{"product_id":"9780930829056","title":"For an Architecture of Reality","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eMichael Benedikt\u003c\/b\u003e teaches, practices architecture, and writes in Austin, where he is a Professor of Architecture at the University of Texas. His second book, \u003ci\u003eDeconstructing the Kimbell\u003c\/i\u003e (0-930829-16-6), is also published by Lumen.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Benedikt has written a bold theoretical essay, with stirring cultural implications, that argues to restore the missing sense of reality to architecture and insists on ‘the direct esthetic experience of the real.’ . . . a timely manifesto. Thought-provoking and eminently quotable, it succeeds admirably in what it sets out to do: to recall architecture, and not only architecture, to those all but mute meanings so often passed over and yet inseparable from our everyday existence.—Karsten Harries\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"This book will still be useful when this year's round arches have all been remodeled (isn't it inevitable?) into pointed. And because it is so vividly -and thoughtfully—written, it will still be a pleasure to read.\"—Charles Moore\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Every literate architect should take an afternoon off to read and ponder this brief and thoughtful and thoroughly engaging book. . . . Benedikt says more about some central aesthetic and philosophical issues confronting contemporary architecture than many celebrated pundits manage to squeeze into a shelfful of books. . . . He offers a straightforward account of his own struggle to understand the pleasures and responsibilities of architecture in an age when aesthetic pleasure is all but indiscernible from entertainment, and responsibility is often a cover for thoughtless conformity.\"—Roger Kimball, \u003ci\u003eArchitectural Record\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Benedikt marches bravely into the philosophical thicket to find a working definition of reality. . . . In his sensibilities, he is quite transcendental, much like a Thoreau or an Emerson in a hotel lobby of potted ficus trees.\"—Howard Mansfield, \u003ci\u003eSmall Press\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\". . . the book of the decade in Texas architectural circles. . . \"—\u003ci\u003eTexas Architect\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Lumen Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47008564314352,"sku":"9780930829056","price":15.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780930829056_p0.jpg?v=1763866668","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780930829056","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}