Fit – An Architect`s Manifesto

"In this elegant little book, mixing aphorism and example, Robert Geddes argues for the importance of 'making it fit' and shows us the many ways of doing this. His manifesto is both provocation and enlightenment."--Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study

"Robert Geddes has written a lucid, perceptive, and wise book about the fundamental elements of architecture, including the basic needs that it addresses, as well as the wide range of architectural approaches and styles available to the designer and practitioner today. He does not, fortunately, propose easy solutions to the deep challenges facing contemporary architects and urban planners, but instead offers principles and considerations that can help them create works that can be 'fit' for their purposes, places, and times."--Neil Rudenstine, president emeritus, Harvard University

"Fit is a pleasure to read--lucid, wonderfully lively, and continuously interesting. Geddes's mode of arguing by quotation and illustration is very appealing, like talking with a great conversationalist with a well-stocked mind and library. And there is a real moral to the book's argument about what our architecture needs more of."--Alan Ryan, Princeton University and University of Oxford

"This is an enchanting book. Robert Geddes admirably makes the case for architecture as a social art in which function and aesthetics are complementary rather than mutually exclusive. The book provides an excellent primer for both makers and consumers of architecture--a checklist of issues to be addressed during the design process, and a lens through which to see and appreciate architecture."--Urs P. Gauchat, dean of the College of Architecture and Design, New Jersey Institute of Technology