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kejadlen's review against another edition
5.0
Shockingly relatable to my own field of software development, though still pretty fascinating even if you aren't into building or software architecture. One of the better arguments for agile that I've ever read.
kserra's review
5.0
This book is super fascinating, well written, and clear - it's about how buildings change over time and how architects can better adapt to that process of change. I want to read an updated version! The parts about MIT are showing their age, especially because Brand can clearly claim prescience about the Stata Center's roof leaking.
Go find the dead tree version though - the e-book formatting for Kindle is terrible.
Go find the dead tree version though - the e-book formatting for Kindle is terrible.
abeanbg's review
3.0
Mostly skimming and reading captions, but who's gonna call the "good reading practices" cops on me? Don't get me wrong, Brand's insights and examples are interesting. Just needed to have a skim read.
nelsonminar's review
5.0
A fun book, documenting what changes take place in buildings after people live in them, adapt them to their needs. It's an interesting spin on architecture, looking more at how a building works for people than how it looks as a piece of sculpture. Plenty of practical information here if you're thinking of building a space, and plenty of aesthetic information to change the way you think about buildings.
The coolest thing for me with this book, though, was how it seemed to inform my understanding of writing software. I've always been careful to write my code not just so that it works, but so that the structure of the code itself follows a certain aesthetic. Well-designed source code to me means that foremost it is readable - I don't mean comments, I mean that it's written in a logical, readable way (if something is obscure, comment it thoroughly). My code is designed not just to run right, but to be understandable by others (and by myself later), to be extensible. To adapt to people's needs. Brand's book is about designing buildings that way, and it's interesting to see how well the analogy works. I'm not sure that How Buildings Learn has changed the way I write code, but it has changed the way I talk about it.
The coolest thing for me with this book, though, was how it seemed to inform my understanding of writing software. I've always been careful to write my code not just so that it works, but so that the structure of the code itself follows a certain aesthetic. Well-designed source code to me means that foremost it is readable - I don't mean comments, I mean that it's written in a logical, readable way (if something is obscure, comment it thoroughly). My code is designed not just to run right, but to be understandable by others (and by myself later), to be extensible. To adapt to people's needs. Brand's book is about designing buildings that way, and it's interesting to see how well the analogy works. I'm not sure that How Buildings Learn has changed the way I write code, but it has changed the way I talk about it.
jdv's review
5.0
This book is, nominally, a book about architecture and buildings, but it is actually a book about modernity and the products of modernity. It is a book about most, if not all, of today's professions; architecture is analyzed because its fruits are particularly visible and familiar. Stewart Brand lovingly describes two varieties of production that improve with time: Low Road and High Road; and one variety of production that worsens with time: No Road. Low Road production is carried out by laymen, it is impromptu and flexible, sometimes crude and always improvisational. High Road production is carried out by artisans, it is passion-driven and well-funded, it spans generations. No Road production shares none of the Low Road or High Road virtues, it is carried out by consultants without skin in the game and it is over-prescribed and inflexible, it is bureaucracy-driven with tight timelines and tighter budgets.
This book could just as easily be about medicine, engineering, tech, or agriculture. No Road exists across all of these disciplines, and, sadly, is often the norm. No Road medicine materializes as declining life expectancy in the 21st century. No Road engineering is an innovative and high-tech hydrocarbon sector that is making the earth uninhabitable. No Road tech is social networks (goodreads included, of course) that are driving monopoly and surveillance capitalism. No Road agriculture is intensive farming practices that increase short-term production at the expense of sustainable land use. These sectors produce impressive and useless products: pills to mask symptoms of diseases that are easily prevented; cars capable of achieving impressive speeds that spend their days crawling in traffic; smartphones that distract and track their owners; flavourless tomatoes and textureless "instant" food. Stewart Brand's advice regarding reform is universally true (replace "architecture" as necessary):
This book is a five-star read because, unlike many in the genre, it does not stop at diagnosing the problem (to do so would make him guilty of his own critiques, I suspect). More than half of How Buildings Learn is dedicated to presenting strategies for reform that span scale from the micro to the macro. The reader is left feeling inspired and empowered to make micro changes to their own home, and they are left optimistic about the potential futures of architecture and urban planning at large. Brand presents a loose but instructive framework for a utopian cure for the often dystopian present. His utopia includes renovations and retrofittings that conserve the embodied energy in our present fleet of buildings and new construction that will be well-suited for the future, regardless of which outcomes are realized out of these turbulent times.
How Buildings Learn has been in print for a quarter of a century. It reads as if it was published yesterday. Brand's conclusion needs to be read and interpreted and reinterpreted across disciplines and across time: "What is called for is the slow moral plastic of the "many ways" diverging, exploring, insidiously improving. Instead of discounting time, we can embrace and exploit time's depth. Evolutionary design is healthier than visionary design."
This book could just as easily be about medicine, engineering, tech, or agriculture. No Road exists across all of these disciplines, and, sadly, is often the norm. No Road medicine materializes as declining life expectancy in the 21st century. No Road engineering is an innovative and high-tech hydrocarbon sector that is making the earth uninhabitable. No Road tech is social networks (goodreads included, of course) that are driving monopoly and surveillance capitalism. No Road agriculture is intensive farming practices that increase short-term production at the expense of sustainable land use. These sectors produce impressive and useless products: pills to mask symptoms of diseases that are easily prevented; cars capable of achieving impressive speeds that spend their days crawling in traffic; smartphones that distract and track their owners; flavourless tomatoes and textureless "instant" food. Stewart Brand's advice regarding reform is universally true (replace "architecture" as necessary):
The conversion will be difficult because it is fundamental. The transition from image architecture to process architecture is a leap from the certainties of controllable things in space to the self-organizing complexities of an endlessly raveling and unraveling skein of relationships over time.
