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Mysteries of the mall : and other essays / Witold Rybczynski.

by Rybczynski, Witold, 1943-

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Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2015.

City planning -- United States.

Public buildings -- United States.

Cities and towns -- United States.

Architecture and society -- United States.

9780374269937 (hc.)

0374269939 (hc.)

viii, 319 pages ; 22 cm.

Includes index.

Part one: the way we live today. Mysteries of the mall ; Godfathers of sprawl ; Big-city amenities. Trees. High-tech jobs. Cappucino. Retirement paradise. Nose rings ; Designs for escape ; Thoughts on Home -- Part two: our urban condition. Tocqueville, urban critic ; We're all Venetians now ; Downtown ; Bauhaus blunders ; Downsizing cities ; The fifth city ; Bollard burg ; New York's rumpus room ; Why we need Olmsted again -- Part three: the art of building. A distinguished failure ; Show dogs ; When buildings try too hard ; The unreal America ; The story king ; A good public building ; A blight at the opera ; Sounds as good as it looks ; The biggest small buildings ; Palladio in the rough -- Part four: place makers. The master ; Corbu ; Why Wright endures ; Call Arup ; Mr. Success ; The unfettered eclectic ; A humble architect ; The Zen master ; The smart man from Hollywood.

"A deep exploration of modern life that examines our cities, public places, and homes. Witold Rybczynski, the author of How Architecture Works, casts a seasoned critical eye on the modern scene. In thirty-four discerning essays, Rybczynski ranges over topics as varied as shopping malls, Central Park, the Opéra Bastille, and America's shrinking cities. Along the way, he examines our post-9/11 obsession with security, the revival of the big-city library, the rise of college towns, our fascination with vacation homes, and Disney's planned community of Celebration. By looking at contemporary architects as diverse as Frank Gehry, Moshe Safdie, and Bing Thom, revisiting old masters such as Palladio, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright, and considering such unsung innovators as Stanley H. Durwood, the inventor of the cineplex, Rybczynski ponders the role of global metropolises in an age of tourism and reflects on what kinds of places attract us in the modern city. Mysteries of the Mall is required reading for anyone curious about the contemporary world and how it came to be the way it is. Witold Rybczynski lives in Philadelphia and is Emeritus Professor of Architecture at the University of Pennsylvania."--Provided by publisher.

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