Talking Architecture: Interviews with Architects

by Hanno Rauterberg

What makes an architect tick? What is the state ofarchitecture today? How do architects view each other swork? No one can answer these questions better than thepractitioners themselves. Here such distinguished figures asCecil Balmond, Norman Foster, Frank Gehry, Zaha Hadid,Philip Johnson, Rem Koolhaas, Daniel Libeskind, I. M. Pei, andothers offer a wide-ranging assortment of perspectives oncontemporary architecture and the architects roles in shapingthe state of the art today. Each interview focuses on theunique contributions of its subject, and is accompanied byimages of their most important works. With a no-holds-barredapproach the author obtains interesting details about theirideas on architecture in general, from where they get theirinspiration, to what formative experiences led them to becomearchitects in the first place. Informative, accessible, andendlessly fascinating, this collection offers a chance tocompare, con

Genres: Architecture

160 pages, Hardcover

First published October 30, 2008

Reviews

[Katie Ferrari · Rating 4 out of 5]

Have you ever seen a new crazy-looking building in your city and ask yourself, "what were they thinking?" Ever want to get into the mind of today's famous contemporary architects? Or just want to try to understand contemporary architecture better? Then this is the book for you.

Although it doesn't give an in-depth analysis of specific different contemporary buildings (scholars beware), and the intro to the book is a bit too specific to this exact moment in time, it does give the reader (and architecture fan) a better understanding of how today's "star-architects" view the role of architecture and their buildings in society. It's filled with short interviews conducted by the author and the questions asked are not the typical ones that one expects. Instead, the questions flow beautifully from each response the architect gives, as if the author and architect are having a simple conversation. It gives the reader a taste of what problems and issues these architects are really trying to investigate with their work. It's also set up so that you don't have to read the book from cover to cover, but instead can read about each architect as you please and you don't need to know typical architecture lingo. Truly a great read.

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very stimulating, as I went to Architecture school and this reminds me how much I love thinking about Architecture. Larger-than-life global architects, some pompous, but always big thinking, creative. Invigorating

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

How to talk about architecture:

Step 1: make a grandiose claim
Step 2: contradict yourself

[Zhang Stanley]

It's very nice that we can get the ideas of so many architects in one book.
Through comparison, we see architects share similar attitudes in many subjects.
At the same time, they also have their disagreement on certain things.
A very good read. Because overall, one gets a better picture of architecture world and how it really relates to us.

[Auriza Salim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Hanno Rauterberg, menyajikan dimensi tersendiri dari kritik arsitektur. Sangat menarik memperhatikan bagaimana dia mengupas alam pemikiran seorang Arsitek lewat pertanyaan demi pertanyaan yang diajukannya. Terkadang dia bisa sangat bersahabat terkadang bisa sangat provokatif.

[Anindita Saraswati · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book very good,so I need this book so badly