4 comments about Unbuilding: Salvaging the Architectural Treasures of Unwanted Houses.

1. This is a good resource for ideas. It reminded me more of one of the books you would find on the rack of a home center instead of a text book like it was marketed.



2. We live in an age of recycling. It's not only environmentally sound, but economically profitable. This applies just as much to reusable and salvageable building materials from structures scheduled for demolishing, as it does to ordinary newspapers and soda cans. Now U.S. Forest Products Laboratory research engineer Bob Falk has teamed up with Brad Guy (Director of Operations at The Hammer Center at the Penn State School of Architecture) to publish "Unbuilding: Salvaging the Architectural Treasures Of Unwanted Houses" an instruction guide to salvaging materials that can be reused and recycled from homes and other buildings by literally and carefully dismantling the original structures piece by piece. These materials can include ornate hardware, period lighting fixtures, windows, doors, mantels, hardwood flooring, and anything else that continues to have esthetic and commercial value. Often these are 'yesteryear' items that cannot be matched by anything available to day and have great financial worth in and of themselves. The authors draw upon their many years of expertise and experience in advising about new tools, deconstruction processes, and alternatives to conventional demolition tactics. "Unbuilding" is strongly recommended to the considered attention of building contractors, demolition experts, and environmentally conscious salvagers, as well as non-specialist general readers with an interest in recycling building materials for their value, utility and esthetics.



3. I've always liked the idea of salvaging architectural details from building being torn down. Now here's a book that goes way beyond merely saving a fireplace mantel or some columns. Here's what it covers:
   
   Chapter 1 Unbuilding Opportunities
   Redevelopment
   Rural Property
   Military Bases
   Urban Renewal
   Remodeling and Renovation
   Building Auctions
   Habitat for Humanity ReStores
   What to Unbuild
   
   Chapter 2 Deciding on Unbuilding and Salvage
   Your Level of Involvement
   Making Sure the Building Is Sound
   Permits and Code Requirements
   Making a Visual Survey
   Case Study: Survey of a Deconstruction Candidate
   
   Chapter 3 The Materials You Find
   Develop a Plan for the Material You Remove
   Assessing What's Reusable
   Selling Your Stuff
   
   Chapter 4 Getting Started
   Organizing the Site
   Tools for Unbuilding
   
   Chapter 5 Safety and Environmental Health
   Make Safety a Priority
   Safety Equipment: The Last Line of Defense
   Working at Height
   First Aid and Medical Services
   Fire Prevention and Protection
   Lead-Based Paint Hazards
   Asbestos Hazards
   
   Chapter 6 Site Preparation and Soft-Stripping
   House and Site Characteristics
   Preparing the Site
   Soft-Stripping
   Loading Items from Soft-Stripping
   Cleaning Up
   
   Chapter 7 Whole-House Deconstruction
   Maintaining the Building's Integrity
   Roof Tearoff
   Removing Interior Wall Finishes
   Removing Electrical, Plumbing, and Ductwork
   Removing Roof Sheathing
   Removing Rafters
   Getting the Material to the Ground
   Taking down Trusses
   Removing a Dormer
   Removing Ceiling Joists
   Removing Siding
   Removing Walls
   Removing Subfloors
   Denailing
   Stacking and Loading
   Project Closeout



4. The Taunton Press with their great sense of style and photography combined with knowledgeable authors, who have taken the time to document the deconstruction and salvage process, make this book a must in the bookcases of contractors, architects, designers and any building owner considering salvaging or using salvaged building materials.

5 comments about Angkor: Celestial Temples of the Khmer.

1. Excellent book! I wish I had known about this book before I went to Angkor Wat.



2. Angkor, Celestial temples of the Khmer Empire is a photobook limited to the Angkor Site and some outlining temples. Although the quality of the photo's is excellent, the book itself with regards to the informative value is disappointing. An exception to this is the chronology of sites. Angkor: Temples et monumentsThe Treasures of Angkor: Cultural Travel Guide (Rizzoli Art Guide)Angkor: Cambodia's Wondrous Khmer Temples, Fifth Edition (Odyssey Illustrated Guide)Ancient Angkor (River Book Guides)Angkor Cities and Temples



3. I purchased three books on Angkor Wat after my week visit to Siem Reap, Cambodia and this book was by far the best I have seen. The photos are excellent and the narration in very informative. It is expensive but worth it.



