Synopsis
"Unified Architectural Theory" re-invents architecture by uncovering its forgotten languages. Organized in 44 sections, this book contains lecture notes and readings from a course based on Christopher Alexander's "The Nature of Order, Book 1", and using Salingaros' "A Theory of Architecture". It chronicles research results that can change our built environment for the better. Unified Architectural Theory is an innovative approach to the basis of architecture, permitting individual students and architects to assert their creativity in pursuing adaptive and sustainable design.
The Czech and Nepali versions are offered by publishers in those countries. German and Spanish versions are underway. Selected chapters translated into Arabic, Portuguese, Spanish, and Urdu are available * online.
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From the Author
I taught a course on architectural theory, organized so that external students could follow much of it online from wherever they were located. Our two textbooks were supplemented by my lecture notes and external readings (which are collected here in this book). Even those students who had no access to the course textbooks could still learn a great deal about the basic concepts from my notes summarizing the readings. Altogether, this material represents a new and ultimately more intelligent approach to understanding architecture. The focus was on a Unified Architectural Theory, which includes and describes all of architecture, from traditional buildings to the latest design trends currently in fashion. More importantly, this comprehensive theoretical framework is based upon science and not on personal opinion. The theory is testable and has predictive value. The unified theoretical framework is practical, original, entirely general, and applies directly to cutting-edge design. Students by the end of the course could judge what makes a "good" building, not only for its adaptation to human use, but also from the point of view of being able to learn something from it. Is it functional and emotionally satisfying, and does it contribute to elevating the quality of life of its users? A separate but related criterion is whether a building is a helpful model that teaches us techniques of design which can be used directly in practice. Our analysis provides a tool that reveals design errors in building on many different conceptual levels, or at least things one would do differently with hindsight. Some practical details of how the course was organized are documented here: this experience might come in useful to a colleague who is considering presenting this or a similar course in the future. (From the Preface).From the Back Cover
We are on the threshold of a new way of thinking about, learning, and practicing architecture. Ready to abandon design based on often-irrelevant images for a more meaningful paradigm, we find answers in combining timeless truths with recent scientific results. These explain how architecture can re-attach itself to nature. "'Unified Architectural Theory' is not theory at all. It is evidence. It lets us see how until recently we have always designed and built. We've built buildings and spaces and towns that reflect the order in our genes, in the biological world we're part of. We've felt at home in them because their order makes space for our body and our soul. Now we rediscover how to build a world that does not alienate us from who we are, a world that gives us joy, a world that brings us home." -- Dr. Ir. Jaap Dawson, Technical University Delft. "The information that I have learned in this one class has been more important than almost all the rest of my classes combined." -- Jacob LeMieux, University of Texas.About the Author
"One of 50 visionaries who are changing your world." -- Utne Reader. Ranked 11th among "The top 100 urban thinkers of all time". -- Planetizen. Nikos Angelos Salingaros is a mathematician and polymath known for his work on urban theory, architectural theory, complexity theory, and design philosophy. He has been a close collaborator of the architect and computer software pioneer Christopher Alexander, with whom Salingaros shares a harsh critical analysis of conventional modern architecture. Like Alexander, Salingaros has proposed an alternative theoretical approach to architecture and urbanism that is more adaptive to human needs and aspirations, and that combines rigorous scientific analysis with deep intuitive experience. (from Wikipedia).
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