Sinan by Godfrey Goodwin
This illustratd study focuses on the work of one of the greatest 16th-century Ottoman architects, Sinan Abdulmennan, showing how he revolutionized inherited Ottoman building methods - a tradition based on structure - by an awareness of the psychology of space. Until Sinan, Ottoman architecture had been a reading of parts. He broke down the distinct forms that had created a certain rigidity, thus freeing interior space and interior form simultaneously. Underlying his architectural concepts are the mathematical theories and practices of classical Greece. He shared these ideals of proportion and balance with builders in the West - indeed, the author argues that the work of Sinan and that of Bramante and Palladio must be seen as part of the same intellectual revolution. Although not designed as a life of Sinan, this work nevertheless shows the importance of the architect's long years in the army and his experience of bridges, siege-works, fortifications and the behaviour of stone and masonry before he was appointed Royal Architect in 1538. Goodwin bases his analysis on a comparative study of certain of Sinan's buildings, the supreme example being the imaginative leap represented by the mosque of Selim II at Edirne, second capital of the Ottoman empire. Included are chapters on light and space, the dome, minaret and the apsidal form, and decoration and tiles.
'..fills a serious gap and fills it eloquently. Like Brunelleschi in Italy a century earlier, Sinan transformed architecture and needs to be discussed in terms of form, space and light, which the book does brilliantly.'Sherban Cantacuzinoo, Secretary of the Royal Fine Art Commission, London 'At last, architectural history with an architect's eye...An important study, showing Sinan in the context of the European architecture of his time.' J.M.Rogers, Professor of Islamic Art 'Goodwin writes about the very stuff of aarchitecture...Scholarship is certainly there. but what for me is impressive is the way the author confronts us with the extraordinary imagination of this great innovator, artist and architect.'Sir Philip Dowson, Former President of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Godfrey Goodwin is ex-director of the Royal Asiatic Society in London and the foremost authority on Ottoman architecture. He taught art and architectural history at the University of the Bosphorus from 1957 to 1968 and is author of several authoritative works, including The Janissaries, A History of ottoman Architecture , Islamic Spain and Topkapi Palace.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9780863561726 |
| ISBN 10 | 0863561721 |
| Title | Sinan |
| Author | Godfrey Goodwin |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Hardback |
| Publisher | Saqi Books |
| Year published | 2001-02-14 |
| Number of pages | 135 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |