“A Whole Bunch of Dorics” Book Club
At the beginning of 2020, I started a “thinking in architecture” book club. Meeting monthly, we are a group with varied backgrounds, which keeps those of us in the design world from resulting to mere complaining. If you are interested in joining (all are welcome), please email me directly.
There’s a lot to think about these days in our discipline: Why do designers even design things one way over another? When should consistency be preferred over diversity? How does architecture demonstrate the way we perceive the relationship between ourselves and others? Who should be able to act as a guide to frame “big data” into things designers can use as principles? Where is it ethical to design in relation to climate change? Why didn't mere functionality last as the fundamental decision-maker? What is the goal of any of this and who is it for? Is it all subjective?
We have discussed the following topics:
2020
- February: Loss of Meaning in Architecture - This Will Kill That
- March: Utopia and the Capitalist City - Manfredi Tafuri’s Architecture and Utopia and Metropolis (1927)
- April: Poetry of Architecture - excerpts from both Alberto Campo Baeza’s The Built Idea and Alain de Botton’s Architecture of Happiness
- May: Virtues of Buildings - Excerpt from Alain de Botton’s Architecture of Happiness
- June: Deep Dive into Alvaro Siza - Siza chapter from Moneo’s Anxieties & Strategies
- August: Barbarella in the Seidling - Guest led by Thomas Wensing with readings on Max Bill and Reynor Banham’s A Home is not a House
- Septemeber: Organicism in architecture - brief reading from Frank Lloyd Wright paired with excerpts from Paola Antonelli’s Neri Oxman: Material Ecology
- October: You Have to Pay for the Public Life - Charles Moore
- November: Wings of Desire - Wim Wenders, 1985
- December: Critical Regionalism and Contemporary Authenticity - Critical Regionalism: modern architecture and cultural identity by Kenneth Frampton and On Performative Regionalism by Barbara L. Allen - led in partnership with Bob Anderson
2021
- February: In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki. Led in partnership with Caroline Emerson.
- March: Architecture But at What Cost - Koolhaas Houselife by Beka & Lemoine and Magical Architecture by Frederick Kiesler
- April:Propaedeutic Contribution to the Teaching of Architectural Theory by Lina Bo Bardi. Led in partnership with Danielle Sanchick