If walls could speak : my life in architecture / Moshe Safdie.

Main entry:

Safdie, Moshe, 1938- author.

Title & Author:

If walls could speak : my life in architecture / Moshe Safdie.

Edition:

First edition.
First Grove Atlantic hardcover edition.

Publication:

New York, NY : Atlantic Monthly Press, an imprint of Grove Atlantic, 2022.
©2022

Description:

352 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations (some color) ; 24 cm

Notes:
Includes index.
Prologue: A week in the life -- A house on a hill - Ideas and mentors -- The world of habitat -- Old city, new city -- Private jokes in public places -- "Does God live there?" -- Cutting through the mountain -- The power of place -- Megascale -- What if? -- Faith and peace -- Afterword: What I believe.

Summary:

"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, 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"-- Provided by publisher.

ISBN:

9780802158321 hardcover
0802158323 hardcover
electronic book
9780802158345

Subject:

Safdie, Moshe, 1938-
Architects Canada Biography.
Architectes Canada Biographies.
Architects
Canada

Form/genre:

autobiographies (literary works)
Autobiographies
Biographies

Holdings:

Location: Library main 325903
Call No.: 325903
Copy: 1
Status: Available

Actions:

Add to folder

Request these items

Email this list to yourself (or someone else)

Your folder is empty.

Please complete this form to make a request for consultation. A copy of this list will also be forwarded to you.

Your contact information

First name:

Last name:

Email:

Phone number:

Notes (optional):

We will contact you to set up an appointment. Please keep in mind that your consultation date will be based on the type of material you wish to study. To prepare your visit, we'll need:

— At least 2 weeks for primary sources (prints and drawings, photographs, archival documents, etc.)
— At least 48 hours for secondary sources (books, periodicals, vertical files, etc.)

Back to list

Submit