Author: Brand Stewart
Place: USA
Publisher: Penguin Books
Year: 1994
Pages: 243
ISBN: 0-670-83515-3
Subject: Architecture
Sub-Subject: Modern Architecture
Keyword: Modern Architecture, Bibliography
Shelf: C4R5
Accession No: B1247
Contents: Acknowledgments Cover Story 1- Flow 2- Shearing Layers 3- “Nobody Cares What You Do in There”: The Low Road 4- Houseproud: The High Road 5- Magazine Architecture: No Road 6- Unreal Estate 7- Preservation: A Quiet, Populist, Conservative, Victorious Revolution 8- The Romance of Maintenance 9- Vernacular: How Buildings Learn From Each Other 10- Function Melts Form: Satisficing Home and Office 11- The Scenario-buffered Building 12- Built for Change Appendix: The Study of Buildings in Time Recommended Bibliography: Books for Time-kindly Buildings Index
Abstract: How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built explores how buildings evolve through adaptation, maintenance, and change long after construction. Using ideas like flow, shearing layers, and vernacular architecture, it shows how buildings respond to human needs, cultural shifts, and the environment. The book highlights the balance between preservation and modernization and emphasizes the importance of ongoing maintenance. Focusing on examples from the England, it reveals how buildings “learn” from their use, becoming more resilient and functional over time. This challenges traditional architecture by viewing buildings as living entities that grow with their occupants.