Palladio lived and worked some 500 years ago in the Veneto, yet his influence, and particularly his impact on American architecture, has been greater than that of any architect since. This book shows how Palladio studied and reinterpreted the architecture of antiquity, how he developed his ideas, how his message spread, and how Palladianism developed.

Drawing on Palladio's original published legacy of approximately 40 designs, the authors attempt to reveal the rigorous geometric rules by which Palladio conceived these structures. Using a computer, they test each rule in every possible application.

Based on many years of personal observation, Palladio's Children critically examines the role of the architect as a professional descendent of Palladio, and as an heir to his architectural legacy. Seven innovative and carefully crafted essays explore the widening ideological schism between today’s architects whose core values, identity and education remain rooted in the Renaissance legacy of creating artful ‘masterpieces’, and the practical demands on a profession which acts within an evolving, ubiquitous and autonomous built environment or ‘field’. Clearly written yet expressing complex, evolving ideas, this extended argument opens a new forum of debate across design theory, professional practice and academic issues. Moving the subject on from a historical perspective, Habraken shows how architects are increasingly involved in the design of everyday buildings. This must lead to a reassessment of architects’ identities, values and education, and the contribution of the architect in the shaping of the built environment.

A compelling reassessment of Thomas Jefferson's architecture that scrutinizes the complex, and sometimes contradictory, meanings of his iconic work Renowned as a politician and statesman, Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826) was also one of the premier architects of the early United States. Adept at reworking Renaissance--particularly Palladian--and Enlightenment ideals to the needs of the new republic, Jefferson completed visionary building projects such as his two homes, Monticello and Poplar Forest; the Capitol building in Richmond; and the University of Virginia campus. Featuring a wealth of archival images, including models, paintings, drawings, and prints, this volume presents compelling essays that engage broad themes of history, ethics, philosophy, classicism, neoclassicism, and social sciences while investigating various aspects of Jefferson's works, design principles, and complex character. In addition to a thorough introduction to Jefferson's career as an architect, the book provides insight into his sources of inspiration and a nuanced take on the contradictions between his ideas about liberty and his embrace of slavery, most poignantly reflected in his plan for the academical village at the University of Virginia, which was carefully designed to keep enslaved workers both invisible and accessible. Thomas Jefferson, Architect offers fresh perspectives on Jefferson's architectural legacy, which has shaped the political and social landscape of the nation and influenced countless American architects since his time.

Palladio (1508-80) combined classical restraint with constant inventiveness. In this study, Professor Ackerman sets Palladio in the context of his age - the Humanist era of Michelangelo and Raphael, Titian and Veronese - and examines each of the villas, churches and palaces in turn and tries to penetrate to the heart of the Palladian miracle. Palladio's theoretical writings are important and illuminating, he suggests, yet they never do justice to the intense intuitive skills of "a magician of light and colour". Indeed, as the photographs in this book reveal, Palladio was "as sensual, as skilled in visual alchemy as any Venetian painter of his time", and his countless imitators have usually captured the details, but not the essence of his style. There are buildings all the way from Philadelphia to Leningrad which bear witness to Palladio's "permanent place in the making of architecture", yet he also deserves to be seen on his own terms.

Palladian Design: the Good, the Bad and the Unexpected provides classic catalogue entries which will expand on individual objects as well as bring new opinions and critical thinking to the subject matter through commissioned essays from a range of disciplines and perspectives