How Buildings Learn
Encyclopedia
How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built is an illustrated book on the evolution of buildings and how buildings adapt to changing requirements over long periods. It was written by Stewart Brand
and published by Viking Press
in 1994. In 1997 it was turned in to a 6 part TV series on the BBC
.
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brand goes so far as to state that a supply of simple, low-cost, easily modified buildings is key to innovation and economic growth. He implies that an expanding property-value market may actually slow innovation and produce a less human-centered community. Among other things, the book details the notion of Shearing layers
.
Criticism of the architect Richard Rogers
was removed from the UK edition but remains in the US edition.
, produced by James Runcie
, executive producer Roly Keating
, which was screened in July 1997. Stewart Brand added the series to Google Video in June 2008.
In the BBC series, Brand is highly critical of the entire modernist approach to architecture. He fully rejects the "center out" approach of design, where a single person or group designs a building for others to use, in favor of an evolutionary approach where owners can change a building over time to meet their needs. He focuses specific criticism on modernist innovators like Buckminster Fuller
for making round building that do not allow any kind of additions or internal division, Frank Gehry
for making buildings that were hard to maintain, and Le Corbusier
for making building that did not take in to consideration the needs of families. Brand was also critical of French development during the 1980s which did not take local conditions in to account and ended up not serving their purpose, like the central Library which had to take money away from buying new books to deal with the heat produced by so many windows. .
Brand stresses the value an organic kind of building, based on four walls, which is easy to change and expand and grow as the idea form of building. This embracing traditional box design as the optimal structure puts him in direct contrast to thinkers like Buckminster Fuller
who proposed geodesic dome
as a better solution for buildings.
Stewart Brand
Stewart Brand is an American writer, best known as editor of the Whole Earth Catalog. He founded a number of organizations including The WELL, the Global Business Network, and the Long Now Foundation...
and published by Viking Press
Viking Press
Viking Press is an American publishing company owned by the Penguin Group, which has owned the company since 1975. It was founded in New York City on March 1, 1925, by Harold K. Guinzburg and George S. Oppenheim...
in 1994. In 1997 it was turned in to a 6 part TV series on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
.
Book
Brand asserts that the best buildings are made from low-cost, standard designs that people are familiar with, and easy to modify. In this way people can gradually change their buildings to meet their needs. One of his examples is Building 20Building 20
Building 20 was a temporary wooden structure hastily erected during World War II on the central campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Since it was always regarded as "temporary", it never received a formal name throughout its 55-year existence...
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Brand goes so far as to state that a supply of simple, low-cost, easily modified buildings is key to innovation and economic growth. He implies that an expanding property-value market may actually slow innovation and produce a less human-centered community. Among other things, the book details the notion of Shearing layers
Shearing layers
Shearing layers is a concept coined by architect Frank Duffy which was later elaborated by Stewart Brand in his book How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They’re Built , and refers to buildings as composed of several layers of change....
.
Criticism of the architect Richard Rogers
Richard Rogers
Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside CH Kt FRIBA FCSD is a British architect noted for his modernist and functionalist designs....
was removed from the UK edition but remains in the US edition.
TV series
The book inspired a 6-part TV series by the BBCBBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, produced by James Runcie
James Runcie
The Hon. James Runcie is a British novelist, documentary film-maker, television producer, theatre director, and Artistic Director of the Bath Literature Festival.- Early life :...
, executive producer Roly Keating
Roly Keating
Roland "Roly" Keating is the current Director of Archive Content for the BBC.-Education:Keating was educated at Westminster School, an independent school for boys in London, followed by Balliol College at the University of Oxford, where he read Classics.-Life and career:Keating joined the BBC in...
, which was screened in July 1997. Stewart Brand added the series to Google Video in June 2008.
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
for making round building that do not allow any kind of additions or internal division, Frank Gehry
Frank Gehry
Frank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
for making buildings that were hard to maintain, and Le Corbusier
Le Corbusier
Charles-Édouard Jeanneret, better known as Le Corbusier , was a Swiss-born French architect, designer, urbanist, writer and painter, famous for being one of the pioneers of what now is called modern architecture. He was born in Switzerland and became a French citizen in 1930...
for making building that did not take in to consideration the needs of families. Brand was also critical of French development during the 1980s which did not take local conditions in to account and ended up not serving their purpose, like the central Library which had to take money away from buying new books to deal with the heat produced by so many windows. .
Brand stresses the value an organic kind of building, based on four walls, which is easy to change and expand and grow as the idea form of building. This embracing traditional box design as the optimal structure puts him in direct contrast to thinkers like Buckminster Fuller
Buckminster Fuller
Richard Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was an American systems theorist, author, designer, inventor, futurist and second president of Mensa International, the high IQ society....
who proposed geodesic dome
Geodesic dome
A geodesic dome is a spherical or partial-spherical shell structure or lattice shell based on a network of great circles on the surface of a sphere. The geodesics intersect to form triangular elements that have local triangular rigidity and also distribute the stress across the structure. When...
as a better solution for buildings.