5 comments about The Most Beautiful House in the World.

1. This book is like a conversation with an architect and as conversations sometimes go, Rybczynski goes on many rabbit trail, some interesting, some tedious.
   
   And then he will land upon a nugget of real value to someone interested in designing a house. Things like, "A building has to be simple enough to grasp and remember," and "Determining the shape of the roof is the most important decision the designer of a building must make," and a classic rule to remember, "reduce the size of elements as the eye moves up the facade."
   
   The book was written to tell the story of Rybczynski's barn-cum-home and that is mildly interesting. The real interest is in the information he gives the reader about building and designing in general.
   
   If you are interested in just the facts of architecture, buy a text book. If you are looking for a conversation about architecture you will enjoy this book.



2. this refers to the 1989 Penguin Edition-
   
   Asa mechanical engineer in my late thirties I started to know what architecture was all about and its relation to design. It turns out that its not easy to have a comprehensive introduction to the theme. Fortunately, Through Amazon and its reviews and suggested I bought this wonderful book and I was captivated, not only by the perspective it gives on the architecs work, but also on the insight about design it provides.



3. This book by the author of "Home: A Short History of an Idea" (1986) is a more subjective and less disciplined examination of that same topic. Professor Rybczynski uses his experience as an immigrant trying to "fit in" as a lens for looking at what in means to build ones own home. The skeleton of this story is the author's own decision to build a shed to which he can retreat on weekends (for more on weekends, read the author's "Waiting for the Weekend," 1991) and build a boat he can sail away in. At some point the shed becomes more of a barn and then, when he finally abandons his plan to build a boat, it becomes a permanent home for himself and his wife. For me, the book is less about architecture, the act or craft of building, and more about morphing and the undpredictable ways life unfolds. Taken in that vein, Rybczynski's story can be appreciated as a spiritual journey with many sidetrips and gentle awakenings. He is self-critical, but not self-deprecating. And he infuses his tale with enough humor to keep the reader interested without taxing credibility. I especially enjoyed his description of his wife, Shirley, who does some morphing of her own. At the beginning (when the couple was building a mere boathouse), she is little more than an extra pair of hands; when the couple decides to make the structure they have been building into their home, Shirley suddenly becomes a full-fledged "client," full of opinions and demands.
   
   Although, Rybczynski describes several impressive architect conceived and built houses (such as Wright's Fallingwater and Mies van der Rohe's Farnsworth house), it is the houses built by their owners that he most celebrates--Mark Twain's home in Hartford, Connecticutt, Sir Walter Scott's Abbotsford, Robert Lewis Stevenson's Vailima in Samoa, artists Carl and Karin Larsson's much documented Lilla Hyttnas in Sundborn, Sweden, and Carl Jung's home in Bollingen, Switzerland. "It is no coincidence," writes Rybczynski, "that Stevenson, Scott, Clemens, Larsson, Castrejon, and I were less than forty years old when we built our homes.... The process of building, for all of us, was a process of installing ourselves in a place, of establishing a spot where it would be safe to dream. We had to be old enough to recognize the particularity--and limits--of our dreams, but not too old to believe in them....My house had begun with the dream of a boat. The dream had run aground--I was now rooted in place." (pp. 190, 193)



4. I have to agree with another reviewer this book has little to do with home building and is much adieu about nothing. In the end I was a little digusted at what got built....but then again what is beautiful?
   
   I am a fan of the author and this is my 3rd read by him. I do have to warn potential readers that sometimes this book rambles on about topics most readers would have VERY little interest in. On the flip side the book does contain passages that are highly entertaining. Its about 50/50
   
   This is a book that comes in and out of focus, a style of writing I believe the author enjoys. I guess in order to get books out in the marketplace as often as Witold does he must resort to digressing on just about any topic that pops into his mind.
   
   With that said, he is an intellect...he's well traveled and leads what I believe to be a pretty interesting life.
   
   This is an average book, I was expecting a bit more about home building and a bit less esoteric rhetoric. But then again, nothing churns out books better than rambling away.



5. This book did not come close to meeting my expectations. Of the 200 pages in this book, scarcely 30 actually pertain to the author's house building experience. It appears "the Most Beautiful House" subject was merely a excuse to ramble from one topic to another. One minute he is talking about animal sacrifices & liver divining, the next he is discussing the verb "to habit". I was sorely disappointed and struggle to find any redeeming quality in this work. Readers be warned that this book is a motley crew of diatribes on topics having little to do with The Most Beautiful House in the World.

1 comments about Polyphilo or The Dark Forest Revisited: An Erotic Epiphany of Architecture.

1. Perez-Gomez, professor of architecture at McGill University in Montreal, based his book of an ancient renaissance text entitled Hypnerotomachia Poliphili. It is still in debate who wrote this text, but it is of Italian origin. The fullness of this story is mind numbing, and engages the blood in its verse. I have joined the ranks of many authors in attempting an analysis of this piece of writing, but it seduces then defeats this urge. Through the medium of the verse, this art-piece uses words to touch below our cognitive level, accessing our emotions quite effectively. A brief study into Eros has been very necessary in respect to Perez-Gomez's book, which captures the same story in modern settings.

No comments about Architecture in the Netherlands: Yearbook 2006/07 (Architecture in the Netherlands Yearbook).

3 comments about Venice & the East: The Impact of the Islamic World on Venetian Architecture 1100-1500.

