Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Unwin, Simon

Titel

Shadow: The architectural power of withholding light

Auflage

1st edition.

Ort / Verlag

Oxford: Routledge

Erscheinungsjahr

2020

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Architecture is such a rich and subtle field of human creativity that it is impossible to encapsulate it completely in a single book. I tried to describe some of the basics in an earlier book, Analysing Architecture, which has now appeared in four editions, increasing in size each time. But even though that book has almost doubled in content, there is more to cover. So, rather than make the original even heavier, I have decided to add further chapters as a series of separate smaller volumes. These Analysing Architecture Notebooks are the new chapters I would have added to Analysing Architecture had not excessive size become a concern. The series format also allows me to explore topics at greater length than if I were confined to just a few extra pages in the original book. Nevertheless, the shared aim remains the same: to explore and expose the workings of architecture in ways that might help those who face the challenges of doing it. Each of these Analysing Architecture Notebooks is devoted to a particular theme in understanding the rich and varied workings of architecture. They can be thought of as addenda to the foundation volume Analysing Architecture, which first appeared in 1997 and has subsequently been enlarged in three further editions. Examining these extra themes as a series of Notebooks, rather than as additional chapters in future editions, allows greater space for more detailed exploration of a wider variety of examples, whilst avoiding the risk of the original book becoming unwieldy. Shadows may be insubstantial but they are, nevertheless, an important element in architecture. In prehistoric times we sought shade as a refuge from the hot sun and chilling rain. Through history architects have used shadows to draw, to mould form, to paint pictures, to orchestrate atmosphere, to indicate the passing of time … as well as to identify place. Sometimes shadow can be the substance of architecture.