An illuminating tour through five Italian cities famous for brilliant architecture that captures the ideas of a culture and a time in history. For Italian city builders over the course of a thousand years, the urban realm was the great theater where their best aspirations were played out, the place where society said the most substantial things about who they were and what they longed for. In Timeless Cities , architect David Mayernik reveals how Venice, Rome, Florence, Siena, and Pienza emerged from the cultural ideas of ...
Read More
An illuminating tour through five Italian cities famous for brilliant architecture that captures the ideas of a culture and a time in history. For Italian city builders over the course of a thousand years, the urban realm was the great theater where their best aspirations were played out, the place where society said the most substantial things about who they were and what they longed for. In Timeless Cities , architect David Mayernik reveals how Venice, Rome, Florence, Siena, and Pienza emerged from the cultural ideas of humanism that characterized Italian society from late antiquity to the eighteenth century. Cities were literally designed to be models of the mind and images of heaven. Mayernik takes the reader on an architect's tour of these five cities and describes the cultural beliefs and ideas behind the buildings. Not only a journey into the past, Timeless Cities also explains why these city-building ideas are relevant today. Whether travelling on holiday or appreciating the art and architecture of Italy from home, Mayernik helps bring the wonder and beauty of the Italian mind and its great cities a little closer.
Read Less
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $9.95, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Atlanta rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Austell, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Westview Press.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $9.95, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Dallas rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Dallas, TX, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Westview Press.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $9.95, good condition, Sold by ThriftBooks-Baltimore rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Halethorpe, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Westview Press.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $13.95, good condition, Sold by ABC Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Springfield, MO, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Basic Books.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $13.99, very good condition, Sold by Magers and Quinn Booksellers rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Minneapolis, MN, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Westview Press.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $16.50, like new condition, Sold by Powell's Books Chicago rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Chicago, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Westview Press.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $17.99, very good condition, Sold by A Cappella Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Atlanta, GA, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Westview Press.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $18.35, very good condition, Sold by Sequitur Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Boonsboro, MD, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Basic Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Very Good. Size: 6x1x8; [First Edition] Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Shelf wear. Light foxing/soiling to top edge. Minimal chip to jacket. Pages unmarked.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities: an Architect's Reflections on to cart. $19.50, like new condition, Sold by StockandTrade rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Portland, OR, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Basic Books.
Choose your shipping method in Checkout. Costs may vary based on destination.
Seller's Description:
Like New in Like New jacket. Size: 9x6x1; A nice hardcover in a protective Mylar sleeve with a crisp dust jacket, a tight binding and an unmarked text. From a private smoke free collection. Shipping within 24 hours a tracking number and delivery confirmation.
Add this copy of Timeless Cities to cart. $22.00, like new condition, Sold by Dave Wilhelm Books rated 5.0 out of 5 stars, ships from Evanston, IL, UNITED STATES, published 2003 by Westview.
This is an excellent polemic about the role of architecture and urban design in the civic life of cities. While ostensibly about Renaissance Italy, the author's arguments are as much about city life today as about the past. His chapters on Rome and Pienza are, to my mind, the best, but his discussions of Florence, Venice and Siena are enjoyable as well. The book does not rely on new research, but rather is a coherent interpretation of what we might describe as civic-mindedness or publicness. The only negative critique I would offer is that the author's diatribe against preservation seems hyperbolic and misses the mark. While it is true that preservation became professionally established only under modernism, this does not reflect an inherent modernist bias in the field. We are lucky to have the buildings that have been saved, even if we can imagine better ones (ie, more beautiful or magnificent, in the author's terms) in their place. Nonetheless, this impassioned plea for the beauty of cities--"living civic artifacts"--is a must-read for anyone interested in city life.
