No comments about I AM A MONUMENT: On Learning from Las Vegas.

3 comments about X-Urbanism: Architecture and the American City.

1. It is a rare moment when text and image collaborate to tell a story that could be told by neither alone. X-Urbanism is one of these moments. The dialog between the writing and drawings in this book is brilliant. The ultimate result of the conversation between the two is a nuanced understanding of the relationship that cities have with the subconscious of their inhabitants.



2. Both eloquently and clearly, X-Urbanism explores the historical and continuing development of the American City through the lens of an eye opening thesis: fantasy and desire have been pivotal factors in the shaping of Urban Space. As the author illustrates, the implications of this point of departure reach far beyond the conventional boundaries of urban studies to include a wealth of other disciplines such as psychology, philosophy, and popular culture. Through the course of this book, the affects of fantasy on the Renaissance City, the Baroque City, the Modern City, and the Post-modern City are charted. Without being dogmatic or judgmental, Mr. Gandelsonas frames the City as a simultaneous object and subject that is influenced by the desires of architects while also influencing its inhabitants with its own wishes.

   After reading the text and viewing the drawings that conclude this book it was as though I was walking around an object that until now I had only understood from a stationary position.

   This book is a must read for anyone who lives inside or outside of a city.




3. When I picked up this book I was truly impressed. It is extremely high quality, ambitious and far reaching which makes it all the more sinister that the numerous emerging architects whose drawings comprise the most interesting aspect of this book, remain (perhaps strategically?) anonymous. Amazon's own description of the book is a perfect example of how easily the uncredited drawings can be misinterpreted as the work of Mr. Gandelsonas. If this were a purposeful issue of anonymity, I could possibly understand. However, Mies, Corbu and the likes are happily credited throughout the book. So what gives?

   As a reader, book collector and architecture enthusiast, I like to use my books on the subject of design as reference material. Unfortunately, I am a little uncomfortable with the deliberate name omissions in X-Urbanism.

   I would not recommend purchasing this book unless a massive erratum is installed in every single copy.

No comments about Architecture and Modernity: A Critique.

5 comments about City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn.

1. It's interesting to read after all these years the comments made some time after the publication of this book. In 1996 it was an eye-opener and it's a bit pathetic to judge it with 20/20 hindsight. I dobn't know of any other book prior to this one being launched simultaneously on the web and in good old-fashioned hard cover. Bill Mitchell opened my eyes to new possibilities and City of Bits, dated as it may be, is a treasured possession.



2. I found Mitchell's topic very interesting and approached the books with a lot of enthusiasm. However, in the end I found Mitchell's description disappointing. While he does note a few concrete changes he expects to come about in the urban landscape (e.g. buildings being less clearly distinguished in terms of the kinds of activities they contain, and perhaps a shift in the importance of the urban center as digital connectivity diminishes the emphasis on physical location) that were good starting points for a consideration of architecture in the digital age, the bulk of this book was characterized by repetitive speculation about the changes associated with the digital age (accounts that may have made more of an impact on his readers in 1995 when the book was first published, but today seem rather obvious or exagerated and tiresome to read) without really relating them to architecture in an insightful way. Mitchell's vague and speculative language distracted me from the few interesting points that he did make. Interesting topic, but Mitchell's treatment of it was not particularly satisfying.



3. These are more a series of musings than a solid essay on the internet and architecture. It is definitely interesting, and it brings up many points that are currently being addressed or have been brought up in the years since the books publication. If it has a central theme, it is the question of how to construct space so as to accommodate the internet and technology.

   Mitchell is intelligent and sometimes insightful, but the book meanders and there's not much to hang on to.




4. W.J. Mitchell writes a picturesque collection of future scenes reflecting the impact of the digital telecommunications revolution in "City of Bits: Space, Place, and the Infobahn". The book is an intellectual gallery of exhibits arranged among seven chapters, each consisting of a variety of short scenes of plausible architecture and urbanism. I am giving this work four stars for its eloquent writing style, historical research, and some ideas that are slightly rehashed or have a short-range perspective that provide only a limited look at the issues associated with the network technologies. I think that few books, however, could come close to the clarity and coverage of ideas in such a limited number of pages for the general reader. (I should qualify that I am reading this 1996-published book in 2002. Maybe if I read this book in 1996, I would have a very different perspective.)

