Following Norberg-Schulz - by Anna Ulrikke Andersen (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Following Norberg-Schulzexamines the life and work of the seminal architectural thinker Christian Norberg-Schulz (1926 - 2000), drawing new attention to his architectural designs and re-examining his acclaimed theoretical work on the phenomenology of architecture and place.
Taking an innovative, experimental approach, the book also explores the potential of the essay-film as a new approach to producing architectural history. Written by an architectural historian who is also a film-maker, its ten chapters are each accompanied by a short documentary film, accessed from within each chapter by a QR code, exploring how to use the medium of film to delve deeper into little-known aspects of Norberg-Schulz's theory of genius loci and the phenomenology of architecture.
Offering an insightful account of the work and theories of a key architectural thinker, Following Norberg-Schulzis also essential reading for those interested in practice-led and design-led research, showing how scholarly research can bridge the text-film gap.

Review Quotes

Andersen's approach is unconventional, but also compelling and timely. On the one hand, it draws on recent attempts at developing critical spatial practice in postgraduate practice-based research programs, where the designer's skillsets and creative output are utilized as research method. Simultaneously, her book is published amidst a wide-ranging questioning of the assumptions underpinning the field of architectural phenomenology. Yet Andersen manages to practice phenomenology in an open and self-reflective way, able to critically re-engage the difficulties and failings in Norberg-Schulz's approach while displaying a poetic sensibility that allows for a more refined appreciation of his position.
Montreal Architectural Review

Anna has demonstrated that to follow a fellow Norwegian architect of another generation, is to find similarities, to seek coincidences, to shadow, to re-enact, to track, to go along (often in faith), to act under the influence of, to act under the shadow of, to carry the weight of this person, and in so doing, to put her own writing self at risk. To follow is also to admire, to support, to understand. The book ... has qualities of a detective novel where clues are allowed to travel their distance, to expend their conclusions, and to spin more questions about the missing protagonist.
Site-Reading Writing Quarterly

Anna Ulrikke Andersen's wondrous book is many things at once: a window onto the work of the Norwegian architectural theorist, an artist's probing journey of discovery and persistent self-examination, a portal to imaginative interventions that frame and reframe Norberg-Schulz's legacy from ever different angles. A true tour de force, as insightful and critically demanding as creative and aesthetically playful!
Lutz Koepnick, Vanderbilt University, USA

About the Author

Anna Ulrikke Andersen, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of Oxford, UK, is a Norwegian architectural historian and filmmaker.