Architecture Here and There

Simply put, some buildings are more natural, and cities evolve through time in patterns that reflect the natural order of things. In the last century, architects and planners have learned to abort this process on greater or smaller scales. Nikos Salingaros (pictured at left), following through on the architectural theories of Christopher Alexander, shows us how to abort the modernists' abortion of Nature.

Most of my quotes come from A Theory of Architecture, written in 2006, but Salingaros has a new book coming out soon called Algorithmic Sustainable Design. He has collaborated with Alexander on the latter's newly published four-volume The Nature of Order.

Here is a link to Salingaros's Web site. To read his curricula vitae is to wonder whether he ever gets up from his keyboard to eat, and yet he travels all over the world to give talks in a variety of languages, including that of science.

Recently, a Planetizen poll placed Salingaros as No. 11 in the pantheon of urban thinkers. He came in ahead of Le Corbusier, the history's chief assassin of cities, so there must necessarily have been a judgmental aspect to the rankings.

Thursday's column will begin the introduction to Salingaros's thought by introducing his theories about the relationship of architecture to mankind's natural biological instincts. Next week (I hope), the column will continue with Salingaros, but focus more on his harsh assessment of modern architecture and how it has managed, cult-like, to brutalize the world we live in. Say tuned.

 Tags  architecture Chartres From Bauhaus to Our House Le Corbusier Nikos Salingaros Ronchamp Tom Wolfe

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Ray Sawhill said:

Excellent, great to hear -- Salingaros is brilliant and deserves to be widely-known.

FYI, a blog called 2Blowhards did a thorough interview with Salingaros a few years back. You can get to all five parts via this link:

http://www.2blowhards.com/archives/000735.html

Looking forward to your Thursday column.

Link | November 9, 2009 3:11 PM
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