Mass Identity Architecture
I’m not sure why, but during the stresses of my MA I couldn’t read this book for long before it gave me a headache. However, now that I have some oxygen I am realising the relevences that are being drawn by the late Jean Baudrillard between architecture and society. There is a fantastic chapter called “The Rise Of The Object: The End Of Culture” which is thought provoking enough. The detailed passages explore normally mundane places like the drugstore and how it’s an archetypal representation of the consumer society. I have yet to read it thoroughly, but I find that I am always hit in the face by Baudrillards descriptive poetics that are a pleasure to read. I am also reading his book “America” on and off and this too stops you in your tracks on a regular basis as you consider and digest the mind-bomb that you have been handed.
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A decade or so ago I might not have given books such high approval. Since deciding to withdraw myself from the comma inducing Television by actually choosing to disconnect from this particular service of media distribution I’ve realised the level to which TV viewers are being dumbed down (for want of a nicer phrase). It seems that even the method of presentation of programmes like the Money Programme and Panorama are often biased, badly researched and worst of all inconclusive. I found myself questioning the narrator pointing out the biased points and asking the TV “what about x and y”. (Don’t even start me off on the format of Question Time!)
New Books
I have purchased some new books for inspiration. I can wholeheartedly recommend Forbidden Places by Sylvain Margaine. The imagery inside is superb. Carefully taken shots of disused places displaying fragments of their history and offering us narratives from the past of a “better” time. In this context “better” is somewhat subjective as the places include Sanitariums, Mental Hospitals, old Theaters and Industrial Complexes. Once I pick this book up I find it difficult to put down even though I have read most of the text and viewed every page several times now.
The second book, Concepts Of Space In Traditional Indian Architecture is a study of the way that sacred Indian Architecture is arranged. This is interesting from a spiritual point of view but more importantly the illustrations show that the temples or Mandirs are often very high and go very deep into the ground. I think that they are a feat of engineering and incredibly beautiful to look at. The old spaces that are discussed in the book appear to have lots of clever uses of light and have many nooks that seem to store darkness in comparison to the sometimes dramatic shafts of light that can be seen. I think that modelling one of these places, even in block form would be an interesting task. But would be a great way to explore the use of light.
Architecture is effectively a text book for anyone dealing with buildings and their surrounding spaces. There are many good illustrations and the main feature for me is the Architects Glossary and the excellent layout of the book that teaches you so so much. I flicked through this a couple of times whilst at Uni, but didn’t take it out because it’s a big book and I tended to already have a bag full. Now that I own a copy I realise how useful and relevant this was to my study. The paper I wrote that includes a section about personal space is clearly explained in this book – it was nice to have my choice to include this in my work confirmed by a (somewhat acclaimed) academic.
Links:
Forbidden Places : http://www.amazon.co.uk/FORBIDDEN-PLACES-Exploring-abandoned-heritage/dp/2915807825/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305664484&sr=1-1
Concepts Of Space In Traditional Indian Architecture : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Concept-Space-Traditional-Indian-Architecture/dp/1890206628/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1305664576&sr=1-1
Architecture – Form, Space & Order : http://www.amazon.co.uk/Architecture-Francis-D-K-Ching/dp/0471752169/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305664650&sr=1-1
