How Buildings Learn

Stewart Brand

Architecture judged over decades rather than at completion, where the celebrated buildings often fare worst.

Stewart Brand’s insight is that architecture is almost always studied as a finished object, when buildings actually spend decades being modified by the people inside them. The best ones adapt easily; the celebrated ones often adapt worst. It is a book about time as a building material, and it changed how many people read a street.

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Recommended by 1 Person

Derek Sivers

Founder of CD Baby, writer and musician

I’ve read this book three times since 1999, and gifted it many times to others. It’s changed the way I look at buildings. I read it again now because I’m building a new house.

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