Just like in poetry and music, architecture is a language with subtle messages and meanings. The book, The Language of Houses by Alison Lurie, explains these messages and how we can interpret their meanings. There were several points throughout the book when I thought to myself, “yeah, that makes sense.'' For example, Lurie goes in depth on the messages an exterior of a home can send. In one particular part she explains how upkeep to a home can send radical messages. When paint is worn and peeling, but the grass is cut and the shrubbery and flower beds cared for, we assume that the people who live there are hard up, but doing the best they can. A house in good repair but surrounded by dead and dying vegetation, and a dried-out lawn, on the other hand, suggests that something has recently gone seriously wrong inside.We suspect marital separation, mental illness, financial scandal, disaster, or death. It is insight like this that Lurie devotes her book to. She takes the topic of architecture digs into the subliminal messages that buildings send off. I had never thought that as I procrastinate my mowing, rumors may be growing as fast as my lawn is. While there were several points that were new to me, to be honest, I felt that I was reading a lot of common sense. As someone who aspires to be an architect myself and finds interest in architecture in general, I found the book to be more of a reassurance to the theories I had thought of myself. For example, I knew before reading the book, that a home with stone or brick exterior walls is seemingly more significant and prominent than a home with an average siding. I know this from my experience from driving throughout neighborhoods and noticing the various types of exterior covers. The nicer the neighborhood, the more likely they are to have stone or brick exteriors. I hadn’t read it anywhere, but I knew it. The book was a lot of information just like this: common knowledge written down. While there was a lot I knew, I also have to give credit for the things I did learn. As stated before, I had no idea that people were suspecting financial scandal (as an example) when my grass was long. To me it is more about perspective than the actual content of the book itself that interested me. The books exercises the mind to think about architecture in a possibly new way. It proves that there are more ways to look at even your boring old highschool building (found in chapter 10). I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about architecture: to stretch the mind and invite new perspectives.
There were several points throughout the book when I thought to myself, “yeah, that makes sense.'' For example, Lurie goes in depth on the messages an exterior of a home can send. In one particular part she explains how upkeep to a home can send radical messages.
When paint is worn and peeling, but the grass is cut and the shrubbery and flower beds cared for, we assume that the people who live there are hard up, but doing the best they can. A house in good repair but surrounded by dead and dying vegetation, and a dried-out lawn, on the other hand, suggests that something has recently gone seriously wrong inside.We suspect marital separation, mental illness, financial scandal, disaster, or death.
It is insight like this that Lurie devotes her book to. She takes the topic of architecture digs into the subliminal messages that buildings send off. I had never thought that as I procrastinate my mowing, rumors may be growing as fast as my lawn is.
While there were several points that were new to me, to be honest, I felt that I was reading a lot of common sense. As someone who aspires to be an architect myself and finds interest in architecture in general, I found the book to be more of a reassurance to the theories I had thought of myself. For example, I knew before reading the book, that a home with stone or brick exterior walls is seemingly more significant and prominent than a home with an average siding. I know this from my experience from driving throughout neighborhoods and noticing the various types of exterior covers. The nicer the neighborhood, the more likely they are to have stone or brick exteriors. I hadn’t read it anywhere, but I knew it. The book was a lot of information just like this: common knowledge written down.
While there was a lot I knew, I also have to give credit for the things I did learn. As stated before, I had no idea that people were suspecting financial scandal (as an example) when my grass was long. To me it is more about perspective than the actual content of the book itself that interested me. The books exercises the mind to think about architecture in a possibly new way. It proves that there are more ways to look at even your boring old highschool building (found in chapter 10). I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in learning more about architecture: to stretch the mind and invite new perspectives.