Words and Buildings by Adrian Forty

Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture
Adrian Forty
Thames and Hudson, 336pp, £19.95
Publication date: 19th March 2012

This groundbreaking book has come back into print. An important book, it is the first thorough examination of the complex relationship between architecture and language as intricate social practices. Six rigorously argued chapters investigate the language of modernism, language and drawing, ‘masculine and feminine’ architecture, language metaphors, science in architecture, and the social properties of architecture. There follows a vocabulary of key words such as ‘Character’, ‘Form’, ‘History’ and ‘Space’, locating each word’s modern meaning within an historical and theoretical framework, and setting out clearly its development and relevance for architects, historians, philosophers, critics and the users of the buildings themselves.

Words and Buildings is an original study that has enriched the way we think and talk about architecture. It is essential reading for anyone concerned with architecture and culture in the modern era.

‘Architects should be made to read Words and Buildings’ – Architecture Today