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Drawing for Architecture (Writing Architecture) Paperback – Illustrated, July 10, 2009

by Leon Krier (Author), James Howard Kunstler (Foreword)
4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 39 ratings
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Drawings, doodles, and ideograms argue with ferocity and wit for traditional urbanism and architecture.

Architect Léon Krier's doodles, drawings, and ideograms make arguments in images, without the circumlocutions of prose. Drawn with wit and grace, these clever sketches do not try to please or flatter the architectural establishment. Rather, they make an impassioned argument against what Krier sees as the unquestioned doctrines and unacknowledged absurdities of contemporary architecture. Thus he shows us a building bearing a suspicious resemblance to Norman Foster's famous London “gherkin” as an example of “priapus hubris” (threatened by detumescence and “priapus nemesis”); he charts “Random Uniformity” (“fake simplicity”) and “Uniform Randomness” (“fake complexity”); he draws bloated “bulimic” and disproportionately scrawny “anorexic” columns flanking a graceful “classical” one; and he compares “private virtue” (modernist architects' homes and offices) to “public vice” (modernist architects' “creations”). Krier wants these witty images to be tools for re-founding traditional urbanism and architecture. He argues for mixed-use cities, of “architectural speech” rather than “architectural stutter,” and pointedly plots the man-vehicle-landneed ratio of “sub-urban man” versus that of a city dweller. In an age of energy crisis, he writes (and his drawings show), we “build in the wrong places, in the wrong patterns, materials, densities, and heights, and for the wrong number of dwellers”; a return to traditional architectures and building and settlement techniques can be the means of ecological reconstruction. Each of Krier's provocative and entertaining images is worth more than a thousand words of theoretical abstraction.

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Previous page
  1. Part of series
    Writing Architecture
  2. Print length
    248 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Publisher
    The MIT Press
  5. Publication date
    July 10, 2009
  6. Dimensions
    5.5 x 0.4 x 8.1 inches
  7. ISBN-10
    0262512939
  8. ISBN-13
    978-0262512930
  9. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"Krier's 'doodles' collected here, with all their imagination, humor, and righteous indignation, offer us the most hopeful visions of architecture and urbanism visible today."--Steven W. Semes, Academic Director, Rome Studies Program, School of Architecture, University of Notre Dame

"Krier's is a humane and gentle vision of what a city might be, and it deserves to be the more widely studied for its refusal to announce itself--as modernism announced itself--as the voice of the Zeitgeist. Krier's urbanism is timeless common sense, transcribed into drawings that leave no room for dissent."--Roger Scruton, writer and philosopher

"The book should be a required reading for architects and urbanists, as it not only teaches the power of drawing as polemic, but also provides a master class in the relationship of architecture to the city."--Hank Dittmar, Chief Executive, The Prince's Foundation for the Built Environment

About the Author

Architect and urbanist Léon Krier has taught at the Architectural Association, the Royal College of Arts, the University of Virginia, and Princeton and Yale Universities and has been an architectural consultant to the Prince of Wales since 1988. He is the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Driehaus Prize for Classical Architecture and Jefferson Memorial Gold Medal. He is the author of the award-winning Architecture: Choice or Fate and other books.

Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ The MIT Press; Illustrated edition (July 10, 2009)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Paperback ‏ : ‎ 248 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0262512939
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0262512930
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 11.7 ounces
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.4 x 8.1 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.3 4.3 out of 5 stars 39 ratings

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Léon Krier

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Customer reviews

4.3 out of 5 stars
4.3 out of 5
39 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

John
5.0 out of 5 stars Critical
Reviewed in the United States on March 9, 2021
Verified Purchase
Krier’s book filled with mostly drawings and simple sketches is one of the most important books for architects to own and understand.

The ability to convey massive topics in a simple drawing is no simple task yet he does it page after page.

Sprawl and urban design to the major issues with “contemporary” architecture and construction.

My favorites are the building typologies.

