No comments about Knoll Home & Office Furniture.

1 comments about Coastal Homes 2 (Lifestyles Nature & Architecture (Am Publishers)).

1. A splndid book providing beautiful photos and interesting text on Coastal design in Mexico. A wonderful source of reference and inspiration for both the design community and homeowner.

1 comments about 25 Tropical Houses in Indonesia.

1. 25 Tropical Houses In Indonesia showcases architecture adapted not only to the needs of the user, but also the environmental and climate issues of daily life in the tropics. Full-color photography on virtually every page as well as black-and-white diagrams reveal structural and visual approaches, while the text describes at length the details of each house's unique features for lay readers and professional architects alike. Houses range in size and appearance from lofty to neo-cubist to resembling a cathedral. A majestic coffee-table book that wondrously captures the spirit of Indonesian architecture.

3 comments about Alberto Pinto: Classics.

1. For those who enjoy new opulent traditional interiors, this book showing residential projects designed by the Moroccan-born interior designer now based in Paris will no doubt delight. As a director for a photography agency specializing in architecture and interior for major shelter magazines, Alberto Pinto developed a rich, eclectic, and very photogenic style, becoming a "full-fledged decorator in the seventies". While careful scutiny might find the schemes less than fully developed, it is tasty eye-candy none-the-less and the general intent strong even if some of the details are off-kilter. The stylist in him often mixes the unexpected with the traditional, and the common with the fine to favorable results. In many cases, his work is a refreshing take on the "Style Rothschild" with more gilt, ormolu, and passementerie one might think possible, but with an eye towards controlled decoration rather than just piling it on.
   
   Featured are a lavish mansion on the Champ de Mars, two sumptuous Left Bank apartments, a substantial duplex apartment in New York City referred to as a "pied a terre", a seven story Manhattan townhouse of grand proportions, a Geneva apartment, two haciendas in Mexico, a seaside house presumed to be in the Hamptons, an airy house in Marbella, a chalet in Courchevel, the dining room and indoor swimming pool of a Left Bank mansion, a duplex apartment in a modern Cairo building, an English manor house, and the designer's own apartment on the Quai d'Orsay. This apartment, formerly the home of shoe designer Roger Vivier, is as grand as a neo-classical Russian palace. One of the more intimate spaces, a sitting room, is featured on the front dust cover, its walls upholstered in red-on-yellow toile de jouy dramatically criss-crossed with green velvet braid and a suite of 19th century chairs upholstered to match, whimsically contrasting with the serious Boulle furniture.
   
   The text is translated and therefore stilted; only basic information is provided anyway. More is learned of Pinto's style from the glossy photos and panoramic color renderings. While many would find it much too much, more ridiculous than sublime, this reviewer enjoyed the drama of the grand decorating theatre. Not the best, but better than most of this genre.



2. I also do own a lot of books on interior design, and when it comes to looking in to the opulent french style, this is a book to own. Even if you are not going to do a room like the ones he does (which I suppose is extremely rare) his ways which objects, placement of furniture, various kind of traditional pieces, combination of textures and colors will give very good direction for working with this kind of inspiration, rather than the usual more country/cotteny feel so often done by others. His illustrations are very detailed, leaves you wondering if they were done before (as a service to his clients) or after the room was finished. (For himself, I suppose). A book to own.



3. I have an extraordinarily large library of books on interior design books and this one equals or surpasses the very best. The number and quality of the photos are without parallel. The book represents the very best in haute European design. Pinto's work now is rivaled only by Peter Marino's, others of this genre having died. The average homemaker looking for ideas to freshen up the family room will not find them here. But for anyone interested in seeing what perfection of detail looks like -- in upholstery, curtains, garniture, and the like -- every page of this book will show them. It is worth every penny of the price and should be in every interior designer's collection, if only to inform them and their clients of what superior upholstery design and lush color can do for a room.

1 comments about White Walls, Designer Dresses: The Fashioning of Modern Architecture.

1. And what about the white walls of museums & art galleries. What about "the white cube" (Brian ' O Doherty) It takes Wigley a whole book to show that white walls are far from neutral. So therefore it seems to me a nice contradiction to say the opposite about the white walls of an art galllery. (page 8) In one sentence Wigley seems to forget that there was a very strong relationship between artist & architects in the early modernism. For me, interested in the relationship between art & architecture, this one sentence undermines the whole book. I'm sorry if this reaction is a bit sharp, but this page is too small to give a detailed critique. Wouter Davidts

2 comments about For Historic Buildings, Lighting (Historic Interiors Series).

