文档介绍：pbcRRD 7/26/02 10:54 AM Page 1
mon Ground
Architecture, Technology, and Topography
David Leatherbarrow
Although both are central to architecture, siting and construction are often
treated as separate domains. In mon Ground, David Leatherbarrow
illuminates their relationship, focusing on the years between 1930 and
1960, when utopian ideas about the role of technology in building gave way
to an awareness of its disruptive impact on cities and culture. He examines
the work of three architects: Richard Neutra, Antonin Raymond, and Aris
Konstantinidis, who practiced in the United States, Japan, and Greece
respectively. MON
Leatherbarrow rejects the assumption that buildings of the modern peri-
od, particularly those that used the latest technology, were designed with-
out regard to their surroundings. Although the prefabricated elements used
in the buildings were designed independent of siting considerations, archi-
tects used these elements to modulate the environment. Leatherbarrow
shows how the role of walls, the traditional element of architectural defin-
ition and platform partition, became less significant than that of the plat-
forms themselves—the floors, ceilings, and intermediate levels. Arguing
that the boundary between inside and outside was radically redefined,
Leatherbarrow challenges cherished notions about the autonomy of the
architectural object and about regional coherence.
MON GROUND MON
GROUND GROUND
David Leatherbarrow is Professor of Architecture and Chairman of the
Graduate Group in Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania. He is ARCHITECTURE, TECHNOLOGY, AND TOPOGRAPHY
the coauthor of Surface Architecture (MIT Press, 2002) and On Weathering
(MIT Press, 1993). LEATHERBARROW
“The interwoven roles of site, technology, and topography in the art of
architecture are examined in this fascinating look at the structures in which
we live and work.”
—Forecast
“[mon Ground] corrects the