4 comments about The Four Books on Architecture.

1. I'would recommend this book to anybody who's searching for something real classical architectural mold or old type building design! #1



2. One of the most celebrated and influential of architectural texts has been republished in a highly readable version by Robert Tavernor and Richard Schofield (the first new English translation since 1738!) with facsimiles of Palladio's woodcuts, correctly placed in the text. It makes a wonderful introduction to the timeless principles of architecture and to Palladio's dazzling oeuvre. How agreeable it would be to browse this classic in the shade of the Villa Rotunda on a hot summer afternoon. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)



3. Palladio was not the first to publish a book illustrating principles of classical architecture but he was the most convincing. Palladio's finely detailed, measured wood cut illustration --reproduced at a slightly smaller scale in this translation--, made the long lost principles of Roman architecture and construction easy to understand.

   In his Four Books of Architecture of 1570, Andrea Palladio balanced illustrations of ancient Roman construction, that he had drawn from observing ruins, with brief, straightforward practical interpretations of historical descriptions of Roman architectural design and construction from Vitruvius's First Century BC Treatise on Roman And Greek architecture, which had been found a century before in a Swiss monastery. To this treatise on Roman architecture, Palladio added examples of his own imaginative designs to demonstrate how ancient principles of engineering, planning, construction and decoration could enhance public and private buildings of his day.

   Palladio's successful Four Books were published and translated many times. They became one of the most cited references for architects in the West, where they dominated architectural studies until academic training for architects became standard in the 19th century. Variations on Palladio's designs are everywhere. Thomas Jefferson's house, Montecello, is one of the best known examples in the U.S.. Jefferson owned a copy of Palladio's 1570 edition of the Four Books.

   Robert Tavernor and Richard Schofield's well written, carefully annotated scholarly, 1997 translation of Palladio's Four Books --the first new English translation since 1738-- from MIT Press is a pleasure to read for what it reveals much about both great principles and fine detail of classical design and construction practices. The text explains how Palladio organized rooms in urban palaces as well as how he arranged living, storage and work areas in his rural villas to take advantage of the climate. Practical details about construction include building foundations, sizing windows, designing classical columns as well as instructions for to selecting and harvesting timber: Cut trees only in the fall after the sap has run out. Cure the lumber, covered with excrement, under a shelter for two years to prevent rot.

   The text also details how to quarry, cut and set stone --always in place--, how to prepare cement, mortar and concrete and how to build masonry formed concrete walls, as the Romans did. The reinforced masonry used today is the same in principle as Roman walls. We have merely modified the pratice in this century with larger hollow bricks, Portland cement and steel reinforcing.

   It's not possible to understand Roman and modern architectural history in the West or building technology with without studying Palladio. Original editions of Palladio's 1570 book are available in a few rare book libraries. Occasionally a copy turns up in rare book auctions. Robert Tavernor's new English translation of the Four Books makes Palladio accessible to modern English readers.




4. This is one of the most important of architectural manuals. Palladio's influence was enormous; one magnificent example of American Palladianism is Thomas Jefferson's University of Virginia Library; others can be found in the work of Philip Johnson. The design of The Four Books of Architecture is one of the reasons for this success. Drawings and plans fill the page, comments are sparing, invitations to use the eye and imagination as well as practical instructions. In this respect Palladio's book resembles that of the equally influential, equally visionary Paul Klee in his Pedagogical Sketchbooks. Seeing so much of his influence in public buildings, it is hard not to find the original sourcebook refreshing. I'd suggest looking through it alongside a general survey of the buildings themselves, like translator Robert Tavernor's Palladio and Palladianism (in Thames and Hudson's World of Art series). Tavernor has done his job very well. The english translation is neither anachronistic nor colloquial, but as lucid as the original. The book's designers have really done brilliantly in finding the most suitable typefaces to match Palladio's original woodcuts and in choosing a size and format, down to the weight and colour of the paper, that makes these ideas handsome and vivid now. An exemplary edition. Richard Bernas.

5 comments about The House You Build: Making Real-World Choices to Get the Home You Want (American Institute Architects).

1. I bought this book with high hopes after seeing the reviews. But it turned out to be a big waste of money. As another reviewer noted, most of these homes are unique and built for specific sites that have views, or wilderness, etc. Many of the homes are quite small and not suitable for families with 2+ kids who want great rooms, guest rooms, offices, etc. The only really useful info are the photos which show a few design styles that you may wish to incorporate into your house, i.e. non-traditional open staircases. But most of the styles can be found in any home magazine.
   
   If you are building a small retirement home and want a unique design then maybe this book is for you. But if you are like the rest of us who are looking to build a nice 2-story family home on a standard suburban lot in a classical cape cod, rambler, victorian or even contemporary style you won't find any useful plans or information. I give it 2* only because it was slightly more useful than the truly awful Dummies book (see my other review).



2. This is a good book for both the professional and the layman. The professional will most certainly find him/herself saying, "I knew that" at some points in the book, but will also glean kernels enough to make it worth his/her time. It is written in a style that is understandable by the "common man", yet doesn't condescend to the professional.
   
   For the layman interested in good design and with a limited, realistic budget, to whom quality is greater in the equation than quantity, it is a veritable treasure trove of interesting and attainable design ideas. If you are embarking on the adventure of building a custom home, you will find inspiration and a vision of what the end goal will be.
   
   The houses in this book are representative of real world examples, which is very refreshing, nodding neither to the McMansions that are so popular in today's subdivisions, nor to their hybrid architecturally aloof cousins on the other end of the spectrum (both being ostentatious in their own right).



