No comments about Dublin: A Grand Tour.

1 comments about Ancient Architecture (History of World Architecture).

1. A part of the series History of World Architecture originally published by Electa in Italian in 1971-7 under a general editorship of Pier Luigi Nervi, it was translated to English and published by Abrams in 1971-80 in b&w only, but at 10 x 11 1/4 inches. Subsequently, the series was reedited, shrunk to 8 5/7 x 9 1/2 inches, and published by Electa / Rizzoli in 1985-9 with a few color photos added including each front cover. In the early 2000's, the series was reissued by Phaidon unchanged except for the front cover photo. It is a pictorial "Ferrari" of history of architecture books. Almost every page contains one or - usually - more than one illustration as photo, plan, section, elevation, axonometric view, etc. of the highest quality. They depict the best examples of topical architecture covering the most significant ones. The text was written by one of the best experts in the field. While relatively concise, it is still comprehensive and complete enough even for students of architecture.
   PUBLISHER'S SYNOPSIS:
   (The Abrams' edition combines Ancient and Greek Architecture.)
   ANCIENT ARCHITECTURE:
   (24 and 249 black & white illustrations in non-Abrams' editions.)
   Seton Lloyd and Hans Wolfgang Müller describe the beginnings of architecture in the Ancient Near Middle East and Egypt, the brithplace of Western civilisation, where the newly born science of construction merged with an emerging aesthetic practice. This book examines sites and structures from neolithic temples in Anatolia to the royal tombs of Egypt. Each page combines reconstruction drawings of site plans, building perspectives, and decorative elements with photographs of archeological sites including aerial views and details. An extensive section is devoted to Egyptian architecture from its origins to the first century AC. Also included are the first dwellings on a circular plan, dating from the 8th millenium BC in Jordan, the famous site of Catal Hayuk, the ziggurat towers of the Neo-Assyrians and Neo -Babylonians, and the Achaemenids. The book examines the theological requirements, organization, and hierarchies in the architectural practices of the era.
   GREEK ARCHITECTURE:
   (276 black and white illustrations in non-Abrams' editions.)
   This volume presents an extraordinary collection of images and covers the whole range of Greek architecture, from a thorough analysis of Minoan Crete - which marked the beginning of the history of Western architecture - through Mycenae, to the magnificence of the Doric places of worship: from the temples of Corinth, Delphi and the Acropolis to those of Magna Graecia. The book covers the birth and evolution of the doric and ionic orders, religious architecture, and the temples and structures of Classical Greece. There is a substantial section on civic architecture, which closely reflects the formation and evolution of the political community, the most original aspect of ancient Greece. Important centres outside Greece are discussed, including Agrigento and Segesta in Sicily. The final section documents the Hellenic phase, with its unparalleled innovations and its influence on the greater Mediterranean.

1 comments about Paradise Valley, Nevada: The People and Buildings of an American Place.

1. This is an insightful and unique view of a ranching community in Nevada. Howard Wright Marshall has crafted a scholarly look at the vernacular architecture created by early settlers, which included Italian stonemasons. This is a well-illustrated and indexed book that belongs on the bookshelf of anyone interested in vernacular architecture and the history of the western United States.

No comments about The Secret of the Shadow: Light and Shadow in Architecture.

3 comments about A Spirit of Progress: Art Deco Architecture in Australia.

1. This will most likely be the regarded as the standard work on Deco architecture in Australia if only for Roy Lumby's superb essay in the first sixty-four pages. He manages to pull all the various Deco themes and personalities together so that the reader is left with an understanding of how this particular architectural style evolved across the country.
   
   The bulk of the book uses the excellent color photography (and frequent attractive hand tinting) of Patrick Van Daele. Fortunately as he took all the photos the book has an evenness of color and style which combined with captions make the images work so well. Incidentally the captions provide a lot more information than the name of the building and location.
   
   This is as far as my praise goes though owing to the book's production which is sadly lacking because of an excess of white space and some thoughtless editorial direction. The main problem is that so many of Van Daele's photos have been reduced in size because of some designer's whimsy, leaving empty page space in abundance. A pity because as I've said these are cracking photos. Not only are so many of them too small but where they occur several to a page the captions have the silly convention of directions: top, left, middle center, bottom right but made all the more useless because each caption has a plate number and this repeated under each photo would have been all that was needed to tie the photo to the caption.
   
