Architecture as an essay
Introduction
Know how to see the architecture. Essay on the spatial interpretation of architecture (original title in Italian: Saper vedere l'architettura) is a book written by Bruno Zevi in 1948, which aims to bring people closer to contemplating architecture from its own characteristics and not from others that are in principle foreign to it, such as sculpture or history; For Zevi the fundamental characteristic of architecture is space.
Thesis
The book revolves around the concept of space as an element without which architecture does not exist, although it may or may not have many others and perhaps, without them, we would not consider it as such either. An example of non-architecture for Zevi is the Parthenon, which he says does not have internal space, since only the envelope was thought of, which according to Zevi makes it an element with sculptural and urban planning value, but not strictly architectural.
Structure
The book is structured six chapters.