Everyone who wants to be or is an architect should own this book.
One person found this helpful
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Hannah Westby
5.0 out of 5 stars This Book is For Humans Only
Reviewed in the United States on October 17, 2018
Verified Purchase
The amount of wisdom Krier is able to communicate through his sketches is truly impressive. Some pages will make you sulk in despair and others will make you laugh. But keep in mind, the more human you are, the more his points will resonate with you. If, on the other hand, you are infected with the ghastly pathologies of modernism or post-modernism, this book will not make sense to you—it might even anger you.
4 people found this helpful
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Z
5.0 out of 5 stars Book that caused mild obsession
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2019
Verified Purchase
If you liked the black swan series by Taleb, this is one of those books but with mostly pictures.
One person found this helpful
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Upset and Walking
4.0 out of 5 stars Creative Sketches and an Interesting Point of View
Reviewed in the United States on November 30, 2011
While the thesis may be against Modern Architecture, there are some wonderful sketches and some fascinating points of view. It may not present any solutions; however it presents many topics in a short and quick form. The drawings could give architects and graphic designers ideas for other communication methodologies. It is certainly a unique. It is so rare that one can smile at polemic discussions...
3 people found this helpful
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Bfdonnelly
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on October 15, 2014
Verified Purchase
Good, polemical set of drawings against modernism and for urbanism and traditional architecture.
One person found this helpful
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Batman bin Suparman
2.0 out of 5 stars Don't expect any architectural drawing tips.
Reviewed in the United States on June 1, 2021
Verified Purchase
Mostly cartoons with an axe to grind against modern home designs. A good deal of nude figures scattered among the cynical cartoons. Not what I was looking for, but should have read other reviews more closely.
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Dan Land
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on March 23, 2015
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Thank you!!
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Pierre Gauthier
2.0 out of 5 stars Original but Disappointing!
Reviewed in the United States on September 2, 2011
This work is highly imaginative. Apart from the introduction by James Kunstler, there is not a single sentence,, just small drawings, often presented dialectically to contrast the `good' from the `bad'.

Most are witty. Some are ironic to the point of being sarcastic. Some are sarcastic to the point of being cynical. Surprisingly, though not really indecent, some drawings are definitely meant for an adult audience.

This approach allows the author to very clearly express his point of view against modernist architecture and city building. Unfortunately, it does enable him to present specific solutions as to how the situation can be corrected. Changing mentalities alone is not enough to modify economic, legal and technical realities.

Thus, this book provides an entertaining diagnosis of our built environment but is short on ideas of how to improve it.
9 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

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Hugh
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic
Reviewed in Canada on October 23, 2018
Verified Purchase
Brilliant book. Recommended for anyone interested in improving the environments we live in.
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Davide Marcon
5.0 out of 5 stars Interessante e tragicomica critica al movimento moderno
Reviewed in Italy on January 6, 2018
Verified Purchase
Molto interessante, con disegni semplici ma precisi nel loro significato, Krier prende in giro architettura e urbanistica moderne strappando più di un sorriso
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Pierre Gauthier
2.0 out of 5 stars Original but Disappointing!
Reviewed in Canada on September 2, 2011
Verified Purchase
This work is highly imaginative. Apart from the introduction by James Kunstler, there is not a single sentence,, just small drawings, often presented dialectically to contrast the `good' from the `bad'.

Most are witty. Some are ironic to the point of being sarcastic. Some are sarcastic to the point of being cynical. Surprisingly, though not really indecent, some drawings are definitely meant for an adult audience.

This approach allows the author to very clearly express his point of view against modernist architecture and city building. Unfortunately, it does enable him to present specific solutions as to how the situation can be corrected. Changing mentalities alone is not enough to modify economic, legal and technical realities.

Thus, this book provides an entertaining diagnosis of our built environment but is short on ideas of how to improve it.
Report
Max
2.0 out of 5 stars It's meh
Reviewed in Canada on January 16, 2020
Verified Purchase
Came damaged. Pawing for the 'good ol' days'
Sketches are well done.
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