Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment

by Carter Wiseman

Overview

Writing Architecture considers the process, methods, and value of architecture writing based on Wiseman’s 30 years of experience in writing, editing, and teaching young architects how to write. This book creatively tackles a problematic issue that Wiseman considers crucial to successful architecture writing: clarity of thinking and expression. He argues that because we live our lives within the built environment, architecture is the most comprehensive and complex of all art forms.

Written as a primer for both college-level students and practitioners, Writing Architecture acknowledges and explores the boundaries between different techniques of architecture writing from myriad perspectives and purposes. Using excerpts from writers in different genres and from different historical periods, Wiseman offers a unique and authoritative perspective on the comprehensible writing skills needed for success.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781595341501
Publisher:	Trinity University Press
Publication date:	07/21/2014
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Carter Wiseman is a graduate of Yale and Columbia Universities. He was the architecture critic and/or editor for a number of magazines including Newsweek, New York Magazine, Architectural Record, Interior Design, and ARTnews. He is a lecturer at the Yale School of Architecture, where he teaches courses focusing on architectural writing and criticism. His books include Twentieth-Century American Architecture: The Buildings and Their Makers and his biographical books on Louis I. Kahn and I. M Pei. He lives in Weston, Connecticut.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. Structure: Getting Your Thoughts in a Row
2. Standards: How to Tell Good Buildings from Bad Ones
3. Persuasion: Making a Point with Feeling
4. Criticism: Aesthetics, Analysis, and Public Service
5. Scholarship: Creating Meaning Over Time
6. Literature: The Heart of the Matter
7. Presentation: Showing Your Stuff
8. Social media
Conclusion

Editorial Reviews

Argues that clear communication is integral for successful architecture, since words have an important part in expressing ideas, and because any architect will admit they write much more than they ever would have anticipated. — Archidose

A clear and concise manual for architectural students and practitioners who want to improve their writing, it provides relevant advise for the former on organizing ideas, expressing opinions, and defending arguments and, in the last two chapters, focuses on ways professionals can secure commissions and communicate with clients. — Constructs, Yale School of Architecture

Writing Architecture puts this genre of productive criticism in its wider context. — Harvard Magazine

A first-rate discussion of how to conduct the practice of architecture....Every student and virtually every practitioner could benefit from reading the book.— Robert Stern, Dean of the Yale School of Architecture

Would serve as a fine starting point to writing about anything. — Robert MacNeil, PBS Newshour

From the Publisher