This book is a five-star read because, unlike many in the genre, it does not stop at diagnosing the problem (to do so would make him guilty of his own critiques, I suspect). More than half of How Buildings Learn is dedicated to presenting strategies for reform that span scale from the micro to the macro. The reader is left feeling inspired and empowered to make micro changes to their own home, and they are left optimistic about the potential futures of architecture and urban planning at large. Brand presents a loose but instructive framework for a utopian cure for the often dystopian present. His utopia includes renovations and retrofittings that conserve the embodied energy in our present fleet of buildings and new construction that will be well-suited for the future, regardless of which outcomes are realized out of these turbulent times.
How Buildings Learn has been in print for a quarter of a century. It reads as if it was published yesterday. Brand's conclusion needs to be read and interpreted and reinterpreted across disciplines and across time: "What is called for is the slow moral plastic of the "many ways" diverging, exploring, insidiously improving. Instead of discounting time, we can embrace and exploit time's depth. Evolutionary design is healthier than visionary design."
redundantle's review against another edition
3.5
This book had fascinating ideas and practical arguments that have aged well over the last 30 years. I've never thought of buildings too much this way until now. And as an urban planner, I feel like there are lessons in this book that could even transcend into what I do daily. But, even still, this book was a bit of a slog to get through.
I also made the mistake of reading this book on Kindle. Unfortunately, the photographs and captions were inserted at random places throughout the main text of the book in a way that was disjointed at best, and almost unreadable at worst. I should've just bought a hard copy.
I also made the mistake of reading this book on Kindle. Unfortunately, the photographs and captions were inserted at random places throughout the main text of the book in a way that was disjointed at best, and almost unreadable at worst. I should've just bought a hard copy.
rhodered's review against another edition
5.0
A quote on the cover says, "A classic and probably a work of genius". Darn right! If you are planning or dreaming of building anything - from a home, to a major addition, to a commercial space to a government building, this book is a must-read. Internal office configurations for organizations are also covered.
First you'll be captured by the dated before-and-after photos, showing how various buildings evolved over the years since they were built. Then start reading the text for lots of useful lessons, along with the author's research-based philosophy of how to plan a building that will truly serve your needs as well as the future's.
The key is to assume, no matter what, the building you initially build absolutely, positively will be changed sooner or later, probably sooner. Generally in the direction of adding more space.
One interesting factoid, the new homes now built to look "old" from the start, with quirky rooflines as though they were the result of generations' additions, will actually be much harder for future owners to renovate and rework than normal buildings.
This book includes useful footnotes, references to all the leading studies as of publication date, and a great bibliography of additional books at the end.
It's also just awfully fun to page through!
First you'll be captured by the dated before-and-after photos, showing how various buildings evolved over the years since they were built. Then start reading the text for lots of useful lessons, along with the author's research-based philosophy of how to plan a building that will truly serve your needs as well as the future's.
The key is to assume, no matter what, the building you initially build absolutely, positively will be changed sooner or later, probably sooner. Generally in the direction of adding more space.
One interesting factoid, the new homes now built to look "old" from the start, with quirky rooflines as though they were the result of generations' additions, will actually be much harder for future owners to renovate and rework than normal buildings.
This book includes useful footnotes, references to all the leading studies as of publication date, and a great bibliography of additional books at the end.
It's also just awfully fun to page through!
jocelyn's review against another edition
4.0
This book helped me think about buildings in many ways I'd never considered before. This should be required reading for architects, anyone interested in urbanism, and especially anyone in a facilities role at a company. I'll quote the author's summary of the book:
"The argument goes as follows. Building are layered by different rates of change. Adaptation is easiest in cheap buildings that no one cares about and most refined in long-lasting sustained-purpose buildings. Adaptation, however, is anathema to architects and to most of the building professions and trades. And the gyrations of real-estate markets sever continuity in buildings. The building preservation movement arose in rebellion, deliberately frustrating creative architects and the free market in order to restore continuity. Focus on preservation brought a new focus on maintenance and respect for humble older buildings brought investigation of their design wisdom by vernacular building historians. The same kind of investigation can be made of the persistent change, mostly amateur, that occurs in contemporary houses and offices.
With that perspective backward in mind, it is possible to rethink perspective forward and to imagine designing buildings that invite adaptation. Doing it right requires an intellectual discipline that doesn't yet exist. The study is worth undertaking because, more than any other human artifact, buildings excel at improving with time, if they are given the chance.
And they are wonderful to study. All dressed up in layers of dissimulation, buildings are so naked."
"The argument goes as follows. Building are layered by different rates of change. Adaptation is easiest in cheap buildings that no one cares about and most refined in long-lasting sustained-purpose buildings. Adaptation, however, is anathema to architects and to most of the building professions and trades. And the gyrations of real-estate markets sever continuity in buildings. The building preservation movement arose in rebellion, deliberately frustrating creative architects and the free market in order to restore continuity. Focus on preservation brought a new focus on maintenance and respect for humble older buildings brought investigation of their design wisdom by vernacular building historians. The same kind of investigation can be made of the persistent change, mostly amateur, that occurs in contemporary houses and offices.
With that perspective backward in mind, it is possible to rethink perspective forward and to imagine designing buildings that invite adaptation. Doing it right requires an intellectual discipline that doesn't yet exist. The study is worth undertaking because, more than any other human artifact, buildings excel at improving with time, if they are given the chance.
And they are wonderful to study. All dressed up in layers of dissimulation, buildings are so naked."