Narrative Architecture

Front Cover
John Wiley & Sons, Mar 26, 2012 - Architecture - 176 pages
The first book to look architectural narrative in the eye

Since the early eighties, many architects have used the term "narrative" to describe their work. To architects the enduring attraction of narrative is that it offers a way of engaging with the way a city feels and works. Rather than reducing architecture to mere style or an overt emphasis on technology, it foregrounds the experiential dimension of architecture. Narrative Architecture explores the potential for narrative as a way of interpreting buildings from ancient history through to the present, deals with architectural background, analysis and practice as well as its future development.

  • Authored by Nigel Coates, a foremost figure in the field of narrative architecture, the book is one of the first to address this subject directly
  • Features architects as diverse as William Kent, Antoni Gaudí, Eero Saarinen, Ettore Sottsass, Superstudio, Rem Koolhaas, and FAT to provide an overview of the work of NATO and Coates, as well as chapters on other contemporary designers
  • Includes over 120 colour photographs

Signposting narrative's significance as a design approach that can aid architecture to remain relevant in this complex, multi-disciplinary and multi-everything age, Narrative Architecture is a must-read for anyone with an interest in architectural history and theory.

 

Contents

Preface
9
Radical Terrain
33
NATO
55
Story Buildings
80
Practice in Person
112
Pure Narrativity
132
Epilogue
158

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About the author (2012)

Nigel Coates is an architect, designer and educator. Along with eight of his ex-students, he founded the NATO group in 1983. With Doug Branson he began Branson Coates Architecture in 1985, and together they built extensively in Japan and the UK. He is a prolific product and furniture designer, and has designed for Hitch Mylius, Alessi, Fornasetti and Slamp. His drawings and furniture are in the collection of the V&A. He is the author of several books including Guide to Ecstacity (2003). For over 15 years, Coates was Professor of Architectural Design at the Royal College of Art, London.

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