Encounters with Architecture

Howard Davis is Professor Emeritus of Architecture at the University of Oregon, where his specialty is issues of culture and place in buildings and cities. He is the author of The Culture of Building, Living Over the Store, and Working Cities, and the co-author, with Christopher Alexander and others, of The Production of Houses. Davis is a Distinguished Professor of the Association of Collegiate Schools of Architecture and winner of the Herman Award at the University of Oregon. His travels in over fifty countries are the basis for the writing and photography in this book.

"'Encounters' is an innovative narrative that weaves together a personal memoir, an understanding of architectural history, and a flaneur’s pure joy - all alongside an impressive photographic archive." ALVIN COMITER, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Photographer"Howard Davis, through his personal reflections and sumptuous illustrations, invites the reader to share with him his diverse encounters with buildings and spaces across the world. There is a generosity and attention to detail in this publication, that is often missing or misunderstood in contemporary accounts of architectural form and composition. Each entry really is an encounter."SIAN THERESE, Cambridgeshire, UK, Artist and archaeologist"The writing is gorgeous, clear and engaging. It's like a book of short stories, no need to read it in any particular order. Feels very honest and from the heart. And the pictures!!! So many and so beautiful- the whole design is beautiful."FRANCES HOLLISS, Brighton, UK, Architect, writer and artist"The design of the book is unique and very engaging, I really appreciated the personal aspects of the writing and the observations were insightful and engaging. Few architecture books are like that, this one is special in that regard." JERRY FINROW, Portland, OR, Architect and former dean of two schools of architecture"What a beautiful work. The sheer range of places is jaw-dropping to me, especially because these are not case studies of famous or even semi-famous buildings in most cases. The elegant brevity of the essays makes them very readable - and means the book is very easy to dip into." SAM GRIFFITHS, London, Faculty, Bartlett School of Architecture"My colleagues and I are always glad when Professor Howard Davis comes to visit, as he brings with him new insights into the social significance of London's architecture. Now I have the joy of reading about some of his encounters with architecture, via his latest book which contains 100 beautifully illustrated vignettes of everyday places around the world, ranging from Brooklyn, La Tourette Monastery in France, Istanbul, Copenhagen, Delhi, and beyond."LAURA VAUGHAN, London, Faculty, Bartlett School of Architecture"The format is wonderful, and I can jump in and around when I feel like it. What also strikes me is what a beautiful book it is visually - the photographs are wonderful and they really come across." PETER KEYES, Seattle, Architect and retired teacher of architecture"One of my favorite music groups is Rush. Their drummer was their lyricist and an author. He wrote a book, "Traveling Music: Playing Back the Soundtrack to My Life and Times” --and I loved how it reflected the music that influenced him in his life. I often think about the music that was and has been the soundtrack of my life. I see this book as the building and architectural equivalent for Howard Davis." JEREMY SMITH, Eugene, OR, Computer expert and member of art faculty"What a lovely book! It is written with a care and humanity that exactly matches those qualities that you celebrate in these places, this architecture."MALCOLM FRASER, Edinburgh, Architect

• PART ONE 1957–1975 Four shops, St. Johns Place, Brooklyn Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn Meadows, Catskill Mountains, New York House, Levittown, Long Island Small towns near New York City Brooklyn Technical High School, Brooklyn, New York Foundation Building, Cooper Union, New York Library, Mount Angel Abbey, Oregon Orchard Lane, Berkeley, California London La Tourette Monastery, Eveux-sur-l’Arbresle, France Farmhouse, Tunisia Roehampton housing estate, London Arcaded streets, Bologna, Italy PART TWO 1980–1985 House, Sierra Nevada, California Christian Science Church, Berkeley, California New York Public Library West 47th Street, New York Mosque of Rustem Pasa, Istanbul Outdoor book market, Istanbul Mount Athos, Greece Little Singer Building, New York Victoria and India streets, Edinburgh, Scotland Byker Wall, Newcastle upon Tyne, England House, open-air museum, Copenhagen Washington Mews, New York A neighborhood in Cairo Kings Road House, West Hollywood, California PART THREE 1986–1991 Knight Library, University of Oregon, Eugene Red Fort, Delhi, India Houses and streets, Jaisalmer, India Mausoleum of Mahmud Begada, Sarkhej, Ahmedabad, India Sarabhai House, Ahmedabad, India Doges’ Palace, Venice Wilhelm Pelster house-barn, Franklin County, Missouri Public housing, Vienna Karlsplatz Station, Vienna Church and orphanage, Florence, Italy Church of San Prassede, Rome Cosmati pavements, Roman churches, Italy Side of the road, India Village house, near L’viv, Ukraine PART FOUR 1992–1999 Passage des Panoramas, Paris A slum, Madras (now Chennai), India Temple of Athena Nike, Acropolis, Athens Apartment terrace, Athens Entsu-ji Temple, Kyoto Daishen-in, Myoshinji, Kyoto St. James Piccadilly, London Apartment houses, New York Inner Shrine, Ise, Mie Prefecture, Japan Tung Pattana, Chiang Mai, Thailand Al-Ghansour Caravanserai, Cairo, Egypt Grand Central Terminal, New York Tinngarden, Herfolge, Denmark Pati, Patan, Nepal Newari house, Patan, Nepal Trapezoidal bricks, Kathmandu Valley, Nepal PART FIVE 2000–2004 Chapel of St. Ignatius, Seattle India International Centre, New Delhi Court Gardener’s House, Potsdam, Germany Shop/houses in New York American Folk Art Museum, New York Arnados, Tinos, Greece Canal houses, Amsterdam, the Netherlands Seventeenth-century house interiors, the Netherlands Town hall, Hilversum, the Netherlands Artists’ houses and studios, Hammersmith, London Seabird Island School, Agassiz, British Columbia, Canada Scottish Poetry Library, Edinburgh PART SIX 2006–2014 Equitable Building, Portland St. Mark’s Church, Bjorkhagen, Stockholm Cantonal library of Ticino, Lugano, Switzerland Commercial extensions, London Stolpersteine (stumbling stones), Hamburg, Germany Housing project, Lindenstrasse, Berlin Dunboyne Road housing, Camden, London Gillett Square, Dalston, London Thermal baths, Vals, Switzerland Cathedral, Chartres, France Piazza dei Signori, Vicenza, Italy Swimming pool, Matosinhos, Portugal Sao Bento Train Station, Porto, Portugal PART SEVEN 2015–2024 Piazza della Madonna dei Monti, Rome Winkley Estate, Bethnal Green, London Myyrmaki Church, Vantaa, Finland Town hall, Saynatsalo, Finland Three spaces, Hvittrask, Kirkkonummi, Finland Dining room, Aalto house, Helsinki, Finland Tripotamos, Tinos, Greece Everyman Theatre, Liverpool Worship Street houses, London Silkweavers’ work spaces, Kanchipuram, Tamil Nadu, India Karappankadu, Tamil Nadu, India Castelvecchio, Verona Hedmark Museum, Hamar, Norway Place du Tertre, Montmartre, Paris Geffen Hall, Lincoln Center, New York Experimental project, Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico Avenida Paulista, Sao Paulo, Brazil