No comments about San Francisco: Architecture & Design (And Guides).

5 comments about Fallingwater: Frank Lloyd Wright's Romance With Nature.

1. Lynda S. Waggoner presents an alluring collection of photographs and commentary that will interest the architect or anyone who's had an eye for the artistical-architectural renderings of the legendary work of Frank Lloyd Wright. As curator and administrator, Waggoner's first hand accounts of Fallingwater provides the reader with an up-close narrative behind and inside the home with the basic origins of the construction and inspiration that led to the inception of Wright's American masterpiece; he blended both nineteenth century natural observations that derived from Walt Whitman to Henry David Thoreau with landscape.
   
   FALLING WATER provides insight to Frank Lloyd's inspiration of constructing Fallingwater. In essence, he wanted to reconnect with nature and the nineteenth century romanticism of the wilderness, but with the natural expressions that were innate and organic; one may suggest he possessed an inkling of eastern inspiration. The several quotes throughout the book from Whitman, Thoreau, Emerson, Rushkin, and as well Wright and Edward Kaufmann, Jr. will provide a perfect poetic composition that complements the beautiful photographs of the house and the outlining natural landscape. Wright says it best: "In the realm of organic architecture human imagination must render the harsh language of structure into becomingly humane expressions of form instead of devising inanimate facades or rattling bones of construction. Poetry of form is as necessary to great architecture as foliage is to the tree, blossoms to the plant or flesh to the body" (23).
   
   So, if you are looking for a coffee table book that does not leave a lot of clutter, FALLING WATER: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT'S ROMANCE WITH NATURE will definitely provide the balance. It is a little book packed with much content. And most likely, it will leave you wanting to share it with others.



2. My objectives in reading and collecting books about domestic architecture generally focus on gathering information about how I might approach the design of the internal and external details for use in my own (dream) home.

   Frank Lloyd Wright is a constant source of inspiration in my endeavours as he designed and built many wonderful houses... and one of his most famous works is the subject of this book.

   My initial impressions of this book were good, although I was probably taken-in by the wonderful photo on the cover of the book more than anything else. Upon having a quick flip through the book, I found there were some lovely photos of the house and it's surrounds and there was some mention made of how the house was created to suit its environment and how it was an example of Frank Lloyd Wright's "Organic Architecture".

   However, upon a detailed reading of the book, although I found a few more interesting photos and some thought-provoking philosophical quotations, the detail was practically non-existent and the book was ultimately unsatisfying. No mention was made of what sort of thinking went behind the design of the house and why things were done the way they were... and there weren't even any significant diagrams or floor plans of the house included, except for a simple site layout on the last page of the book, which looked like it was added more as an afterthought than as something that would be informative to the reader.

   In short, although the book gives me about a dozen new photos of Fallingwater, it doesn't really add to my knowledge of Frank Lloyd Wright's design philosophies and, given the price of this book, I would suggest this book belongs on the corner of a coffee table, rather than in an amateur architect's reference bookshelf.




3. My family went to see fallingwater, and all of my dad's film was ruined! I bought this book for him, and it serves as the perfect reminder of our trip. It includes gorgeous photographs, fitting quotes, a plan of fallingwater, and a bit of the history. If you're looking for tons of information, this is definitely NOT the book for you. But if you're looking for beautiful pictures and a precious keepsake, this is a wonderful book. ENJOY!



4. Fallingwater is considered by many to be Frank Lloyd Wright's greatest home design, and by many others to be one of the very finest American homes ever built. Perched atop a waterfall in southwestern Pennsylvania in the Allegheny mountains, the site is visually stunning . . . and the home's organic connection to the site will astonish you.

   Fallingwater was designed for the Edgar Kaufmann family of Pittsburgh to be a weekend retreat away from the bustle of city life. One of Frank Lloyd Wright's comments about homes is that they must be "integral to site; integral to environment; integral to the life of the inhabitants." Judged by that standard, you will agree, if you are like me, that Fallingwater is his best work. The Kaufmanns wanted to have a romantic experience in the house, and he certainly provided them with one. The siting allows a Southern exposure for almost all of the rooms, a view of the waterfall and/or woods, and the constant sound of the waterfall. The final design captures nicely his sense of Nature's dual character, "unrestrained . . . power in contrast to its subtler, ordered beauty." The material and colors are drawn from the area as much as possible, and in some views, the home seems like simply part of the rocks it is perched on.

