The three basic questions of EBS are (1) What bio-social, psychological, and cultural characteristics of human beings influence which characteristics of the built environment?; (2) What effects do which aspects of which environments have on which groups of people, under what circumstances, and when, why, and how?; and (3) Given this two-way interaction between people and environments, there must be mechanisms that link them. What are these mechanisms?Focusing on answers to these and other questions, "Culture, Architecture, and Design" discusses the relationship between culture, the built environment, and design by showing that the purpose of design is to create environments that suit users and is, therefore, user-oriented. Design must also be based on knowledge of how people and environments interact. Thus, design needs to respond to culture. In discussing (1) the nature and role of Environment-Behavior Studies (EBS); (2) the types of environments; (3) the importance of culture; (4) preference, choice, and design; (5) the nature of culture; (6) the scale of culture; and (7) how to make culture usable, Amos Rapoport states that there needs to be a ?change from designing for one?s own culture to understanding and designing for users? cultures and basing design on research in EBS, anthropology, and other relevant fields. Such changes should transform architecture and design so that it, in fact, does what it claims to do and is supposed to do ? create better (i.e., more supportive) environments.?

Gathering his most compelling essays and addresses from the last fifty years in one accessible volume, this book looks at the pioneering ideas that underpin Sim Van der Ryn’s ecological design philosophy. It offers a unique decade-by-decade retrospective of the key issues in environmental design, beginning with the most recent years and looking back to the 1960s. With an introductory chapter and further recommended reading for each decade, this book is key reading for any architect or designer practising today, and students will find a wealth of knowledge with which to support their studies. The author’s beautiful illustrations, painted in a corresponding timescale to the chapters, offer further insight into the way he understands the challenges of humanity’s stewardship of our planet.

This book presents the radical architectural strategies and poetic cultural projects developed by OPEN Architecture, and the opportunities and challenges that arise from redefining built forms. Drawing on a series of conversations and site visits to six recent groundbreaking projects, architecture writer Catherine Shaw describes how Beijing-based OPEN Architecture is reinventing and responding to China’s complex and fast-changing cultural landscape with projects that mark a new era for contemporary Chinese cultural architecture. OPEN Architecture was founded in New York in 2003 by Li Hu and Huang Wenjing, while their Beijing office opened in 2008. From a contemporary art gallery buried beneath a sand dune to a sculptural open-air theatre in a remote mountain valley near the Great Wall, co-founders Li Hu and Huang Wenjing re-evaluate conventional Western assumptions about culture and design as they base each pioneering project on the needs and plea-sures of humanity within the context of diverse terrains and climates. In doing so, they not only consider how cultural architecture looks, but how it works. Projects are presented with commentary and contextual information as well as new analyses and archival material, including outstanding color photography, plans and drawings, and exploratory sketches. This book provides a fresh perspective on contemporary cultural architecture and place making, hig-lighting the architects’ sources of inspiration, their challenges, and their construction methods, showing how each impactful project responds to China’s distinctive context.

Culture and Architecture: An Integrated History is a brief survey of architectural history, from its pre-historic origins to the present day. It looks at the great works of architecture not only for their aesthetic values, but for their integral relationships with cultures and civilizations. Without their stories, history, and mythology, these monuments are merely brick, stone, mortar, and glass. Designed to be used in a single semester, but adaptable for a full year, Culture and Architecture is organized into five major time divisions that are introduced with a brief historical summary. Chapters begin with a timeline, and include photographs and drawings of the most important works during that period. Culture and Architecture is an ideal course book for students in foreign studies, art, anthropology, history, or anyone interested in architecture and culture. Leo Hansen is an adjunct professor in the School of Architecture, a department of the College of Design and Social Inquiry at Florida Atlantic University. He earned a Bachelor of Architecture degree from the University of Notre Dame (1978) and a Master of Arts in Liberal Studies degree from the University of Miami (2003), for which he received an Award of Academic Merit. He is a member of the Society of Architectural Historians and the American Institute of Architects.

Today’s explosive developments in digital technology have also affected architecture and the urban landscape. The new possibilities opened up by digital simulation have led to an increasingly strategic approach to planning, an approach based on generating scenarios, which thus represents a radical departure from traditional planning. From the preliminary sketch all the way to the production of individual building components, digital tools offer new possibilities that were still inconceivable just a few years ago. This volume provides a profound introduction to the important role of digital technologies in design and execution. In four chapters, the author systematically examines the influence of digital culture on architecture but also on the urban landscape as well as product design. The relationship of digital architecture to the city is also an important focus.

Gathering his most compelling essays and addresses from the last fifty years in one accessible volume, this book looks at the pioneering ideas that underpin Sim Van der Ryn’s ecological design philosophy. It offers a unique decade-by-decade retrospective of the key issues in environmental design, beginning with the most recent years and looking back to the 1960s. With an introductory chapter and further recommended reading for each decade, this book is key reading for any architect or designer practising today, and students will find a wealth of knowledge with which to support their studies. The author’s beautiful illustrations, painted in a corresponding timescale to the chapters, offer further insight into the way he understands the challenges of humanity’s stewardship of our planet.

Exploring the ambiguities of how we define the word ‘culture’ in our global society, this book identifies its imprint on architectural ideas. It examines the historical role of the cultural in architectural production and expression, looking at meaning and communication, tracing the formations of cultural identities. Chapters written by international academics in history, theory and philosophy of architecture, examine how different modes of representation throughout history have drawn profound meanings from cultural practices and beliefs. These are as diverse as the designs they inspire and include religious, mythic, poetic, political, and philosophical references.