I recommend literature to my students rather than books on and by architects and designers. . . .
View the complete textIn my view, literature and the arts provide deep lessons on the essences of the world and life. Because architecture is fundamentally about life, I find the literary classics, or any fine novels and poems, to be essential books on architecture.
I recommend literature to my students rather than books on and by architects and designers. In my role as Dean of the School of Architecture at Helsinki University of Technology in the early 1990s, I used to send a list of 40 books of novels and poetry to the newly accepted students to read at the very beginning of their studies. I find that the rejection of the book as well as the lack of interest in the deep narratives of culture have catastrophic consequences for education today.
Comments about Juhani Pallasmaa’s Book List
1 commentWhat a wonderful list. Marshall McLuhan would have approved both the choice of literature as a source of deep understanding and the selection of books. He might have added AND THERE WAS LIGHT by Jacques Lusseyran.