Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture

The words we use when we talk and write about architecture describe more than just bricks and mortar—they direct the ways we think of and live with buildings. This groundbreaking book is the first thorough examination of the complex relationship between architecture and language as intricate social practices.

Rigorously argued chapters investigate the language of modernism, language and drawing, ‘masculine and feminine’ architecture, language metaphors, science in architecture and the social properties of architecture.

A vocabulary of keywords such as ‘Character,’ ‘Form,’ ‘History’ and ‘Space,’ locates each word’s modern meaning within a historical and theoretical framework and clearly sets out its development and relevance for architects, historians, philosophers, critics and the users of buildings themselves.

216 illustrations

Softcover

336 pages

Dimensions: height 24.5 x width 19.5 cm

ISBN: 9780500284704

Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Published March 1, 2004