How does the experience of turning a door handle, opening a door from one space to lead into another, affect us? It is no wonder that the door, one of the most elemental architectural forms, has such metaphorical richness. But even on a purely physical human level, the cold touch of a brass handle or the swish of a sliding screen gives rise to an emotional reaction, sometimes modest, occasionally profound.This book aims to understand how these everyday acts in space are influenced ...

A thought-provoking consideration of how architecture, from a doorknob to a city plan, can influence human behaviorHow does the experience of turning a door handle, opening a door from one space into another, affect us? It is no wonder that the door, one of the most elemental architectural forms, has such metaphorical richness. But even on a purely physical human level, the cold touch of a brass handle or the swish of a sliding screen gives rise to an emotional rea...

Shaker buildings have long been admired for their simplicity of design and sturdy craftsmanship, with form always following function. Over the years, their distinctive physical characteristics have invited as much study as imitation. Their clean, unadorned lines have been said to reflect core Shaker beliefs such as honesty, integrity, purity, and perfection. In this book, Henry Plummer focuses on the use of natural light in Shaker architecture, noting that Shaker builders manipulated light...

A dazzling and generously illustrated journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations.One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. In The Architecture of ...

“I want to put the mystery back into the heart of garden design, where it needs to be. It’s what lures you in through the gate, keeps you moving through the landscape, and fills you with excitement along the way. The sense of mystery is what turns a mere display of plants, paths, and ornaments into an adventure.”—James van SwedenGuided by world-renowned landscape architect James van Sweden and horticulture expert Tom Christopher, any gardener can learn the s...

A visit to an art gallery can be a baffling experience - a bewildering parade of paintings, sculptures, artists and movements with little perspective on how they all fit together. 50 Art Ideas you Really Need to Know is here to help. For all those who don't know their Degas from Dali or their Monet from their Mondrian, this informative and insightful guide discusses 50 of the most important and influential concepts in art from the Ancient Greeks to the present.Taking in the definin...

From Holbein to Hockney, from Norman Rockwell to Pablo Picasso, from sixteenth-century Rome to 1980s SoHo, Robert Hughes looks with love, loathing, warmth, wit and authority at a wide range of art and artists, good, bad, past and present.As art critic for Time magazine, internationally acclaimed for his study of modern art, The Shock of the New, he is perhaps America’s most widely read and admired writer on art. In this book: nearly a hundred of his finest essays o...

An exploration of the mutual attraction between architecture and other forms of contemporary art from the author of Form Follows Libido.In this fresh, insightful, and beautifully illustrated book, renowned architectural critic and scholar Sylvia Lavin develops the concept of "kissing" to describe the growing intimacy between architecture and new types of art—particularly multimedia installations that take place in and on the surfaces of buildings—and to cap...

Known for her well-reasoned and passionately held beliefs about architecture, Ada Louise Huxtable has captivated readers across the country for decades, in the process becoming one of the best known critics in the United States. Her brilliance over so many years is unmatched, and her range has always been vast-from a plea to save a particular architectural treasure to an ongoing discussion about whether modern architecture is dead. Her keen eye and vivid writing have reinforced to readers ...

The 50 most significant principles and styles in architecture, each explained in half a minute. The bestselling 30-Second series offers a new approach to learning about those subjects you feel you should really understand. Every title takes a popular topic and dissects it into the 50 most significant ideas at its heart. Each idea, no matter how complex, is explained using a mere two pages, 300 words, and one picture: all easily digested in only half a minute. 30-Second Architecture present...

A beautifully illustrated hundred-year history of modern art, from cubism to pop and avant-guard. More than 250 color photos.

One of the nation’s chief architecture critics reveals how the environments we build profoundly shape our feelings, memories, and well-being, and argues that we must harness this knowledge to construct a world better suited to human experienceTaking us on a fascinating journey through some of the world’s best and worst landscapes, buildings, and cityscapes, Sarah Williams Goldhagen draws from recent research in cognitive neuroscience and psychology to demonstrate h...