The Space Within

'Ever entered a building and been captivated by the quality, layout, and use of the interior space? How it directs you along the path you need to travel? How it makes you feel as though you are in a space designed for your enjoyment? McCarter persuasively argues that this consideration is the necessary starting point in design. He insists that one cannot know an architectural design without inhabiting its spaces. To support this position, the author delves into the process used by various designers and examines how they have engaged with interior space and the experiences it can provide. McCarter focuses on modern architecture throughout the world, examining familiar buildings by renowned architects. Highly recommended.'- Choice 'Inhabitation is the soul of architecture. This important and thoughtful book is one of the very first to discuss the primal nature of the interior experience, which we believe is the place where design begins. The Space Within initiates a conversation that is essential to all who study, practice, and think about architecture.'-Tod Williams and Billie Tsien, architects 'A succinct, erudite study of the experiential qualities and meanings of interior space. Using his unique knowledge of the design work, writings and thinking of the masters of modernity, Robert McCarter shows that the geniuses of architecture have always grasped the experiential and mental essence of their art form. The Space Within is highly recommended as a significant antidote to today's formalist aestheticization and shallow digital ecstasy.'- Juhani Pallasmaa, architect and author of The Eyes of the Skin: Architecture and the Senses