How Buildings Learn: What Happens After They're Built

I am an acoustical and systems design consultant who specializes in worship and performing arts facilities, and use this book regularly in my practice. I have found no better resource for introducing the facility planning "layperson" to the enormous blind-spot that many in the architectural design and construction profession have regarding the relevance of buildings to the functional needs that should define their design, as well as the ongoing process of maintaining this relevance over time.While highly specialized rooms such as auditoria do not usually lend themselves to significant modification over time, or to strategies such as "loose fit," Brand's advice about the risk of architectural experimentation in the fundamental form of most buildings is spot on. This book is an extremely engaging read, and also serves as an excellent introduction to other key literature on architectural programming, scenario planning, the evolution of the architectural profession, and so forth.As other reviewers have suggested, anyone who lives or works in a building can profit from reading this book. I would add that anyone who works in the construction or facility management industries, or who expects to be involved in planning a building project from the perspective of the owner or user, has a duty to seek out the sort of education that this book provides.

I knew about this book for a long time, but I finally got around to reading it. Brand makes some really excellent observations. The chapter on low road architecture and buildings is worth the price of the book.

Amazing that a book published in the mid-nineties is still garnering regular reviews - this says something about the enduring appeal and quality of Brand's work. I first bought a copy of this book in the mid-nineties, and I've been handing them out to colleagues ever since. To me the book speaks beautifully about architecture and how our built environment evolves, but that's not its real appeal to me. As a computer scientist, I'm fascinated by the more general lessons that can be drawn from this book about complex systems, the interplay between their temporal layers, and how understanding this can lead to better systems designs in a host of fields. I've applied these lessons in areas from software engineering to organisational and cultural change, and my sense is that this book's importance -- like Alexander's Timeless Way of Building -- extends far beyond architecture. If you're involved in evolving organisations, software, towns or buildings, you'll not regret taking the time to read it.

I live in the deep south where, even today, kitchens in newly-built houses are generally very small. Most southerners that I know do not know why or even care that their kitchens are so small. I happen to live in a house with a large kitchen, a huge front porch, and a small back porch. I don't know the how or why the original builder of the house decided to include a very large kitchen, but I, being a Yankee, love having a large kitchen.Kitchens in the south were the domain of domestic help, and the cultural norm was not to provide a great deal of space for the help. That tells us something about cultural attitudes even though most of us no longer can afford to employ domestic help. I would conclude the obvious then, that buildings do not learn on their own: They need to be nudged to catch up with current realities--just like school kids who want to skip school.At present, I am trying to figure out what to do with my front porch that just collects garden furniture laden with dust. I don't need an extra room and have no desire at this time to screen the porch in. Screening is too obvious. What to do?The small back porch has already been enclosed and has "learned" to be a mud room for our two pet canines when it's too hot or cold for them to stay outside or when it's raining.Perhaps by the time I have finished reading this wonderful book, I'll know what to do about the idiot front porch.I love this book and highly recommend it.

I checked this book out at the library a long time ago and it completely changed the way I look at houses. Read it and you'll understand why old houses are always more interesting than new ones.In my case, I bought this book again because I'm planning to build my house in a couple of months and I don't want it to be yet another house that falls apart in 20-30 years because it's useless and/or ugly.Stewart Brand is thorough and observant, and he has a fascinating perspective on the built world as it relates to time. I will be reading more of his work as soon as I have the time.

Stewart Brand has a well-deserved reputation as a visionary iconoclast. The founder of the Whole Earth Catalog has been challenging our preconceptions for many, many years. With "How Buildings Learn" he turns his finely-honed analytical and futurist abilities on architecture and construction.This book is primarily synthetic in its focus. There aren't any brand-new ideas here, but there are many powerful methods and ways of thinking from other disciplines that Brand has brought to bear on the problem of making buildings that stand the test of time. Those whose backgrounds are not as diverse as Brand's (and whose is, really?), will be exposed to many unconventional ways of thinking about buildings. The reader will come away with a powerful sense of possibility and a deeper understanding of the built environment.Whether you're an expert or simply have an interest in the structures we build around ourselves, you'll find much to admire in this thought-provoking exploration of buildings through time. It's every bit as relevant and ground-breaking today as it was when it was published.

Numerous excellent before-and-after photos. Lots of discussion about how architecture and construction goes wrong. People in those industries tend to be short-sighted, and make some stupid decisions that cause frustration for building occupants for years to come. This book refocuses the reader on a longer-term view of what makes a good building.

The book is legendary amongst designers, architects and software engineers. This is right up there with The Design of Everyday Things, and The Timeless Way of Building. The printing and binding is great. The book has a ton of illustrations, all of which are clear. Highly recommended.

Great book to learn something useful about real estate and also a good read in itself. I am not an architect or designer so can't comment on the technical accuracy or the "philosophy". However, if you have a passing interest in buildings, for whatever reason, this book will give you better lenses to see what is around you. Very few books do that in my experience.

This book was actually recommended to me by a computer science teacher. Read it as the architecture of a computer system (the site), the hardware (the structure), the software and customizations (the skin/services) and the users and data (space plan, stuff), and it makes sense! Gave me a whole new appreciation of computer systems AND architecture. I will never look at either the same. Like other reviewers, I refer back to this book often, and take time when I am travelling to notice how buildings have learned.

Ouvrage reçu en excellent état. C'est un livre fort intéressant,dans une belle édition , format agréable à l'oeil et à manipuler ;. Décidémment un auteur passionnant , auteur du "LONG MAINTENANT " enfin traduit en Français .

If you have ever lived or worked - and suffered - in a building designed by a star architect (or a wannabe - the differences in habitability between them tend to be slight), Brand's book is a must read. Not being an architect himself, he looks primarily at the functional aspects of buildings, as places of habitation and places of work. The book then proceeds to examine how the demands for buildings change over time and what buildings adapt best / what approaches to use to make the adaptation process easiest for the inhabitants.Brand calls for adaptable and liveable architecture, for buildings which can easily be repurposed to suit the ever changing needs of the inhabitants and which can grow appropriately and sensibly. The focus is also on functionality in the sense that it needs to take precedence over stylistic concerns - especially those, which are achieved at the cost of buildings being functionally impoverished as a result. In keeping with the title not only extensions and remodelling are covered in great detail, the author also devotes sufficient attention to upkeep, maintenance and appropriate design to incorporate those aspects at the construction stage already.In addition to being a very well illustrated (myriad of evolutionary pictures of the same buildings over time) and easy to read book, one can in many instances use it as a framework as well as a practical guide when making building decisions oneself. It might not tell you specifically what material and design solution is best for each circumstance - even if it often does provide sound advice - but more importantly, it lays down some very sound fundamentals that need to be followed by your architect, if you want a building that will work well, and continue working well for its users over a long period of time.Returning to the opening statement, I very much hope that something along the lines of this book makes it into the core curriculum of architectural education - the profession would go a long way towards redeeming itself, if the practitioners were generally knowledgeable about the holistic way of looking at buildings, including over time, as prescribed by Brand here. As for the star architects, I wish they were forced to learn the contects by heart, from cover to cover, before being allowed to design as much as an outhouse ever again.