What do you think?
Rate this book
The Ethical Function of Architecture
Winner of the 8th Annual AIA International Architecture Book Award for Criticism
Can architecture help us find our place and way in today's complex world? Can it return individuals to a whole, to a world, to a community? Developing Giedion¹s claim that contemporary architecture's main task is to interpret a way of life valid for our time, philosopher Karsten Harries answers that architecture should serve a common ethos. But if architecture is to meet that task, it first has to free itself from the dominant formalist approach, and get beyond the notion that its purpose is to produce endless variations of the decorated shed.
In a series of cogent and balanced arguments, Harries questions the premises on which architects and theorists have long relied —premises which have contributed to architecture's current identity crisis and marginalization. He first criticizes the aesthetic approach, focusing on the problems of decoration and ornament. He then turns to the language of architecture. If the main task of architecture is indeed interpretation, in just what sense can it be said to speak, and what should it be speaking about? Expanding upon suggestions made by Martin Heidegger, Harries also considers the relationship of building to the idea and meaning of dwelling.
Architecture, Harries observes, has a responsibility to community; but its ethical function is inevitably also political, He concludes by examining these seemingly paradoxical functions.
Can architecture help us find our place and way in today's complex world? Can it return individuals to a whole, to a world, to a community? Developing Giedion¹s claim that contemporary architecture's main task is to interpret a way of life valid for our time, philosopher Karsten Harries answers that architecture should serve a common ethos. But if architecture is to meet that task, it first has to free itself from the dominant formalist approach, and get beyond the notion that its purpose is to produce endless variations of the decorated shed.
In a series of cogent and balanced arguments, Harries questions the premises on which architects and theorists have long relied —premises which have contributed to architecture's current identity crisis and marginalization. He first criticizes the aesthetic approach, focusing on the problems of decoration and ornament. He then turns to the language of architecture. If the main task of architecture is indeed interpretation, in just what sense can it be said to speak, and what should it be speaking about? Expanding upon suggestions made by Martin Heidegger, Harries also considers the relationship of building to the idea and meaning of dwelling.
Architecture, Harries observes, has a responsibility to community; but its ethical function is inevitably also political, He concludes by examining these seemingly paradoxical functions.
403 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1996
10 people are currently reading
188 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
January 30, 2018
Not sure it sticks the landing, but the accompanying images are all perfectly chosen. A beautiful book.
November 13, 2017
It's been a pretty useful read, but I began to feel like some points grew repetitive.
August 10, 2011
This is an interesting book, a sweeping, vast, essay on—as its title suggested—the role of the built environment in ethics. The author, an elder statesman of architectural theory and philosophy, makes his case that the world over, architecture carries forth a mission beyond providing either shelter or an artistic statement and in fact helps formulate the very fabric of society. I do not disagree with him, but the format of the book at times makes its case well and at other times, not so well. It is useful for architecture students and urban planners, but requires a strong background in other thinking about the intersections of philosophy and architecture to really get the most of it.
May 4, 2007
architecture as it should be.
Currently reading
June 21, 2010Zen and Performance Art course.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews