Understanding Architecture

Robert McCarter is a practicing architect and has been Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture at Washington University in St. Louis since 2007. He taught previously at the University of Florida, where he was Director of the School of Architecture from 1991-2001, and Columbia University, among other schools. He has written for numerous international publications, and his books include: Grafton Architects (2018); Marcel Breuer (2016); Steven Holl (2015); Alvar Aalto (2014); Carlo Scarpa (2013); Understanding Architecture, co-authored with Juhani Pallasmaa (2012); and Louis I Kahn (2005), all by Phaidon Press. He has also published The Work of MacKay-Lyons Sweetapple Architects: Economy as Ethic (2017); The Space Within: Interior Experience as the Origin of Architecture (2016); and Aldo van Eyck (2015), among other books.

Juhani Pallasmaa is one of Finland's most distinguished architects and architectural thinkers. Pallasmaa is the author/editor of 24 books, including The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture an the Senses (1995, 2^nd edition 2005), The Architecture of Image: Existential Space in Cinema (2001) and Encounters (2005).

Intended both as an introductory text for students and professionals in the field as well as an accessible read for the general public, Primer on Architecture (working title) addresses the basic principles of architecture and uncovers its ongoing influence in contemporary culture. The volume is organized in a series of chapters based on key architectural themes--space, time, matter, gravity, light, silence, dwelling, ritual, memory, landscape, and place--with an introductory essay for each chapter that includes a wide variety of historical examples from around the world followed by more in depth analyses of key buildings that further exemplify the theme of a particular chapter. By combining a broad historical sweep with a jargon-free architectural study of space and the direct experience of architecture, this volume will be a unique introduction to architecture as a timeless and enduring art.

A unique introduction to architecture through 72 key buildings.

Introduction: Architecture as Experience Chapter 1: SPACE Existential and Architectural Space The Pantheon, Rome, Italy Piazza del Campo, Sienna, Italy Santo Spirito, Florence, Italy, Filippo Brunelleschi Unity Temple, Oak Park, Illinois, US, Frank Lloyd Wright Chapel of Notre-Dame-du-Haut, Ronchamp, France, Le Corbusier Our Mary of the Angels Cathedral, Los Angeles, California, US, Rafael Moneo Chapter 2: TIME The Space of Time Theater at Epidaurus, Greece Palace, Fatehpur Sikri, India Soane House, London, UK, Sir John Soane Castelvecchio Museum, Verona, Italy, Carlo Scarpa Myyrmaki Church and Parish Center, Vantaa, Finland, Juha Leiviska Church on the Water, Hokkaido, Japan, Tadao Ando Chapter 3: MATTER Matter, Hapticity and Time Temples of Amon-Ra and Khonsu, Karnak, Egypt Santa Maria dei Miracoli, Venice, Italy, Pietro Lombardo Post Office Savings Bank, Vienna, Austria, Otto Wagner German Pavilion, Barcelona, Spain, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Law Courts Extension, Gothenburg, Sweden, Erik Gunnar Asplund St. Petri Church, Klippan, Sweden, Sigurd Lewerentz Chapter 4: GRAVITY Force, Form and Structure Baths of Caracalla, Rome, Italy Church of Saint Front, Perigueux, France Maison de Verre, Paris, France, Pierre Chareau Exeter Library, Exeter, New Hampshire, US, Louis Kahn DeMenil Gallery, Houston, Texas, US, Renzo Piano Thermal Baths, Vals, Switzerland, Peter Zumthor Chapter 5: LIGHT Material Tactility of Light Hagia Sofia, Istanbul, Turkey, Anthemius of Tralles Chartres Cathedral, Chartres, France S. Carlo alle Quatro Fontane, Rome, Italy, Francesco Borromini Neresheim Abbey Church, Neresheim, Germany, Balthasar Neumann Church of the Three Crosses, Imatra, Finland, Alvar Aalto Kimbell Museum, Fort Worth, Texas, US, Louis Kahn Chapter 6: SILENCE The Silent Voice of Architecture The Pyramids, Giza, Egypt Temples at Paestum, Italy Maya City of Uxmal, Yucatan, Mexico Cloister, S. Maria della Pace, Rome, Italy, Bramante Chapel and Convent of the Capuchinas, Mexico City, Mexico, Luis Barragan Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California, US, Louis Kahn Chapter 7: DWELLING Architecture, Dwelling and Home Dogon Village, Bandiagara, Mali, West Africa Roman Atrium House, Pompei, Italy Villa Rotonda, Vicenza, Italy, Andrea Palladio Darwin Martin House, Buffalo, New York, US, Frank Lloyd Wright Villa Mairea, Noormarkku, Finland, Alvar Aalto Simpson-Lee House, Mount Wilson, NSW, Australia, Glenn Murcutt Chapter 8: ROOM The Rooms of Memory Laurentian Library, Florence, Italy, Michelangelo Biblioteque Nationale, Paris, France, Henri Labrouste Karntner American Bar, Vienna, Austria, Adolf Loos Schroeder House, Utrecht, The Netherlands, Gerrit Reitveld Johnson Wax Company Building, Racine, Wisconsin, US, Frank Lloyd Wright Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle, Washington, US, Steven Holl Chapter 9: RITUAL The Form of Ritual Trajan's Market, Rome, Italy, Apollodoros Ise Shrine, Nagoya, Japan Certosa di Firenze, Florence, Italy Sagrada Familia Cathedral, Barcelona, Spain, Antonio Gaudi Grand Central Train Station, New York, US, Warren and Wetmore Villa Savoye, Poissy, France, Le Corbusier Chapter 10: MEMORY Memory and the Lifeworld Palace at Knossos, Crete The Alhambra, Granada, Spain Chapel of the Holy Shroud, Turin, Italy, Guarino Guarini Resurrection Chapel, Turku Cemetery, Finland, Erik Bryggman Brion Cemetery, San Vito in Altivole, Italy, Carlo Scarpa Museum of American Folk Art, New York, US, Tod Williams and Billie Tsien Chapter 11: LANDSCAPE The Internalized Landscape Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli, Italy Katsura Villa, Kyoto, Japan The University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, US, Thomas Jefferson Woodland Cemetery, Stockholm, Sweden, E.G. Asplund and Sigurd Lewerentz Fallingwater, Mill Run, Pennsylvania, US, Frank Lloyd Wright Swimming Pools on the Sea, Leca da Palmeira, Portugal, Alvaro Siza Chapter 12: PLACE The Power of Place The Acropolis, Athens, Greece, Ictinos; landscape, Dimitris Pikionis Piazza del Campidoglio, Rome, Italy, Michelangelo Saynatsalo Town Hall, Saynatsalo, Finland, Alvar Aalto Municipal Orphanage, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, Aldo van Eyck Sydney Opera House, Sydney, Australia, Jorn Utzon Renovations and Additions to Monte Carasso, Switzerland, Luigi Snozzi Glossary Bibliography