   Mitchell deploys a variety of metaphors that provide future scenes that parallel familiar existing scenes. Digital networks, for example, are said to be the post-industrial mines, field, and factories that we now report to. The 'Net, like the railroad which distributed farmers' products to market and consumers, is the medium for transferring raw bit materials from suppliers to manufacturers of information. In the bitsphere, meeting forums are now despatialized, disembodied, and dispersed with virtual addresses, aliases, and chameleon personas. As Mitchell suggests, these "electronic agoras" escape traditional measures of identity. Discrimination and marginalization, moreoever, evolves in new forms with the rise of digital hermits and new information and communication access structures, erected in the form of PKI, Kerberos, firewalls, etc. After laying out the metaphor of the new bitsphere upon the template of traditional urbanism, Mitchell explores the emergent outcomes of the information infrastructure. While distance communication is enhanced by new multi-model designs that increase interactivity well beyond traditional situated roles, for example, the dark side of technological advancement thrives in new resurrected forms such as lurking telepimps, telethugs, cyberpunks, and cybercriminals.

   Mitchell reconceptualizes social practices from the perspective of a historian and futurist. There is much to be appreciated from the historian perspective, e.g. depiction of the evolution of ATMs, electronic forums, and little brother datasurveillance. The majority of the scenes are based upon existing or nearly existent technologies, suggesting plausible applications within the next five years. (Again the scenes might have been more impressive in 1996.) While some issues are highlighted, such as the advancement of cybercrimes associated with floating signifiers that replace physical cash, the book does not discuss adoption or diffusion of the technologies aside from issues of membership and marginalization. In this way, the book has a deterministic perspective, in which the technology is viewed as an enabler of change and only eludes, to some extent, to the social construction of the technologies. This book is not a collection of information about new technologies. Rather, City of Bits is a presentation of ideas that are compatible with the technological artifacts and their potential role in urbanism. I recommend the "City of Bits" as a quick ONCE-READ of great writing that may help to unlock the closed mind to the promises and issues of the electronically-mediated future comprised of ubiquitous intelligence- and telecommunication-enabled artifacts.

   This review refers to the electronic version: http://mitpress.mit.edu/e-books/City_of_Bits/




5. From the experience of history small, almost unnoticeable social phenomena, rather than radical movements at the foremost stage initiated most influential revolutions of our civilization. Small things like "Pulling glass" and "Address" are what William J Mitchell state as the indication of social and telecommunications evolution.

   This book explains thoroughly how some telecommunications systems operate. For example, Electronic Mail System, Internet, Bulletin Board Systems and so forth.

5 comments about In Detail: Building in Existing Fabric.

1. Very informative and gives a clear precise description of varying types on renovation and adaptive reuse.



2. This book is part of a deliriously excellent series of Birkhauser's In
   Detail collection, a series of books emphasizing and celebrating the importance of architectural details and the susbsequent spatial magic that emerges from the vigilant attention to design craft. I must say its excellence SHAMES the building culture of The united States of Kitsch. The level of American work in the field of architecture, by comparison, is stunted, nostalgic to the point of senility, and plastic garbage overseen by power broker idiot clients. Sadly, it's painfully, pathetically true, and these books prove it as a matter of course. Why are we (American) practitioners, builders, teachers, students, clients, laypeople, basically everyone really SO ill informed about design????
   Don't we care?? Is there so much discord and disagreement?? It's puzzling.
   Get these books and feast on the International wisdom; let's get half a clue.



3. The book was exactly as I expected, high quality, detailed explanations in the Caliber of detail magazine. I will defiantly be purchasing the other books in this series.



4. I found the essays on simple construction to be variable in quality...The chapters on wood and steel either suffered in translation or were student composition exercises to begin with. The projects illustrated, however, are of uniformly high quality, and are documented with Detail's typical precision. For an American architect, many of the projects using wood construction will be eye openers. The stone and clay construction projects are wonderful for daydreaming about a different building culture in this country. Well worth it for the photos and drawings.



5. The book describes simple and neat residential building design in detail , shape, and material. The book should be applicable to architects or designers who aspire to work in modernism or minimalism on housing and who desire to improve the residential detil design to be more insighfully clean and blight. As well, the analysis from the publication could be developed to function in other architecture types.

2 comments about Architecture of Fear.

1. The articles were interesting. However, the direction of the articles fell like scattered shot. This was not planned exploration into the interaction of fear and environment for which I had hoped. Perhaps that was not the point of this work, but that was what I wanted as a layman.

   The gender and literary perspectives complemented the expected architects well. I did not expect the personal accounts and they added energy and freshness into the work. The photo-essay annoyed me more than enlightened me. In short, there was something for everyone, but not a whole lot for anyone in particular.

   None of the articles explicitly built on each other. The full value of the many perspectives was not used. One article was spent defining different types of defensive spaces and then the definitions fell by the wayside.

