No comments about Oase No. 62: Autonomous Architecture And The Project Of The City (Oase No. 62).

1 comments about Le Corbusier: An Analysis of Form.

1. Prof. Baker's presentation of Le Corbusier's architecture as a series of progressively related formal compositions is comprehensive, extraordinarily clear, and wonderfully executed. The bulk of the book consists of Baker's own drawings and diagrams which lend a consistency and lucidity to his analyses of form. Each project is desrcibed in the same format, with unusual attention to both the physical and biographical context in which it was built or proposed. The investigation of buildings as formal compositions gives a persuasive critical consistency to Corbusier's ouvre from the earliest Swiss villas to the didactic purism of the international style to his later, more mature expressions of the interaction of spirit and matter. This study, in its thoughtfulness and elegance, is invaluable to any student of architecture and will provide insight not only into the techniques of formal composition but into the mind of one of the real heroes of modern design.

3 comments about John Russell Pope: Architect of Empire.

1. This wonderful architect deserves study. his work is represented well but society context, office practice, growth in style are a little lacking and could have been better . Still a great addtion to any library!



2. This carefull reappraisal of Popes work was long overdue. One would hope that it will be followed by books on Cass Gilbert and Paul Cret who with Pope were the last masters of American Classical Architecture.Their work has stood the test of time beter than many more modern buildings.



3. I love all architecture and I can remember when I could count on titles from Rizzoli to uphold a certain standard, but that was too long ago. J.R.P. was an extrodinatry man for his time and a classic architect who deserves the same type of fame given to Frank Lloyd Wright. Rizzoli once again has failed the topic. GREAT COVER AND NO SUBSTANCE A.K.A. PAPER GARBAGE.

No comments about OASE No. 70: Architecture and Literature.

2 comments about The Snow Show.

1. Every once in a while, a monumental art event takes place that makes us rethink what can be done to explore mans creative spirit. The Snow Show was one of those rare events that revealed a new vision. The Snow Show combined world-renowned artists and architects in a collaboral effort to create a visual delight. This show will be reflected upon for years to come. There is something almost mystical that happened when ice, light and flames were combined together. The Snow Show book presents this incredible event with beautiful photos and thoughtful narration. It is well designed and very comprehensive. I especially enjoyed the explanations and photos of how the structures were actually built. The Snow Show book is more than just an art book; it explores a beautiful idea with jaw-dropping photography. I wish I could have attended the event. This book does a superb job of recording what happened.



2. I received The Snow Show as a gift and I love it.
   
   It documents an architectural/artistic exhibition in Lapland. Teams of two, one artist and one architect designed and built temporary structures of snow and ice.
   
   The book is primarily comprised of color photographs of the projects. The pictures of the structures, made of snow and ice, with the sun coming through are just breath-taking. They are incredibly beautiful. At the back, each project is elaborated on: The teams, the concepts and processes, including working drawings and photographs.
   
   The book is sooo great, I can't imagine how amazing it must have been in real life. Anyone would enjoy it, architects, artists and laypeople.

No comments about Essay on Architecture.

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!

1 comments about Zoomscape: Architecture in Motion and Media.

1. Zoomscape is a terrific read. Unlike most architecture books the writing is very accessible. Not too theoretical but engaged with important ideas nonetheless.
   The book captures the way we move through the world. Its unique perspective on perception changed the way I look at architecture. Schwarzer helped me see in a way I hadn't seen before by making connections between so many things. The book weaves cultural and popular and historical elements into a coherent flowing story. I loved the way Zoomscape includes observations from literature, film, and cultural theory. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand architecture better and see how it is part of our daily lives. And since the book covers movement so much I felt as if I had gone on a journey myself.

No comments about World's Greatest Architect: Making, Meaning, and Network Culture.

1 comments about The Rule and the Model: On the Theory of Architecture and Urbanism.

1. The Rule and The Model is the primary work on contemporary architectural theory and the city. Theory is traced through instaurational (foundational) texts into architectural, utopian, urban, and quotidian principles. One can only muse over the impact if this had been translated into English twenty years ago. Urban theory began with the Teoria, (Cerda 1867) and the City as the cause rather than the consequence of civilization and the development of humanity.

   Many authors critique. Francoise Choay challenges contemporary practice and defines pre-urbanism, urbanism, and I think opens the door for posturbanism. From the Ouverture (ouvre being roughly translatable as a call to participation): "But since the Industrial Revolution, when building acquired an explicit social dimension, and in the absence of a (never sucessfully formulated) `science' of art which might at least provide some underlaying principles, the third level can be governed only by individual caprice: ideologies, tastes, and the idiosyncratic predilections of administrations, urbanists, architects, and sometimes individual users. Hence, contradictory trends or fashions dominate the false aesthetics of the present-day built environment, where futuristic or even surrealistic tendencies are associated with a `retro' attitude. Architects pillage, with ruse or naivete, in the name of quotation or as brutal appropriation, all the styles of the past and even the mannerisms of the recent past, drawing equally on learned and vernacular, urban and rural, international and local sources. Hence also the double terrorism of stereotypes destined to flatter `popular' taste, and of a complacent pseudo-culture of architects affiliated by the production of an ugliness both legendary and unique in history."

   Several authors represent constructivism: Lefebvre, Harries, Soja, Choay; and comment respectively on the quotidian, modernity, postmodernism, and unique ugliness; and then open the door on possibilities of the everyday, festival, reason and faith, pleasure and the unforseen. These are standards for the Meta Mythic characters who design our landscapes. They are delightful suggestions towards an occupation for consciousness and satisfying use of that activity of the mind.

   Merci mille fois Mme Choay!