Architecture

Living Buildings

This is perhaps the most beautiful book of anthroposophically-inspired architecture ever published! A feast for the eyes and heart all the through its 180+ pages -- color photos, watercolor paintings, floor plans, sketches, and all of them of actually buildings that are in daily use throughout the world. To gaze at pictures of these buildings is a healing experience -- imagine what being in them and near them must be. Everyone who as looked through these books with me agrees that these buildings fulfill some deep yearning of their soul -- how wonderful to know they exist somewhere.

Joan de Ris Allen has been designing buildings for Camphill Villages since 1961 - Living Buildings reflects her enthusiastic commitment and practical involvement in furthering Rudolf Steiner's architectural impulse in Camphill Communities throughout the world.

Art as Spiritual Activity

It's hard to know where to focus my enthusiasm for this volume: whether to rest it upon Michael Howard's extensive introduction (over 100 pages) to the world of Rudolf Steiner's expression of the visual arts or upon the ten seminal lectures by Steiner himself, touching as they do upon everything from the nature of aesthetics to the specifics of painting, sculpture, architecture and more. Perhaps the best I can say is that if you've ever wondered or wanted to know more about the artistic impulse behind Anthroposophic art, this is the ideal place to begin your journey. It's hard for me to imagine anyone regretting it.

Living Architecture

Finally! A concise, fully illustrated and readable introduction to the architectural ideas of Rudolf Steiner. One of the most frequently asked questions that we receive is, "where can I find out something about anthroposophic architecture?" Now we have an answer - right in this book! Living Architecture offers a complete overview of Steiner's thoughts about the role of architecture, the needs of modern (and ancient) human beings in relation to the buildings they erect, the effects of different structural forms and more. The entire book is packed will illustrations, both drawings and photographs on almost every page. I found it exhilarating reading and plan to revisit it often. I think this is truly a book we've all been waiting for. Enjoy!

Architecture as a Synthesis of the Arts

This collection introduces Rudolf Steiner's vision of architecture as a culmination of the arts. Such an architecture is a vital synthesis that unites sculpture and painting, as well as drama, music and dance.

Steiner's ideas did not remain abstract; within his lifetime he designed and constructed a number of buildings, including the Goetheanum - a center for culture and arts near Basle, Switzerland. In these lectures Steiner describes, with reference to the Goetheanum, the importance of an architecturally coherent and integrated community, and how this in turn affects social unity and harmony. A valuable collection for students of architecture, the arts, and social science.

Goethe & Palladio

The poet, dramatist, novelist, and scientist, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had to wait many years before he was able to travel south to Italy, "the land where the lemon trees bloom." He had gained success in several fields, but he had a sense of being trapped and confined and felt a need for light. Italy would give this to him in a number of ways.

Taking as their basis Goethe’s Italian Journey, the authors of this fascinating and unusual study explore how Goethe’s experience of Palladio’s architecture influenced his view of the relationship between art and nature in general and, in particular, helped him form his understanding of metamorphosis, leading to his discovery of the “archetypal plant.”

In his carefully written account of his travels, Goethe seems to oscillate between experiences of architecture and experiences of nature. In nature, he searched for the "archetypal plant," the essential form whose metamorphosis through time would produce the plant we see in its cycle from seed to fruit. In the art and architecture of antiquity and in Palladio’s classical reformulation of it, he tried to understand the purpose and function of artistic creation.

Until now, no one has put these two together. David Lowe and Simon Sharp show for the first time how these seemingly unrelated subjects are related—how the living geometries and volumes of harmoniously proportioned buildings, the “great idea” of architecture, can lead to the intuition of similar principles in nature.

David Lowe and Simon Sharp have worked together for twenty-one years. One of their first projects was the recreation of Goethe’s Italian Journey. They have given numerous workshops and presentations on the subject in the U.S. and U.K., including The British Museum, the German Embassy, and the Edinburgh Festival.

This is must-reading for anyone interested in Goethe's ideas on plants and metamorphosis.

The Power of Limits

The Power of Limits is an exposition of the rhythms and harmonies of both natural and artistic forms. I have used its contents for meditative contemplation for many years now, and have not come even close to exhausting the insights and revelations Doczi's remarkable book contains. Whenever I get frustrated at how slowly positive change comes about, I reach for The Power of Limits so that I can be reminded of the grace and beauty that limitation brings the world. Steiner defined art as "the impress of the spirit upon matter." Doczi shows us what that means.

Many Mansions - The Spirit in Architecture

For all of you who have been asking, "Is there a book that describes guidelines for building Waldorf schools?" - here it is! There is also much more, but this remarkable little book presents more usable information than we've ever seen gathered in one place. If you are on the building committee of your school, or are blessed with the opportunity to build your own home, you'll want to take a look at Many Mansions. You'll come away with a wealth of ideas and understanding.

Chartres

Chartres cathedral in France is one of the most important and popular sacred sites in Western Europe. The Rev. Strachan·s new study examines the spiritual geometry of the church and suggests its significance is connected to an ancient combination of pagan worship, earth energies and the mystical harmony of Christian and Islamic architecture. Highly recommended.

·The Cauldron, August 2003

In this ground-breaking new work, Gordon Strachan explores the magnificent structure of Chartres Cathedral and its influences on the medieval master builders.

Using Chartres as a starting point, Dr. Strachan shows how the origins of the Gothic style·the pointed arch·may lie in Islamic architecture. He goes on to a fascinating and detailed consideration of how a particular architectural space affects us, and how sacred geometry creates sacred space.

Gothic High

Gothic High is a book after my own heart. I have long loved the old Gothic cathedrals - those massive structures which through the heavy stone seem to miraculously escape the pull of gravity, and instead use gravity itself to support vaults that lift us to into the arms of the Spirit. Vandenbroeck's approach is just right for his subject - each page includes a photo or drawing of an aspect of a Gothic cathedral; beside it is a poetic song to the soul's awareness of what the picture reveals. This is a great book through which you can explore both an outstanding feature of Western history and your own soul's sensitivity to form.