Architects: Portraits of a Practice (Expertise: Cultures and Technologies of Knowledge) - Softcover

"Architects is an insightful anthropological study of architects at work. There are amazing ethnographic descriptions of architectural work throughout." -- Albena Yaneva, University of Manchester, and author of The Making of a Building "Thomas Yarrow's book is extremely valuable and opens up anthropological writing to folks who aren't already a part of the conversation. Anyone will be able to read and relate to Architects." -- Keith M. Murphy, University of California, Irvine, and author of Swedish Design "Tacking deftly between vivid narrative description and rich theoretical reflection, this outstanding book will appeal to a wide readership in anthropology, design, art, and architecture." -- Anand Pandian, Johns Hopkins University, and author of Reel World "A beautiful description of the struggle and doubts of the design process, Yarrow's anthropological gaze is enchanted by the practice office that represents a way of life, contains bits of everything, and has little room for more. Architects is one of the most generous books I have read." -- Prue Chiles

What is creativity? What is the relationship between work life and personal life? How is it possible to live truthfully in a world of contradiction and compromise? These deep and deeply personal questions spring to the fore in Thomas Yarrow's vivid exploration of the life of architects. Yarrow takes us inside the world of architects, showing us the anxiety, exhilaration, hope, idealism, friendship, conflict, and the personal commitments that feed these acts of creativity. Architects rethinks "creativity," demonstrating how it happens in everyday practice. It highlights how the pursuit of good architecture, relates to the pursuit of a good life in intimate and individually specific ways. And it reveals the surprising and routine social negotiations through which designs and buildings are actually made.