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List of contents
1.Speaking of Cultural Ecology 2.Pre-modern Home Economics 3.Rustica and Urbana 4.Up on the Roof 5.Pre-modern Cloisters and Precincts 6.Alone-Together Naturally 7.Into the Desert 8.Answering Disequilibrium
About the author
David Leatherbarrow is Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania, where he serves as Chairman of the Graduate Group in Architecture (Ph.D. Program). He teaches architectural design as well as the history and theory of architecture, gardens, and cities. His recent books include Architecture Oriented Otherwise, Topographical Stories: studies in landscape and architecture, and Uncommon Ground: architecture, technology and topography.
Richard Wesley is Adjunct Professor of Architecture, University of Pennsylvania, where he serves as Undergraduate Chair in the Department of Architecture and teaches architectural design and theory. He has previously taught at the University of Illinois, University of Notre Dame, and Harvard University. His essays and reviews have been published in Architectural Research Quarterly, Critical Juncture, Harvard Design Magazine, Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, Rassagna, Res, and VIA.
Summary
Three Cultural Ecologies reverses common conceptions of modern architecture. This examination of cultural ecology at three scales, domestic, monastic, and urban, not only reconsiders the history of modern architecture, but also its antecedents and its bearing on contemporary theory, practice, and education.
Additional text
'Three Cultural Ecologies takes obvious examples of twentieth-century architecture and shows them anew. Setting the Villa Savoye and Taliesin in their unexamined ‘natural’ environment renews our sense of those all-too-familiar buildings and causes us to consider afresh the entire ecological context of modern architecture.' - Joseph Rykwert CBE, Paul Philippe Cret Professor of Architecture Emeritus, University of Pennsylvania, USA
"Three Cultural Ecologies presents a cultural and ecological re-examination of modern architecture at three scales—the domestic, the monastic and the urban—and thereby imparts lessons of far-reaching importance. The authors’ insightful analyses of the works of Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier reveals that these architects invariably deployed their innovative modern forms in the service of achieving the ancient goal of a cultural-ecological balance between building and place, and reminds us that the most "sustainable" buildings are those in which people want to live." - Robert McCarter, Ruth and Norman Moore Professor of Architecture, Washington University in St. Louis, USA