   The quotes are usually attached to specific photographs that catch the various views you see of Fallingwater from any ground position or perspective and the views from Fallingwater. They capture ideas from Wright and nonarchitectural thinkers as diverse as Thoreau and Ruskin.

   The photographs are the best part of this book. Since you will probably not be one of the 160,000 visitors who come in most years, these images are the way you can know the home. Almost all are in color, and are nicely distributed throughout the four seasons. My only complaint is that the book's page size should have been larger to permit a stronger connection between the viewer and these remarkable scenes. If you are like me, you will hear the water as you commune with the images.

   Through the essay and quotes, Fallingwater curator and administrator Lynda S. Waggoner does a marvelous job of using Fallingwater to also demonstrate the essential concepts of all Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture and interior design.

   After you read and enjoy this book, think a little about where you live. How have you made nature more accessible? What else could you do to make your living there to be more relaxed and natural, and to balance the rest of your life?

   Feel connected to all the life and natural objects around you . . . and be refreshed!




5. I have found that developing an interest in architecture is principly one of exposure to excellence. This book does that with a minimum of text(although very concise and informative) and a beautiful arrangement of photographs in a manageable size. The brief history of the family and Wright's involvement is excellent! Thank you, Lynda S. Waggoner.

5 comments about The Complete Guide to Decks: A Step-By-Step Manual for Building Basic and Advanced Decks (Black & Decker Home Improvement Library).

1. Tons of photos, very good step by step instructions. Great for the begineer to intermediate DIY'er.

   However, be sure to check your local building codes before making any plans. It will save you a lot of money. This book (like most deck building books) are written with people in the North Eastern US in mind. Readers in the South East don't need such deep footers for example. It goes the other way too, the directions for attaching a deck to your home were insufficient for code in my local area.
   This book, like most other deck books, focuses on tall decks and really doens't discuss much about ground level decks.




2. This book has great step by step instructions on how to build a deck in general. It also has several start to finish guides (with good pictures) for specific kinds of decks, and the special stuff you do for those.

   The one complaint I would have is that the deck was tailored to building a deck with a cantilevered beam. I was building a corner-post deck, and some of the examples didn't show both. (Some of them did, but I could have used more detail.)

   I've also heard the Home Depot deck book is good.




3. I checked out many books from my library (which did not have this book). This book beats all other deck books I've seen for the following good points: * Awesome pictures & drawings: B&D accomplishes with a picture what others can only do with a drawing. * Great mix of design ideas with how-to detail for each design flare. * Very complete how-to teaching style with a level suitable for beginner to advanced. * Clear, consise writing style.

   B&D has fast become my favorite home improvement book source. Their advanced wiring guide is also very good!




4. this book is great for beginners and has lots of pictures and step by step. lots of detail in this book even up to all the tools and parts you will need. im very happy with it.



5. I thought this book said it all. It delivers just what you need, for information. This book is great for the first timer and for the advanced deck builder.

No comments about The Floor Plan Book: Veterinary Hospital and Boarding Kennel Planning and Design.

No comments about Sky High Living: Contemporary High-rise Apartment (Tall Buildings).

5 comments about Compact Living.

1. Many cool examples of small homes with sound advice on how to maximize your space--if you can make structural adjustments to your home. Almost all the rooms feature new contemporary furnishings and therefore might be better suited for people with a chunk of change to spend. Although I like this book to some extent it doesn't fit my needs as a renter.



2. Whether they found the book helpful or not, what the other reviewers have to say is true. Graining's remedies for compact living are expensive, professionally designed, and professionally installed . The materials are cutting-edge and the taste is ultra-modern.
   But there are some truly innovative solutions for living in a small space (which may inspire you to get creative about your own space). And some basic and practical ideas are sprinkled throughout.
   
