The Built Idea

by Alberto Campo Baeza

Hardcover in clamshell box:
“Architects reveal the keys to Architecture in their drawings, their floor plans, sections and also in their writings. It is important to appreciate the concise texts of Mies Van der Rohe or the more passionate expressions of Le Corbusier. And that is how I would like these texts, published here today, to be understood.”

Alberto Campo Baeza (born Valladolid, Spain, 1946) is one of the most important architects of the modern period. The Built Idea presents a series of seminal texts in which he conveys his most deeply-held architectural ideas and convictions, exploring and explaining his foundational influences and subjects such as the importance of light, the work of his contemporaries, and the future of architecture, as well as accounts of his own work and personal anecdotes from a rich and successful life in architecture.

“To use words that express one's intentions clearly is not just a convenience for architects. One wants to let people know the meaning behind the things that are being made. My aim in publishing these texts is precisely that.”

This book also includes a photographic documentation of Campo Baeza's greatest works along with architectural sketches, plans and models to provide a privileged insight into one of the greatest architectural minds working today.

“And the reasoning on which one bases one's work in their attempt at Architecture is what is going to be reflected here in these texts, some of it consciously, some unconsciously. Realizing the ideas expressed in these words in built works is of course the best proof that the ideas are valid and the words true.”

Genres: Architecture, Art

104 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1999

Reviews

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

En un lenguaje sencillo y claro Campo Baeza enumera muchas verdades arquitectónicas. Muy ligero y de fácil lectura, pero no por eso menos importante.

[Agustina DG · Rating 3 out of 5]

Leer a un maestro siempre es enriquecedor, pero leer a Campo Baeza es leer poesía. Es recordar que la arquitectura es algo más que sólo espacios para albergar personas.

[Davide! · Rating 2 out of 5]

Deludente, troppo autocelebrativo e a tratti stucchevole

[Fabricio · Rating 4 out of 5]

Un esencial conjunto de aforismos sobre la luz, la materia, las proporciones y los sentimientos. Todo eso que hace materializar y ser una idea.

[Azza · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved Campo Baeza as a writer and as an architect. I've enjoyed reading this book as if its author were among us telling us his architectural adventure. I find it the way he expressed his ideas and his poetic vision through his metaphors and the diferent quotes, which reveals of his diverse education and his profound knowledge. I've learnt about the Spanish architectural history through the work of Alejandro de la Sota, Sanenz de Oiza and Miguel Fisac. Baeza was also generous by sharing his knowledge and explaining his framework .

[Juan Pablo García Estefan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Como todos los libros de Campo Baeza, claro y conciso. Textos limpios que acuden a muchas referencias artisticas y arquitectónicas, muy coherentes con su forma de ver la arquitectura.