Read online book Summer Cottages in the White Mountains : The Architecture of Leisure and Recreation 1870 to 1930 in MOBI, DOC
9780874519532 English 0874519535 In this tantalizing work, Roger Connah explores the peculiar odyssey of twentieth-century architecture through the buildings and writings of Finlands iconoclastic architect, Reima Pietila. Among architects, Pietila is a cult figure, a respected but often misunderstood outsider and "arctic shaman," only recently granted the international acclaim and appreciation that are his due. Pietila's complex, geomorphic structures have been compared to the work of Gaudi and Bruce Goff and variously labeled surrealistic, romantic, or expressionistic. Writing Architecture positions Pietila at the heart of contemporary architectural debates - the carnival of conflicting isms, modern post-modern, post-structuralist, deconstructive. From his relative isolation in Helsinki, he is thrust into the community of this century's most revolutionary artists and thinkers, including Wittgenstein, Einstein, Beckett, Borges, Magritte, and McLuhan. Through Pietila Connah reflects on architecture's progress and excess in this century, tracing a path through multiple meanings and intellectual adventures. More metaphysical inquiry than conventional monograph, this extraordinary study draws from various sources to "read" architecture as Pietila does, as a form of cultural composition in which all theory, literature, music, art, or natural phenomena are potential sources for architectural meaning. Like the existential detective in the pulp crime novels on Fantomas, the elegant French philosopher-thief, Connah offers fragmentary clues, contradictory solutions, and digressive speculations on the particular mystery, misery, and miracle that is modern architecture, but wisely leaves the final verdict up to his discerning readers. Roger Connah's extensive collaboration with Reima Pietila has provided him with a unique opportunity to trace the architect's inimitable approach to architecture and culture. Since 1986 the author has been living in India working as a freelance writer; he is visiting Professor at The National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and The Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi., This generously illustrated book examines the origins and development of the summer cottage in the resort communities of New Hampshire's White Mountains between 1870 and 1930. Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., author of The Grand Resort Hotels of the White Mountains: An Architectural Legacy (1998) and New Hampshire Architecture: An Illustrated Guide (1979), associates the cottages and their outbuildings with a group of forty architects and architectural firms, as well as noted regional builders. He also links the summer cottage phenomenon directly with the origins and growth of the summer resort hotel industry and its distinctive architecture. While focusing primarily on architecture, including such details as the personal eccentricities, habits, and pastimes of cottage owners that often led to distinctive design features, Tolles also interprets these unique dwellings in a broader context of the nation's social, cultural, and economic history.
9780874519532 English 0874519535 In this tantalizing work, Roger Connah explores the peculiar odyssey of twentieth-century architecture through the buildings and writings of Finlands iconoclastic architect, Reima Pietila. Among architects, Pietila is a cult figure, a respected but often misunderstood outsider and "arctic shaman," only recently granted the international acclaim and appreciation that are his due. Pietila's complex, geomorphic structures have been compared to the work of Gaudi and Bruce Goff and variously labeled surrealistic, romantic, or expressionistic. Writing Architecture positions Pietila at the heart of contemporary architectural debates - the carnival of conflicting isms, modern post-modern, post-structuralist, deconstructive. From his relative isolation in Helsinki, he is thrust into the community of this century's most revolutionary artists and thinkers, including Wittgenstein, Einstein, Beckett, Borges, Magritte, and McLuhan. Through Pietila Connah reflects on architecture's progress and excess in this century, tracing a path through multiple meanings and intellectual adventures. More metaphysical inquiry than conventional monograph, this extraordinary study draws from various sources to "read" architecture as Pietila does, as a form of cultural composition in which all theory, literature, music, art, or natural phenomena are potential sources for architectural meaning. Like the existential detective in the pulp crime novels on Fantomas, the elegant French philosopher-thief, Connah offers fragmentary clues, contradictory solutions, and digressive speculations on the particular mystery, misery, and miracle that is modern architecture, but wisely leaves the final verdict up to his discerning readers. Roger Connah's extensive collaboration with Reima Pietila has provided him with a unique opportunity to trace the architect's inimitable approach to architecture and culture. Since 1986 the author has been living in India working as a freelance writer; he is visiting Professor at The National Institute of Design in Ahmedabad and The Jamia Millia Islamia University in New Delhi., This generously illustrated book examines the origins and development of the summer cottage in the resort communities of New Hampshire's White Mountains between 1870 and 1930. Bryant F. Tolles, Jr., author of The Grand Resort Hotels of the White Mountains: An Architectural Legacy (1998) and New Hampshire Architecture: An Illustrated Guide (1979), associates the cottages and their outbuildings with a group of forty architects and architectural firms, as well as noted regional builders. He also links the summer cottage phenomenon directly with the origins and growth of the summer resort hotel industry and its distinctive architecture. While focusing primarily on architecture, including such details as the personal eccentricities, habits, and pastimes of cottage owners that often led to distinctive design features, Tolles also interprets these unique dwellings in a broader context of the nation's social, cultural, and economic history.