   What makes this a 5 star book for me, however, is that it includes something the others don't: FLOORPLANS. There are illustrations of the entire layout, including furniture placement and photos of every room in the house. While these apartments may not resemble anything like your own home, getting to see the individual rooms and how they fit together in the whole space to form a cohesive design IS useful. I've seen some of the photos in this book in other design books (as an isolated room, photographed from one angle). Being able to see how they work with the rest of the space and flow with adjoining rooms is immeasurably helpful.



3. Title should be "Compact living... on a limitless renovation budget."
   
   Everything is designer showroom-perfect on these pages, like an Ikea or Pottery Barn or Crate and Barrel catalog.
   
   However the spaces lack human reality, such as quirky collections or individualized space needs or child friendly design. You don't even meet the inhabitants.
   
   Yes, invest in built in cabinets and fold away stair cases if you own and have the money. Again, these options are unattainable for many struggling to pay the mortgage or are renting.
   
   A much better book is Bartolucci's "1000 sqft or less." That features real people with real budgets.
   
   I wanted real advice, not catalog advertisements for perfect unattainable ideal design. I was disappointed. But perhaps idealism and extravagance, not realism and cash poor budgets are what most readers want... Hence the popularity of ARchitectural Digest, and why I am so turned off by such mags.



4. As someone who is designing a new place that I want to make small but open, as well as environmentally friendly and energy efficient I found this book a good reference book for those of us wanting to build on a small lot in the most cost effective as well as land efficient way.
   
   Loved how on page 79 she shows how structural pillars in a bedroom area act as both a full height headboard with a full height mirror panel which makes a small room seem vastly bigger and brighter. Its the use of these overlooked areas like pillars that often are sheet rocked enclosed, but instead are used to make the bed work better as well.
   
   Or all the examples of spaces between studs in all rooms that can be designed to hold CD's. books, cooking items, files etc. All discretely as well. O of my favorite bathrooms is featured beginning on page 90 where clean space lives up to its name. Loved this example so much I am making it my own.



5. Compact living reads like a college text . . . you'd rather be doing something else but know you've got to read it to pass the class. That's how I see this book. It wasn't one that grabbed my attention from the beginning (a main criteria for me with books) but sticking with it unto the 32nd page (The Living section) made it worth the purchase. It gives great information such as the use of pattern in painting - it eats up visual space quite greedily. Also, on creating space - think in threes (redecoration, reorganization, and lightning). But I would have loved to see more real-life examples, less wording and more practicality. If you're a new apartment owner, I'll recommend "First Home with Style," it's perhaps the best home design book I've bought so far.

1 comments about Life between Buildings: Using Public Space.

1. Few books - if any - have had a stronger impact on Scandanavian architecture and planning in recent years than this one has had.
   
   Jan Gehl, senior lecturer in urban design at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, School of Architectiur in Copenhagen, has widely and extensively studied how people use public spaces and how planning and architecture encourage or discourage social activities and public life.
   
   His strong advocacy and detailed proposals for a humanistics approach to architecture, as presented in this book, is now available for the first time in English.
   --- from book's back cover

2 comments about A Sense of Mission: Historic Churches of the Southwest.

1. This book features superb photography of the historic Catholic missions built in the southwest states and California. The beautiful photographs, many of them full-page, are of exterior and interior views of the missions, as well as closeups of architectural and artistic details. A short written history accompanies each featured mission, and although there are some mentions of the historical personages and events connected with the missions, most of the histories refer to the physical aspects of the missions such as their construction, remodeling, etc. This is a great coffee-table or armchair traveler book, but one will need to look elsewhere for a serious study about mission history.



2. I purchased this book after a recent visit to the Santuario de Chimayo near Taos, New Mexico, which is one of the churches it features. The photos are absolutely gorgeous and provide an excellent feel for the incredible beauty of these wonderful, historical buildings. The book covers everything from each church's unique architecture to the fascinating folk art that can be found within.

5 comments about Bridges: A History of the World's Most Famous and Important Spans.

