Architecture: The Natural and the Manmade

This book is an obvious labor of love. Exapnding on his thesis that man attempts to recreate the nature's forms - particularly mountains - we are given a tour of the ages. Starting with earlier (rather than primitive) civilizations, he shows how Mayans, Greeks, Egyptians and Aztecs attempted to replicate the mountains. This almost obsessive need to reach to the heavens is evident in our city skyscrapers. Of course there was a religious, animist aspect to all this and indeed, one can trace the evolution of buildings in this book. First there are religious edifices, whether for a single God (as in the case of the Israelites and their initial worship of the sacred mountain), multiple gods (Mayans) or a combination of the two -Greece, Egypt. Then there are structures for rulers whether nobility or military. Only toward modern times do we dwell on private homes for the average (rich) citizen.Symbolism was paramount for the Gothic ages and in modern times, through gardens and onramentation, we have attempted to recreate the untamed world beyond. The final chapters on formal gardens leads to a study of modern architects and their attempt to "merge" or reunite with nature - Frank Lloyd Wright being the prime example. The book is richly illustrated with both black and white and color photographs,

This is an absolutely fascinating book on what architecture meant and what its builders were trying to accomplish from the beginnings of advanced civilisations (in Mesopotamia and pre-Columbian America) through the innovations of the Greeks, into the symbolism of the Middle Ages and finally modern industrial societies. Throughout, the approach is eclectic and ranges over an unusually wide range of subjects, including anthropology and psychology, history, technical engineering, and political science. In a nutshell that oversimplifies, Scully argues that before the Greeks (and in the Americas to today), architecture emphasized man's links to the earth, reflecting natural forms and consciously forming a part of a landscape/environment larger and more powerful than themselves. The Greeks, with their temples and the anthropomorphic sculpture that were an integral part of them, glorified the view of man as a actor of accomplishment and greater power, though still in thrall to nature. THe Romans refined this vision, but with Christianity began to build temples that were walls against the encroaching world and the barbarian chaos that was approaching. THen, with the Gothic era, the power of kings was brought to the fore, which continued in the French gardens of the (Baroque) absolutism period and symboloised the belief that nature could be controlled by strong central authority. Meanwhile, the Renaissance architects and in particular Palladio re-introduced the individual as an actor within (and aesthetically designed to fit into) an urban context, leading directly to the development of private homes and eventually suburbia. Later, the internationalist/modernists broke these molds, producing huge buildings that fit neither the landscape nor the human context in which they were build, e.g. the faceless skyscrapers that destroy neighborhoods and disregard their impact on others. This, in Scully's view was hubris that was dangerous and ugly. FInally, Scully concludes that there are signs of a movement back to nature that will incorporate many of these ideals. The level at which this book is written is quite high, perhaps at the graduate level. I believe that to truly appreciate the book, the reader must know - or independently acquire while reading it - a great deal of historical knowledge, including the history of architecture. That makes much of the book hard going, and there were sections that lost me. I did not always agree with his interpretations, but they were always stimulating as a new way to view things. While there are too many holes in my own knowledge to judge what Scully has done here in any scholarly way, the book is a truly vast synthesis of knowledge, a life's work of interpretation and visits to great monuments all over the world. Personally, as I live in Europe, it was a fantastic pleasure as I have visited many of the scenes he chose (Lindos, Versailles, Bomarzo, for example) and wondered about many of the issues Scully disc