Words and Buildings

The words we use when we talk and write about architecture describe more than just bricks and mortar – they direct the ways we think of and live with buildings. This groundbreaking book is the first thorough examination of the complex relationship between architecture and language as intricate social practices. Words and Buildings is a wholly original study that will change and enrich the way we think and talk about architecture. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with architecture and culture in the modern era. Rigorously argued chapters investigate the language of modernism, language and drawing, ‘masculine and feminine’ architecture, language metaphors, science in architecture and the social properties of architecture. A vocabulary of key words such as ‘Character’, ‘Form’, ‘History’ and ‘Space’, locates each word’s modern meaning within a historical and theoretical framework, and clearly sets out its development and relevance for architects, historians, philosophers, critics and the users of buildings themselves.