An Anthropology of Architecture

223 Pages·2013·1.81 MB·English

by  Victor Buchli

AN
ANTHROPOLOGY
OF ARCHITECTURE

AN
ANTHROPOLOGY
OF ARCHITECTURE

Victor Buchli
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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London New York
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www.bloomsbury.com
Bloomsbury is a registered trade mark of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
First published 2013
© Victor Buchli, 2013
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying,
recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without prior permission
in writing from the publishers.
Victor Buchli has identifi ed his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identifi ed as Author of this work.
No responsibility for loss caused to any individual or organization acting on or
refraining from action as a result of the material in this publication can be
accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN: 978-0-8578-5300-4
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Buchli, Victor.
An anthropology of architecture / Victor Buchli.
p.cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
ISBN 978-1-84520-783-0 — ISBN 978-1-84520-782-3 —
ISBN 978-0-85785-300-4 — ISBN 978-0-85785-301-1
1. Architecture and anthropology. I. Title.
NA2543.A58B83 2013
306.4’7—dc23 2013012954
For my students

CONTENTS
List of Illustrations ix
Introduction 1
1 Th e Long Nineteenth Century 19
2 Architecture and Archaeology 47
3 Social Anthropology and the House Societies of Lévi-Strauss 71
4 Institutions and Community 89
5 Consumption Studies and the Home 117
6 Embodiment and Architectural Form 137
7 Iconoclasm, Decay, and the Destruction of Architectural Forms 157
Postscript 179
Notes 187
Bibliography 189
Index 203

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Figure 1 A Maori meeting house interior p. 9
Figure 2 Viollet le Duc’s fi rst hut p. 20
Figure 3 Laugier’s primitive hut p. 22
Figure 4 Semper’s Carib hut p. 24
Figure 5 Th e Crystal Palace, 1851 p. 26
Figure 6 Pitt Rivers’s weaponry p. 31
Figure 7 Morgan’s Iroquois longhouse p. 33
Figure 8 Lake Zurich dwellings p. 36
Figure 9 Field tent p. 40
Figure 10 Upper Paleolithic dwelling at Gagarino p. 49
Figure 11 William Paca Garden, Annapolis, Maryland p. 60
Figure 12 Stonehenge p. 68
Figure 13 Th e Acropolis p. 69
Figure 14 A t avu house altar p. 82
Figure 15 Paris barricades p. 91
Figure 16 Paris arcade p. 93
Figure 17 Bonaventure Hotel, Los Angeles p. 97
Figure 18 Brasília p. 100
Figure 19 Astana skyline p. 101
Figure 20 A gated community p. 103
Figure 21 Viennese F lakturm p. 110
Figure 22 Postwar Soviet interiors p. 126
Figure 23 Luzia’s “throwntogetherness” p. 128
Figure 24 Daniels’s Japanese house p. 133
Figure 25 Da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man p. 138
Figure 26 Camera obscura as architectural chamber p. 140
Figure 27 DeSilvey’s abandoned Montana farmhouse p. 160
Figure 28 Edensor’s ruined industrial building p. 162
Figure 29 Gonzalez-Ruibal’s abandoned farmhouse, Galicia, Spain p. 165