No comments about Dublin: A Grand Tour.

No comments about Survey of Chester County, Pennsylvania Architecture.

No comments about Making Cairo Medieval (Transnational Perspectives).

No comments about Rural Architecture.

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.

No comments about Architecture in Detail Chicago (Architecture in Detail).

5 comments about Iconic LA, Stories of LA's Most Memorable Buildings.

1. When you think of cities you often think of some kind of landmark building or structure. Sydney - Opera House, Chicago - Sears Tower, New York - Empire State Building (if not the World Trade Center) and so on. Mention Los Angeles and what comes to mind is endless miles of cars on slow moving freeways.
   
   After looking at this book, I find that I do remember a significant number of what the author has selected as the best of architectural design in Los Angeles. Her selection is varied from her husband's Case Study House #22, a spectacular steel and glass structure on an otherwise unbuildable lot, to the Los Angeles International Airport Theme Building; from Frank Lloyd Wright's rather strange looking Hollyhock House to the Walt Disney Concert Hall, which is almost as dramatic as the Sydney Opera House and has much better acoustics.
   
   This is a dramatic book that will make you look at Los Angeles architecture in an entirely different light.



2. KNOWING LOS ANGELES: EXCERPTS FROM CITE ARCHITECTURAL REVIEW: "Iconic LA" is not exactly the book its title and appearance might lead one to expect. It turns out to be more than just a splashy presentation of the cool, the weird and the kinky. What it is instead is a carefully focused look at 13 notable buildings spanning two centuries, well illustrated with pictures both current and historical, and topped off with succcinct text sufficient to whet the appetite of Los Anglophiles and architectural critics alike. Koenig, a former editor and writer at the University of California at Los Angeles, has selected buildings that represent different eras and architectural types. Each project is boradly described and documented, and the photographs - many of them are rare - are sublime. Some surpriese await the readers of this book; for example, how important a fixture on the LA architectural scene Lloyd Wright was, from the time he came to complete his father/s Hollyhock House in 1920, to his seminal designs for the Hollywood Bowl, and on through the 1940's. A readerr can also develop a new appreciation of how much Frank Gehry is a product of LA; it's probably for that reason that he was asked to supply the book's foreward. I have a growing bookshelf dedicated to Southern California, and "Iconic LA" has an important new place on it. It nestles comfortably next to Reyner BAnham's "Los Angeles: The Four Ecologies" and Charles Moore's "Experiencing Los Angeles". Its overview of immediately familiar structures and the insights they offer into the city's culture make "Iconic LA" a good companion to these. In the book Frank Gehry says, "LA is a city of instant recognition." He's right, and "Iconic LA" is where that recognition gets its due.



3. I just read Iconic LA as a part of my research on Los Angeles landmark, the Watts Towers of Simon Rodia State Historic Park. The book is truly a valuable addition to the field of architectural literature for all of us! I truly enjoyed reading the entire book. Sincerely, Bud Goldstone, conservation engineer co-author The Los Angeles Watts Towers 6719 W 86th Place #2 Los Angeles, CA 90045



4. From Los Angeles Magazine, January, 2001. If architecture is a stamp of a city's identity, then Gloria Koenig's "Iconic LA: Stories of LA's Most Memorable Buildings" is proof that Los Angeles is more than a mass of shopping malls. In a city sometimes thought to be lacking in landmarks, it's surprising how recognizable the 13 buildings included here are and how much they have become a part of our collective consciousness. From the art deco Union Station to the futuristic Bradbury Building, these structures suggest the growth and sensibility of the city - and, with a section on the under-construction Walt Disney Concert Hall, the city to come. The selections may be obvious, but Koenig provides the tales behind them: Aline Barnsdall's conflicts with Frank Lloyd Wright during the building of the Hollyhock House; Sid Grauman's obssession with creating an authentic Chinese Theater in Hollywood; and the struggles of Paul Williams, the African American architect of the LAX Theme Building.



5. For those with architectural leanings, Gloria Koenig's Iconic LA offers tales and black-and-white pictures pertaining to a baker's dozen of Los Angeles's most memorable buildings, the Hollywood Bowl, Grauman's Chinese Theater, and the Getty Center, among them. Part guidebook, part urban history, Iconic includes compact entries that reveal as much about the architectural details - like the fact that Pierre Koenig's glassed-in modernist masterpiece Case Study House #22 was assembled in a single day - as they do about the people behind them. Who knew that Paul Williams, the architect who designed the space-age Theme Building at LAX, was African American? The book has the breezy quality of a Hollywood bio, with the buildings as stars.

No comments about Ontology of Construction: On Nihilism of Technology and Theories of Modern Architecture.

4 comments about Glenn Murcutt: A Singular Architectural Practice.

1. This basically documents the architect's work but is not a great book. The photos, although good, are not top quality. There are lots of construction drawings, in a separate section (forcing a lot of flipping back and forth, BTW), but they were not redone for the book, are tiny reproductions of the originals, so not too readable. You usually at least get a floor plan, and some rough sketches in the text section, but the point of the book is not to explain how these buildings are built.

   The worst aspect is the commentary by the two authors, mere filler material. The best are the words of the architect himself, who can offer background on all his projects, and who comes across as very sincere.




2. This Review is not only an Engineer's perspective of Murcutt - it's also, in a way, a definitive statement that Murcutt has the perspective required of an Engineer.
   As a marine engineer with a keen professional and personal involvement with architecture, I have grown to respect Glenn Murcutt deeply. This book expresses much of what could be said about him, about his work, his principles and his motivation.
   I have been most impressed by the interpretation of Murcutt's architecture by the engineers associated with him, as well as the fruit borne in the lives of younger architects who have studied under his guidance, and have continued to co-labour with him in Australia today. If only it were so all over the world!
   The influence of Murcutt in our day must surely rank with that of Aalto during the past century.
   Inspired and highly recommended reading and study for all students of architecture, regional modernism and vernacular materials, as well as engineers with a passion for design.
   Brent O'Callaghan
   Engineer - Cape Town



3. I have been into Murcutt's work for a few years now, but I have been disappointed by the lack of good books on his work. Until now, the best book around was Phaidon's '3 houses'. The only projects I have been able to see have been single family houses in the middle of the australian brush--so it was pretty cool to see this book with houses (or at least A house) in an urban area as well as larger commercial type buildings (like the education center).

   As far as I know, all of his projects are shown in the book--built and unbuilt in great detail. The first 30 pages or so of the book is a collection of essays by both the authors and Murcutt. Then the book gets into his projects chronilogically--each with photographs, sketches and drawings.

   The last part of the book is a collection of 'blue-print' drawings showing the plans and more importantly the construction details of all his buildings--all in pretty good detail showing dimensions and materials.

   Im stingy with my book money--but I definately feel like I got my money's worth outta this one.




4. The Pritzker laureate selected his favorite buildings for this handsomely illustrated monograph, with its insightful text by two Australian architectural professors who know his work well. Nearly a third of the pages are devoted to drawings that illuminate Murcutt's meticulous approach to design.

2 comments about Eccentric Spaces.

1. I've read this book three times. After the first two readings, I still had no clue what the book was even about. I mentioned this to my sister, and she found that rather mystifying. So I tried again, with not much more luck. I am giving this four stars because there must be something here, since I keep re-reading it. I've even got it on my Wish List to buy it and try it for a fourth time.



2. One of the oddest and most beautiful books I have ever read