Reviews

Why We Build by Rowan Moore

james495538's review

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informative reflective slow-paced

3.25

tasha_kath's review

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informative slow-paced

3.5

fankle's review

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4.0

The first book I've read on architecture, I found this very good. I did start to loose interest in chapters 3 & 4 but then found the rest just as engaging and thought provoking as the first part.

halfmanhalfbook's review

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2.0

I read Moore's articles in the Observer sometimes and he normally has an interesting point of view on the latest architecture, so i was looking forward to this.

He writes about a variety of architectural subject, from the wandering home, the erotic in architecture and the building of financial power houses, and so on. The book is liberally scattered with B&W images of the buildings that he is discussing, which do enhance the text.

However, It was a little disappointing in the end. A lot of the book is quite abstract, and it almost felt like I was reading about the philosophy of architecture rather than a rational explanation of why we fell the need and desire to build magnificent places.
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