Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment

by Reyner Banham

Book Overview

Reyner Banham was a pioneer in arguing that technology, human needs, and environmental concerns must be considered an integral part of architecture. No historian before him had so systematically explored the impact of environmental engineering on the design of buildings and on the minds of architects. In this revision of his classic work, Banham has added considerable new material on the use of energy, particularly solar energy, in human environments...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0226036987
• ISBN13: 9780226036984
• Release Date: December 1984
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Length: 320 Pages
• Weight: 1.18 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 7.1" x 7.7"

Customer Reviews

Truly Insightful

Fresh on the heels of reading his "Scenes of America Deserta" (SIC) I was prepared for some architectural pedantry and was pleasantly surprised to find a book provocative in content and full of wonderfully appropriate and obscure case studies. The previous review mentions some of the beneficiaries of Banham's writings e.g. Sir Norman Foster but another Sir worth mention is Sir Peter Cook of Archigram and his Archigram cohorts--as Banham's Wikipedia bio will note, he was a member of the Independent Group that was also anchored by Alison & Peter Smithson, and whose work seemed to predate that of Louis Kahn, many Brutalists like Kenzo Tange and Paul Rudolph. Instead, they shared a kinship with autodidacts like Archigram, Superstudio, Archizoom, Cedric Price, and one should also mention their Situationist brethren, from Constant Nieuwenhuys to Vito Acconci. In sum, Banham was there and the caliber and accuracy of his writing betrays the depth of what his involvement must have been. That said, this book provokes consideration of the development of conditioned environments in buildings--innovations either taken for granted, or swept to the side by conventional architectural historians (and consequently by architects, asserts Banham) Remaining decidedly British in his skepticism, the author favors neither the functionalists nor the aesthetes who would hide the sometimes messy mechanical systems in order to achieve purely sculptural aims--but Banham bestows praise upon those for whom the product achieves a hybrid goal of form and function, with neither favored. His examples, from the Royal Hospital in Belfast to the Rinasce department store in Rome would be lost to history (in my opinion) had they not been set to print in this book. Additionally, his reading of Frank Lloyd Wright's work with conditioned air systems and general architect's sensibility is a breath or fresh air in a day when Wright's name is synonymous with pious exclamations and little scrutiny. Also a delight is the Olivetti Factory in Argentina, with its precast concrete tubular systems and tacked-on ventilation system that achieves its own beautiful, industrial aesthetic. It should be noted that Banham was a great fan of Los Angeles, the desert of the Great Basin, and saw tremendous hope in the New World (esp. in the West) as a sort of 'tabula rasa.' Banham's legacy can be seen in this video: "Reyner Banham Loves Los Angeles" which is a 30 min. film currently on You Tube, which is a great testament to his lucid observation and keen imagination--his historical knowledge also seems to be without parallel, quoting the usual regimen of Western and British architectural precedents while balancing the rote with his larger archaeological understanding of historical precedence and context. An example of this is his prescient inclusion of the various "Green Movements" one of which is in full swing in 2009 and it is important to acknowledge the bigger picture relationship to architec

An Excellent Book

This is an excellent book. I read it in the early 1970's and it has to be a classic as it has stuck with me all this time. By suggesting that the mechanical and electrical apparatus of our modern dwellings is more important than decorative appearance it puts forward the seminal concepts that have driven the architecture of Sirs Norman Foster and Richard Rogers, and today's High-Tech Movement in architecture.