What can architects learn from anthropologists? This is the central
question examined in Anthropology for Architects - a survey and
exploration of the ideas which underpin the correspondence between
contemporary social anthropology and architecture.
The focus is on architecture as a design practice. Rather than
presenting architectural artefacts as objects of the anthropological
gaze, the book foregrounds the activities and aims of architects
themselves. It looks at the choices that designers have to make -
whether engaging with a site context, drawing, modelling, constructing,
or making a post-occupancy analysis - and explores how an
anthropological view can help inform design decisions.
Each chapter is arranged around a familiar building type (including the
studio, the home, markets, museums, and sacred spaces), in each case
showing how anthropology can help designers to think about the social
life of buildings at an appropriate scale: that of the individual
life-worlds which make up the everyday lives of a building's users.
Showing how anthropology offers an invaluable framework for thinking
about complex, messy, real-world situations, the book argues that,
ultimately, a truly anthropological architecture offers the potential
for a more socially informed, engaged and sensitive architecture which
responds more directly to people's needs.
Based on the author's experience teaching as well as his research into
anthropology by way of creative practice, this book will be directly
applicable to students and researchers in architecture, landscape, urban
design, and design anthropology, as well as to architectural
professionals.