   The book's typography uses the very appropriate period typeface Futura but again thoughtless design does the reader no favors. The caption text is in a very light weight, similarly the bibliography and index will have readers straining to read anything in a domestic lighting environment because of tiny type size and thinness. My tip: read this book only in daylight!
   
   I find it very frustrating when a book's first class text and images are devalued because of unprofessional design which contributes to a lack of editorial clarity.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.



2. The first major book on Art Deco to be published in Australia, A Spirit of Progress: Art Deco Architecture in Australia is an outstanding accomplishment for the research of Art Deco in this country, and it is sure to become a classic in its field. From the tasteful abstract cover (a detail from the 1930s King's Cinema) and the volumes overall presentation to the stunning photographs by Patrick Van Daele it is a pleasure to hold and read. A Spirit of Progress is written in an intelligent and erudite manner that is not too dry and academic for the average Art Deco enthusiast like myself.
   
   With each of its eight chapters being devoted to a different building type (office buildings, commercial buildings, domestic architecture, cinemas, ETC) it takes the reader on a pictorial journey that criss-crosses the vastness of the Australian continent. The book includes some stylish examples of Art Deco buildings in major capital cities such as Sydney, Melbourne or Perth and in selected smaller towns and rural cities throughout Australia. In fact A Spirit of Progress is chiefly a photographic survey of some of Australia's finest inter-war Art Deco buildings, some of which have lamentably long since been demolished. Even now in a time when our early 20th century built heritage is more admired and appreciated, some Art Deco styled buildings are still threatened with potential demolition by overzealous developers.
   
   While we have nothing on the scale or grandeur of New York's Empire State and Chrysler Buildings, the refined classicism of London's Broadcasting House or the sophisticated elegance of Los Angeles Bullocks Wilshire and Wiltern Cinema we are certainly not lacking in Art Deco and Art Moderne architectual gems. Australia has a profusion of moderately scaled Deco structures like pubs, classy movie palaces, fine department stores and out in the suburbs, homes. Art Deco was slow in coming to Australia, reaching our shores in the late 1920s via America, so the large bulk of our Deco buildings were constructed in the 1930s and some as late as the early 1940s. This building boom was due in part to Australia recovering earlier than most other industrialized nations from the devastating effects of the great depression. During this all too brief age of relative peace and prosperity between two cataclysmic World Wars, some of our most recognisable Art Deco structures were built. Sydney has two famous Deco landmarks, the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932) and the Anzac Memorial in Hyde Park (1934). In Melbourne they have the Myer Emporium (1933), Mitchell House (1937) and the high Deco Capitol Theatre (1924). We even have some grand Art Deco mansions like Everglades (1936) in the Blue Mountains or Burnham Beeches (1933) in the Dandenong ranges, both outside Sydney and Melbourne respectively. My home town of inner Sydney like many other modern metropolises around the world has large numbers of handsome jazz age flats and apartment buildings, some with spectacular harbour views that fetch high prices on today's market.
   
   If like me you have an obsession with Art Deco and are considering visiting Australia, A Spirit of Progress: Art Deco Architecture in Australia would be a perfect companion guide for viewing some of our timeless Deco heritage. I urge you to buy this fabulous volume for it is well worth the price and will give you years of reading and viewing pleasure.



3. Superb photographs of Australian 20s and 30s architecture, supported by the very best of architectural comment. Australia's acknowledged expert on 20,s and 30,s architectural and design heritage, Lumby has taken the often regarded 'humdrum' to the very heigths! The VERY BEST! This book is cheap at half the cost!

No comments about Media House Project: The House Is The Computer The Structure The Network.

1 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright: The Romantic Spirit.

1. This beautifully bound little book is a tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright and his architecture. Ms. Bishop has travelled around the country photographing and painting Mr. Wright's buildings. All of his better known designs are here, usually captured in a new setting and presentation that combines photography with painting. This enables Ms. Bishop to capture what she sees, what she feels as well as the photographic reality.
   
   The book is not large, printed in high quality on good paper. It has 64 color pages. Beautifully bound, this book is designed to last foever.

No comments about The Fourth Dimension in Architecture: The Impact of Building on Behavior : Eero Saarinen's Administrative Center for Deere & Company, Moline, Illino.

No comments about Making Cairo Medieval (Transnational Perspectives).

1 comments about This is Not Architecture: Media Constructions.

1. Terrific little book filled with short provocative pieces about architecture and it's complicated relationship to publicity and image production.