Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture by Rudofsky, Bernard (Author)

Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture
Contributor(s): Rudofsky, Bernard (Author)

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Museum of Modern Art (January 1, 1965)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 128 pages
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1 lbs

In this book, Bernard Rudofsky steps outside the narrowly defined discipline that has governed our sense of architectural history and discusses the art of building as a universal phenomenon. He introduces the reader to communal architecture–architecture produced not by specialists but by the spontaneous and continuing activity of a whole people with a common heritage, acting within a community experience. A prehistoric theater district for a hundred thousand spectators on the American continent and underground towns and villages (complete with schools, offices, and factories) inhabited by millions of people are among the unexpected phenomena he brings to light.

The beauty of "primitive" architecture has often been dismissed as accidental, but today we recognize in it an art form that has resulted from human intelligence applied to uniquely human modes of life. Indeed, Rudofsky sees the philosophy and practical knowledge of the untutored builders as untapped sources of inspiration for industrial man trapped in his chaotic cities. The wisdom to be derived from them, he feels, goes beyond economic and aesthetic considerations, and touches the far tougher problem of how to live and let live, of how to keep peace with one's neighbors in the parochial sense and in the universal one as well.

Architect, engineer and critic, Dr. Bernard Rudofsky is well known for his earlier books that approach the familiar from an unconventional viewpoint–among them are Are clothes Modern? (a revelation of the irrationality of our coverings), The Kimono Mind and Behind the Picture Window.