1. Bridges: A History of the World's Most Famous and Important Spans
   this book is not a comprehensive coverage of bridging history nor of engineering development; it is something far more than a routine catalog either.
   It aspires to more than those goals.
   Instead it intends to show major works through the centuries. The format is double landscape so that each structure ia covered on two facing pages equivalent to that of four standard 11 x 8 1/2 landscape format. This format allows the widest possible imagery to be used. Since many modern bridges have no walkways or perhaps one day a year for a bridge walk, these views can seldom be experienced by the every-day passerby or the enthusiast.
   All in all it fulfills its goals of inspiring and encouraging the enthusiast while highlighting the major works through the centuries.



2. I had a copy of this book in 2000 and lent it to a friend, but could not remember who. I found it when visiting the USA for the first time. It is simply the most magical and beautiful book in my collection, and from the front cover picture on the Internet, purchasers cannot see that it opens out and spans very very wide, just like a bridge in itself. I missed this book terribly, it is one of my treasures, so I was delighted recently to find that I could still buy it on Amazon. It will never be lent out again! I love the black and white photographs of all the world's most interesting bridges. Anyone would learn a great deal from it, and architects and surveyors would find it fascinating.



3. Every day we traverse bridges in our daily lives, scarcely to give them thought. Dupre pulls back the veil and brings highlight to these engineering feats. From the simple to the revolutionary, we are brought on a tour of bridges through time, and around the globe. The superlatives are here: the longest suspension bridge, highest, oldest. But it's not a book about the superlative; it's about what moves us forward in our quest for technology, and for our ability to move across space in a timely manner. It highlights those bridges that mean something to us: where the Romans said "let's make a permanent way of moving water." Where politics came into play and tried to prevent bridges that we can't imagine not being there like the Golden Gate Bridge. Bridges become important to history such as the ones over the Rhine during the World War. And sometimes when we make mistakes and things don't work out like we planned - the most spectacular example being the Tacoma Narrows Bridge that lasted all of 4 months.

   But as she shows in her book "Skyscrapers," there is an intertwining of form and function, and where man built up in buildings, he builds out via bridges. The book's design even emphasizes - where Skyscrapers was an extremely tall and thin book, Bridges goes for width, to try and bring the spans into the range of the printed page. Yet so often, the task is not possible, and even on the wide pages the bridge disappears into the distance.

   The book looks at the engineering involved, but does not dwell on it. Rather it celebrates how the improvement of engineering practices have been able to move man forward. A veritable love poem to something that we often take too much for granted.




4. "Bridges" was the first of the uniquely-designed, well-written books by Judith Dupre' that I discovered. "Skyscrapers" then became a 'must-have' and now I'm eagerly awaiting publication of her "Churches" - these books contain marvelous black and white photo collections of subjects around the world, with a succinct and intriguing text about each. They invite repeated perusals, and I keep them, in their handsome jackets, where I can see and enjoy them again and again. Often, when I have a few moments, I like to reflect on the historical descriptions of these wonderous man-made miracles and re-study the photos. Of special interest may be the structures which one in fact has seen, perhaps many times. The books are well-indexed and provided with suggestions for further reading.



5. I was a little disappointed in this book in that it really doesn't get into much detail about any of the bridges which are discussed. It's more of a "coffe table" book without out much informative depth. Nothing to really sink your teeth into. However, if you're not already familiar with any of the bridges covered in the book, or you're not a nut for bridges, then this book is a great introduction to a few of the most beautiful bridges to be seen. One neat thing that I did really like is that it is a very wide book which allows you a little better perspective of the true size of some of the bridges - you get long pictures instead of little ones of each bridge. That was kind of cool! My 5 yr old son loves "reading" this book to me!

2 comments about The World of Biedermeier.

1. This book was filled with wonderful photos of the period but is essentially a pretty to look at coffee table book. It is not comprehensive in it's exploration of the style and does not have many examples of furniture to study. For the price l paid it is a disappointing resource to me as a furniture designer.



2. This is a bautifully done presentation of the Art of Biederrmeier. The book is fine quality and the printing work is beyond compare. You'll not be disappointed with this.