Palladio's Children: Essays on Everyday Environment and the Architect [Paperback]

N.J. Habraken (Author), Jonathan Teicher (Editor)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0415357918 | ISBN-13: 978-0415357913 | Publication Date: November 23, 2005 | Edition: New edition

Based on many years of personal observation, Palladio's Children critically examines the role of the architect as a professional descendent of Palladio, and as an heir to his architectural legacy. Seven innovative and carefully crafted essays explore the widening ideological schism between today’s architects whose core values, identity and education remain rooted in the Renaissance legacy of creating artful ‘masterpieces’, and the practical demands on a profession which acts within an evolving, ubiquitous and autonomous built environment or ‘field’.

Clearly written yet expressing complex, evolving ideas, this extended argument opens a new forum of debate across design theory, professional practice and academic issues. Moving the subject on from a historical perspective, Habraken shows how architects are increasingly involved in the design of everyday buildings. This must lead to a reassessment of architects’ identities, values and education, and the contribution of the architect in the shaping of the built environment.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'So handsome, finely produced and well written.' - Nick Wilkinson, Open House International, 2005

About the Author

N.J. Habraken, Professor Emeritus, Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) has enjoyed a worldwide following for four decades. He is the author of seven books, the subject of two recent ones and his recent publication of The Structure of the Ordinary (MIT 1998) was widely reviewed internationally. He is most well known as founder of the Open Building movement, founding director of the SAR Research Institute and as founding chair of the Department of Architecture and Urban Design at Eindhoven University.

Jonathan Teicher is an architect and author. He lectures in architecture and is a former American Institute of Architects bureaucrat.

Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis; New edition edition (November 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0415357918
• ISBN-13: 978-0415357913
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 6.1 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,097,830 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wake up stArchitects, September 2, 2006

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This review is from: Palladio's Children: Essays on Everyday Environment and the Architect (Paperback)

The profession of Architects is no longer that of the omnipotent beneficent; in fact it never has been, except in the reflections of our inflated egos. Habraken reminds us of this in this book, and makes a sincere appeal for architects to wake up to the reality that our profession is but a part of. He distinguishes Architecture (as what we all know it as) from the Field, which is an autonomous and ubiquitous built environment with all its life that exists and grows without the need of architects and planners. This Field is what the architectural profession has to reckon and carefully integrate with.