(Part 2) Best architecture criticism books according to redditors

If anyone is interested, here are the books to read on how auto-oriented design has basically destroyed most American cities and towns:

The High Cost of Free Parking by Donald Shoup.

Suburban Nation by Andres Duany et al.

The Geography of Nowhere by James Howard Kunstler

The Option of Urbanism by Christopher Leinberger

Personally, I think this is just a lazy excuse by the Simcity developers to not even attempt to develop a realistic simulation, but the fact is, when you mandate that most citizens need to be able to drive to work and park their cars downtown, the sort of aesthetically pleasing dense cities we want to see in simulations are basically unworkable.

For identifying the elements and composing with them:

Classical Architecture by Robert Adam is really great.

Get Your House Right: Architectural Elements to Use & Avoid by Marianne Cusato is also very useful.

Regarding the second point, it comes from a reading of Vitruvius and his principle of decorum. For a good overview, I recommend Architecture, Liberty and Civic Order by Carroll William Westfall.

I keep up with the field of urbanism, strictly as an untrained, armchair land and transportation neighborhood advocate. One of the most informative is a mailing list of professionals known as PRO-URB. https://listserv.uga.edu/cgi-bin/wa?A0=PRO-URB

In my own mind, I draw a deep analogy between suburbanism and the Mass of Paul VI -- that both were borne out of 20th century modernism, and how we're now returning to both traditional architecture and the Traditional Latin Mass. One of the former PRO-URB participants, Philip Bess, a Catholic, wrote a book that ties traditional architecture to traditional societal values. https://www.amazon.com/Till-Have-Built-Jerusalem-Architecture/dp/193223697X

Although my -- now infrequent -- contributions to the mailing list are secular, I do occasionally venture into the sacred, even though such comments are not well received there, as urbanists (with the notable exception of Andres Duany himself) tend to rely on Big Government for Big Transit and thus also generally have socially liberal values.

There's this fantastic architecture book filled with beautiful sketches of Hong-Kong that covers this exact topic: ever changing/chaotic/ephemeral urban spaces & landscapes. I would highly recommend it to anyone who liked this post.

Unfortunately, I don't have it with me, and I can't find it online :(

EDIT: FOUND IT http://www.amazon.com/Urban-Design-Impermance-Peter-Cookson/dp/9889865378

Hm, late to the party.

The first example in history of an architect actually doing this was Gandy when he drew the renderings of the Bank of England as ruins.

This all comes from an old and tedious debate in architecture about whether Roman or Greek Classicism is better. So yeah, Speer was just one in a long line of architects and architectural theorists to contemplate such things. Also, Speer criticized Hitler for liking the architecture that he knew as a child (late 19th century neo-classical).

Source: Architectural Theory: Volume II - An Anthology from 1871 to 2005

Philosophy and Architecture

Tritessa by Jack Kerouac

Architectural History Study Guide

Right now I'm just reading through books that I'm not sure if I want to keep or donate for my big move.

Best happy ending yet. I'm a huge proponent of the comparison of architecture, it's writing and theory, and graphic/web design. Christopher Alexander is fantastic. I recommend going back to his earlier work before the three you mentioned called "Notes on the Synthesis of Form."

A few other great architecture books to consider:

• In Praise of Shadows by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki —
  Learning from Las Vegas by Robert Venturi —
  The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses by Juhani Pallasmaa

Huh. Reminds me of a fascinating book.

>basis of the bolshie title

I was optimistic, I thought this was going to be all about housing collectives and co-operative living decentralising the control over housing by essentially having significant amounts of the population living in large sharehouses. Keith Krumwiede’s Atlas of Another America describes these communal housing projects quite interestingly.

I literally just got my copy today as well. What I love is that he's kept it simple - there really aren't very many recipes in the book, but they are (presumably refined and 'just right'). Contrast that to something like this which doesn't even mention sourdough.

I thought that Forkish's quantities were crazy too (when I made mine a few months ago, I was using about a fifth of the quantities he uses.

https://www.amazon.com/History-Western-Architecture-David-Watkin/dp/1780675976

I have this [sweary words coloring book] (http://www.amazon.com/Swear-Word-Adult-Coloring-Book/dp/1523946237?ie=UTF8&keywords=Swear%20words%20coloring%20book&qid=1462853364&ref_=sr_1_11&sr=8-11) that I love, but it does have a few animals scattered about! As for coloring utensils I have some colored pencils but I also know a lot of people use fine tipped sharpies or gel pens too! :)

This is a great book about modern LA architecture in downtown and other locales: http://www.amazon.com/Overdrive-L-A-Constructs-Future-1940-1990/dp/1606061283

There are more factors than just "car companies are evil". It doesn't only rely on spending habits, either.

Everyone should read "The Option of Urbanism" by Christopher Leinberger. Really amazing book that explains urban geography in the United States and how we ended up the way we are today.

Urbanism is coming back, with or without public transportation, tons and tons of people are moving from rural areas back to urban spots. A lot of cities are going through an urban revitalization right now which is drawing people in. Just read the book, it explains it better than I can in a paragraph.

Shit in the dark, but if someone could do this and share this book I'd be beyond grateful. I only have an iOS device, and have been scouring the internet for months. I finally found one for $50 a few weeks ago, but they cancelled the order.

https://www.amazon.com/Architecture-Unconscious-John-Shannon-Hendrix/dp/1472456475

Here you go:

https://www.amazon.com/Architecture-101-Ziggurats-Essential-Materials/dp/1440590079?keywords=architecture+101&qid=1539374545&s=Books&sr=1-1&ref=sr_1_1

https://www.amazon.com/Whats-Great-About-Eiffel-Tower/dp/178067919X?keywords=whats+so+great+about+the+eiffel+tower&qid=1539374562&s=Books&sr=1-1-catcorr&ref=sr_1_1