Why Architecture Matters

292 Pages·2009·1.23 MB·English

by  Paul Goldberger

why architecture matters
y
yale
university
press
new haven
and
london
X
paul
goldberger
why
architecture
matters
Disclaimer: Some images in the printed version of this
book are not available for inclusion in the eBook.
Copyright ∫ 2009 Published with assistance from the Louis Stern Memorial Fund.
by Paul Goldberger. Designed by Nancy Ovedovitz and set in Adobe Garamond
All rights reserved. type by Keystone Typesetting, Inc., Orwigsburg,
This book may not be Pennsylvania. Printed in the United States of America.
reproduced, in whole Photo editor: Natalie Matutschovsky
or in part, including
illustrations, in any Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
form (beyond that Goldberger, Paul.
copying permitted by Why architecture matters / Paul Goldberger.
Sections 107 and 108 p. cm.
of the U.S. Copyright Includes bibliographical references and index.
Law and except by isbn 978-0-300-14430-7 (cloth : alk. paper)
reviewers for the 1. Architecture—Psychological aspects. 2. Architecture and
public press), without society. I. Title.
written permission na2540.g63 2009
from the publishers. 720.1%03—dc22 2009011071
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British
Library.
This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO
Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
also by paul goldberger
The City Observed, New York: An Architectural Guide to
Manhattan
The Skyscraper
On the Rise: Architecture and Design in a Post-modern Age
Houses of the Hamptons
Manhattan Unfurled (with Matteo Pericoli)
The World Trade Center Remembered
Up from Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of
New York
Beyond the Dunes (with Jake Rajs)
For Susan, Adam, Ben, and Alex;
Delphine, Thibeaux, and Josephine
and for Vincent Scully
contents
Introduction ix
one Meaning, Culture, and Symbol 1
two Challenge and Comfort 41
three Architecture as Object 65
four Architecture as Space 109
five Architecture and Memory 139
six Buildings and Time 171
seven Buildings and the Making of Place 212
Glossary 237
A Note on Bibliography 247
Acknowledgments 253
Illustration Credits 257
Index 259
introduction
We could not live without architecture, but that is not why it
matters. The purpose of this book is to explain what buildings do
beyond keeping us out of the rain. Architecture may be able to
stake a claim to being necessary to our lives in a way that poetry
and literature and painting cannot, but the fact that buildings
give us shelter is not the answer to the question posed by the title.
If it were as simple as that, there would be nothing left to say.
Architecture begins to matter when it goes beyond protecting
us from the elements, when it begins to say something about the
world—when it begins to take on the qualities of art. You could
say that architecture is what happens when people build with an
awareness that they are doing something that reaches at least a
little bit beyond the practical. It may be as tiny a gesture as
painting the front door of a house red or as grand an undertaking
as creating the rose window of a cathedral. It can be as casual as a
sliver of decorative molding around a window or as carefully