The Social Meaning of Civic Space: Studying Political Authority Through Architecture

The Social Meaning of Civic Space: Studying Political Authority Through Architecture (1988)
By Charles T. Goodsell

Synopsis: This book is a study of the design of city-council chambers from 1865-1980s, and investigates the way changing design styles reflect changing political ideas. The author examined 75 council chambers in the U.S. and Canada, and immersed himself in the surroundings, noting details, design, layout, and the overall aura of the chambers. He breaks his observations into three categories of analysis: 1) composition of space, 2) design of semi-fixed features, 3) patterns of decoration and object display. Chapter II provides an amazing synthesis of various useful theories for studying interior space from the realms of sociology, anthropology, history, architecture, linguistics and semiotics, art history, psychology, and environmental psychology. The author identifies three major design periods: Traditional, 1865-1920 (large, boxy space and strict separation of officials and spectators - sense of imposed authority), Midcentury, 1920-1960 (smaller, longer and lower, increased sense of checks and balances, more informal "confronted architecture"), Contemporary, 1960-1980s (rounded floor plan and amphitheatre seating, curved surfaces, increased sense of joined/shared authority). These design changes express our changing notions of public authority. Goodsell sees civic space as ceremonial space, as a space of ritual made special by the use of certain symbols. He reads architecture in a holistic rather than linear way, and thus has lots of interesting things to say about perception. This is a potentially very useful book [see full notes for details].

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This is one of my favorite books, and got me all inspired and stuff again. Has an amazing bibliography, and seems like a great book to follow, methodologically - esp. for researching meaning of interior spaces.
Also, this book stands out because it is one of the few on this list to emphasize an increasing coming together/holism as opposed to an increased fragmentation - it's refreshing!
Semiotics
Learning From Las Vegas, Los Angeles: The Architecture of Four Ecologies, Delirious New York, Variations on a Theme Park (all these books say very different thing, it's just that they view the built environment as creating a sort of aura or possibility).