1 comments about On Foster...Foster on (Architecture).

1. This book is what is a 800 pages that let us drown into the life and toughts of one of the most brilliant architects in the whole world, Norman Foster.
   This isn't a kind of book that describes the projects and works, this book give us the fundamental of the work, the process of construction. The cd that come together is a selection of works with animation and images, but is equal to the norman foster and partners site on the web, it could be more useful and different.
   THIS IS A WONDERFULL BOOK ABOUT A GREAT ARCHITECT, THEYRE MASTERS , FRIENDS, AND PARTNERS.

No comments about The Architecture of Science.

3 comments about AIA Guide to Chicago.

1. Limited to the Chicago city limits and Oak Park, the selection of buildings is good, but certainly not exhaustive (Evanston would have been a nice addition). Since commercial architecture is so important to Chicago history, there is a palpable emphasis on these structures. The book is in standard AIA format, with short essays for each entry, some including a small photograph. In fact, the major flaw with this book, in my opinion, is the lack of effective photography. There's a photograph for, perhaps, one out of every ten building entries, and the entries that do include photos are often not that interesting. One tries to come away from this book with a mental image of Chicago, derived from the text, but with little assistance from photography. There are also more than a few entries that include no text, simply the building name, address, date and architect. Keep your favorite internet map program handy.
   
   There are so many magnificent things to see in Chicago, it's a shame this guide doesn't much help us to see them. That (critical) matter aside, it's a solid and important addition to the AIA-sponsored series.



2. Only one other city is so steaped in architecture history than Chicago and this guide does a commendable job of highlighting the most important Chicago buildings, the synopsis on each building is susinct, the only qualm I have is that there are not more pictures, I also wish the authors had ventured more into the suburbs and commented on some of the great houses in Lake Forest and Highland Park, but that omission does not mar the overall enjoyment of this scholarly guide. If you are interested in architecture at all, I recommend you pick up this book, Chicago is so steaped in architecture history and this is a good guide to the best examples.



3. Chicago is generally known as one of the centers of modernist architecture, and this visual guidebook, complete with maps, photographs and authoritative little essays on most of the important buildings, is a must-buy if you plan to tour this richly textured urban center. It's also one of the best small resources for anyone interested in architecture from 1850 to the present. Inexpensive, designed to slip in your pocket, it holds up well-- I depend upon mine to help me with the walking tours of the city I give on a regular basis, and it's still in one piece after three or more years of hard use.

1 comments about A New Design Philosophy: An Introduction to Defuturing.

1. This is a very important book. People these days think that `only good news sells' and that it is necessary to be positive at all times. Tony Fry's book shows that it is more important to face up to the true extent of the world's current problems. Fry asks: how did we become so unsustainable? His answer is: by design. He looks at key aspects of modern design and finds, rather than something to celebrate, a history of `defuturing', that is, case studies of how our futures are being taken away from us. In arguing his points, Fry demonstrates an extensive knowledge of the history of design (for example streamlining, the Bauhaus, but also television and computers), and a comprehensive command of philosophy (for example Heidegger and Confucianism). The result is indeed a new design philosophy, one that is urgently needed given how ignorant many designers are about ramifications of design decisions. This is not an easy book, but what it teaches about the way most designed products in turn design unsustainable lifestyles is crucial to learning how to design sustainable futures.

No comments about The Tragic in Architecture (Architectural Design).

No comments about What's Wrong with Plastic Trees?: Artifice and Authenticity in Design.

2 comments about Buildings of Pittsburgh (Buildings of United States (distributed)).

1. Nicely done. Toker always does a bang up job!
   I would recommend to others.



2. Franklin Toker takes the reader through the neighborhoods of Pittsburgh to discuss buildings of note. Each chapter begins with a page or two to discuss the neighborhood's historical context, followed by descriptions and comments about its noteworthy buildings - about forty buildings in the chapter dedicated to downtown, for example. There is approximately one b&w photo per page, and each chapter has one or more simple maps. Toker seems equally interested in recent architecture as well as historic architecture, giving as much attention to a remarkable 2003 building as to a 1900 building. The chapter on downtown accounts for only one-fifth of the book, with the remainder covering outlying neighborhoods within Allegheny County. As with any book of this type, there is an assumption that the reader has some familiarity with the area already.
   
   Pittsburgh certainly provides an architectural historian with a lot to work with. The city reached its apogee at about 1900, when robber barons such as Carnegie and Frick competed to see who could build the grandest office towers, providing commissions to the leading architects of the day. The city's nadir, at least as far as urban planning is concerned, was in the 1960s, when two of its most important business districts, Allegheny and East Liberty, were destroyed through clumsy urban renewal projects that turned vibrant neighborhoods into desolate zones of urban decay.
   
   I can't help but compare this to Toker's earlier, 1995 book, "Pittsburgh: An Urban Portrait." The 1995 book covers far more buildings, pointing out the architectural merit of minor downtown storefronts that most Pittsburghers would never notice. I prefer the detailed treatment of the 1995 book with its microscopic examination of downtown architecture, but some readers may have felt the detail of the 1995 book to be overwhelming. Also, some of the buildings in the 1995 book are no longer standing, and some of the buildings in the 2007 book didn't exist in 1995.

No comments about Again the Metaphor Problem and Other Engaged Critical Discourses about Art: A Conversation between John Baldessari, Liam Gillick and Lawrence Weiner, moderated ... / Art and Architecture in Discussion).

No comments about Terence Conran's Kitchen Book: A Comprehensive Source Book and Guide to Planning...Your Kitchen.

No comments about Konstantin S. Mel'nikov and the Construction of Moscow.