Contemporary Native American Architecture - Softcover

Krinsky, Carol Herselle

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0195097408 ISBN 13: 9780195097405

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 1996

Synopsis

Why, during the past thirty years, has there been a dramatic change in architecture by and for Native Americans? How does it reflect the revival of language and the renewal and invention of dance, music, and other performance, and the remarkable burst of creativity in Native American novels and poetry? And since architecture requires technical expertise and money, how does this change reflect alterations in the economic, legal, and political situation of American Indians in the past decades?
At no other time since the European invasions have the Native nations been as determined to set their own agendas for building or been as successful in reaching their architectural goals. They now claim authority in planning what they need for modern life - office buildings, schools, clinics, religious and community structures, urban cultural centers, houses, and museums, even commercial buildings and casinos. Those agendas often include strategies for making sure that the buildings are culturally appropriate or focus on collective decisions that embody community values brought from the past to the present. In Contemporary Native American Architecture, Carol Herselle Krinsky examines the historical and legal background of this movement of cultural regeneration through the medium of architecture, and records responses of Native Americans to ever-changing cultural situations.

About this title

Review

Contemporary Native American Architecture is an essential reference for architects concerned with the complex cultural and aesthetic issues involved in creating new buildings for Native American populations. Carol Herselle Krinsky, author of Synagogues of Europe, drove more than 13,000 miles in the contiguous 48 states to see and document new meeting lodges, casinos, healing centers, homes, and museums. She writes with infectious passion about large themes: how cultures determine the forms of their monuments, how a minority chooses to present itself within majority culture, how new spaces can be endowed with meanings inherent in traditional structures. Of fairly modest house plans approved by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, she writes, "To be sure, the buildings discussed here do not intend to be traditional. They are evocative responses to cultural evaporation, pouring at least a few old resources into new vessels. They reinforce a sense of identity. And if they can help to build or rebuild Native nations, the best examples will have fulfilled an essential mission."

This book's design is workmanlike, with only black-and-white photographs, but its detailed contents will be pored over long after most coffee-table books have lost their luster.

About the Author

Carol Herselle Krinsky is Professor of Fine Arts at New York University. Former president of the Society of Architectural Historians, she is the author of a number of books, including Synagogues of Europe and Rockefeller Center.

Edition details

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0195097408
• ISBN 13: 9780195097405
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288