1. exact product at an affordable price w a smooth transaction



2. Noted historian Roger Moss provides a concise history of lighting and a resource of over 480 suitable reproductions organized by light source and fixture type. Includes valuable bibliography, suppliers and glossary. Highly recommended.

1 comments about Window Treatments.

1. Window Treatments is the "manual" when it comes to choosing a source for window design. The text is easy to comprehend for the novice or professional who needs to design the perfect treatment. As the owner of a drapery workroom, I hand this book to every new employee. Every detail from proportion to fullness is covered in detail.

5 comments about Precedents in Architecture, 2E.

1. The works that best qualify for this type of investigation is clearly Post Modernist stuff. Seeking this analysis in Modern Architecture like that of Mies is quite a stretch. Surely not for use in contemporary Architectural climate. Thankfully it does not attempt next to dissect Ghery!!!! Buildings werent built like this!



2. Pertaining to another snide review... The point of masterworks is that they allow and reward reinterpretation and new readings over time. Rediscovery and renewal are why the buildings remain important. This book offers diagrammatic re-readings which may or may not jibe with the architects professed goals, but that's its value. When interrogating classic buildings, there are absolutely valid reasons at a certain point to say "Let's now disregard the architects intentions for the time being." Turning to any architects extremely manipulative, apocryphal histories is fraught with it's own perils, because their job requires them to wear so many hats; huckster, self-promoter, personal historian, authority, white-liar... etc. "Truth" - whatever that is - becomes the casualty.
   
   If you are in architecture school, this book is a godsend towards formulating points of departure (!) for your own work, not towards getting down to the generative origins of canonical works. Do we really need another book consisting only of official stories already heavily documented eleswhere? This book is thankfully nothing of the sort, and that's why it is invaluable as a REFERENCE BOOK.



3. This book does a great job at distilling essential qualities of architecture through the analysis of exemplary projects, and illustrating how the consistency of design can be seen through parti. It would be an ideal book for any student of architecture.



4. This is the only way to describe the diagramming efforts that have been shown here. It is almost ridiculous to see the attempt to find the golden rectangle in almost every building. Believe me geometrical nonsense as well as the "parti" was no where in the mind of FLW for Fallingwater. Similarly the critical agenda as well as the main "idea" of the building is a whole lot richer and important than seeing symmetry and axes. My million $$ question is how does the participant in any space percieve that axis shown when he is more immersed in the feeling of the architecture? I guess that this mumbo-jumbo stopped at Venturi as I havent seen any "analysis" (save critical and existential) of Holl, or HDM or Ito or Koolhaas or Eisenmann or anyone of the Avant Garde.

   Stay away from this book if you want to learn anything about architecture.




5. As a first-year student, I didn't know a thing about building analysis. This book taught me. It has dozens of diagrams, covering dozens of buildings. It took me from looking at facades to looking at (and understanding) geometry, proportion and the components that make up the building as a whole. Basically, it changed the way I see architecture.

3 comments about The Art of Rockefeller Center.

1. Rockefeller Center is one of the great Art Deco set pieces. It was conceived and built at the depths of the Great Depression, at the height of Art Deco and it's importance to the nation at the time is impossible to quantify. The art of the complex is arguably the most important assemblage of Art Deco artwork in the world. This book is a fantastic tribute to Rockefeller Center and all the artists and craftsman that built it. The text is highly informative, without feeling like an academic dissertation and the images are very well presented, though frankly there could have been more. I highly recommend this book to anyone with any interest in Rockefeller Center or Art Deco.



2. The publishers, in a neat marketing move, issued this book in two editions. The 320 page version and a much smaller pocket-sized paperback that was invaluable when I visited the Center in 2006. Without it I don't think it would have been possible to find all the exterior treasures on the twenty-two acre site or read Roussel's text about them.
   
   This Art book is a vastly expanded comprehensive look at all the exterior and interior public art contained in the fourteen buildings and spaces. It originated with Christine Roussel when her company was commissioned by the Rockefeller Center to restore all the artwork and the excellent contemporary color photos (after any restoration) are by Christine or her designer daughter Dianne. What I particularly like about the book are the historic photos of artists creating the works that you can see today. There are so many of these that I assume the Rockefeller's saw the PR potential of Fine Art in progress and arranged for as much of this as possible to be photographed.
   
