Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture
Category: Books,Arts & Photography,Architecture
Building Up and Tearing Down: Reflections on the Age of Architecture Details
Review "Goldberger's seemingly-effortless prose takes us through the frenzy of the building boom to the burst of the housing bubble, from Dubai to Chicago, and every starchitect-crossed destination in between." —FastCompany"Paul's greatest contribution is his writing about cities. How architecture hits the pavement, how projects relate to their surroundings, how physical change affects how we feel about places is his genius." —Kent Barwick, President of the Municipal Art Society of New York "[Paul Goldberger is] a great journalist whose writing has been invaluable in promoting a deeper and more intelligent understanding of urbanism, city making and sustainable urban development." —Darren Walker, Rockefeller Foundation "[Paul Goldberger's criticism is] at once elevated and street smart, able to convey sweeping cultural meaning yet precise in its description of architectural detail." —Blair Kamin, architecture critic for the Chicago Tribune Read more About the Author Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Paul Goldberger started his career at the New York Times and is currently the architecture critic for The New Yorker magazine. He is a frequent contributor to books on architecture and the author most recently of Up from Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York and Counterpoint: Daniel Libeskind in Conversation with Paul Goldberger. Read more See all Editorial Reviews
Reviews
This is a collection of Paul Goldberger's "New Yorker" and "Metropoilis" writings.The essays cover a wide range of architectural and urban issuess.Current publication is organized in thematic sections:1. Buildings that Matter2. Places and People3. New York4. Present and Past5. Museums6. Ways of LivingOver 50 essays, he wrote about NY, architecture, architects, museums, cities, and design.Some writings are on new buildings by star architects, some on passed architects (Eames & Kahn),some on luxury apartment in NY.He zooms in for us to acknowledge what kind of strokes architectused in his details to achieve particular effect. He zooms out for us to see the settingand it's impact on the public. His microscopic and telescopic analysis skills also extendsto invisible state of architectural imagination and creativity.Anyone can experience a building and like it.But, good writings can double the experience, Goldberger's writings are like that.His writings on Kahn can be sublimely profound, his writings on luxury condos can be sarcasticallywitty. His writings on Robert Moses of NY and Burnham of Chicago explains why Paul is Paul.History is resuscitated with present glamour. His thoughts on "white brick (glass)" overflows withinsights.I was touring west coast -SF, LA, Seattle- when I read this book (I bought my copy in Borders,4th Avenue, near Seattle Center). I couldn't agree more of his writings on De Young, Getty Villa,Disney, Moneo's Church, and Rem's library. Each architects' strengths are well organized andbalanced.Painstaking work of Herzog Demeuron on materials and light, Machado Silvetti's innovationon renovation, Gehry's another splendor in form and hearing experience, Moneo'sCorbusier & Scarpa-like church, and Rem's site & program-suited ingenuity are all mentioned in his book.His eyes are keenly fine and his hands are glowingly divine, just like great architects he mentionsin the book.Good portion of the book is dedicated to NY and its architecture. His earlier "Up from Zero"on 911 is a good companion if the reader wants read further on NY.His recent publication "Why architecture matters" is another good companion if the reader wantsto probe deeper into Goldberger's architectural themes and values.
