Architecture Is Elementary

by Winters, Nathan B.

• ISBN13: 9781586858292
• ISBN10: 1586858297
• Edition: Revised
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-09-30
• Publisher: Gibbs Smith

Summary

Awarded for its unique ink illustrations, this newly revised edition of Architecture is Elementary is a self-instruction book that concisely and coherently discusses the principles of architectural design. Stimulating lessons challenge the lay person and trigger creative responses. New features include a fresh design and layout, 50 new illustrations of recent and planned buildings, and new lessons that update the book for the world of 21st-century architecture.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Alike and Different

Order

Edges

Shapes

Size by Comparing

Built Environment

Repetition and Rhythm

Units and Clusters

Balance

Pattern

Measuring by Eye and Ruler

Relating Parts of the Whole

Contrast

Architecture in Environment

Planes

Function and Form

Shapes from Nature

Scale

Considering All Views

Optical Weight

Rhythm, Pattern, Movement

A Identifying Architectural Styles

B Ancient World Period

C Early Christian Period

D Medieval Period

E Renaissance Period

F Baroque Period

G Revolutionary Period

H Twentieth-Century Style

Orders of Architecture

Architectural Periods and Styles in Your Community

Concave and Convex Forms

Interesting Divisions of Space

Symbolism (Building "Talk")

Proportion

Golden Mean

Building Design for Special Needs

Light and Shadow-Solar Energy

Triangles

Positive and Negative Forms and Spaces

Mass Equals Geometric Bulk

Symmetrical and Asymmetrical Space

Roof Systems

Organic and Mechanical Structures

Hidden Patterns

Complexity and Simplicity-A Balance

Shadows

Extending Points, Lines, and Planes to Make Form and Volume

Architectural Groupings and Clusters

Color

City Planning

Contrast as Used by Architects

Order-the Most important Design Concept

Proportion and Regulating Lines

Adjusting Positive and Negative Spaces

Naming Parts of Structures and Processes

Planning Building Sites

Postmodern, "Green" Architecture, and Deconstructivism

Time Lines

Glossary

Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

Excerpts

"Ruskin said: 'Great nations write their autobiographies in three manuscripts, the book of their deeds, the book of their words and the book of their art. Not one of these books can be understood unless we read the two others, but of the three the only trustworthy one is the last.' On the whole I think this is true. If I had to say which was telling the truth about society, a speech by a minister of housing or the actual buildings put up in his time, I should believe the buildings." -Kenneth Clark Why Study Architecture? Years of research indicate that the lay public has not grown much beyond the fourth grade level in visual literacy. The danger in leaving our culture dangling at the fourth grade level visually is that it is a human tendency not to miss that which we do not know. Quality, then, when not imagined or recognized, is not even missed-much to the joy of mediocrity and her friends congregating on each corner. One of the basic maturities of education is "environmental." The root words of environment declare it to mean the sum total of influences that modify and determine the development of life or character. In all of the earth's history, no culture-no time-has been more in need, been more concerned with environment. We want to preserve rare species, to have clean air and pure water, to enjoy rich forests and wilderness areas. The built environment is one of the major environmental concerns of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The built environment comes under attack from two flanks-historical and aesthetic. The historical attack is actually antihistorical. Many of our finest buildings have become rare species in need of protection. Natural predators in the form of business, government, building codes, demolition crews and remodelers, and modernizers worship at the altar of "progress" as they faithfully destroy our cultural heritage.