Twelve Lectures on Architecture: Algorithmic Sustainable Design - Softcover

Nikos A. Salingaros

Softcover

ISBN 10: 3937954031 ISBN 13: 9783937954035

Publisher: ISI Distributed Titles, 2010

Synopsis

LECTURE NOTES TO ACCOMPANY THE FREE VIDEO COURSE ONLINE. This book has been selected as one of the P2P Foundation's "Top 10 Books of the Year" for 2011. The ideal supplement to all Architecture Studio and Theory courses -- at any level. Clear and concise presentation of ideas and tools helpful for design, and in understanding the design process itself. Twelve Lectures on Architecture is a profound philosophical work presented as a set of architectural lecture notes. It reads very easily, explaining why certain buildings and places speak to our hearts, thus illuminating many of our old assumptions about taste. Salingaros establishes, using biology, why traditional architecture is perceived intuitively by most people as more natural and life-affirming than modernist architecture. A deep malaise of contemporary society is tied to the shocking state of architecture and urbanism in our times, characterized by distorted buildings and unusable urban spaces. Salingaros is the archetypal deep thinker and punctures the pretenses of our most respected architecture critics. He is a charismatic teacher, and manages to explain seemingly inaccessible concepts such as fractals, scaling, the golden mean, cellular automata, genetic algorithms, and complexity in simple hand-drawn sketches. He has found a way to translate the complexities inherent in the design of our environment into imagery that even a general reader can understand. Twelve Lectures on Architecture includes an excellent introduction to Christopher Alexander's recent and remarkable work on how biology and architecture intersect in humankind's unconscious perceptions. This book has the importance to change the world because it goes into things that people should have thought about but haven't.

What They're Saying..."While Salingaros' exposition isn't a design manual with explicit answers, it does let you think of the problem with the right frame of mind. 'Ornament becomes substance' -- this made my jaw drop. The analogy with the binding energy of subatomic particles is fantastic. This is really great material."-- Federico Mena Quintero, Software Architect, Xalapa, Mexico
"This book is intended for students, yet I think it should be read by everyone who is interested in or works with the built environment. Those who teach urban planning do it for their own ego, not for people who are supposed to live there. The result is an architectural object for imaginary people."
-- Cristina Caramelo Gomes, Professor and Architect, Lisbon, Portugal   "Aims not just at reviewing a mathematics set for architects, but at presenting one useful design tool, a full computational methodology, and a fundamental reason for new structural rules. The most interesting part of this work is that these rules produce new forms belonging to the great set of natural shapes, instinctive architecture, and classic masterpieces of all times. This offers great insight about architecture itself, and about the relationship between nature and culture."-- Stefano Serafini, Journal of Biourbanism

About this title

From the Author

This is a new edition of the original set of lecture notes entitled "Twelve Lectures on Architecture", with almost no changes. This book is also available in Chinese and Russian versions.

From the Inside Flap

"Biology and architecture intersect in mankind's unconscious perceptions ... in ways that cause traditional architecture to be perceived intuitively by most people as more natural and life-affirming than modern architecture ... the importance to change the world might be an additional incitement." -- David Brussat, Providence Journal. 

"The new book is like a Swiss Army Knife of tools for creating ultimate human habitats. It is in many ways a compression of this work by Alexander. A better introduction you can't get!" -- Øyvind Holmstad, Energy Bulletin. 

"From architectural megalomania to media culture to the habit of cutting design and construction costs by ignoring the obvious ... modernism acts like a computer virus that erases data banks and substitutes something much simpler and less functional, with collective social memory as the 'data bank' in question." -- James Kalb, Turnabout.

"A fantastic manual of architectural algorithms explaining exactly why some designs make us feel at home on this planet and why others offend our neurology." -- James Howard Kunstler, Orion Magazine. 

"The author presents mathematical concepts and computer technologies: fractals, cellular automata, genetic algorithms. He shows us the beauty of mathematics through its usage. Formulating his message through a broad spectrum of topics, Salingaros appears to be a true Renaissance figure." -- Jadwiga Zarnowiecka, Architektura & Bisnes.

Edition details

• Publisher: ISI Distributed Titles
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 3937954031
• ISBN 13: 9783937954035
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 252