Pamphlet Architecture contest

Posted in Discourse on Tue Sep 19, 06 by Kyle under Architecture and Books.

If you’ve not heard about it I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to the Princeton Architectural Press’s Pamphlet Architecture contest. This contest is a chance for emerging architects or architectural scholars to have their visionary and innovative ideas published by a well regarded architectural press. The contest website sums it up best:

Founded in 1977 as an alternative to mainstream architectural publishing, Pamphlet Architecture encourages architects and writers to put forth their ideas, theories, and designs in modest, affordable booklets. Its success is legendary: Pamphlet Architecture helped launch the careers of architects from Steven Holl and Lebbeus Woods to Zaha Hadid, and has influenced far exceeding the ad-hoc nature of these humble books.

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The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture

Posted in Reviews on Wed Aug 16, 06 by Kyle under Architecture and Books.

One of the books that I have been reading lately is George Hersey’s The Lost Meaning of Classical Architecture: Speculation on Ornament from Vitruvius to Venturi from the MIT Press. As the title of the book suggests the author examines the original significance and meaning behind what we now consider the ornamental aspects of Classical Greek architecture and shows how they were much more than mere decoration to the Greeks, Romans and Europeans of the Renaissance. Before reading the book I was already familiar with some of the information that he retells, for instance Vitruvius’s account of the origin of the Corinthian order. Callimachus the sculptor and architect was supposedly inspired to create the signature form of the Corinthian capital when he saw an acanthus plant that had grown up around a basket covered with a tile full of mourning mementos that had been placed over the grave of a Corinthian maiden.