The Biography Of A Building [Hardcover]

Witold Rybczynski (Author)

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Product Details

Hardcover: 208 pages
Publisher: Thames and Hudson (Sep 20 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0500342768
ISBN-13: 978-0500342763
Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 16.2 x 2.8 cm
Shipping Weight: 771 g
Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #210,699 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Product Description

"The Biography of a Building" tells the remarkable story of the Sainsbury Centre for the Visual Arts at the University of East Anglia, built to contain Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury's private collection of paintings, drawings and sculptures, and opened in April 1978. It begins with the history of the Sainsbury's collection, set beside the parallel journeys of three other private collectors and the museums they built to house their treasures. The heart of the account is the selection of Norman Foster as the architect, the identification of the site, the design and completion of the building, and the installation of the collection unfolds through a combination of incisive narrative and carefully selected quotations from Sir Robert Foster and the UEA authorities. The author then considers the role of the Sainsbury Centre as the launch pad for Fosters meteoric rise to fame and fortune, before returning to the building, the construction of an extension the Crescent Wing opened in 1991, and a major refurbishment completed in 2006.

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Amazon.com: 4.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars The story of a client relationship, Oct 31 2011

By James B. Garrison - Published on Amazon.com

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This review is from: The Biography Of A Building (Hardcover)

I have read many books by this author and find his most engaging books relate to his own experiences and observations. His writing is clear and informative, but doesn't really come alive until it becomes personal. This book recounts the development, construction and use the the Sainsbury Center at the University of East Anglia, an important early work by Norman Foster. The story begins well before there was an idea for a building when Sir Robert and Lady Sainsbury (Bob and Lisa in the book) began collecting art. The author goes into great length about the collection, the Sainsbury's and how this resulted in a building and subsequent addition, also by Foster. He never gets bogged down in too much architectural or construction detail, and manages to convey a complete story from the clients', architects' and University's viewpoints. It is not so much the biography of a building as much as a recitation about a long and productive relationship between patrons and an architect. The building is but one of many characters.

While the book does not aim to be a critical review or dissertation on the High Tech movement in modern architecture, the approach of "nothing but the facts" about the design process and building leaves this reader not completely satisfied. The author is well known for his favorable opinions toward traditional design and it seems that despite a warm client/designer relationship, the mechanistic quality of this building leaves him, and ultimately the reader, cold.

› Go to Amazon.com to see the review 4.0 out of 5 stars