Building Lives: Constructing Rites and Passages

Neil Harris. Building Lives: Constructing Rites and Passages (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1999), ix + 198pp., $40.00 (doth).

In Building Lives. Neil Harris uses the analogy of the human life cycle to explore the social and cultural role of American architecture. Adapted from a series of lectures commissioned by the Buell Center for the History of American Architecture at Columbia University, the three chapters in this concise volume address rituals of birth, maturity and decline associated with buildings. The essays retain the engaging flow of a thoughtful lecture. and Harris uses a variety of sources to make interesting connections and raise provocative questions. Through the rituals and representations of the various stages of the building life cycle, Harris argues for attention to the cultural symbolism of architecture beyond the design and construction issues frequently addressed by architectural historians.

In terms of a building's...