Concise Townscape [Paperback]

Gordon Cullen (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 24, 1995 | ISBN-10: 0750620188 | ISBN-13: 978-0750620185

This book pioneered the concept of townscape. 'Townscape' is the art of giving visual coherence and organization to the jumble of buildings, streets and space that make up the urban environment. It has been a major influence on architects, planners and others concerned with what cities should look like.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'A welcome reissue of this influential work, with acute observations on the English urban landscape, fully backed up with photographs and the author's characteristic drawings.'
Soc. of Architectual & Industrial Illustrators News

Product Details

• Paperback: 200 pages
• Publisher: Architectural Press (March 24, 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0750620188
• ISBN-13: 978-0750620185
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 12.8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #642,513 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Answer to Every Question, April 18, 2008

By 

C. Olson - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Concise Townscape (Paperback)

If Gordon Cullen's book 'The Concise Townscape' were required reading for anyone entering an architectural education, the level of discourse on design would skyrocket. Cullen puts to words and images some of the more intangible qualities of space that nevertheless affect how we view our surroundings. It is, in my opinion, a categorization of experiences... discussing things like 'serial vision' (the progression of visual experience as one moves along a path) 'outdoor room and indoor landscape', 'looking into enclosure', 'viscosity', etc. etc. This book is more than a dictionary or thesaurus of spatial terms, however. It is primarily a book on experience- getting to the heart of how a space actually feels; how it is occupied, how it CAN be occupied, and what are the qualities that make it that way. If read for what it truly is, it renders the current fashion of architectural pornography rather silly.

And this, my friend, is where its true strength in Academia comes into play. Sexy renderings only take one so far, but your design professor has most likely read this book. Understanding Cullen's work will bring the discourse up, and move your work beyond a visual one-liner.

But that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong.

5.0 out of 5 stars Cullen is a god of architecture, August 28, 2011

By 

Paul Anderson (Salt Lake City) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Concise Townscape (Paperback)

This book has changed my life as it relates to the "gambits" of making an inventive street work. Other books cover enclosure and ending the street with a focul point. This book goes into so much more depth. The challenge for me is to take these largely urban ideas and apply them to a suburban environment (where I do my work) but that isn't Cullen's fault. The qualities that go into a good street will probably never change. Cullen catologed them for us here 40 or 50 years ago and these ideas, the fundementals, will never change.

2 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The Concise Townscape, June 29, 2008

By 

Dorothy E. Ramsay (Rockwall, Tx) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Concise Townscape (Paperback)

Too concise. Had to get copies of pictures left out from previous copy.

Dorothy Ramsay