By Benedict Zucchi

Combining architectural and urban thinking in an unusual and engaging way, Big House Little City: Architectural Design Through an Urban Lens presents an integrated approach to architectural theory and design. Leon Battista Alberti’s assertion in his famous Renaissance treatise that ‘the city is like a big house, and the house is in turn like a little city’ forms the springboard for a series of reflections on architecture’s relationship with urbanism and how their once intimate symbiosis, unravelled by International Style Modernism, can be recovered. The author identifies common themes that form an unexpected bridgehead between the urban and architectural approaches of Antiquity, the Middle Ages, Renaissance and 20th century. The book explores buildings from across the globe, including lesser-known projects, such as Wright’s unbuilt house in Italy or Saarinen’s master plan for Cranbrook Academy, as well as more recent projects by Niels Torp, Behnisch Architekten, Sou Fujimoto, Peter Barber and WOHA. It concludes with practical case studies of residential, health, education and workplace projects.