Alban Janson

Architecture creates complex spatial situations that are the subject of urban design. Design uses a repertoire of specific architectural means in a creative way, resulting in cities that can be lived in and perceived in their three-dimensional experience. The current book, an extended new edition of Architecture of the City (2016), describes the repertoire with which architecture and design regain an entry to urbanistics. It pleads for an "architectonic turn" in urbanistics – a demand to finally comprehend the city architecturally: the issue is not just about buildings in the city, but about architecture of the city as a whole, as is clearly expressed in the new title of City as Architecture.

Architektur ist die Kunst, Räume zu artikulieren. Auch für den Maßstab der Stadt, von der Türschwelle bis zur Region, geht es um die Architektur urbaner Räume. Diese sind Gegenstand des architektonischen Entwurfs, der ein Repertoire spezifischer Mittel schöpferisch einsetzt, so dass wir Städte als räumlich gestaltet erleben. Dieses architektonische Repertoire wird hier beschrieben. Entwurf und urban design finden wieder Eingang in die Urbanistik.

Architecture is an experience – with the intellect and with all our senses, in motion, and in use. But in order to actually discuss and assess it with relevance, a clarification of terms is essential in order to avoid the vagueness that often prevails when talking about architecture. This dictionary provides a vocabulary that allows the architecture discourse to go beyond the declaration of constructive relationships or the description of architectonic forms in familiar terms like “roof,” “base,” “wall,” and “axis” or “proportion”. The point is to describe the experience of architecture: how exactly does it contribute to the experience of a situation? For instance, the staging of an entrance situation, or the layout and visitor routes through a museum. From “context,” through “guidance,” “readability,” “patina,” “spatial structure,” “symmetry” and “tectonics,” to “width” (and “narrowness”) or “window,” the most important terms in architectural language are explained precisely and in detail.

Architecture is an experience – with the intellect and with all our senses, in motion, and in use. But in order to actually discuss and assess it with relevance, a clarification of terms is essential in order to avoid the vagueness that often prevails when talking about architecture. This dictionary provides a vocabulary that allows the architecture discourse to go beyond the declaration of constructive relationships or the description of architectonic forms in familiar terms like “roof,” “base,” “wall,” and “axis” or “proportion”. The point is to describe the experience of architecture: how exactly does it contribute to the experience of a situation? For instance, the staging of an entrance situation, or the layout and visitor routes through a museum. From “context,” through “guidance,” “readability,” “patina,” “spatial structure,” “symmetry” and “tectonics,” to “width” (and “narrowness”) or “window,” the most important terms in architectural language are explained precisely and in detail.