The Continuous City

The architect as hunter-gatherer: Lars Lerup and his concept of the modern city

This book gathers writings by Swedish American architect Lars Lerup, in which he sharply observes and analyzes the urban environment around him, then applies those findings to develop innovative theories about the modern city. Though the fourteen essays in the book were written as standalone pieces, together they cohere into a larger project that surveys Lerup's thinking about identity, monumentality, and the relationship between nature and culture. He considers influential modern landscape designer Roberto Burle Marx, the dancing floors of Rem Koolhaas's Seattle Central Library, Herzog & de Meuron's 1111 Lincoln Road project in Miami Beach, the character of urban icons like Coop Himmelb(l)au's Dalian International Conference Center, and much more.

Lars Lerup invites his readers to join him on his journey and to be enriched, rather than instructed, en route.

• Lars Lerup ranks among the most influential teachers and researchers in theory of urbanism
• Features fourteen previously unpublished essays by Lerup on identity and monumentality and the relationship of nature and culture

• An enriching journey to key examples and protagonists of contemporary urban development

  Autorentext
  Lars Lerup has been a Professor at and Dean of Rice School of Architecture in Houston, Texas, 19932009. Before his tenure at Rice he has taught for many years at University of California Berkeley. He currently holds a teaching and reserach appointment at Humboldt University's Hermann von Helmholtz Center for Cultural Techniques in Berlin.

  Zusammenfassung

The architect as hunter-gatherer: Lars Lerup and his concept of the modern city