3. If you are interested in alternative ideas to home building and want to get out of the big box store and track home mentality, read this book.



4. I originally got this book from the library. It was so full of good ideas and helpful advice that I decided to buy it.
   
   A wide range of house styles are covered in the book, from contemporary to more conventional, but they're all interesting. I especially liked the author's suggestions for minimizing costs while ensuring beauty and construction quality.
   
   I'm not planning to build a house, but am planning to remodel. This book is full of excellent photos and ideal solutions.



5. These are not houses that people would build. I was very disappointed in this book. The houses pictured were only the weird modern type that most people wouldn't build. We don't want to build a standard boring "production" home but these were just too far out there.

1 comments about California Beach Houses: Style, Interiors, and Architecture.

1. I bought this book several years ago & have enjoyed it many times since. Luxurious photos showing a wide range of styles of coastal houses from ultra modern to rustic to contemporary. The reader can get good interior design ideas no matter where their own home is located. Interesting descriptions of the owners of these homes as well and why they wanted to live where they live. I wrote this review as a compliment to the author and photographer...a job well done. My copy will be enjoyed for many more years.

No comments about Lounge Design (Daab Design Book).

2 comments about Minimalist Lofts.

1. what a great ide to put together in a book the two most modern trends in residential design: minimalism + lofts. the result is impressive



2. I've never seen a book repeat so many of its images. Page after page of the same photos repeated over and over. I wasn't expecting that. The book is just okay. Nothing really new.

No comments about Airports: A Century of Architecture.

No comments about Copenhagen Architecture & Design (And Guides).

No comments about Retail Therapy: Store Design Today.

2 comments about Painted Ladies: San Francisco's Resplendent Victorians.

1. I've ordered numerous books on Victorians and this one is by far the worst. The photos have a washed out look to them. Colors look faded and if you've ever seen a Victorian painted correctly, the colors are vivid and plentiful. Electric lines that ran between the Victorian and the photographer, printed out thick and dark black. Needless to say it decreased the beauty of the home.
   
   Number of pages totals 80 and the majority of them are photos but this book isn't nearly as good as Elizabeth Pomada's other books. It will remain in my home library because I've already paid for it but I can't say it gives me much pleasure to turn it's pages.



2. If Peter Maass, in "The Gingerbread Age" and "The Victorian Home in America," first made us truly aware of the glories of Victorian domestic architecture, it was Elizabeth Pomada who showed us how it could be brought to vivid life. In this, her first book about the modernizing-by-paint of 19th-Century houses, she concentrates on San Francisco, where the Painted Lady style was invented during the heyday of the hippies. The houses shown in the gorgeous full-color photographs range from the elegantly somber (like Don Parodi's many-bayed house on p. 23) to the minutely detailed (the imposing Colonial Revival mansion on p. 20 and the Bert Franklin rowhouse opposite) to the downright gaudy (Rhine & Kennedy's fire-engine-red offices on p. 29, a tiny lavender cottage on p. 50, a literally rainbow-striped confection on p. 69). If you can't make it to San Francisco in person--or if you've been, and want to relive the glories of its vintage housing--this book belongs on your shelf.

3 comments about Hampton Court: A Social and Architectural History.

1. As a source for factual information in an historiacl context, I highly recommend this book. In researching the Elizabethan era, I found the information most helpful in reaching a greater understanding of Elizabeth Tudor and her times.
   The excellent combination of photographs and period illustrations in the book help in drawing/writing a clearer picture of the place where so much vital history took place.



2. I have to admit a weakness for coffee-table books about palaces, stately homes etc, but this sumptuous, oversize volume is among the better ones of the genre. It is a detailed history of Hampton Court Palace - its origins, construction, additions, renovations, decoration and gardens, but also it touches on the lives and motivations of its people - builders and architects, kings and princes, bureaucrats and functionaries, tenants and visitors.
   
   Richly illustrated with floor plans, drawings, paintings, prints, portraits, and photographs, this account of Hampton Court brings the story of the famous palace up to the 21st century.
   
   When I last visited Hampton Court a quarter century ago, both house and gardens were looking decidedly shabby and, apparently, it got much worse before it got better. Tourists were passing it up in droves. Scandalous mismanagement, including a 3 million pound contractor fraud, dismantled fire detectors and gateways too narrow for fire engines, led up to a disastrous fire in 1986 and resulted in 2 deaths.
   
   Although this is a serious work, one (unintentionally?) hilarious episode described in the book is the comic-opera visit to view the fire damage by the then Secretary of State for the Environment (& the man ultimately responsible for Hampton Court), Nicolas Ridley. Ridley, a chain smoker, his wife who was claustrophobic and ten other dignitaries were descending in the lift when it jammed between floors; the emergency manual door-opening device failed to function; the elevator maintenance man could not be located. Two hours later the Fire Brigade forced the doors open with a hydraulic jack. Heads rolled afterward - if only metaphorically.
   
   New schemes have since been put in place for restoration and refurbishment, for improved property management and to enhance the attractions of the historic old palace for new generations of visitors.



3. Britain does not possess a Versailles or a Caserta, but Hampton Court is about the close as it gets. Hampton Court is really two palaces, one built for Cardinal Wolsey, stolen by the gluttonous Henry VIII and finished in magnificent style by Sir Christopher Wren. Its history is really more interesting than the building itself. Hampton Court, though spectacular in many ways, will make nobody forget Fountainbleu or the Lourve. This book has wonderful images and the text is sholarly and enlightening. I highly recommend this book to anyone with any interest in British history, or storied structures.