Civilizing Terrains: Mountains, Mounds and Mesas

by William R. Morrish

Civilizing Terrains reproduces the sketchbook of William Rees Morrish, Director of the Design Center for American Urban Landscape at the University of Minnesota. Originally published in an elegant oversized format, this portable reprint contains Morrish's collection of historical archetypes of the American landscape, supplemented with contemporary architectural models, urban spatial patterns, building and site vocabularies and personal philosophical conjecture. Morrish is one of our major thinkers in the field of contemporary American urbanism.

116 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 1996

Reviews

[Jack Semancik · Rating 4 out of 5]

A broad mythographical dive into the concepts of architecture as it relates to natural landscapes. Although the book, at times, relies on speculation as to the specific cultural meanings of many of the sites it references, the author still threads an eclectic narrative throughout the book. The sketches that accompany the book are a nice touch, and the thematic definitions included on each page are evocative base-points from which to jump to further research. I expect to find this book useful for future reference – especially artistically.

[Gabriel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Unlike any book I've seen. Very engaging drawings and diagrams. A good read for a cross country road trip. While the thesis seems to be about universal ideas of mountains, mounds and mesas it is probably most compelling to Americans where such a variety and abundance of these geographical features are found.