No comments about Townhouses & More (Architecture in Focus).

4 comments about A Field Guide to Contemporary American Architecture.

1. Most field guides to American archiecture end with buildings from the 1950's. It is a rare field guide that goes forward to the Twenty First Century. Yet, most of the nation's buildings were constructed in the past fifty years. There is a real reluctance to identify and catalog contemporary American architecture.
   
   Carole Rifkind and her Field Guide to Contemporay American Architecture boldly goes where other field guides dare to tread. What makes this book so interesting is that she is prepared to define styles and give these new styles names. As an example she has chapters on "Abstract, Technical and Regional" and "Expressionist, Organic, Manipulated Space and Deconstructivist." In the staid world of architectural field guides, this is pretty bold stuff. Rifkind is defining a path that future field guides will probably follow.
   
   The illustrations and floor plans in this book are good but nothing to write home about. All of these homes and buildings are still to new to receive the close attention of the Survey of Historic American Buildings. It is going to take a few more decades for these buildings to enter into the realm of historic.
   
   This is a book for all those who already feel comfortable with being able to identify Tudors and Bungalows and who now want to enter into something just a bit more daring. Highly recommended.



2. I don't know what book the other reviewers saw, but the copy I have has illustrations that rank with those in high school texts of the 60s. All black-and-white, or rather darkish gray and white, no snap, very bland, on low quality (for reproduction) paper. An office inkjet printer could do much better. With the importance of color in contemporary architecture this is ridiculous (especially for the price). I think that books on visual matters should look good themselves --- otherwise, how do we get excited? How do we begin to want to read it?



3. A Field Guide to Contemporary American Architecture picks up where every other book I've looked at leaves off. It not only tells about the building styles of the last 50 years, but it also lets you know that contemporary american architecture is defined by much more than style. Rifkind makes a large and complex subject easy to take. I enjoyed reading about shopping malls, public housing, and school and college buildings -- which most books don't touch. I appreciated the many clear and informative photographs. Kudos to the author for making sense and speaking clearly -- the same qualities that I enjoyed in her earlier book on historic buildings, A Field Guide to American Architecture.



4. A really nicely written survey of building forms and their uses. This book is a sequel to the author's earlier book, A Field Guide to American Architecture, which I also really liked. This book is better because it presents a more sophisticated view of the cultural landscape. Excellent photos and excellent choice of buildings--some familiar and many brand new to me. Overall, a great resource and guide.

2 comments about Painting Gilded Florals and Fruits (Decorative Painting).

1. I looked for this kind of info for 20 yrs. This is a great book!! It uses tone on tone and give all kinds of info on how to do it. I'll keep my copy.



2. If you are a decorative painter, this is one book that you must have for your "stash." The projects are incredibly beautiful and very doable with Rebecca's step-by-step approach. Her directions are detailed and precise, enabling you to complete projects that look just like the pictures! Well worth the price, this book is a must have!

No comments about The Genius of the Place: The English Landscape Garden, 1620-1820.

3 comments about China Style.

1. A wide range of (mostly) rather luxurious rooms filled with everything and anything Chinese. But you won't find much of authentic traditional chinese homes here (and indeed the dustjacket clearly announces this). Although the rooms are sometimes packed with Chinese things, they almost all still feel western/international/chinese, mixed in different proportions. That said, the photos are great and it's a joy to visit all these apartements and houses and select your favourites. Since each place only gets two (or three) spreads generally, a string of different locations can be presented and you're invited to more rooms and settings than anyone can digest at one read-through. And that's great, you can return again and again to this very rich book.



2. This is an enjoyable book introducing many different places -- mostly residential, but also some hotels and restaurants -- with a variety of Chinese designs.

   The best part of the book is the photography by Michael Freeman. In most of the rooms he captures a feeling that it's lived in, a part of someone's daily life. Some books I own on Asian design don't have this quality: the rooms either appear too staged or the photographer gives them a sterile feeling. I could recommend this book on the photos alone.

   The text is not quite up to standards of the photos, but it's acceptable. The author, Sharon Leece, obviously knows her subject, but she often lapses into blurb-style. For example, she writes on one house: "The words colourful, extravagent, and opulent can hardly begin to describe the palatial home of Contrasts Gallery owner Pearl Lam."

   Another fun aspect of this book is that the places it showcases aren't just the homes of wealthy individuals. You see not only the more than 13,000 square foot Manhattan apartment of Chinese antiquities dealer Robert Hatfield Ellsworth, with its numerous expensive Chinese antiques, but you also get to see how some people with obviously much smaller budgets still managed to design their home with a unique Chinese flavor.




3. Reading this was a pleasant surprise, but what impresses most about this beautifully-designed book is not that it opens up all the elements of Chinese style and how its used in modern living -which it does in a interesting way.
   But that it includes homes of most of the foremost China antiques dealers/collectors in the world.
   Probably for the first time ever in print, we can see photographs of the homes of China experts Grace Wu Bruce in Hong Kong, Robert Ellsworth in New York (his is the biggest single apartment in Manhattan, apparently) and Kai-Yin Lo in Hong Kong.
   That this book features their private homes shows they must have given their backing to this book - making it more than another stunning Style book.
   Overall, this is a luxurious, well put-together book with an
   interesting selection of beautiful apartments from many Cities. Recommended for anyone interested in things Chinese.

1 comments about Berlin: Architecture & Design (Architecture & Design Guides).

1. Berlin is definetely one of the greatest cities on Earth, filled whith the remains of awesome history, along with the modern tendencies, create a wonderful city filled with great architecture.
   
   This book definetely shows all of this parts with great pictures of the prettiest places in Berlin.
   
   This book is recommended to anyone that likes modern architecture.

No comments about Dimension: 306090 12.

No comments about 19th Century Elegant Lighting: Argand, Sinumbra, and Solar Lamps.

2 comments about American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Community.

1. This is a wonderful book, full of perfectly realized images and interesting text. For whatever reason synogogues in the U.S. often are designed in quite daring styles. It is intriguing to observe how each congregation says a bit about themselves in the building style they chose for their synagogue. I expecially like the spectacular Temple Emanuel in New York City, it is simple breathtaking, though I liked something about all of these buildings. I highly recommend this book; for someone not that familiar with the Jewish faith or synagogues in general it is quite enlightening.



2. I am architecture student doing my thesis project on the development of a synagogue. I knew little about Judaism and having few Jewish people in my community, I have only visited one synagogue in my life. This book was even more than I hoped for, in that it allowed me to view, for the first time, some of the beautiful architecture that celebrates this wonderful religion. The many pictures work well with the descriptive text and allow many to truly experience a setting that I would not normally have to the opportunity to do.
   Another key thing that makes this a five star rating is that you get this book for almost half its original price.

No comments about Adjusting Foundations.