Origins of Architectural Pleasure

Why do Some Buildings make us feel happy or excited or tranquil? What is it in architecture that elicits pleasure? Grant Hildebrand asks these general questions in Origins of Architectural Pleasure, as well as more specific ones: "When we choose a new dwelling place, or build one, or make landscaping decisions for one, or for that matter occupy a workplace, select a restaurant or a table in a restaurant, plan a vacation -- are there any characteristics we can identify that seem to improve our chances of contentment?" To answer them, the author examines buildings and groups of buildings -- from five continents and five millennia -- that have retained their remarkable appeal or excitement. The book explores the reasons for such responses to the physical environment and relates some of our pleasure in architecture to elements in nature essential to survival, from the self-evident need for shelter to the aesthetic satisfaction of discovering order in complexly organized surroundings -- or complexity in apparent order.

Grant Hildebrand is Professor of Architecture and Art History at the University of Washington, Seattle. He is the author of The Wright Space: Pattern and Meaning in Frank Lloyd Wright's Houses (1991).