   There are more than a hundred pieces of art from forty artists presented in color and the very comprehensive text puts their work in context and in case you are wondering there is a full explanation about the destruction of Diego Rivera's fresco: Man at the Crossroads, which was to be in a prominent place on the main lobby wall of 30 Rockefeller Plaza. Lee Lawrie contributed most to the Center with fourteen pieces and his Wisdom (Rockefeller Plaza) and Atlas (International Building) are now world famous. There are seven interesting historical photos about the making and positioning of Atlas in the book. Missing, I thought (and maybe as an Appendix) were a few photos showing the various stages of construction of the Center, it take nine years after all and a page or two, with photos, of the various roof gardens.
   
   Rousell's book celebrates the public art of these remarkable New York buildings which are now registered as a National Historic Landmark. The book's production is first class (though unfortunately not sumptuous) with the photos in 175dpi on reasonable art paper. There is a slight editorial annoyance with a back page listing of the artists and technical details of their work, these really should have been presented on the relevant pages so the reader could avoid having to keep flipping back and forth to find out a bit of information.
   
   The perfect complement to this book is Daniel Okrent's Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center telling in great detail how the Rockefeller Center was built.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.



3. Built in the middle of the depression, Rockefeller Center became a part of and a symbol of America. The buildings of Rockefeller Center were not designed as the steel and glass monoliths of today. Art from some of the best artists of the day was incorporated into virtually all aspects of the building. The most famous is the statue of Prometheus delivering fire to the mortals of the earth amidst the waters of the Plaza. But there is much much more. There are the bas-relief stone carvings on the facade, there are murals, statues, even specially designed patterns for the carpets.
   
   This book is the first comprehensive study of the art in the center. It is a large format, beautifully printed edition of the art as it is now, and in many cases historical photographs of the artists as it was being produced in the 1930's.
   
   Ms. Roussel is the Archivist of Rockefeller center. To produce the book she had unprecedented access to the records and files of the center.

2 comments about Aladdin "Built in a Day" House Catalog, 1917 (Dover Books on Architecture).

1. This is an 8 x 11, 117 page [Dover] reprint of Aladdin's 1917 Catalog. The print and architectural renderings (house sketches) are really very good.

   The back of the book has garages, hardware miscellany, colonnades, arches, built-ins, etc.

   The first dozen pages are company history and background, which I find completely fascinating.

   The catalog looks like most house catalogs of this era, with an angled, although primarily frontal view of the house, with floor plans, house description, etc.

   It's pretty interesting reading and most folks would enjoy perusing it. I have several Dover Publication reprints and always find them good additions to my ever growing historical architecture library.

   And if you're doing research on Sears Catalog homes, like me, this Aladdin book is an invaluable research tool because it really highlights the *similarities* between these different catalog homes.

   All catalog houses, it turns out, look surprisingly alike. Only vague nuances separate the Aladdins from the MWards houses and the Sears Houses. They all copied one another - changing a front entry or a bracketed eave or some other minimal change.

   The Aladdin 1917 Catalog is interesting and a good quality reprint.

   Rose




2. This is an 8 x 11, 117 page [Dover] reprint of Aladdin's 1917 Catalog. The print and architectural renderings (house sketches) are really very good.

   The back of the book has garages, hardware miscellany, colonnades, arches, built-ins, etc.

   The first dozen pages are company history and background, which I find completely fascinating.

   The catalog looks like most house catalogs of this era, with an angled, although primarily frontal view of the house, with floor plans, house description, etc.

   It's pretty interesting reading and most folks would enjoy perusing it. I have several Dover Publication reprints and always find them good additions to my ever growing historical architecture library.

   And if you're doing research on Sears Catalog homes, like me, this Aladdin book is an invaluable research tool because it really highlights the *similarities* between these different catalog homes.

   All catalog houses, it turns out, look surprisingly alike. Only vague nuances separate the Aladdins from the MWards houses and the Sears Houses. They all copied one another - changing a front entry or a bracketed eave or some other minimal change.

   The Aladdin 1917 Catalog is interesting and a good quality reprint.

   Rose