No comments about Airspaces (Reaktion Books - Topographics).

No comments about Excluded Middle: Toward a Reflective Architecture and Urbanism.

No comments about An Organic Architecture: The Architecture of Democracy.

No comments about Old Buildings Looking for New Use: 64 Examples from Europe.

No comments about Rio Bec, Chenes, and Puuc Styles in Maya Architecture.

4 comments about Film Architecture: Set Designs from Metropolis to Blade Runner.

1. I checked this book out from our school's library and found it to be very exceptional. Anybody who is interested in set design, German Expressionism, film, or photography will enjoy this book.
   
   Great images, text, and references.



2. With a degree in architecture and a decade in the film industry I was delighted to wander across a book that brought both disciplines together in a language that students of both crafts might understand. The collection of essays provide access to the design decisions that faced the Production Designers of films from the dawn of "designed" cinema in the 1920's to the doorstep of filmmaking in the 1990's.

   If you find this book "too wordy" then chances are that this isn't the book for you as it is studied, researched and filled with images that most film fans have never before seen. It is a glimpse into the thought processes and schedule demands that shape the final look of a film.

   This book should be highly sought by fans of design and film alike.




3. If you are fascinated by film or archetecture, you ought to find this book of interest. Many great pictures, interesting anecdotes and perspectives beyond the "typical" film analysis.



4. Interesting, if a bit wordy, book explaining some of the thought processes that went into designing films of the near-future / alternate reality variety. This book would have much better had more illustrations/photographs been included.

1 comments about Brazil's Modern Architecture.

1. I WAS VERY PLEASED WITH THE DELIVERY SERVICE BECAUSE AMAZON RESPONDED FAST AND IN AN ADEQUATE WAY TO MY PROBLEMS.
   THE BOOK IS GREAT, IT HAS A VERY CLEAR OVERVIEW OF BRAZIL'S MODERN ARCHITECTURE WITH BEAUTIFUL PICTURES!

No comments about The Modern Functional Building (1926) (Texts and Documents Series).

No comments about Josep Lluís Sert: Architect in New York (Spanish Edition).

2 comments about AIA Guide to Boston, 2nd.

1. This is a good guide book for walking around Boston and trying to understand some history behind the buildings. Too many buildings are covered, old and new buildings together. The general information about the construction date, architectural style is provided but not in detail. It is so grouped that it makes it easy to walk around the town and see good number of buildings in the neighbourhood. Information is not very detailed, State Haouse is described in two pages or so, other buildings in one short paragraph, just to give general idea about the architecture and history of the city. I found it more handy than other available books for it covers a lot and it has walker friendly sequencing.



2. As a handbook with information about Boston buildings, the AIA guide is useful. And its treatment of older buildings is reasonable. But this book is most interesting as a historical memoir, a reminder that architectural critics were once smitten by poured concrete and vast, empty plazas.

   Ever wonder how disasters like St. Louis's Pruitt-Igoe managed to win AIA awards? Read Susan & Michael Southworth's guide to Boston, and you'll understand.

   The Southworths heap praise on the most unlikely monstrosities in the city. The execrable State HEW building is "a tour de force demonstrating the structural possibilities of concrete." The horrific Boston Architectural Center is "an admirable piece of contemporary architecture."

   The Southworths absolutely fawn over modernist heroes, irrespective of their work. They have nothing but kind words for I.M. Pei - making them perhaps the only persons in Boston capable of defending Harbor Towers or the MIT buildings. They are positively giddy about Le Corbusier's Carpenter Center, a monstrous bunker. In their eyes, 'the spatial drama is stunning, as are the bold concrete forms ... it is the work of a master."

   Now that architects have moved beyond blocky and dingy concrete boxes, the Southworths have very little favorable to say about them. They sniff at the varied facades, rooflines, and materials conceived for buildings like 75 State, 222 Berkeley, 500 Boylston and 99 Summer - if dingy concrete was good enough for Le Corbusier, why isn't it good for contemporary architects? Why can't we have more anonymous boxes like the "elegant" and "sleek" 28 State Street?

   The Southworths bemoan the fact that downtown buildings of the '80s frequently destroyed little alleyways. Of course, when I.M. Pei wiped out entire streets and blocks of lovely townhouses in the '60s, as at Government Center and the Christian Science complex, that was perfectly OK, producing "dramatic forms."

   Thankfully, the Southworths' era has long past. Their views would be more irritating if they weren't so absurd, and if anyone still had the audacity to build the concrete mausoleums they so passionately love.