Reading Architecture and Culture

Adam Sharr is Professor of Architecture at Newcastle University, Principal of Adam Sharr Architects, Co-Editor of Architectural Research Quarterly (Cambridge University Press) and Series Editor of Thinkers for Architects (Routledge).

Introducing the notion of appreciating buildings as cultural artefacts, this book presents insightful readings by eminent writers which show the power of this approach.

Introduction: A Case for Close Reading Adam Sharr Opening 1. Breathing Walls David Leatherbarrow Part 1: Extraodrinary Buildings, Divergent Readings Introduction Adam Sharr 2. An Augury of Collapse: Herzog and De Meuron's Caixa Forum, Madrid Adam Sharr 3. Fostering Relations in Kazakhstan Edward Wainwright 4. Reading the Site at Sverre Fehn's Hamar Museum Suzanne Ewing 5. A Hellish Cloud and a Very Clear Air: Industry, Nature and Weather in Early Eighteenth-Century England Jonathan Hill Part 2: Familiar Buildings, Unfamiliar Readings Introduction Adam Sharr 6. Extension Stories Flora Samuel 7. Lounge Space: The Home, the City and the Service Area Samuel Austin 8. The Architecture of Urban Life: 67 rue des Meuniers Diana Periton 9. The Settings and the Social Condenser: Transitional Objects in Architecture and Psychoanalysis Jane Rendell Part 3: Redolent Details, Insightful Dcouments Introduction Adam Sharr 10. Four Lines Michael Cadwell 11. 'God is in the Details'/'The Detail is Moot': A Meeting Between Koolhaas and Mies Mhairi McVicar 12. Specifying Transparency: From 'Best Seconds' to 'New Glass Performances' Katie Lloyd Thomas 13. Making Plans: Alberti's Ichnography as Cultural Artefact Paul Emmons and Jonathan Foote 14. How the Mind Meets Architecture: What Photography Reveals Hugh Campbell Opening 2 15. An Architectural Good-life can be Built, Explained and Taught only Through Storytelling Marco Frascari