Architecture and Narrative: The Formation of Space and Cultural Meaning

by Psarra; Sophia

• ISBN13: 9780415343763
• ISBN10: 0415343763
• Edition: 1st
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2009-03-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Looking at how meaning is constructed in buildings and how it is communicated to the viewer, this intriguing study will be of interest to anyone concerned with architecture and culture; from architects to museum specialists and exhibition designers.

Author Biography

Sophia Psarra is Associate Professor of Architecture at the Alfred Taubman College of Architecture and Urban Planning at the University of Michigan, USA. She has collaborated with leading cultural institutions in the UK and the US on issues of spatial organization, planning of exhibitions and visitor experience.

Table of Contents

List of illustration credits	p. ix
Preface	p. xii
Acknowledgments	p. xiii
Introduction	p. 1
Foundations	p. 17
The Parthenon and the Erechtheion: the spatial formation of place, politics and myth	p. 19
Invisible surface: reflections in Mies van der Rohe's Barcelona Pavilion	p. 43
Architecture and Narrative in Literature	p. 65
'The book and the labyrinth were one and the same': narrative and architecture in Borges' fictions	p. 67
(Th)reading the Library: spatial and mathematical journeys in Borges' Library of Babel	p. 89
Spatial and Narrative Interactions	p. 109
Soane through the looking-glass: the house-museum of Sir John Soane	p. 111
Victorian knowledge: the Natural History Museum, London and the Art Gallery and Museum, Kelvingrove, Glasgow	p. 137
Contemporary experience: the Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh and the Burrell Collection, Glasgow	p. 161
Tracing the modern: space, display and exploration in the Museum of Modern Art, New York	p. 185
Theoretical Synthesis	p. 211
Comparative discussion	p. 213
The formation of space and cultural meaning	p. 233
Notes	p. 251
Bibliography	p. 266
Index	p. 278
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