The Founding Myths of Architecture

The Founding Myths of Architecture PDF Author: Konrad Buhagiar
Publisher: Artifice Incorporated
ISBN: 9781907317170
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The Founding Myths of Architecture brings together and discusses the work of some of the most influential and intriguing figures in the history of architecture. By returning to the authentic roots from which modern architectural thought has sprung, it explores the significance of the discipline in relation to the evolution of mankind. The contributors, international leading theorists from a variety of disciplines, provide fascinating texts that contribute to the broad discussion on architecture and its relationship with science, nature, art and society. Kari Jormakka, Fabio Barry, Pedro Azara, Caspar Pearson and Henry Dietrich Fern�ndez are just some of the respected scholars whose writings comprise this authoritative look at the origins of architectural practice and its importance to the development of modern society. By exploring architecture as a basic human instinct, linking contemporary architecture to ideas surrounding mythology and cosmos and assessing the importance of architecture from an anthropological viewpoint, The Founding Myths of Architecture is a refreshing take on architectural theory. The oeuvre of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Francesco Borromini, Andr� Le Notre, Giorgio Grognet and Marcus Vitruvius Pollio amongst others is visually referenced in the context of these topics. Published in both French and English editions, this collection of essays pushes the boundaries of architectural criticism by encompassing history and anthropology in its analysis of design theory and by moving away from a purely rational and functional understanding of architecture.

The Founding Myths of Architecture

The Founding Myths of Architecture PDF Author: Konrad Buhagiar
Publisher: Artifice Incorporated
ISBN: 9781907317170
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
The Founding Myths of Architecture brings together and discusses the work of some of the most influential and intriguing figures in the history of architecture. By returning to the authentic roots from which modern architectural thought has sprung, it explores the significance of the discipline in relation to the evolution of mankind. The contributors, international leading theorists from a variety of disciplines, provide fascinating texts that contribute to the broad discussion on architecture and its relationship with science, nature, art and society. Kari Jormakka, Fabio Barry, Pedro Azara, Caspar Pearson and Henry Dietrich Fern�ndez are just some of the respected scholars whose writings comprise this authoritative look at the origins of architectural practice and its importance to the development of modern society. By exploring architecture as a basic human instinct, linking contemporary architecture to ideas surrounding mythology and cosmos and assessing the importance of architecture from an anthropological viewpoint, The Founding Myths of Architecture is a refreshing take on architectural theory. The oeuvre of Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, Louis Kahn, Francesco Borromini, Andr� Le Notre, Giorgio Grognet and Marcus Vitruvius Pollio amongst others is visually referenced in the context of these topics. Published in both French and English editions, this collection of essays pushes the boundaries of architectural criticism by encompassing history and anthropology in its analysis of design theory and by moving away from a purely rational and functional understanding of architecture.

Founding Myths

Founding Myths PDF Author: Laurent Stalder
Publisher:
ISBN: 9783856764005
Category : Architecture and society
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Founding in the double sense of the word naturally plays an important role in architecture. But also the history and theory of architecture seem to particularly require the idea of a foundation, a beginning. On the occasion of its 50th anniversary, the Institute for the History and Theory of Architecture (gta) addressed the problem of beginning in its own history as well as in architecture in general and in particular the role of founding myths. As the recurring recourse in architecture to the primitive hut or the three Vitruvian principles of firmness, utility and beauty (firmitas, utilitas, venustas) shows, myths occupy an important place in professional discourse. The contributions to the third issue of the gta papers question the tradition of these myths and examine their potential for the interpretation of the past and for the design of future projects

Architecture, Mysticism and Myth

Architecture, Mysticism and Myth PDF Author: W. R. Lethaby
Publisher: Cosimo, Inc.
ISBN: 1596053801
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 289

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Book Description
The perfect temple should stand at the centre of the world, a microcosm of the universe fabric, its walls built four square with the walls of heaven. And thus they stand the world over, be they Egyptian, Buddhist, Mexican, Greek, or Christian, with the greatest uniformity and exactitude.-from "Chapter III: Four Square"With a wide-ranging scholarship that is astonishing, a prominent figure of the Arts and Crafts design movement explores the "esoteric principles of architecture," the global, interconnected myths that underlie all the structures we build. Through his architect's eye, Lethaby looks at such diverse traditions as the ancient Norse and ancient Egyptian and at the inspiration provided by everything from the sea voyages of the Phoenicians to the astronomy of the earliest Persians, demonstrating how they inform and inspire such wonders as St. Paul's Cathedral, the Taj Mahal, the Palace at Versailles, and others. This 1891 work is a masterpiece of architectural symbolism and an essential foundation for understanding and appreciating "classical" design.British architect WILLIAM RICHARD LETHABY (1857-1931) was the first professor of design at the Royal College of Art. He also wrote Greek Buildings (1908), Mediaeval Art (1912), and Architecture (1912).

