Design History and the History of Design

9780745305226

0745305229

'The most systematic, the most comprehensive and the most comprehensible account of what design history would like to be ... I would not hesitate to recommend it' Designer¿s Jnl 'The scope of the book is admirable' THES 'The best introduction to the critical study of design that I have encountered' Building Design An essential overview as well as a theoretical critique for all students of design history. Walker studies the intellectual discipline of Design History and the issues that confront scholars writing histories of design. Taking his approach from a range of related fields, he discusses the problems of defining design and writing history. He considers the different methods that leading scholars have used in the absence of a theoretical framework, and looks critically at a number of histories of design and architecture.