focuses on the direct physical experience of buildings, and is written in surprisingly clear, even poetic, English. It returns our attention to fundamentals that, in this gas-powered, electronic, digital age, we too easily forget.

I was required to read this book for a design class but I would recomend it to anyone who is interested in architecture or even life for that matter. This book makes you take a second look at things, not necessarily buildings, that you would normally just pass by. Great short read that is definitely not short on great ideas.

10 years ago I borrowed this small book to a friend who liked it so much I never saw it since. The thoughts on the essence of realness in architecture, though a reaction to postmodernism, have made a lasting impression, and I was happy to regain the book. It is a reminder that architecture sometimes, just by being there, defines a _here_ and _now_ for us. No references, no games, no pretending. Pure existance. Thoughtprovoking and challengeing.

Even though this book was written a while ago (by fashions standard) it is completely relevant today. Benedikt nails down what I've been looking for and inarticulately talking about for a while: the "realness" of buildings. I'm tired of flash and fashion and this essay is a call to arms for architects to re-engage fundamental concepts about how our designs relate to space and time. A must read, preferably in masters years...

With amazing amounts of architectural jargon out there to fill up your thoughts, this book is a quiet contrast that is likely to sit next to your bed for many nights after you are through. A small manifesto that says just enough, leaving room for interpretation, discourse and side notes to yourself. Thank you for the creativity and insights. Definately a "pass it on".

Benedikt teaches the reader to stop looking at architecture and actually see it. He brings forth a solid comfort in what can be thought of as the way architecture should be. Not only is it inspiring with every turn of each page, it gives the reader an afresh way of thinking like none other before.

I thought the author of this book did a fabulous job of converting some of the "hocus-pocus" behind avante-garde architectural wisdom into more of a blue-collar examination of what makes real architecture work. As an architectural student I am constantly bombarded by theorists who use an often empty set of principle and shaky foundations with which they justify their practice...its refreshing to see architecture evaluated for just being "working".

Without a doubt, one of the most elegant contemporary arguments about the strength and possibilities of architecture. If every architect thought about this small book, we'd live in a fundamentally different environment. Highly recommended.