The Myths That Made America

The Myths That Made America PDF Author: Heike Paul
Publisher: transcript Verlag
ISBN: 3839414857
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 451

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Book Description
This essential introduction to American studies examines the core foundational myths upon which the nation is based and which still determine discussions of US-American identities today. These myths include the myth of »discovery,« the Pocahontas myth, the myth of the Promised Land, the myth of the Founding Fathers, the melting pot myth, the myth of the West, and the myth of the self-made man. The chapters provide extended analyses of each of these myths, using examples from popular culture, literature, memorial culture, school books, and every-day life. Including visual material as well as study questions, this book will be of interest to any student of American studies and will foster an understanding of the United States of America as an imagined community by analyzing the foundational role of myths in the process of nation building.

Architecture. Mysticism and Myth

Architecture. Mysticism and Myth PDF Author: William Richard Lethaby
Publisher: Old Book Publishing Limited
ISBN: 9781781071496
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 306

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Book Description
The history of architecture, as usually written, with its theory of utilitarian origins from the hut and the tumulus, and further developments in that way -the adjustment of forms to the conditions of local circumstance; the clay of Mesopotamia, the granite of Egypt, and marble of Greece-is rather the history of building: of 'Architecture' it may be, in the sense we so often use the word, but not the Architecture which is the synthesis of the fine arts, the commune of all the crafts. Behind every style of architecture there is an earlier style, in which the germ of every form is to be found; except such alterations as may be traced to new conditions, or directly innovating thought in religion, all is the slow change of growth, and it is almost impossible to point to the time of invention of any custom or feature. It will be necessary, not only to examine architecture in the monuments, but the contemporary statements which relate to them, the stories about buildings, and even the mythology of architecture, for such a mythology there is. If we trace the artistic forms of things, made by man, to their origin, we find a direct imitation of nature. The thought behind a ship is the imitation of a fish. So to the Egyptians and Greeks the "Black Ship" bore traces of this descent, and two eyes were painted at the prow. The custom still lingers on the Mediterranean and on the waters of China: the eyes are given; it is said, to enable the ship to see its way over the pathless sea. Tables and chairs, like the beasts, are quadrupeds; the lion's leg and foot of modern furniture come to us from the Greeks, and, earlier, they were used in Assyria and Egypt. The ritual side of symbolism is entirely neglected here, but there is ample evidence that sacred ceremony, the state that surrounded a throne, and the pageant of war, all had reference to the ritual and pomp of nature; so that man might be one with her and share her invincible strength.

Creatures Are Stirring

Creatures Are Stirring PDF Author: Joseph Altshuler
Publisher: Applied Research & Design
ISBN: 9781951541613
Category : Animals in art
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Creatures Are Stirring is an optimistic manifesto that rescripts the anthropocentric narratives of Western architecture with new myths for a playfully compassionate and co-habitable future. The book reconceptualizes buildings as our friends by amplifying architecture's creaturely qualities--formal embellishments, fictional enhancements, and organizational strategies that suggest animal-like agency. In an unsettled world, these qualities initiate more companionable relationships between humans and the built environment, and ultimately foster greater solidarity with other human and nonhuman lifeforms. Addressing a broad audience, Creatures Are Stirring uses the apparent subjecthood of familiar objects like plush toys and sports mascots to guide readers towards a novel way of seeing, reading, and making creaturely architecture. The book combines the authors' essays and memoirs (narrated from buildings' points of view) with contributions from contemporary architects whose work collectively defines an architectural territory that is at once grounded in disciplinary rigor and urgent realities, and liberated to elicit fantastical futures.

Architecture, Mysticism and Myth

Architecture, Mysticism and Myth PDF Author: William Richard Lethaby
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486435199
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 290

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Book Description
First published in 1892, this classic explores the symbolism of classical architecture. A milestone in relating mysticism to design, it shows the correlation between mythology and the design of St. Paul's Cathedral, the Taj Mahal, the Palace of Versailles, and other architectural masterpieces. 30 black-and-white illustrations.

