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3.72 AVERAGE
3.72 AVERAGE
Although I was sometimes thrown by his overly florid language, this was still a great read.
emotional
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
informative
inspiring
reflective
slow-paced
informative
reflective
slow-paced
While the middle part is too slow for my taste, I enjoyed de Botton's brief introduction to architectural history in the beginning as well as the psychological effects he treats in the end.
The idea that architecture, as well as art, represents our values, ideals and aspirations was new to me.
Favourite Quotes:
The idea that architecture, as well as art, represents our values, ideals and aspirations was new to me.
Favourite Quotes:
- "There is beauty in that which is stronger than we are."
- "We admire simple works that we intuit would, without immense effort, habe appeared ver complicated."
- "A city laid out on apparently rational grounds, where different specialised facilities [...] are separated from one another across a vast terrain connected by motorways, deprives its inhabitants of the pleasures of incidental discoveries and presupposes that we march from place to place with a sense of unflagging purpose. [...] The addition of shops and offices adds a degree of excitement to otherwise inert, dormitory areas. Contact, ecen the most casual kind, with commercial enterprises gives us a transfusion of an energy we are not always capable of producing ourselves. Waking up isolated and confused at three in the morning, we can look out of the window and draw solace from the blinking neon signs in a storefront across the roae, advertising bottled beer or twenty-four-hour pizza and, in their peculiar way, evoking a comforting presence through the paranoid early hours." p. 246
- "Our designs go wrong because our feelings of contentment are woven from fine and unexpected filaments." p. 247
- "[...] architects who forgot to pay homage to the quirks of the human mind, who allowed themselces to be seduced by a simplistic vision of who we might be, rather than attending to the labyrinthine reality of who we are. [...] It is an example expressed through materials of the same tendency which in other domains will lead us to marry the wrong people, choose inappropriate jobs and book unsuccessful holidays: the tendency not to understand who we are and what will satisfy us. p.248
- "We presume that man.made beauty has been preordained to exist in certain parts of the world but not in others; that urban master-pieces are the work of people fundamentally different from, and greater than, ourselves; and that superior buildings must cost inordinately more than the uglier architecture which typically takes their place." p. 257
- "There has, of course, always been the occasional Westerner who found beauty in rough bits of pottery or welcomed the appearance of a spread of moss. And yet it can be hard to champion such interests within a culture whose preferences run instead towards Plladian cillas and Delft porcellain. We can be laughed into silence for attempting to speak in praise of phenomena which we lack the right words to describe. We may censor ourselves befire others have the chance to do so. We may not even notice that we have extinguished our own curiosity, just as we may forget we had something to say until we find someone who is willing to hear it. [...] It is books, poems and paintings which often give us the confidence to tke seriously feelings in ourselves that we might otherwise never have thought to aknowledge." p. 262
- "In order to choose properly, one must know what there is to choose from." p. 263
hopeful
informative
reflective
slow-paced
Not what I had hoped or thought it would be: how we design and construct happiness. Rather, this should've been titled "The Happiness of Architecture," because architecture is the chief topic. Much discussion about aesthetics. I'm surprised that there was little mention (or any?) of the character of a house or building. Nor was there much (if any?) mention of the importance of landscaping to the appreciation of architecture, the two of them complementing one another.
A pleasurable introduction into thinking about architecture. Recommended.
I thought the first half was totally brilliant. The second half was not as strong, but I don't know if it was the book or that I lost my momentum.
Really perfect prose.
Really perfect prose.
This book is essentially one long essay about why architecture matters. It's clearly written by a philosopher, both in terms of the logical way he presents some of his arguments, and his tendency to talk about the human condition. His descriptions of architecture are not very technical or particularly complete - he chooses a few themes (symmetry, balance, etc) and talks about them and the buildings or objects which illustrate his points. It was easy for me to like the book because I fundamentally agree with his basic premise, namely that the space you are in can profoundly affect the person you are, and thus you should occupy spaces that make you the best person you can be. I thought a lot about various elements of style that I'd like in my own dream house and some of the reasons why I prefer those certain styles. I also thought a bit about the Salk Institute (where I work), designed by Louis Kahn, and whether or not it is more than just a beautiful building - if it is actually enhancing the science that it houses. Not sure I reached a conclusion about that one, though.
Simply pleasant, short meditations on how architecture reflects and informs human lives and ideals. Nothing outstanding, the sort of book you hope to find on the shelf at a B&B, relax with happily, and not mind if you aren't finished when you leave.