Favourite book

I had the pleasure of writing about my favourite book for the IAPS Bulletin. It took me a while to pick one despite not being an avid reader – because it had to be something that made a significant impact on my thinking and career. One of those books that will read differently every time you go back. See text below – originally written for the International Association for People-Environment Studies (IAPS) Bulletin 53.

“Throughout my undergraduate architecture degree, I was slowly realising that what drove me to create beautiful spaces were the people – a perspective that deepened when I read ‘What time is this Place?’ by Kevin Lynch for an urban design module book review. I found Lynch’s thoughts and perspectives inspiring, particularly where he depicts buildings as a carrier of memories, useful information, human behaviour, and as a channel for display of change over time. Permanently altering my perspective was his prompt that made me wonder if we ever design buildings for all stages of its life including how they are perceived or used in ruins. I hold this book close as it allowed me to think deeply about the use, preservation, decline and decay of buildings, and how its aesthetics, use, appreciation, relevance, and significance are celebrated and deteriorate over time. My design thinking was thus made sensitive to the temporal relationships between people and buildings, and the spatial experiences shaped in it and by it. No doubt it made its way into my research as I went on to explore psychological impacts of flexible housing designs that people can adapt. I would recommend it to anyone intrigued by the temporal dimensions of people-place relationships from a more built-environment perspective.“

LYNCH, K. (1972). WHAT TIME IS THIS PLACE?