
Living with Buildings
And Walking with Ghosts - On Health and Architecture
Iain Sinclair(Author)
Wellcome Collection (Publisher)
Published on 18. April 2019
Book
Paperback/Softback
208 pages
978-1-78816-047-6 (ISBN)
Description
'A remarkable book; surprisingly gripping and often very moving ... at once disorientating and illuminating.' - Robert Macfarlane
We shape ourselves, and are shaped in return, by the walls that contain us. Buildings affect how we sleep, work, socialise and even breathe. They can isolate and endanger us but they can also heal us. We project our hopes and fears onto buildings, while they absorb our histories.
In Living With Buildings, Iain Sinclair embarks on a series of expeditions - through London, Marseille, Mexico and the Outer Hebrides. A father and his daughter, who has a rare syndrome, visit the estate where they once lived. Developers clink champagne glasses as residents are 'decanted' from their homes. A box sculpted from whalebone, thought to contain healing properties, is returned to its origins with unexpected consequences. Part investigation, part travelogue, Living With Buildings brings the spaces we inhabit to life as never before.
We shape ourselves, and are shaped in return, by the walls that contain us. Buildings affect how we sleep, work, socialise and even breathe. They can isolate and endanger us but they can also heal us. We project our hopes and fears onto buildings, while they absorb our histories.
In Living With Buildings, Iain Sinclair embarks on a series of expeditions - through London, Marseille, Mexico and the Outer Hebrides. A father and his daughter, who has a rare syndrome, visit the estate where they once lived. Developers clink champagne glasses as residents are 'decanted' from their homes. A box sculpted from whalebone, thought to contain healing properties, is returned to its origins with unexpected consequences. Part investigation, part travelogue, Living With Buildings brings the spaces we inhabit to life as never before.
Reviews / Votes
A remarkable book; surprisingly gripping and often very moving ... at once disorientating and illuminating. * Robert Macfarlane * One of Iain Sinclair's best books ... His walks are described with pithy lyricism. His moving accounts of friends and their complicated relationship to housing estates, hospitals and ancient rural sites, describe our attempts to remain healthy and humane in increasingly hostile environments * New Statesman Books of the Year * Iain Sinclair feeds us a rich diet of shrewd insights ... He leaves you gasping with the punch and pungency of hisimages * Observer *
More details
Edition
Main
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Profile Books Ltd
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Paperback (UK-B)
Illustrations
B&W Illustrations throughout
Dimensions
Height: 129 mm
Width: 197 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
170 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-78816-047-6 (9781788160476)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

E-Book
09/2018
Wellcome Collection
€13.49
Available for download
Person
Iain Sinclair's books include Downriver (winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Encore Prize), Lights Out for the Territory and The Last London.
Living with Buildings is published in association with Wellcome Collection, a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we think and feel about health. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome, it connects science, medicine, life and art. Wellcome Collection exhibitions, events and books
explore a diverse range of subjects, including consciousness, forensic medicine, emotions, sexology, identity and death.
Living with Buildings is published in association with Wellcome Collection, a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we think and feel about health. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome, it connects science, medicine, life and art. Wellcome Collection exhibitions, events and books
explore a diverse range of subjects, including consciousness, forensic medicine, emotions, sexology, identity and death.