In this illuminating book, Witold Rybczynski walks us through five centuries of homes both great and small, from the smoke-filled manor halls of the Middle Ages to the Ralph Lauren–designed environments of today. On a house tour like no other—one that delightfully explicates the very idea of "home"—you'll see how social and cultural changes influenced styles of decoration and furnishing, learn the connection between wall-hung religious tapestries and wall-to-wall carpeting, discover how so...

The prize-winning scholar's "expert, holistic, down-to-earth guide" to the beauty and function of architecture ( Booklist , starred review).We spend most of our days and nights in buildings. They are the setting of our everyday lives as well as a public art form. Yet architecture remains a mystery to most of us. In How Architecture Works, Witold Rybczynski, a renowned critic and winner of the Vincent Scully Prize f...

**“[A] compact epic.… Brisk, lucid and enjoyable.” —Richard Snow, Wall Street JournalThe renowned design writer on the extraordinary history of car design.**In this lively and entertaining work, Witold Rybczynski—hailed as “one of the best writers on design working today” by Publishers Weekly—tells the story of the most distinctive cars in history and the artists, engineers, dreamers, and gearheads who created them. Delving into more than 170 years of inge...

An inviting exploration of architecture across cultures and centuries by one of the field’s eminent authorsIn this sweeping history, from the Stone Age to the present day, Witold Rybczynski shows how architectural ideals have been affected by technological, economic, and social changes—and by changes in taste. The host of examples ranges from places of worship such as Hagia Sophia and Brunelleschi’s Duomo to living spaces such as the Katsura Imperial Villa and the ...

A deep exploration of modern life that examines our cities, public places, and homes.Following How Architecture Works, Witold Rybczynski casts a seasoned critical eye over the modern scene with Mysteries of the Mall. His subject is nothing less than the broad setting of our metropolitan world.In thirty-five discerning essays, Rybczynski ranges over subjects as varied as shopping malls, Central Park, the Paris opera house, and America's shrin...

Have you ever wondered where rocking chairs came from, or why cheap plastic chairs are suddenly everywhere?In Now I Sit Me Down, the distinguished architect and writer Witold Rybczynski chronicles the history of the chair from the folding stools of pharaonic Egypt to the ubiquitous stackable monobloc chairs of today. He tells the stories of the inventor of the bentwood chair, Michael Thonet, and of the creators of the first molded-plywood chair, Charles and Ray Eames. He re...

A captivating chronicle of building in modern-day Charleston, making a case for architecture based on historical precedent, local context, and the ability to delightCharleston, South Carolina, which boasts America’s first historic district, is known for its palmetto-lined streets and picturesque houses. The Holy City, named for its profusion of churches, exudes an irresistible charm. Award-winning author and cultural critic Witold Rybczynski unfolds a series of sto...

Witold Rybczynski takes us on an extraordinary odyssey as he tells the story of designing and building his own house. His project began as a workshed, but through a series of “happy accidents,” the structure gradually evolved into a full-fledged house.In tracing this evolution, he touches on matters both theoretical and practical, writing on such diverse topics as the ritualistic origins of the elements of classical architecture and the connections between dress and habitation. He ...

“We work,” Aristotle wrote, “in order to have leisure.” Today, this is still true. But is the leisure that Aristotle spoke of—the freedom to do nothing—the same as the leisure we look forward to each weekend?There have always been breaks from the routine of work—taboo days, market days, public festivals, holy days—we couldn’t survive without them. In Waiting for the Weekend, Witold Rybczynski unfolds the history and evolution of leisure time in Western civilization, from A...

In this lively and entertaining work, Witold Rybczynski—hailed as "one of the best writers on design working today" by Publishers Weekly—tells the story of the most distinctive cars in history and the artists, engineers, dreamers, and gearheads who created them. Delving into more than 170 years of ingenuity in design, technology, and engineering, he takes us from Carl Benz's three-wheel motorcar in 1855 to the present-day shift to electric cars. Along the way, he looks at the emer...

帶你走過建築的故事，探索人類歷史上最巨大、實用且傳世久遠的藝術品◎英語世界最優秀的建築作家、國際建築大獎「文森斯庫里獎」得主◎繼《讀建築》後時隔10年又一力作◎跨越建築專業與大眾閱讀的最佳建築入門讀物本書對廣大讀者來說易於理解，對在職建築師來說則充滿智慧。——William Rawn 建築師事務所創始合夥人建築物與人有著密切的連繫，唯有建築物中有人，建築物才能合理存在。——黎辛斯基建築是你我生活的一部分，每座建築都反映其時代的美學與技術，是建築理念與工法相互配合與角力的結果。建築詩人黎辛斯基以七十九歲高齡精選了影響深遠且現在還能看得見的經典建築，探索建築理念如何受到社會、技術、經濟和品味變化的影響，且反映人類對於美與秩序的追求，以及最重要的是，建築能持續供人使用的價值。□7000年來最具代表性的百大建築奇蹟本書精選西元前5世紀到21世紀百大建築，包括耳熟能詳的聖索菲亞、聖母百花大教堂、桂離宮、阿爾罕布拉宮、林肯紀念堂、雪梨歌劇...

結合動力與美汽車設計的百年風華◎收錄106張經典車款手繪圖，從線條中感受設計之美◎第一本從設計角度回顧汽車發展的歷史記述汽車已經是都市生活的一部分。同時，各式車款設計的演變，也代表了技術的革新與時代的流動。本書將從愛車人的角度，回顧106輛經典的車款，看見汽車誕生140年來的全球影響。日本汽車如何插旗國際，成為通行世界的大眾車款？福斯小巴如何成為嬉皮年代的反骨標誌？戰後經濟如何催生經典小車Mini未來的電動車會變成什麼樣子？140年的汽車工藝從1885年賓士發明第一台引擎動力汽車，到現今電動車逐漸引領流行，汽車已經成為現代社會的重要標誌。在建築評論家，同時也是車痴的黎辛斯基眼中，汽車設計就像是建築，隱含著技術的創新與文化的流變。自由奔騰，汽車的黃金年代二十世紀是美國的時代，也是汽車的黃金年代。福特T型車開啟了大量製造的年代，也帶動了汽車文化的興起。在戰後的嬉皮世代裡，福斯小巴躍上舞台，成為了一種次文...