Tectonic Visions in Architecture

by Anne Beim

Paperback

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Mark Mateo · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is effectively a synthesis of other theorists, many of whom write on the same subject. I suspect the author knowingly misuses the "utopian texts" (Plato, St. Thomas More) to accommodate her very high modernism at the beginning of the book. See:

Utopia = εὖ τόπος = "the good place"
Also,
Utopia = ου τοπία = "noplace" --> "the place that cannot be"

She quotes the first, but there is no mention of the second. A careful writer, I see! What is included in the text is scarcely more important than what is omitted.

"We must possess some intelligence to be able to read him, for he deliberately curtails developments and omits transitions; we are required to supply these and to comprehend his hidden meanings. . . . He thinks in summaries." - Hippolyte Taine on Montesquieu, quoted from Arthur Melzer, Philosophy Between the Lines: The Lost History of Esoteric Writing.

It is likely a strong analysis of more contemporary architectural theorists like Frampton and Holl (I haven't read them yet). But I might as well spend more time on two or three leading texts on tectonics. The writing is also purposefully stilted. Still, an educational read.