Bestselling author de Botton considers how individuals' private homes and public edifices influence how they feel, and how dwellings could be built in such a way as to promote a sense of happiness.

Bestselling author de Botton considers how individuals' private homes and public edifices influence how they feel, and how dwellings could be built in such a way as to promote a sense of happiness.

The Achitecture of Happiness is a dazzling and generously illustrated journey through the philosophy and psychology of architecture and the indelible connection between our identities and our locations.One of the great but often unmentioned causes of both happiness and misery is the quality of our environment: the kinds of walls, chairs, buildings, and streets that surround us. And yet a concern for architecture is too often described as frivolous, even self-indulgent. Alain de Botton starts from the idea that where we are heavily influences who we can be, and argues that it is architecture's task to stand as an eloquent reminder of our full potential.