Hachette India

Living with Buildings

Iain Sinclair

'A remarkable book; surprisingly gripping and often very moving ... at once disorientating and illuminating.' - Robert Macfarlane

We shape ourselves and are shaped in return by the walls that contain us. Buildings affect how we sleep work socialise and even breathe. They can isolate and endanger us but they can also heal us. We project our hopes and fears onto buildings while they absorb our histories.

In Living With Buildings Iain Sinclair embarks on a series of expeditions - through London Marseille Mexico and the Outer Hebrides. A father and his daughter who has a rare syndrome visit the estate where they once lived. Developers clink champagne glasses as residents are 'decanted' from their homes. A box sculpted from whalebone thought to contain healing properties is returned to its origins with unexpected consequences. Part investigation part travelogue Living With Buildings brings the spaces we inhabit to life as never before.

Iain Sinclair

Iain Sinclair was born in South Wales. He went to school in the west of England and university in Dublin. He lives walks and writes in East London. His books include Downriver (winner of the James Tait Black Memorial Prize and the Encore Prize) Lights Out for the Territory London Orbital Hackney That Rose-Red Empire American Smoke and The Last London.
Living with Buildings is published in association with Wellcome Collection a free museum and library that aims to challenge how we think and feel about health. Inspired by the medical objects and curiosities collected by Henry Wellcome it connects science medicine life and art. Wellcome Collection exhibitions events and books explore a diverse range of subjects including consciousness forensic medicine emotions sexology identity and death.