1. The importance with books of this sort, is dont get carried away. Islam is a big question today, and intercultural history is a top priority, but accuracy should always trump political fads. Venice is by far a city of Byzantine and Gothic, much less Islamic influence. The book fails to make this sufficiently clear, and can leave the reader with the impression that Venice, and the Renaissance had Oriental roots. This is plain wrong.



2. Deborah Howard is steeped in the enigma of Venetian architecture and gives a fabulous interpretation of its development through trading relationships with the Islamic world from 1100-1500 AD.
   
   By emphasising the mental `Transmission and Propagation' of Islamic imagery as much as any materialistic one through trade, Howard shows just how elastic the `process of cultural diffusion' was and restores the importance of the oral tradition in the `reformulation' of that imagery into another space and time.
   
   Her focus on the Middle East draws our attention away from Constantinople, bringing out the importance of Alexandria as one of the main sources of cultural inspiration.
   
   In a vivid example of a rescued and transformed architectural motif, Howard mentions at length the lighthouse Pharos of Alexandria. This wonder of the ancient world was still standing when Islam spread across the North African coast and its secular function as a light in dark places became a potent spiritual symbol with the slimmed down rise of many a minaret.
   
   The offspring of Pharos continued to multiply with Venice contributing several of its own; the last example, Codussi's campanile for the cathedral church of San Pietro di Castello with, `its snow-white ashlar masonry . . . stands at the eastern end of the city, as a beacon for the sea borne traveller from the east.'
   
   The Great Umayyed Mosque in Damascus also gets singled out for special attention as does the Abbasid and Fatimid periods in general, with their legacy of impressive building projects that impacted upon the mind of many a Venetian merchant.
   
   Howard reminds us how the papal ban on trade with Moslems became more than just a tiresome irritant for the Venetians. With so much lucrative trade at stake, the essence of its survival, good relations with the Moslem Middle East were a necessity; in Cairo for example, `only Venetian gold ducats are accepted currency.'
   
   Venice also became a facilitator in pilgrim traffic to Jerusalem and it is the combination of so many of those factors that makes Deborah Howard's narrative so interesting. With splendid photographs and maps to reinforce her view, we look at Venice with fresh eyes while the ghost of bygone Alexandria dazzles, mirage like, before us.
   
   The ripe old civilisations of the east were infused with much positive creativity in the wake of Islamic conquests: Howard's narrative helps dissolve the rigid and outdated paradigm of a `clash of civilisations,' revealing a grudging sense of admiration by many a Christian merchant and pilgrim who stood witness to Islamic ways of life and became transmitters of that imagery back to Venice.
   
   An unusual book: Highly recommended!



3. Clearly one of the best art books of the year, Venice and the East traces the impact of Islamic art on the Venetian imagination -- as evident in its architecture. Though stunning illustrations that compare Venetian and Islamic architecture and a well-written text based on primary sources, author Deborah Howard shows that, in the heyday of Levantine trade, Venetian merchants brought back more than spices and cotton from the Islamic world. They also brought back visions of paradise: Islamic styles in gardens, courtyards and palaces that evoked not just Eastern sensuality but also biblical grandeur and spirituality. Although Howard gives ample attention to the borrowing of specific architectural motifs -- balconies, crenellated walls and ogee windows -- she goes well beyond a cataloging of borrowed style. This is, most of all, a study in cultural assimilation -- of ideas as much as architectural form -- and is well worth treasuring whether your passion runs to architecture, history, sociology, or more simply: to gorgeously illustrated coffee table books.

No comments about Mormon Pioneer Trail, The: MTA 1997 Official Guide.

2 comments about Bridges That Changed the World.

1. I bought this book for my son who is almost 5. He is fascinated by bridges. So I got this book for him and he loves it. It has some really unique bridges with great pictures. (He likes it mostly for all of the pictures, but he will ask what country they are from, etc). I also find it interesting because they have detailed descriptions regarding the bridges.
   
   So this is a great book, even if you have never had interest in bridges. Kids like it too!



2. Over fifty famous bridges and their stories are gathered in a survey which will appeal to a far wider audience than the usual specialty bridge book. Here is a satisfying blend of striking photos and technical detail blended in with a history of bridge-building around the world. The real surprise lies in a lively writing style paired with discussions of bridges in regions which usually don't receive much mention, such as a sand-cast iron bridge in Coalbrookdale from the 1700s or the 1800s Clifton Suspension Bridge in Bristol.

2 comments about Possible Palladian Villas: (Plus a Few Instructively Impossible Ones).

1. An initial enthusiastic interest in classicism in architecture led to my attending architecture school. This is a book I read during my first term, and I really enjoyed it tremendously. Very instructive as an introduction to the ideas of classical/renaissance architectural theory, as well as fun and "hands-on" with the included software. A previous reviewer seems to feel that the writing unfortunately pretentious. For better or for worse, however, almost all serious art and architectural writing has this kind of quality--or at least appears this way to those who aren't used to seriously thinking about ideas of aesthetics. It shouldn't put one off. The book is substantial, and fun at the same time. I enthusiastically recommend it.



2. An attempt to divine the mathematical rules governing room dimensions of Palladio's Renaissance buildings using computer software. One must give the author credit for the large amount of research involved, all documented in its extensive bibliography.

No comments about K/R: Projects/Writings/Buildings.

No comments about Sessions.

No comments about Planning Middle Eastern Cities: An Urban Kaleidoscope.