   Besides the loose nature of the work, I felt that sociology and economy were excluded. Numbers have powerful stories to tell (anyone who need convincing, see Edward Tufte) and their voices were not heard in this multi-disciplinary collection.

   This is worthwhile reading, but not a must have.




2. Architecture of Fear provides fascinating insights into the effects of the structures that surround us in our everyday lives. By drawing upon a diverse group of professionals, not all of them architects or urban planners, Nan Ellin has created an important work that will serve as a base for future research into the perplexities of urban life. Nan Ellin's own thoughts are among the most significant contributions to the compendium.

2 comments about Words and Buildings: A Vocabulary of Modern Architecture.

1. Extremely precise, Adrian Forty gives uas a very well conducted guide to a better comprehension on recent architectural theory. Indispensible.



2. this book divides the history of modern architecture into chapters, each chapter is titled with a design term, simple, contxt, history and so on, it is very helpful for researchers and it was helpful especially for me......

2 comments about Everyday Architecture of the Mid-Atlantic: Looking at Buildings and Landscapes (Creating the North American Landscape).

1. Wonderful book with very detailed information regarding architectual styles and construction techniques. This information is very useful for both the layman and scholar. It is written in easy to understand language with numerous illustrations and photographs.



2. This is the perfect book for those interested in the art and science of examining and interpreting the built landscape. Providing the same instruction as an intro-level Historic Preservation course, it teaches the reader the process for building documentation , as well as some of the other basics of the Historic Preservation profession. The beautiful photographs, drawings, and illustrations clarify the more-difficult ideas. Not for the casual building-enthusiast, but it will greatly add to the enjoyment of the more serious vernacular architecture fan.

1 comments about Gender Space Architecture: An Interdisciplinary Introduction (Architext Series).

1. I am writing because in my opinion the editorial description of this book doesn't give readers a clear enough idea of what makes it different from all the other feminism and architecture anthologies currently on sale.

   Part of the problem is that there now seem to be so many books with titles like "Gender and Space" etc.

   But don't be fooled - this really is the only book out there that tries to give an overview of the impact of feminism on architecture, gathering and reprinting seminal essays from the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.

   Aside from the convenience of having all of these important essays at hand in one volume, the book also provides readers with an excellent bibliography (almost 25 pages) of related books in the field. While the bibliography doesn't refer to absolutely everything, it is pretty comprehensive - and, if you're interested in further research, this gives you a good starting point.

   The introductions in this book though are perhaps its best feature - in particular, the introduction to "Gender Space Architecture" by Jane Rendell. When people want to know what feminism can do for architecture (or has done for architecture), I refer them to this essay. It's lucidly written and provides a great map to the subject. Particularly useful for students!

   If you're just starting out on this subject, this is the book for you.

3 comments about The Structure of the Ordinary: Form and Control in the Built Environment.

1. Habraken is essential for understanding and practising contemporary architectural design. He started out his career pointing out the limitations of the then (and often still) prevailing design approach towards housing and large buildings, and proposing methods for systems design meant to allow several levels of control, and changing configurations over time (this was extremely influential, and all relevant contemporary building and systems design is heir to his work directly or indirectly). He then went on to explore and explain the underlying order for architectural/urban configurations, and in this book he explains the orders of 'Form' (which could also be called construction), 'Territory' (boundaries, control) and 'Understanding' (shared patterns, systems and types) that make built environments be what they are, illustrating everything with perfectly selected examples. If you know the examples, the beauty is in the way he makes the underlying orders coherent and understandable. And you will not know a few of the examples, so the book is also beautiful as a pointer for further studies.
   
   3 other smaller books by him that develop details, or follow implications:
   - Supports, An Alternative to Mass Housing';
   - Variations, The Systematic Design of Supports;
   - <---- this is where 'The Structure of the Ordinary' falls chronologically;
   - Palladio's Children
   all by Habraken, all essential.



2. I found this book to be both insightful and ultimately very influential as to my own thoughts on sustainable design, urban planning, and the contemporary values and accustomed comfort levels which we, the western societies of the world, have come to take for granted when we think about our built environment. I feel that this book should be read by both students and practitioners alike. It's lessons are far reaching and all too relavent.



3. Though well produced and well illustrated I found this book to be disapointing. I thought it woud be more overtly rigourous in its analysis. Instead it offers only personnal insights into the structure of ordinary enironments. The back cover says that the book is the result of years of 'design research', yet I could find little evidence of this research in the book. Some people may find these insights illumating, unfortunately I did not, and without formal research to back them up I found the book disappointing.