We are so familiar with the features of our homes – the rooms, fixtures and myriad little decorative details – that we have forgotten how to look at them. We might explore a church, read a book or watch a film, and attempt to decode its symbols and references, but we rarely look at our homes with the same critical eye. Yet from the most ordinary apartment to the most extravagant mansion, every home is a deep well of meaning.
From windows to wardrobes, fireplaces to door knockers, Edwin Heathcote attempts to fathom the elements of our everyday domestic lives. He explores how, over time, ancient ritual elements transmute into practical features, and how some of these, charged with latent symbolic meaning, have persisted in modern dwellings despite having lost their original uses. Home will never quite look the same again.
About the Author :
Edwin Heathcote is the architecture correspondent for the Financial Times. He is the author of Contemporary Church Architecture, London Caffs and Furniture + Architecture of which Blueprint wrote €œOccasionally you come across a book that does everything it claims – and then some. This is one€
Review :
'Mixing social history with literary and film references, Heathcote unpeels meaning in our homes as if reading layers of wallpaper for clues.'
'A delightfully imaginative study of the symbolic significance that people have attached to floors, ceilings, cellars, attics and everything in between'
Heathcote blends architecture and history in an intriguing survey. The Meaning of Home will make you look at your own home in a whole new light
His approach give expression to a vital new turn in architectural theory
Heathcote blends architecture and history in an intriguing survey. The Meaning of Home will make you look at your own home in a whole new light
“In this witty and surprising book, Heathcote reveals the ancient secrets hidden within the modern home ...The Meaning of Home teases the fantastical out of the mundane on almost every page ... [he] is deft and witty, and wields the tremendous erudition he brings to the page with an enviable lightness of touch. And the cultural spectrum is spanned: Gaston Bachelard, Slavoj Zizek and Walter Benjamin rub citations with modern films such as Home Alone and The Matrix ...a fine addition to the shelf.”
'Enjoyable and informative for anyone who has ever lived in a home with stairs, doors, bay windows or kitchens'
Heathcote’s The Meaning of Home is a forensic look at the place that is most important to us, from front doors to halls, floors to ceilings, bedrooms to bathrooms. The author has an archaeological approach: he’ll sift and dig to nuggets of meaning, and then he’ll go deeper.
'In warm, discursive style Edwin Heathcote leads the reader in a merry ramble through the home. Engaging, witty - it offers fascinating historical and social insight'
'A delightfully imaginative study of the symbolic significance that people have attached to floors, ceilings, cellars, attics and everything in between'
'Mixing social history with literary and film references, Heathcote unpeels meaning in our homes as if reading layers of wallpaper for clues.'
