Looking Around
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$24.00
Published on Dec 01, 1993 | 320 Pages
Published on Dec 01, 1993 | 320 Pages
Looking Around is about architecture as an art of compromisebetween beauty and function, aspiration and engineering, builders and clients. It is the story of the Seagram Building in New York and the Wexner Center for the Visual Arts in Columbus, Ohioa museum that opened without a single painting on view, so that critics could better appreciate its design. But what of the visitors who want a building that displays art well? What of those who work in the building? Looking Around explores the notion of the architect as superstar and assesses giants from Palladio to Michael Graves, styles from classicism to high tech. It demonstrates how architecture actually worksor doesn’tin corporate headquarters, airports, private homes, and the special buildings designed to represent our civilization.
For all its erudition, Looking Around is also bracingly straightforward. Rybczynski looks closely and critically at structures that may once have dazzled us with their ostentation and expense, and sees them as triumphs or failuresof aesthetic ideals and of lasting function. This is a fascinating and illuminating book about an art form integral to our lives.
Author
Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski is an architect and emeritus professor of urbanism at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of twenty-two books, including the best-selling Home, City Life, and The Story of Architecture. He lives in Philadelphia.
Learn More about Witold Rybczynski