New Sacred Architecture
Author: Phyllis Richardson
Laurence King Publishers 2004
ISBN: 1856693848
In her book Phyllis Richardson offers an overview of the present developments in global, not merely Christian, ecclesiastical architecture. 41 churches, synagogues, mosques and temples, all recently completed, answer the question of how belief is presently expressed architecturally. Richardson has subdivided the buildings, which are illustrated with large colour plates and precisely documented with plans, into five chapters.
Special emphasis is placed on the issues of location, scale and entertainment quality of the buildings; religious contents, and therefore coherent occupancy, are considered less important. The book offers hardly any recourse to possible historic archetypes. Nevertheless it might at be difficult at the present time to find any other similar “intercultural” survey of worldwide ecclesiastical architecture.
Modern Architecture:
A Critical History 3rd Edition
Author: Kenneth Frampton
Thames & Hudson 1992
ISBN 0500202575
Since its original publication in the 1980s, this retrospective of architectural modernism has become a classic. The book, which, since the age of Post-Modernism, has frequently been summarised as pleading for the modern movement, is impressive for the density of its content and the author’s extensive knowledge.
Frampton succeeds in bringing the almost inextricable threads of development of 20th century architecture into a stringent narrative order. His kind of presentation is not always easy to comprehend, particularly for the layman, especially as he aims to communicate the most significant buildings and their architects as well as the mindset that ‘binds Modernism at heart”. In the third edition, published in 1992, Frampton updates the history to the early 1990s and historically classifies more recent movements, such as deconstructivism.
Delirious New York:
A Retroactive Manifesto for Manhattan
Author: Rem Koolhaas
Monacelli 1997
ISBN 1885254008
The book, which made Rem Koolhaas famous almost overnight, is an analysis of and tribute to his former home, New York City. At the same time, he laid the foundation for subsequent publications by his architect practice, OMA. Language and presentation are as rich in facts and images as they are associative; the reader learns a great deal worth knowing about the ‘Big Apple’, and Koolhaas’ ever-provoking thesis coerces the reader personally to reflect on the past and future of the world’s metropolises.
Although Koolhaas makes New York his theme and refers to the city at one point as the ‘Rosetta Stone’ that makes it possible to decipher the 20th century, ‘Delirious New York‘ has, for good reason, been accepted as the manifesto of ‘urbanness’ worldwide, with its radius of action reaching far beyond Manhattan itself.
A Pattern Language:
Towns,Buildings, Construction
Author: Christopher W. Alexander
Oxford University Press 1977
ISBN 0195019199
With their ground-breaking, 1,000- page-plus presentation of a ‘Pattern Language’ for town planning and architecture, Christopher Alexander and his co-authors offer the reader plenty of stimulation for the design of living environment appropriate for human beings. The 250 or so chapters range from the organisation of entire states to the ideal positioning of windows in living spaces. Some of the ideas are rather speculative and others utterly utopian. What remains is an almost exuberant abundance of thought-provoking discourses on all aspects of our architectural environment.
His approach starting from the human being and his recourse to timeless values of building has not made ‘A Pattern Language’ the most quoted publication ever printed, but it is undoubtedly one of the most significant architecture books of the 20th century.