Architecture Matters

by Aaron Betsky

An illuminating introduction to the influence of architecture on the world, the environment, and human lives Architecture matters. It matters to cities, the planet, and human lives. How architects design and what they build has an impact that usually lasts for generations. The more we understand architecture―the deeper we probe the decisions and designs that go into making a building―the better our world becomes. Aaron Betsky, architect, author, curator, former museum director, and currently the dean of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture, guides readers into the rich and complex world of contemporary architecture. Combining his early experiences as an architect with his extensive experience as a jury member selecting the world’s most prominent and cutting-edge architects to build icons for cities, Betsky possesses rare insight into the mechanisms, politics, and personalities that play a role in how buildings in our societies and urban centers come to be. In approximately fifty themes, drawing on his inside knowledge of the architectural world, he explores a broad spectrum of topics, from the meaning of domestic space to the spectacle of the urban realm. Accessible, instructive, and hugely enjoyable, Why Architecture Matters will open the eyes of anyone dreaming of becoming an architect, and will bring a wry smile to anyone who already is.

Genres: Architecture, Nonfiction, Art

144 pages, Hardcover

Published July 4, 2017

About the author

Aaron Betsky is an American critic on art, architecture and design. He was the director of Virginia Tech School of Architecture + Design until early 2022.
Trained as an architect and in the humanities at Yale University, he is the author of over a dozen books, including Architecture Matters, Making It Modern, Landscrapers: Building With the Land, Scanning: The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio, Queer Space, Revelatory Landscapes, and Architecture Must Burn. Internationally known as a lecturer, curator, reviewer and commentator, he writes the blog "Beyond Buildings" for Architect Magazine. Director of the 11th Venice Architecture Biennale, he has also been president and Dean of the School of Architecture at Taliesin (originally the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture), director of the Netherlands Architecture Institute (2001-2006) the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006-2014), and was founding Curator of Architecture, Design and Digital Projects at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1995-2001). As an unlicensed architect, he worked for Frank O. Gehry and Associates and Hodgetts + Fung. In 2003, he co-curated "Scanning: The Aberrant Architectures of Diller + Scofidio" at the Whitney Museum of American Art.

Reviews

[Anna Dimitrova · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite an interesting read, although not deep enough for me as I tend to skip readings on architecture, a need a more stimulating one when I choose to read it. The author makes some very good points about the contemporary aproach to architecture though.

[Weston Snyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a bit pretentious at first, but there are some great thoughts and ideas. I learned other sides to some of the great architects and architecture around the world.

[darkitekt · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very descriptive and narrative.