For an Architecture of Reality

I'm in the middle of an M.ARCH degree right now and this book has been the most influential thing I've read so far. It reminds me why I'm in school and what I'm supposed to be learning how to do. You can make sexy images and wonderful compositions that pretend to be sections and plans, or, you can think about the actual presence of the building. It's the difference between Hadid's work - which is incredibly beautiful on paper and in her paintings and yet often disorienting in real life - and Kahn's work which has fairly boring plans and sections (to me), but is powerful beyond words in actuality.

I was required to read this book for a design class but I would recomend it to anyone who is interested in architecture or even life for that matter. This book makes you take a second look at things, not necessarily buildings, that you would normally just pass by. Great short read that is definitely not short on great ideas.

This is a delightful little book (nevertheless with large ideas) and a marvelous counter to the excesses of our times. It focuses on the direct physical experience of buildings, and is written in surprisingly clear, even poetic, English. It returns our attention to fundamentals that, in this gas-powered, electronic, digital age, we too easily forget.

Benedikt teaches the reader to stop looking at architecture and actually see it. He brings forth a solid comfort in what can be thought of as the way architecture should be. Not only is it inspiring with every turn of each page, it gives the reader an afresh way of thinking like none other before.

Without a doubt, one of the most elegant contemporary arguments about the strength and possibilities of architecture. If every architect thought about this small book, we'd live in a fundamentally different environment. Highly recommended.