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A House Deconstructed

Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
A House Deconstructed meticulously analyses a recently built house in Seattle, WA, exploring its backstory through the lenses of atoms, labours, sources, and ingredients. It challenges conventional knowledge by highlighting the inherent indeterminacy of the building's elements, advocating for a deeper understanding of the construction industry, material sourcing, and architectural history to better address Sustainability.
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Format: Paperback / softback
$9700

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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

Ideal for architecture students, professionals, academics, and readers fascinated by residential design, material science, and sustainable building practices.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

This book 'deconstructs' a single recently constructed house located in Seattle, WA, in an attempt to recover its backstory. The information is presented along four vectors: atoms, labours, sources, and ingredients.

Though remarkably detailed, A House Deconstructed contends that a huge proportion of what we 'know' about the house is unknowable, not because our epistemological instruments aren't strong enough or calibrated precisely enough, but because things themselves are indeterminate and uncertain. This begs the question about agency.

If we are to critique our profession and even improve some of its claims about sustainability, then we must develop a more robust understanding of the building industry and the sourcing and making of materials. We must even develop a stronger awareness of the history of atoms and how architecture brings that history into remarkable focus.

Book Hero Magic summarised reviews for this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! HOW HAS THIS BEEN REVIEWED?

Midwest Book Review praises the book as "intellectually challenging and ground-breaking," calling it a detailed and seminal study. It is highly recommended for personal, professional, and academic collections, especially for those interested in residential architecture, materials, and criticism.

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Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9781638400523

Publisher: Actar Publishers

Format: Paperback / softback

Date Published: 28 March 2023

Country: United States

Imprint: Actar Publishers

Audience: General / adult

DIMENSIONS

Width: 175.0mm

Height: 238.0mm

Weight: 250g

Pages: 260

About the Author

Mark Jarzombek is Professor of the History and Theory of Architecture at MIT . He is Diplom Architekt, ETH (1980) and received his PhD. From MIT in 1986. He works on a wide range of topics - both historical and theoretical. He has published books and articles on the 13th century churches at Lalibela to the crisis of contemporary architectural education. He is one of the country's leading advocates for global history and has published several books and articles on that topic, including the ground-breaking textbook entitled A Global History of Architecture (Wiley Press, 2006) with co-author Vikramaditya Prakash and with the noted illustrator Francis D.K. Ching. Jarzombek recently published a book that interrogates the digital/global imaginaries that shape our lives: Digital Stockholm Syndrome in the Post-Ontological Age (University of Minnesota Press, 2016). Vikramaditya Prakash is Professor of Architecture at the University of Washington with adjunct appointments in Landscape Architecture, Urban Design and Planning, and Digital Arts and Media. He received his B. Arch. From India and his M.A. and PhD from Cornell University. His books include Chandigarh's Le Corbusier: The Struggle for Modernity in Postcolonial India, Colonial Modernities (co-edited with Peter Scriver), The Architecture of Shivdatt Sharma, Chandigarh: An Architectural Guide, and One Continuous Line: Art, Architecture and Urbanism of Aditya Prakash. His most recent publication is Rethinking Global Modernism: Architectural Historiography and the Postcolonial (co-edited with Maristella Casciato and Daniel Coslett). He is also the host of the ArchitectureTalk podcast.

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