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1 comments about The Architectural Drawings of Antonio da Sangallo the Younger and His Circle, Vol. 2: Churches, Villas, the Pantheon, Tombs, and Ancient Inscriptions (Architectural History Foundation Book).

1. Antonio da Sangallo the Younger was one of the most important architects of the Renaissance during the first half of the 16th century in Italy. A few of his buildings belong to the guiding examples of public and private architecture. Overshadowed by better known artists like Bramante or Michelangelo, his reputation among his contemporaries was as least as high as that of those. But he is also the one architect by whom survived more drawings than of any other one of that time (and even of later times). The long-prepaired edition of these drawings - from the collection of the Florentine Uffizi - is a milestone not only in architectural history, but also in editing important art historical material at all. A group of famous and highly-skilled architectural historians made this work available with a lot of deep-going contributions to the analysis of the drawings. So, reading comments about fortresses, machines and other buildings normally not thought of to be of great interest at all, lets one understand how an architect with great skill and experience (and a large group of collaborators) managed "his job". In fact, Sangallo seems to be the first architect in European history, who organized his work in a way very close to the one still used today: the architect gives ideas to further development to his collaborators, corrects their contributions and organizes the whole work of the "studio" rather than doing everything himself - as others did at the same time. I think, one can not only learn a lot about a special architect in a special time from this book, but also, how architectural invention and execution was organized in the renaissance (and from then on). The detailed analytic descriptions of the drawings sometimes even read like a step-by-step solution of complicated riddles, and it's interesting to follow the discussion of such a complicated matter. If you are interested in architecture or art history, this book is a must!

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No comments about Autocad 2006 (Guia Practicas Para Usuarios / Practical Users Guide).

1 comments about Why Architects Draw.

1. I'm not an anthropologist/ethnographer or an architect, though I've been very interested in both fields (Latour, Le Corbusier, etc.). I found this book, mostly of interviews with architects about how they use drawing in their practice, very accessible for the non-architect, and also, I suspect, very interesting for the architect as well. The architects interviewed have different styles for how they use drawings and these differences are reflected in the structure and process of their practices (the intervews are exclusively with principals or very senior designers). The style of drawings (and models) they like to present in various situations (to junior designers, draftsmen, clients, engineers) forms an interesting picture of the social structure of architectural practice.

No comments about Architecture in Perspective: 12th Annual International Competition of Architectural Perspectivists (Architecture in Perspective).

No comments about Architecture of the British Library at St. Pancras.

2 comments about Views of Rome.

1. Views of Rome is a unique guide to the most significant sites of ancient, Christian, and modern Roman architecture. Steven Brooke produced the work--the first collection of its kind in over one hundred years--during his tenure as a fellow of the American Academy in Rome. For this book, he has written detailed captions that provide the history, location, and, often, directions to each site.



2. "Views of Rome" was a huge disappointment. Thankfully, I didn't drop $50 on the hardcover version.
   
   The book is barely usable, either as a preview of the architecture of the Eternal City or as a remembrance of a visit. The book is comprised of terrible unimaginative black-and-white images of many of Rome's most famous architectural wonders. The photos are composed well enough, but are basically straight-on shots with no attempt to communicate the personality of the buildings or their grandeur. The photographer must have taken all his photos early in the morning, because there is not a single person in the shots to provide perspective.
   
   The synopsis of Roman history that starts the book is actually fairly interesting -- certainly more so than the dull photography that follows.

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No comments about Colour Is Communication: Selected Projects for Foster+Partners 1996-2006.