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How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built Paperback – October 1, 1995
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When a building is finished being built, that isn’t the end of its story. More than any other human artifacts, buildings improve with time—if they’re allowed to. Buildings adapt by being constantly refined and reshaped by their occupants, and in that way, architects can become artists of time rather than simply artists of space.
From the connected farmhouses of New England to I.M. Pei’s Media Lab, from the evolution of bungalows to the invention of Santa Fe Style, from Low Road military surplus buildings to a High Road English classic like Chatsworth—this is a far-ranging survey of unexplored essential territory.
Discover how structures become living organisms, shaped by the people who inhabit them, and learn how architects can harness the power of time to create enduring works of art through the interconnected worlds of design, function, and human ingenuity.
- Print length256 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherPenguin Books
- Publication dateOctober 1, 1995
- Dimensions10.76 x 0.7 x 8.41 inches
- ISBN-100140139966
- ISBN-13978-0140139969
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Mixed Media
"A stunning exploration of the design of design
How Buildings Learn will irrevocably alter yor sense of place, space, and the artifacts that shape them."
Michael Shrage, Wired
"Penetratingly original."
Philip Morrison, Scientific American
"An extremely attractive volume that will forever alter the way we respond to the buildings around us. We may also hope it will alter the way architects design buildings."
Harold Gilliam, San Francisco Chronicle
"A fascinating and indefinable book
How Buildings Learn is a hymn to entropy, a witty, heterodox book dedicated to kicking the stuffing out of the proposition that architecture is permanent and that buildings cannot adapt."
Stephen Bayley, The Times (London)
"The book's diagnosis is clear and to the poiny, and its illustrations of how buildings change are both fascinating and instructive. This is, in short, one of the rare books that every architect should read."
Thomas Fisher, editor, Progressive Architecture
"A book of good sound-bites and laser-sharp insight
No architecture students should complete their preliminary studies without reading it from cover to cover."
Patric Hannay, The Architects' Journal
About the Author
Product details
- Publisher : Penguin Books; Reprint edition (October 1, 1995)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 256 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0140139966
- ISBN-13 : 978-0140139969
- Item Weight : 1.83 pounds
- Dimensions : 10.76 x 0.7 x 8.41 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #118,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6 in Historic Architectural Preservation
- #15 in Architectural Criticism
- #68 in Architectural History
- Customer Reviews:
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All 73 years is here:
http://sb.longnow.org/SB_homepage/Bio.html
--SB
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While highly specialized rooms such as auditoria do not usually lend themselves to significant modification over time, or to strategies such as "loose fit," Brand's advice about the risk of architectural experimentation in the fundamental form of most buildings is spot on. This book is an extremely engaging read, and also serves as an excellent introduction to other key literature on architectural programming, scenario planning, the evolution of the architectural profession, and so forth.
As other reviewers have suggested, anyone who lives or works in a building can profit from reading this book. I would add that anyone who works in the construction or facility management industries, or who expects to be involved in planning a building project from the perspective of the owner or user, has a duty to seek out the sort of education that this book provides.
Kitchens in the south were the domain of domestic help, and the cultural norm was not to provide a great deal of space for the help. That tells us something about cultural attitudes even though most of us no longer can afford to employ domestic help. I would conclude the obvious then, that buildings do not learn on their own: They need to be nudged to catch up with current realities--just like school kids who want to skip school.
At present, I am trying to figure out what to do with my front porch that just collects garden furniture laden with dust. I don't need an extra room and have no desire at this time to screen the porch in. Screening is too obvious. What to do?
The small back porch has already been enclosed and has "learned" to be a mud room for our two pet canines when it's too hot or cold for them to stay outside or when it's raining.
Perhaps by the time I have finished reading this wonderful book, I'll know what to do about the idiot front porch.
I love this book and highly recommend it.
This book is primarily synthetic in its focus. There aren't any brand-new ideas here, but there are many powerful methods and ways of thinking from other disciplines that Brand has brought to bear on the problem of making buildings that stand the test of time. Those whose backgrounds are not as diverse as Brand's (and whose is, really?), will be exposed to many unconventional ways of thinking about buildings. The reader will come away with a powerful sense of possibility and a deeper understanding of the built environment.
Whether you're an expert or simply have an interest in the structures we build around ourselves, you'll find much to admire in this thought-provoking exploration of buildings through time. It's every bit as relevant and ground-breaking today as it was when it was published.
In my case, I bought this book again because I'm planning to build my house in a couple of months and I don't want it to be yet another house that falls apart in 20-30 years because it's useless and/or ugly.
Stewart Brand is thorough and observant, and he has a fascinating perspective on the built world as it relates to time. I will be reading more of his work as soon as I have the time.
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Brand calls for adaptable and liveable architecture, for buildings which can easily be repurposed to suit the ever changing needs of the inhabitants and which can grow appropriately and sensibly. The focus is also on functionality in the sense that it needs to take precedence over stylistic concerns - especially those, which are achieved at the cost of buildings being functionally impoverished as a result. In keeping with the title not only extensions and remodelling are covered in great detail, the author also devotes sufficient attention to upkeep, maintenance and appropriate design to incorporate those aspects at the construction stage already.
In addition to being a very well illustrated (myriad of evolutionary pictures of the same buildings over time) and easy to read book, one can in many instances use it as a framework as well as a practical guide when making building decisions oneself. It might not tell you specifically what material and design solution is best for each circumstance - even if it often does provide sound advice - but more importantly, it lays down some very sound fundamentals that need to be followed by your architect, if you want a building that will work well, and continue working well for its users over a long period of time.
Returning to the opening statement, I very much hope that something along the lines of this book makes it into the core curriculum of architectural education - the profession would go a long way towards redeeming itself, if the practitioners were generally knowledgeable about the holistic way of looking at buildings, including over time, as prescribed by Brand here. As for the star architects, I wish they were forced to learn the contects by heart, from cover to cover, before being allowed to design as much as an outhouse ever again.