Harvard University Press - ARCHITECTURE

Gardens and Imagination

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Michel Conan
From mirroring the true reality of God in Sufi Persia to the enjoyment of fictitious identities in Rome or present-day Granada, the ways of imagination in gardens are infinitely varied. This book explores how gardens could be imagined, and also how they could be used to trigger the imagination by very different cultures in Japan, China, Russia, the Ottoman Empire, Italy, Spain, and Israel.
Paperback June 2008

Gardens, City Life, and Culture

Sun, 15 Jun 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Michel Conan
Edited by Chen Wangheng
Gardens have exerted a deep influence on the culture of cities. Considering each city as a whole, this book presents the profoundly different roles of gardens in cultural development and social life. Gardens, City Life, and Culture unveils an exciting domain of interplay between public and private action that is little known by citizen groups, city planners, and managers.
Paperback June 2008

The Forbidden City

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Geremie R. Barmé
The Forbidden City (Zijin Cheng) lying at the heart of Beijing formed the hub of the Celestial Empire for five centuries. Over the past century it has been celebrated and excoriated as a symbol of all that was magnificent and terrible in dynastic China’s legacy. In this book, Barmé provides a new and original history of the culture, politics, and architecture of the Forbidden City.
Hardcover May 2008

Studio Works 12

Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Paula Meijerink
Edited by Laura Miller
Edited by Martin Zogran
The aim of Studio Works is to capture the essential character of the design studio experience at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. Studio Works 12 features outstanding GSD student work from school years 2005–2006 and 2006–2007, along with material documenting exhibitions, research seminars, and thesis projects.
Paperback May 2008

Venice from the Ground Up

Wed, 30 Apr 2008 00:00:00 EDT

James H. S. McGregor
Venice came to life on mudflats at the edge of the habitable world. Protected in a tidal estuary from invaders and Byzantine overlords, the fishermen and traders who settled there crafted a way of life unlike anything the Roman Empire had ever known. In an astonishing feat of narrative history, James H. S. McGregor recreates this world, with its waterways rather than roads and its livelihood harvested from the sea. The narrative follows both a chronological and geographical organization, so that readers can trace the city's evolution by chapter and visitors can explore it by district on foot and by boat.
Paperback April 2008

Olympic Sculpture Park for the Seattle Art Museum

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Joan Busquets
Envisioned as a new urban model for sculpture parks, the Seattle Art Museum’s Olympic Sculpture Park is located on the city’s last undeveloped waterfront property—a nine-acre industrial site sliced by train tracks and an arterial road. The park not only brings art outside the museum walls but also brings the park itself into the landscape of the city. This study offers an opportunity to take a fresh look at the city and explore some hypotheses about the wider meaning of an urban design project.
Paperback March 2008

Patricia Johanson's House and Garden Commission

Sun, 30 Mar 2008 00:00:00 EDT

Xin Wu
Foreword by Stephen Bann
In 1969, House and Garden magazine commissioned one of the first minimalist artists, Patricia Johanson, to propose new directions for American garden art. Having never been exhibited or published before as a whole, the resulting garden proposals reveal an unknown dimension of the New York art world of the late 1960s.
Paperback March 2008

The Middle East Garden Traditions

Fri, 29 Feb 2008 00:00:00 EST

Edited by Michel Conan
This book unites new information and surprising results from the last fifteen years of garden research, at a remove from the clichés of Orientalism. Garden archaeology reveals the economic importance of Judean gardens in Roman times and the visual complexity of gardens created and transformed in Moorish Spain. More contemporary approaches unravel the cultural continuities, variations, and differences between gardens in the Middle East since Roman times and in the Islamic world.
Paperback February 2008

Kourion

Thu, 31 Jan 2008 00:00:00 EST

Edited by A. H. S. Megaw
More than fifty years after the earthquake of 365 destroyed Kourion, the seat of the Roman administration of Cyprus, a Christian basilica was built upon the remains of its pagan predecessor. Replete with mosaics and revetment, the basilica was the center of the ecclesiastical administration until its destruction in the late seventh century. In this long-awaited report, Megaw and colleagues present in full the results of excavations from the 1930s, 1950s, and 1970s.
Hardcover January 2008

St. Peter's

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Keith Miller
Built by the decree of Constantine, rebuilt by some of the most distinguished architects in Renaissance Italy, emulated by Hitler's architect in his vision for Germania, immortalized on film by Fellini, and fictionalized by a modern American bestseller, St. Peter's is the most recognizable church in the world. This book covers the social, political, and architectural history of the church from the fourth century to the present.
Hardcover October 2007

Washington from the Ground Up

Wed, 31 Oct 2007 00:00:00 EDT

James H. S. McGregor
At the confluence of the Potomac and Anacostia rivers, President Washington chose a diamond-shaped site for the city that would bear his name, along with the burdens and blessings of democracy. Moving chronologically and geographically throughout the District, McGregor tells a tale of two cities: official Washington, whose stately neoclassical buildings expressed the government's power and global reach; and DC, whose minority communities, especially African Americans, lived in the shadows of poverty.
Hardcover October 2007

The Divine Nature of Power

Tue, 31 Jul 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Tracy Miller
Using an interdisciplinary approach drawing on the research of archaeologists, anthropologists, and religious, social, and art historians, this book seeks to recover the motivations behind the creation of religious art, including temple buildings, sculpture, and wall paintings.
Hardcover July 2007

Botanical Progress, Horticultural Innovations, and Cultural Changes

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Michel Conan
Edited by W. John Kress
This book highlights the religious, artistic, political, and economic consequences of horticultural pursuits, exploring the roles of peasants, botanists, horticulturists, nurserymen and gentlemen collectors in these developments, and concluding with a reflection on the future of horticulture in the present context of widespread environmental devastation and ecological uncertainty.
Paperback June 2007

Contemporary Garden Aesthetics, Creations and Interpretations

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Michel Conan
The present renewal of garden art demands a new approach to garden aesthetics. This book considers exceptional creations around the world and proposes new forms of garden experience using a variety of critical perspectives.
Paperback June 2007

Performance and Appropriation

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Michel Conan
Breaking with the idea that gardens are places of indulgence and escapism, these studies of ritualized practices reveal that gardens in Europe, Asia, the United States, and the Caribbean have in fact made significant contributions to cultural change.
Paperback June 2007

Sacred Gardens and Landscapes

Sat, 30 Jun 2007 00:00:00 EDT

Edited by Michel Conan
Studies of rituals in sacred gardens and landscapes offer tantalizing insights into the significance of gardens and landscapes in the societies of India, ancient Greece, Pre-Columbian Mexico, medieval Japan, post-Renaissance Europe, and America. Each section of this book is devoted to a different form of agency, together revealing a profound cultural significance of gardens previously overlooked by studies of garden style.
Paperback June 2007