The Architecture of Science [Hardcover]

Peter Galison (Editor), Emily Thompson (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0262071908 | ISBN-13: 978-0262071901 | Publication Date: May 28, 1999

How do the spaces in which science is done shape the identity of the scientist and the self-conception of scientific fields? How do the sciences structure the identity of the architect and the practice of architecture in a specific period? And how does the design of spaces such as laboratories, hospitals, and museums affect how the public perceives and interacts with the world of science? The Architecture of Science offers a dazzling set of speculations on these issues by historians of science, architecture, and art; architectural theorists; and sociologists as well as practicing scientists and architects. The essays are organized into six sections: "Of Secrecy and Openness: Science and Architecture in Early Modern Europe"; "Displaying and Concealing Technics in the Nineteenth Century"; "Modern Space"; "Is Architecture Science?"; "Princeton after Modernism: The Lewis Thomas Laboratory for Molecular Biology"; and "Centers, Cities, and Colliders."

Editorial Reviews

From Scientific American

The question before the house during a two-day conference at Harvard University in 1994 was, "How do the buildings of science literally and figuratively configure the identity of the scientist and scientific fields?" Perhaps it has no categorical answer, but the conferees--architects, scientists, sociologists and historians--offered plenty of possibilities. Galison (a professor of the history of science and physics at Harvard) and Thompson (an assistant professor of the history and sociology of science at the University of Pennsylvania) assemble in this book several of the papers delivered at the conference, plus a few others. Among the subjects discussed are 19th-century science buildings, modern space, whether or not architecture is a science, hospitals, the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill. ("a scientific project in which architecture was of crucial importance," according to its former director, Robert R. Wilson), and the Lewis Thomas Laboratory at Princeton University as compared with the nearby Center for Advanced Biotechnology and Medicine in Piscataway, N.J. Illustrations, many of them eye-catching as well as apposite, abound. "It is our collective hope," the editors say, "that this volume will encourage a great deal more inquiry into the encounters between architecture and science."

About the Author

Emily Thompson is a Professor of History at Princeton University.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 576 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (May 28, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262071908
• ISBN-13: 978-0262071901
• Product Dimensions: 10.4 x 9.4 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #969,651 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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