Architecture, Mysticism and Myth

Architecture, Mysticism and Myth PDF Author: W. Lethaby
Publisher: Independently Published
ISBN: 9781655689895
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 179

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Book Description
The history of architecture, as usually written, with its theory of utilitarian origins from the hut and the tumulus, and further developments in that way - the adjustment of forms to the conditions of local circumstance; the clay of Mesopotamia, the granite of Egypt, and marble of Greece - is rather the history of building: of 'Architecture' it may be, in the sense we so often use the word, but not the Architecture which is the synthesis of the fine arts, the commune of all the crafts. As the pigments are but the vehicle of painting, so is building but the vehicle of architecture, which is the thought behind form, embodied and realised for the purpose of its manifestation and transmission. Architecture, then, interpenetrates building, not for satisfaction of the simple needs of the body, but the complex ones of the intellect. I do not mean that we can thus distinguish between architecture and building, in those qualities in which they meet and overlap, but that in the sum and polarity of them all; these point to the response of future thought, those to the satisfaction of present need; and so, although no hut or mound, however early or rude, but had something added to it for thought's sake, yet architecture and building are quite clear and distinct as ideas - the soul and the body. Of the modes of this thought we must again distinguish; some were unconscious and instinctive, as the desire for symmetry, smoothness, sublimity, and the like merely æsthetic qualities, which properly enough belong to true architecture; and others were direct and didactic, speaking by a more or less perfect realisation, or through a code of symbols, accompanied by traditions which explained them. The main purpose and burthen of sacred architecture - and all architecture, temple, tomb, or palace, was sacred in the early days - is thus inextricably bound up with a people's thoughts about God and the universe. Behind every style of architecture there is an earlier style, in which the germ of every form is to be found; except such alterations as may be traced to new conditions, or directly innovating thought in religion, all is the slow change of growth, and it is almost impossible to point to the time of invention of any custom or feature. As Herbert Spencer says of ceremonial generally: 'Adhering tenaciously to all his elders taught him, the primitive man deviates into novelty only through unintended modifications. Every one now knows that languages are not devised but evolve; and the same is true of usages.' It has, rightly, been the habit of historians of architecture to lay stress on the differences of the several styles and schools of successive ages, but; in the far larger sense, all architecture is one, when traced back through the stream of civilisations, as they followed or influenced one another. For instance, argue as archæologists may, as to whether the columns at Beni Hassan are rightly called proto-Doric, it is a fact to be read as in an open book, that a Greek temple and an Egyptian temple are substantially at one, when we consider the infinite possibilities of form, if disassociated from tradition.

Norse America

Norse America PDF Author: Gordon Campbell
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198861559
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
The story of the Vikings in North America as both fact and fiction, from the westward expansion of the Norse across the North Atlantic in the tenth and eleventh centuries to the myths and fabrications about their presence there that have developed in recent centuries. Tracking the saga of the Norse across the North Atlantic to America, Norse America sets the record straight about the idea that the Vikings 'discovered' America. The journey described is a continuum, with evidence-based history and archaeology at one end, and fake history and outright fraud at the other. In between there lies a huge expanse of uncertainty: sagas that may contain shards of truth, characters that may be partly historical, real archaeology that may be interpreted through the fictions of saga, and fragmentary evidence open to responsible and irresponsible interpretation. Norse America is a book that tells two stories. The first is the westward expansion of the Norse across the North Atlantic in the tenth and eleventh centuries, ending (but not culminating) in a fleeting and ill-documented presence on the shores of the North American mainland. The second is the appropriation and enhancement of the westward narrative by Canadians and Americans who want America to have had white North European origins, who therefore want the Vikings to have 'discovered' America, and who in the advancement of that thesis have been willing to twist and manufacture evidence in support of claims grounded in an ideology of racial superiority.

Travels in the History of Architecture

Travels in the History of Architecture PDF Author: Robert Harbison
Publisher: Reaktion Books
ISBN: 1861896905
Category : Architecture
Languages : en
Pages : 399

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Book Description
Mies van der Rohe, master of modern architecture, declared that “Architecture starts when you carefully put two bricks together.” In Travels in the History of Architecture, renowned architectural writer Robert Harbison takes a closer look at these bricks, providing an engaging and concise companion to the great themes and aesthetic movements in architecture from antiquity to the present day. Travels in the History of Architecture beings its journey with the great temples of the Egyptians and the shrines of Classical Greece and Rome and then provides a complete survey of architecture through the present day. Each chapter of this dynamic and approachable volume focuses on a movement in architectural history, including Byzantine, Baroque, Mannerism, Historicism, Functionalism, and Deconstruction. Unique to this work is Harbison’s wide-ranging approach, which draws on references and examples outside of architecture—from literature, art, sculpture, and history—to further illustrate and contextualize the themes and ideas of each period. For example, the travel writing of Pausanias illustrates the monuments of ancient Greece, a poem in praise of marble decoration reveals how the builders of the cathedral of Hagia Sophia viewed their creation, and a French rococo painting speaks to the meaning behind the design of the English landscape garden. Original, yet authoritative, Travels in the History of Architecture will be in an indispensable guide for everyone curious to know more about the world’s most famous structures, as well as for students of art and architectural history seeking a definitive introduction.