{"product_id":"the-villa-form-and-ideology-of-country-houses-2nd-edition-9780691002958","title":"The Villa: Form and Ideology of Country Houses  2nd Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003eA classic account of the villafrom ancient Rome to the twentieth centuryby the preeminent American scholar of Italian Renaissance architecture (Architects Newspaper)  In The Villa  James Ackerman  author of classic studies of Palladio and Michelangelo  discusses villa building in Western countries at various times and places from ancient Rome to twentieth-century France and America. In this wide-ranging book  he illuminates such topics as ancient Roman villas  the early villas of the Medici  the Palladian villa in England  and the modern villas of Frank Lloyd Wright and Le Corbusier.  Ackerman uses the phenomenon of the country place as a focus for examining the relationships between urban and rural life  between building and the natural environment  and between architectural design and social  cultural  economic  and political forces. The villa  he reminds us  accommodates a fantasy which is impervious to reality: through the ages it has been pleasure that has distinguished the villa estate from the farm. Since their earliest representation in Roman literature  the coveted country delights of relaxation  healthy living  hunting  reading  and conversation with friends have been an ideological construct of those who could afford to escape the city  often by expropriating rural land. Farmers and peasants usually dont see the country as an idyllic location  but city dwellers have frequently idealized country life and wanted to own property where it could be enjoyed. Hence the villawhich  unlike the farmhouse  typically asserts its modernity and its status as a product of the architects imagination.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45651949715509,"sku":"ByrdShop_0691002959","price":72.52,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780691002958.jpg?v=1781847064","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/the-villa-form-and-ideology-of-country-houses-2nd-edition-9780691002958","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}