If Walls Could Speak: My Life in Architecture
Book by Moshe Safdie
DETAILS
Publisher : Atlantic Monthly Press (September 20, 2022) Language : English Hardcover : 368 pages ISBN-10 : 0802158323 ISBN-13 : 978-0802158321 Item Weight : 1.62 pounds Dimensions : 6.3 x 1.4 x 9.2 inches Best Sellers Rank: #63,659 in Books (See Top 100 in Books) #9 in Architectural Criticism #22 in Individual Architects & Firms #64 in Artist & Architect Biographies , One of the world’s greatest and most thoughtful architects recounts his extraordinary career and the iconic structures he has built—from Habitat in Montreal to Marina Bay Sands in Singapore—and offers a manifesto for the role architecture should play in society Over more than five decades, legendary architect Moshe Safdie has built some of the world’s most influential and memorable structures—from the 1967 modular housing scheme in Montreal known as “Habitat” and the Yad Vashem memorial in Israel, to the Crystal Bridges Museum in Arkansas and the Marina Bay Sands development and extraordinary Jewel Changi airport interior garden and waterfall in Singapore. For Safdie, the way a space functions is fundamental; he is deeply committed to architecture as a social force for good, believing that any challenge, including extreme population density and environmental distress, can be addressed with solutions that enhance community and uplift the human spirit. Safdie always refers to the “silent client” an architect must ultimately serve: the people who live in, work in, or experience a building. If Walls Could Speak takes readers behind the veil of an essential yet mysterious profession to explain through Safdie’s own experiences how an architect thinks and works—“from the spark of imagination through the design process, the model-making, the politics, the engineering, the materials.” Relating memorable stories about what has inspired him—from childhoods in Israel and Montreal to the projects and personalities worldwide that have captured his imagination—Safdie reveals the complex interplay that underpins every project and his vision for the role architecture can and should play in society at large. Illustrated throughout with drawings, sketches, photographs, and documents from his firm’s voluminous archives that illuminate his stories, If Walls Could Speak ends with a chapter outlining seven projects Safdie would pursue around the world if resources and will were no issue and the choices were his to make. A book like no other, If Walls Could Speak will forever change the way you look at and appreciate any built structure. Read more
REVIEW
I honestly was not aware of who Moshe Safdie was. I saw this book and looked him up, and wowzers, I recognized quite a few iconic buildings that he designed and was stunned that he was the architect behind them, so I just had to read this. He states in the Acknowledgments section that, "This memoir is primarily a chronicle of my life as an architect. Although by necessity it touches on many personal details, its focus is on the making of architecture." He isn't wrong. This book is his memoir, starting at his childhood in Israel and following him as he moved and started designing what would become statement buildings that defied modern conventions of brick and mortar, and made the buildings become almost alive with possibilities of combining suburban life and urban nature in ways that haven't been done before. He's truly a creative genius. I was even surprised to see that he mentioned meeting Paul Rudolph, a name with historical meaning where I live, and I can see how easily one could be influenced in that field with Moshe Safdie leading the way. I found this book to be very informative of not only how he began in thinking and shaping his vision, but also the bumps and bruises along the way. I never knew that in his field, most projects were won by contests that cost quite a bit of money, time, and talent. It isn't surprising, but not being in that field, I was unaware of that aspect. A brilliant memoir of the humility of a man who continues to push the envelope of what our living spaces could be while still defining his own role in the field. *I received a copy of this book from NetGalley. This review is my own opinion*
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