Reyner Banham (1922–1988)

I've read four of the great Reyner Banham's many books: Theory and Design in the First Machine Age (1960), The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment (1969), Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies (1971), and Age of the Masters: A Personal View of Modern Architecture (1975). Scratch that – I've only partly read his first book, which is a frustrating read that barely hints at the accessibility of his later books. Of these four books, the first three are considered show more masterpieces (any author would be happy with writing one, much less three!) and this book, The Architecture of the Well-Tempered Environment, is my favorite. In it he charts how architects have responded to the incorporation of environmental systems (HVAC, electricity, lighting, plumbing) into the daily lives of building inhabitants. It's a topic that was hardly explored at the time, and Banham appears to have done such a great job that very little (that I'm aware of) was written on the subject. Even today, when sustainability is integrated fairly well into design practice and systems have gained in efficiency while shrinking their footprints, the approach that Banham laid out – how architectural form relates to these systems – is not explored as much as it should. After all, shouldn't architecture creatively respond to the systems that it encompasses, rather than just burying them inside walls and floors? With this in mind, it's not surprising that Piano and Rogers Pompidou came less than one decade after this book's publication. show less

This is how to write criticism. The writing was so good I even read the bibliography.

This is a beautiful celebration of Southern California and its architecture. It was published around 1980. It’s certainly not up to date, but it’s rare in that it “gets” Los Angeles. This is the city of unique style that I grew up in and not the plastic dystopia that is often portrayed.

Illuminating on early 20th century art, design and architecture, especially De Stjil and Bauhaus. Dense with references so keep Google handy.