Customer Reviews

Site Divine - an alternative method of site analysis

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I am the author of this book, and to better understand what this book is about, here is a little history:

In 1996, Herbert Muschamp, the architecture critic of the New York Times spoke at Cornell University's 125th anniversary of the College of Architecture bemoaning the lack of spiritual roots in the design and architecture of today. "Only a little over a century ago, writers and architects like Ruskin and Pugin felt not only comfortable but compelled to discuss spiritual issues in the context of art and architecture as if it was the most natural thing in the world. Anyone who tried to do that today would likely be considered a crackpot or a reactionary," he said. "Religion was an area of culture that drove architecture through much of its history and an area in which cultural means were substantially grounded. And then, poof, it's all gone. It's history itself. Here a century ago, gone today."

Why? Muschamp answered "Perhaps there isn't as high a degree of spiritual aspiration in the public realm today as in earlier times in history," he said. "Perhaps it's only possible to recognize that aspiration by getting past the religious symbolism. I think that may be the case in architecture." "Architecture used to be driven by religion. Now it is driven by capitalism. That's what we believe. So there
you are."

Muschamp concluded his speech by extolling the participants to rediscover the spiritual aspirations and sensual nature of design and to create a new spiritual form of design ideology. This book, `Site Divine' is a response to that historic call to action.

So for all those crackpot and reactionary designers out there that are seeking for something more that just market driven design requirements, that aspire to a higher design ethic, this book is for you.

The book is divided into three parts. Part One. The history of divination. Part Two. A Case Study and detailed experimental examination of various diviners. Part Three. The Conclusions.

Here is the table of contents:
introduction
Part One
chapter one the analysis of site
chapter two a new perspective on site design
chapter three an introduction to divination
chapter four geomantic site divination
chapter five feng shui
chapter six dowsing
Part Two
case study site
on-site one interview with Dean Perry
on-site two interview with Sandra Yemm
on-site three interview with Lea Erlich
on-site four interview with cruiser 1
on-site five interview with cruiser 2 Mac
on-site six interview with Stacey Guertin
on-site seven interview with Katherine Potter
on-site eight interview with Ivan Yip
on-site nine interview with Steve Topping
on-site ten interview with George
on-site eleven interview with Christopher Gagosz
Part Three
chapter seven designing in the living earth
chapter eight to design the site
chapter nine to design eternally

This book totally opened up my mind to how one can experience and learn about a site. As an artist I work with many materials and think about how art works in site-specific ways. Mr. Lanfranco's structures his book in compelling and thought provoking way, so that the reader is taken on a journey and gets to walk through the numerous guided paths to discovering the inherent and sometimes difficult to find qualities of a site. The author's unique blend of intuitive, non-traditional, and traditional means of gathering information form a place is useful for anyone interested in landscape, urban planning, architecture, social uses of spaces, site-specificity, and geographical research. Through his book, Site Divine, Lanfranco advocates for a real dialogue between perceiving what the site is communicating and what the viewer or researcher brings to the site. This is a fantastic book and I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in being more attuned to understanding how to read a site from the inside out.

I am a certified arborist, and was asked to review an advance copy of this book. I found it to be a very interesting read about discovering the true nature of different building sites. I think the concepts explored by the author would be very useful for landscape architects and land planners who are interested in investigating a site's history, both physical and spiritual. Enjoy!