3 comments about Verb: Architecture Boogazine.

1. A new type of publication 'bookazine' does match to what 'Verb' has. What 'Verb' is all about is both conceptual and constructional progress in the field of architecture in recent years. It shows us selected good examples which manage to cope with the state of uncertainty by paying attention to the development of design process. Changing paradigm gives rise to changing type of publication.



2. I've read the majority of it, and now I could say that it's worth reading 'Verb' for those who would like to know how we can find/generate a kind of new concept and develop it into buildable form in the state of uncertainty. I think projects and buildings in 'Verb' are quite good examples. And the word 'boogazine' is pretty interesting because it implies that the new controversial topics like things in magazines and little old undoubtful ones like in referential books would be combined into one so that the main concept of so-called new architecture, which is neither single assertion nor definite, can be well-expressed.
   BUT I've felt a bit boring about its contents. Most of them could not tell us things different from what Jeffrey Kipnis wrote in 'Towards a New Architecture' and what Deleuze describe world, which means the majority of articles/books after his are similar to one another and not progress further.
   Is it time to see a new one or fine architectural result based on the philosophy of Deleuze?
   I hope 'Verb' will be another step forward to it.



3. Exceptional production values enhance this well illustrated and innovatively designed book-magazine (produced in a French and Spanish edition too) that includes critical and theoretical essays on design and architectural topics. Planned to issue three issues annually. Recommended.

3 comments about Architecture + Animation (Architectural Design).

1. this book gives another dimentition to the understanding of animation, it goes more into the philosophical use and representation ideas of creationg both formas and spaces in digital reality



2. I high recommend this book for all the architects interested in architecture in motion.



3. I am a architect and I want to collect some articles about animated architecture and architectural animation.

No comments about Diseño Grafico para la Gente.

1 comments about Ancient Mexican Designs/ Disenos Mexicanos Antiguos (Agile Rabbit Editions).

1. This edition reproduces ancient Mexica glyphs and codex illustrations at higher quality than other resource books I've owned for many years. As much as I love and appreciate the Dover resource books that come with CD-ROMs, the images on their CDs tend to be low quality, with extensive "jaggies" that require extensive correction before being used for digital texturing or Web design. The images on the CD-ROM accompanying this fine book are much higer resolution and will require fewer "corrections" before use in digital art applications, this buyer's intended purpose.
   
   Even if you're not a digital artist, this book serves as a fascinating overview of Mexica aesthetics. It's a real pleasure just to view and learn from.

No comments about Factory-Constructed Housing Developments: Planing, Design, and Construction (Civil Engineering - Adivsors).

No comments about The Language of Design: Theory and Computation.

No comments about THINK New York: A Ground Zero Diary.

1 comments about The Fundamentals of SolidWorks 2007.

1. When my technology director asked me to create a pre-engineering class, I didn't know where to start. After talking to some high tech parents, they introduced me to SolidWorks. The students love it. It was so easy to get started and now my students are better than me. But I wanted to do more so I bought a VEX robot kit.
   
   This book is a great way to combine learning CAD and building actually robots. The book takes students through making parts and in less than a week, students are creating parts on their own. With the book, my students have instructions on how to model the parts and compare to the actual parts. Then they assemble the parts in different configurations. Combining this book with VEX robot kit has been an affordable way to introduce engineering into the classroom. On parent's night, students present their portfolios complete with drawings. My director is happy, my students are happy and next term I have a full enrollment.

1 comments about Security Planning and Design: A Guide for Architects and Building Design Professionals (Security).

1. This is a comprehensive book, complete with graphics that pretty much starts off as Building Security 101 and gets more intricate throughout the book. This is s good guidebook for any decision makers who need a reference manual.

2 comments about Designing Programmes.

1. Although this edition came out in 2007, much of its substance derives from the original 1964 edition. That sat as close to the Swiss School of typography and Bauhaus era as to our own, maybe closer, and it shows. Much of this text comes across with the same strident certainty of those streams of thought, but without the adolescent braggadaccio. Still, much remains worthwhile to today's designer, so let's start there.
   
   First, as you'd expect, the typography is lucid and legible. Pages have clean, airy layout, and graphics express their concepts with minimal fuss. Typesetting uses a font of the author's own design, a sanserif with warm character. I could fault it for a few things, the digit "8" in particular, and creation of the italic through a simple geometric tilt rather than a rethinking of the emphasis and letterforms. Still it reads comfortably and gives distinctive timbre to the author's voice. Even page numbering is unique without being annoying. Only lack of an index truly mars the book's design.
   
   At the back, exercises with gray or colored gradients suggest useful and playful explorations of many kinds. And, as a computing geek, I applaud many of Gerstner's examples of algorithmic development and combinatorial thoroughness. Some of his tools, based on Fritz Zwicky's boxes but owing equally to Ramon Lull's layered disks, can help anyone break a creative logjam through systematic exploration of a design space.
   
   But, although Gerstner uses the combinatoric tools of the mathematician, he wields them clumsily. For example, p.13 presents a family of related graphic elements, and asserts that the 16 can be combined three at a time in 560 distinct ways. Well, that would be true, except that pattern #5 would obscure #6 completely, #10 would hide #11 and #12, and #9 would hide #8. Although there are 560 possible combinations, there are far fewer visibly different combinations. Another combinatorial exercise blandly assumes that all design elements are distinguishable (as in "a-d-b-e-c"). It would enumerate quite differently if elements could be reused (as in "a-c-b-b-c"). His computer poetry is quaintly naive and, like Kandinsky, he equates graphic elements to sounds in a way that can only be a personal quirk or flaw in translation. In the end, Gerstner throws in the towel on the unguided exercise in permutations and combinations: "... it is difficult to design something as complex as font families that are not only new, but also innovative. Despite all the best programmatic efforts, it is probably impossible." Even though programming and hardware have advanced far beyond anything dreamt in this book, I have to agree. Foreseeable decades do not include obsolescence of human artistry, no matter what mechanical tools support it.
   
   Gerstner's book is interesting and potentially helpful. It tries to summon the strength of mathematical formalisms in design, but does so without the rigor that gives math its strength. Still, it offer ideas that can kick-start a stalled creative session, and shows that even simple elements offer combinatorial richness - a happy escape from complexity imposed from without.
   
   -- wiredweird



2. Gerstner's tome, Designing Programmes has developed a cult-like following and Lars Mueller wisely chose to reprint it. First editions sell upwards of 700-800 and this makes it out of reach for most. I was excited to see this book reprinted.
   
   I have a German edition and have used it as a reference, translating my own to English. This is an area where I am let down; when reading the translation in this edition, it does not flow smoothly and reads ambiguously in parts. A lot of text could have been cut out or better written for a more succinct read.
   
   Another area of disappointment is the picture quality: There are blurred photos, type with jagged edges, pixel edges on some photos, and errant dot patterns. It appears as if the original material was not used to produce this edition, instead scanning in or photographing pre-screened images.
   
   Despite these short comings, I believe it is a valuable book to own for any educator, student or practicing designer. Gerstner takes the reader through a logical and step-by-step process of solution, or program development to design problems.