Architecture and Order - Approaches to Social Space
For over a decade, archaeologists have developed a language with which to describe architecture's symbolic use of space, but, as yet, there is no single study of this field nor have archaeologists sufficiently defined their discipline's interaction with architecture and anthropology. Architecture and Order addresses these and other long ignored topics. Along with architectural case studies are essays which discuss everything from studies of hunter-gatherer camp organization to the use of space in classical and medieval worlds. These essays manage to simultaneously explore aspects of social, psychiatric and architectural theory.
In the 1960s, the architects of Britain's Archigram group and Archigram magazine turned away from conventional architecture to propose cities that move and houses worn like suits of clothes. In drawings inspired by pop art and psychedelia, architecture floated away, tethered by wires, gantries, tubes, and trucks. In Archigram: Architecture without Architecture, Simon Sadler argues that Archigram's sense of fun takes its place beside the other cultural agitants of the 1960s, originating attitudes and techniques that became standard for architects rethinking social space and building technology.
Bringing together interior design and architectural theory, this exciting text looks at the common practices of building alteration, reconsidering established ideas and methods, to initiate the creation of a theory of the interior or interventional design.
Saracen Strongholds 1100 - 1500 - The Central and Eastern Islamic Lands
By the time of the Crusades, the Islamic world had already developed its own sophisticated styles of fortification. Distinctive and highly effective, the region's unique military architecture continued to evolve in response to the Crusader and Mongol threats, and also drew upon the traditions of their foes and neighbours. The resulting Islamic concepts of military architecture had an influence upon fortifications in Western Europe, including Italy and the Iberian Peninsula. However, Islamic fortifications continued to focus upon the defence of cities and frontiers rather than providing security for feudal aristocracies, as was increasingly the case in Europe.
Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction
This significant reader brings together for the first time the most important essays concerning the interesting subjects of gender, space and architecture. Carefully structured and with numerous introductory essays, it guides the reader through theoretical and multi-disciplinary texts to direct considerations of gender in relation to particular architectural sites, projects and ideas. This collection marks a seminal point in gender and architecture, both summarising core debates and pointing toward new diretions and discussions for the future.
