3 comments about Pocket Guide to Chicago Architecture.

1. I found this to be a very concise guide of relevant architectural landmarks for any visit to Chicago. This book provides architectural renderings and brief (half-page) histories of each building, and groups them into sections based on the order in which visitors to Chicago are likely to view them. This is a good supplement to any architectural tours of Chicago that may be taken. The glossary provides definitions and sometimes line drawings of architectural elements that novices to architecture would find informative and there is an index for architects and for buildings so that each can be referenced separately. A very good quick reference book for Chicago architecture. I know mine will be going with me on my next trip to Chicago.



2. An excellent and concise guide to the astonishing buildings to be found in downtown Chicago. The book covers the great buildings of the 19th century to modern skyscrapers by Mies, SOM, Murphy/ Jahn, KPF, Perkins & Will, et. al.

   The book is great because of its clear structure and handy size; downtown is divided into 3 neighborhoods each with their own map with buildings keyed by number. The 100+ buildings are then each given their own page w/ an architects fine line drawing of the building (some with close up details) on top and description below. There's also a glossary of Chicago archi-terms and everything is indexed by building and architect. The writing is user-friendly and often very entertaining -- brief historical backround of building and architect, followed by incisive an commentary as to WHY the building is famous and how it fits into the ongoing story of Chicago's architecture.

   One of the best portable guides to buildings that I have used in any city--highly recommended.




3. As a long-time fan of Access Guides and of the city of Chicago, I was pleased to find this pocket guide to Chicago architecture. Loved the history and all the visual detail "explained" that made it easy for me to visit and observe. This is a "must-have" for visitors and architecture buffs as well. It spurred me on to pick up the "skyline Chicago" videos. As well done as any Ken Burns documentary, these are great -- loved Chicago's Neighborhoods in particular.

3 comments about Warped Space: Art, Architecture, and Anxiety in Modern Culture.

1. If one examines modernism, one is faced with a choice: either reject dialectic discourse or conclude that context comes from the masses, but only if consciousness is interchangeable with culture; if that is not the case, we can assume that the goal of the writer is deconstruction. In a sense, the premise of Sartreist absurdity suggests that society, somewhat paradoxically, has objective value. The example of dialectic discourse which is a central theme of Vidler's Warped Spaces ir Dogs is also evident in Hanfkopf's Narratives of Stasis, although in a more semanticist sense.



2. As the title indicates, Vidler's recent publication guides us to see the underlying forces that caused warping and irregularity in contemporary architecture. Beginning with defining various conceptions of 'phobias', Vidler navigates us into the realm of abnormal psychology. Critical theorists, such as Georg Simmel and Walter Benjamin, are also introduced to interweave the ideas of 'estrangement' and 'flaneur(metropolitan nomad wandering unconsciously)'. In so doing, he allows readers to understand underlying mindset behind the buildings of Libeskind, Himmelblau, and Eric Owen Moss.



3. This is among the books that has given me a wholistic view of the design field- combining aspects of culture and society at the subliminal framework of understanding. It is a good read and very objective in its approach. I personally enjoy criticism and have read books by Victor Margolin and this one analyses the merits and demerits of a field that draws influences and in turn influences a wider spectrum of issues. It is interesting to perceive the manner in which the book uses a synchronic approach to arrive at a very comprehensive analysis of the current day status. For a young designer this book gives a lot of thought to treating design as a part of a larger framework. It forces one to think on larger issues that can be solved through design.

No comments about The Essential Frank Lloyd Wright: Critical Writings on Architecture.

No comments about False Flat: Why Dutch Design is so Good.

No comments about Rem Koolhaas & Hans-Ulrich Obrist: The Conversation Series: Volume 4 (Conversation Series).

2 comments about SuperDutch : New Architecture in the Netherlands.

1. GREAT reference for students of architecture! Amazing projects.



2. A slick tome on recent Dutch architecture, with projects from 12 practices, including Mecanoo, MRVDV and OMA. The author gives an overview on each studio, followed by detailed illustrations of particular projects. If you're interested in recent European architecture, be it small scale or large, this book won't fail to disappoint. Besides covering the Dutch 'staples', it introduces the reader to some architects not yet well known outside Europe, but evidently destined for greatness. The photography is fantastic, and it's nicely packaged in a chunky square, guaranteed to stand out on your bookshelf! An excellent portrayal of architectural work being produced in a small country becoming reknowned as a design hothouse.

1 comments about On Distant Shores: Colonial Houses Around the World.

1. This is a truly unique book breaking down as it does buildings by colonial nation. It enables a side-by-side comparison of how different countries adapted their historic architectural styles to their mostly tropical colonies. It is stunningly illustrated and is a must-have for anyone interested in colonial architecture or, like my self, wishing to build a luxury home with colonial elegance in the tropics.

2 comments about The Ethical Function of Architecture.

1. Harries, a professor of philosophy at Yale, has a long-standing interest in architecture. (Disclosure- I took his course on the Philosophy of Architecture while a grad student in the early 80's.) Himself a student of Heidegger, Harries's work in architecture has largely been a reassessment and continuation of Heidegger's thought on technology and dwelling. The book under review is a summary of Harries's thinking on architecture. The "ethical function" referred to in the title concerns architecture's ability to express the ethos of the society that produces it. Harries effectively demolishes the esthetic and functional approaches to architecture and makes a convincing argument that what distinguishes architecture from mere building is its ethical function.



2. .
   This is simply one of the best books I have ever read.

   On one level it is a critique of contemporary thinking about architecture. In the first part of the book Harries argues that the aesthetic approach to art doesn't do justice to the meaning and power of architecture. In the second part he argues that the semiotic approach to architecture is based on a model of language that cannot fully grasp and illuminate the symbolic dimension of architecture. In the third and fourth parts Harries tries to show that questions of architecture are ultimately questions of dwelling (broadly conceived), that questions of dwelling are irreducibly ethical and political, and that architecture thus has an irreducible ethical and political function.

   On a deeper level the book is a critique of modern philosophies of art. Harries follows thinkers such as Heidegger, Gadamer, and Agamben in criticizing the aesthetic approach to art (which regards artworks simply as beautiful or interesting objects) and theoretical approaches to art (which regard artworks as the expression or illustration of ideas that can best be grasped and articulated with philosophical concepts). Harries argues that artworks have the power to illuminate the world and to call us back to what really matters, and that art is a (nontheoretical) way of responding to basic questions of human existence (How should we live? What does it mean to be human?)

   Unlike Heidegger, Gadamer, and Agamben, however, Harries develops his arguments with a great number of specific, concrete examples drawn from the whole history of Western architecture and art. So while the book is philosophically ambitious, it is also exceptionally clear, sober, and down to earth.

   Finally, I should note that the writing itself is beautiful--it is simple, precise, and conveys a sense of deep concentration and wonder.

   The Ethical Function of Architecture won the American Institute of Architects 8th Annual International Architecture Book Award for Criticism. But it is about more than architecture. I recommend it very, very highly to anyone interested in Heidegger, phenomenology, aesthetics, ethics, poetry, literary theory, modernity and modernism, and the history and philosophy of art.

No comments about Sociopolis: Project for a City of the Future.

No comments about Block by Block: Jane Jacobs and the Future of New York.