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For an Architecture of Reality
0930829050|9780930829056. For an Architecture of Reality published in the year 1992. The author of this book is Michael Benedikt . We have a dedicated page displaying collection of Michael Benedikt books here. This is the Paperback version of the title "For an Architecture of Reality ". For an Architecture of Reality is currently Available with us.
74 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 1988
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
March 15, 2007
great book about the importance of "real" architecture; not "garlands that are not garlands" (ex: Michael graves building in downtown portland). this book really pushed the envelope of my understanding on why turn of the century industrial warehouse buildings are such amazingly adaptable creations. contrast to the dry-wall, glass-facade skyscraper. fit to last a maximum of eighty dreary years, with little to no hope for retrofit, while our warehouses will reinvent themselves for centuries. benedikt states: "a building should not be slave to its program," and i agree. i do get lost in some of his descriptions of "nature", as "arbitrary" and innevitable; but who has not had a problem with the litany of writers, who with their vague and undeveloped descriptions of nature topple into a sandbox of mud? this wont be the first or the last time. Significant buildings are achieved and not provided...they are built over time by someone rather than arriving all but ready-made by strangers. benedikt instills a sense of what loss we feel when our buildings appropriate a disintegrated, misinterpretted and poorly crafted style in the name of "progress". lets move to austin and sit in on his lectures. shall we?
April 19, 2014
Although I may not agree with all the claims made in this book, it really is an amazing read. Michael Benedikt's observations have really changed the way I view the relationship between art and reality. This made for a wonderful introduction to architectural theory and I would strongly recommend giving this small book a read.
December 28, 2010
easy read since text is on every other page, but overall rather presumptuous. he doesn't really provide enough detail to analyze arguments.
October 10, 2022
Quick, beautiful and well printed. I am grateful to have picked this up randomly in an old bookshop. I was intrigued about buildings and their relationship with reality. While I am unfamiliar with the progression of architecture and its movements, I found the skepticism of the modernists and the rejection of post-capitalist junk-spaces legitimate. I imagine buildings being one with their materiality, utility, and potential. These buildings are real to us and accessed — think cafes, churches, and warehouses. They sustain themselves through time, age, and contain stories of inhabitance. They align themselves within the legacy of the hut, the dwelling and the construction of ancient society. I felt this text was spiritual. And I like my buildings that way too. I imagine empty spaces containing the ineffable.
January 10, 2020
This short but powerful book deals with the subject of reality in architecture and the identification of a building as 'real'. I found that it privileged the phenomenal nature of architecture without giving due diligence to the importance of its conceptual or 'abstract' qualities. Being viewed in the same vain as art, architecture represents the nexus of the natural work 'as is' and the human understanding of that world. As such, it is the dualistic nature between these two perceptions that is critical element of significant architecture; to be of this world but also of the mind and symbolize the ideals of humanity.
January 9, 2018
Michael Benedikt’s manifesto deals with postmodernism and the disconnection from reality. He argues that an architecture of high realism is necessary to provide presence, significance, materiality and emptiness. These are the concepts that describe high realism in architecture and the author defends this throughout his work.
February 9, 2023
One of the most important books I've read on modern aesthetics.
August 8, 2011
Back in my early nineties undergrad days, a few of my colleagues embraced Benedikt’s extended essay as something of a Bible. Inspired, I ran out, located it in a used bookshop, purchased it, and promptly sat down to read all 68 pages about 18 years later. This was, therefore, a tad out of date (as is this “review” since I read it like three months ago and I’ve been to Vegas since…). However, as I was somewhat conscious around the time this was penned and I have indeed read a few books in the interim, I can both understand its place within that time and propose that it still has a certain, perhaps even equal amount of validity within our globe-hopping, “starchitect” milieu.
Contextually speaking, this is an obvious reaction against the prevailing modus operandi of “Post Modern” architecture that, circa 1988, had a certain acceptance, amazingly, in both the academic and practical realms of the profession as well as in the field of general developer-developments. Think of all the kitche, dryvit-clad, historicistoid suburban strip malls, non-strip malls, and housing developments thrown up coast-to-coast. Furthermore, the rumblings out of/in/with Columbia, Zaha’s office, OMA’s increasingly “real” work, a number of SoCal offices, and Eisenman’s embrace of digital technology were soon to lead (officially, I suppose, in 1989) to a new, dramatic reaction to PoMo that Benedikt’s essay also could poignantly counteract. In short, this parallels Kenneth Frampton’s “Critical Regionalism” but is composed in a more experiential, less acerbic/academic manner that was certainly easier to digest.
Positioning such “un-real” constructs as Johnson’s School of Architecture building in Houston and work of the Venturis and Graves against old masonry walls, various vernacular Texan and Mexican markets, cafes, and churches, and an Agrest Gandelsonas building in Argentina (and, coincidentally I’m sure, a house under construction and designed by one Michael Benedikt), the author stays away from direct prescriptions. This is more about the experiential, haptic, and I guess, weighty content of a building that serves a particular purpose in a particular context. There’s a tendency to approach this as pieces - edge, staircase, street sign, shadow, roof - that tilts towards Christopher Alexander’s “patterns” published some time before. However Benedikt keeps this more abstract. The tone and proclamations are more metaphysical than specifically physical (and the images representing the physical corollaries aren’t exactly glossy, full page money-shots). Despite the poetic demeanor of this, there’s a definite clarity and groundedness. My guess is that Benedikt’s short book should prove engaging to those who locate this in a used bookshop and promptly sit down to read tomorrow, or in 2029.
Contextually speaking, this is an obvious reaction against the prevailing modus operandi of “Post Modern” architecture that, circa 1988, had a certain acceptance, amazingly, in both the academic and practical realms of the profession as well as in the field of general developer-developments. Think of all the kitche, dryvit-clad, historicistoid suburban strip malls, non-strip malls, and housing developments thrown up coast-to-coast. Furthermore, the rumblings out of/in/with Columbia, Zaha’s office, OMA’s increasingly “real” work, a number of SoCal offices, and Eisenman’s embrace of digital technology were soon to lead (officially, I suppose, in 1989) to a new, dramatic reaction to PoMo that Benedikt’s essay also could poignantly counteract. In short, this parallels Kenneth Frampton’s “Critical Regionalism” but is composed in a more experiential, less acerbic/academic manner that was certainly easier to digest.
Positioning such “un-real” constructs as Johnson’s School of Architecture building in Houston and work of the Venturis and Graves against old masonry walls, various vernacular Texan and Mexican markets, cafes, and churches, and an Agrest Gandelsonas building in Argentina (and, coincidentally I’m sure, a house under construction and designed by one Michael Benedikt), the author stays away from direct prescriptions. This is more about the experiential, haptic, and I guess, weighty content of a building that serves a particular purpose in a particular context. There’s a tendency to approach this as pieces - edge, staircase, street sign, shadow, roof - that tilts towards Christopher Alexander’s “patterns” published some time before. However Benedikt keeps this more abstract. The tone and proclamations are more metaphysical than specifically physical (and the images representing the physical corollaries aren’t exactly glossy, full page money-shots). Despite the poetic demeanor of this, there’s a definite clarity and groundedness. My guess is that Benedikt’s short book should prove engaging to those who locate this in a used bookshop and promptly sit down to read tomorrow, or in 2029.
December 12, 2008
get it, read it, believe in reality
July 10, 2012
A short treatise on what is reality from an architect professor's point of view, this is an enlightening, quick read that I am already planning to read again and again in the years to come.
August 6, 2014
I enjoyed reading it. Though, I believe that each architectural style has a different understanding of reality.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews