Witold Rybczynski
Witold Rybczynski has written about architecture for the New York Times, Time, Atlantic, the New Yorker, and Slate, and is the author of the award-winning A Clearing in the Distance. He is the recipient of the National Building Museum’s 2007 Vincent Scully Prize. He lives with his wife in Philadelphia, where he teaches at the University of Pennsylvania School of Design.
All Books By Witold Rybczynski
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- By: Witold Rybczynski
- Narrator: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 7 hours 35 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
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3.94(1281 ratings)
In this illuminating book, Witold Rybczynski walks us through five centuries of homes both great and small, from the smoke-filled manor halls of the Middle Ages to the Ralph Lauren-designed environments of today. On a house tour like no other–one that delightfully explicates the very idea of “home”–you’ll see how social and cultural changes influenced styles of decoration and furnishing, learn the connection between wall-hung religious tapestries and wall-to-wall carpeting, discover how some of our most welcome luxuries were born of architectural necessity, and much more.
... Read moreThe Most Beautiful House in the World
- By: Witold Rybczynski
- Narrator: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 5 hours 24 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2012
- Language: English
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3.83(424 ratings)
Witold Rybczynski takes us on an extraordinary odyssey as he tells the story of designing and building his own house. His project began as a workshed, but through a series of “happy accidents,” the structure gradually evolved into a full-fledged house.
In tracing this evolution, he touches on matters both theoretical and practical, writing on such diverse topics as the ritualistic origins of the elements of classical architecture and the connections between dress and habitation. He discusses feng-shui and considers the theories of such architects as Palladio, Le Corbusier, and Frank Lloyd Wright.
An eloquent examination of the links between being and building, The Most Beautiful House in the World offers insights into the joys of “installing ourselves in a place, of establishing a spot where it would be safe to dream.”
... Read moreWaiting for the Weekend
- By: Witold Rybczynski
- Narrator: Wanda McCaddon
- Length: 5 hours 26 minutes
- Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
- Publish date: January 01, 2011
- Language: English
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3.64(209 ratings)
“We work,” Aristotle wrote, “in order to have leisure.” Today, this is still true. But is the leisure that Aristotle spoke of—the freedom to do nothing—the same as the leisure we look forward to each weekend?
There have always been breaks from the routine of work—taboo days, market days, public festivals, holy days—we couldn’t survive without them. In Waiting for the Weekend, Witold Rybczynski unfolds the history and evolution of leisure time in Western civilization, from Aristotle, through the Middle Ages, to the present. Along the way, he explores how the psychological needs that leisure time seeks to fulfill have changed as the nature of work has changed.
... Read more