4. Wow, what a spectacular book, truly amazing. I was blown away by the quality of the photography, the reader actually feels like they are in the jungle amid the ruins of Angkor. I have never visited Angkor Wat and probably never will, but after experiencing this book, I feel somehow that I have been there. The quality of the book is superior and the book even comes in a wonderful case. The publisher should be congradulated, it's a luxurious book. Some books are extremely expensive and you wonder why, I can assure you, you will not ask that about this one. If you have any interest in this subject or just like to own beautiful things I urge you to purchase this book, it will be a jewel in your book collection



5. Through his magical photographic eye, Jon Ortner has created a wondrous collection of striking images and scholarly prose. His perfectly lit photographs and well-documented historic descriptions allow one to easily understand this complicated ancient subject. Each temple is clearly organized into relevant sections from the central Angkor area to the rare and never-before-seen temples in the outer lying areas. If you have visited Angkor - Ortner's book is the perfect addition to your library. Or, if you have not visited, this book provides the perfect impetus.

No comments about 100 Dream Houses from Down Under.

1 comments about The Presence of the Case Study Houses.

1. I found this latest Case Study book written by two European architects an interesting overview of the thirty-six projects . Anyone familiar with the concept will know that it was a sort of magical mystery tour of house design with Julius Davidson's House 1 in 1945 re-numbered as 11, Kemper Nomland's House 10 was actually the third one built in 1947 and because design and building was running behind by 1950 all the Houses were re-numbered leaving Ralph Soriano's House just as Study 1950 (actually the thirteenth built) and Richard Neutra's House 19 rejected by the Arts & Architecture editor John Entenza. None of this, of course, is any criticism of the wonderful designs sponsored by the magazine.
   
   The authors plunge into this administrative confusion describing each House with a wealth of text detail and illustrated with pages from Arts & Architecture, plans and period ads. What appealed to me though about the book are the color photos they took of seventeen Houses. I've only ever seen these homes through Julius Shulman's brilliant work and now to see them as matured properties surrounded by trees and gardens and the interiors glowing with that lived in look is rather impressive.
   
   Most of the book is, of course, taken up with the Houses but after that there is an interesting series of short sections dealing with the architects drawings, Shulman's photos, how advertisers used the properties, past and current owners and at the back a listing of each House with address, architect, photo (contemporary color or period) and a plan, unfortunately the plans are a bit small and don't have any key. Lastly there is a spread that has a useful timeline from 1945 to 1966 for each House.
   
   Overall I found this a fascinating book and the inclusion of the contemporary photos a real plus. A couple of criticisms: the authors writing style is rather flowery though this might have something to do with the translation from French and (oddly) there is no index. I think the book is a good complement to Elizabeth Smith's quite remarkable Blueprints for Modern Living: History and Legacy of the Case Study Houses published by MIT in 1989.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover

3 comments about Japan Country Living.

1. Spectacular photographs serve to illustrate a view of Japan that is far different from the bustling cities. This represents three things to me:
   
   First is the fact that until recently Japan was a rural rountry. People lived a farming, fishing existance.
   
   Second, the sense of using natural surfaces: wood, fabric, thatch and some rudamentory manufactured items: paper, pottery, cast iron makes for a room appearance that we could all strive to find.
   
   Third, as with any architecture book, the ideas of style, decoration, and utility in a small space give one ideas that may well be applicable in housing designs that we may be considering.
   
   These houses have a utility and a simplicity that is all their own. It is great to see what they have done with simple items and a rather small amount of money. These are not the million dollar homes often seen in architecture books, these are lived in.
   
   Beautiful book.



2. Sigh, disappointed: poorly composed, lousy photos inside the covers make this book visually un-stunning. Houses and vignettes looked dull, close, shabby, untidy, underexposed, overshadowed, and only very rarely triggered a moment of interest. I felt that I've seen better Japanese country design books and magazine layouts, and I was truly disappointed. Feh.



3. This is an amazing book, as are all by Amy Katoh. I was lucky enough to live in Tokyo two doors away from her store, and visited it at LEAST weekly.

   She specializes in simple but beautiful "country craftsmanship," as opposed to the opulent, such as dress kimino, and such.

   Her knowledge of Japanese culture and her sensitivity has even awakened the appeciation of Japanese citizens who had previously taken their material culture for granted.

2 comments about Classic Design Styles: Period Living for Today's Interiors.

1. Lady Spencer-Churchill has written some very good English decorating books. The photographs are beautiful and the text is always well written. I purchased this book as a gift to give to a friend. I rated it with four stars as I found the book seems to feature mostly yellow or gold colored rooms, which I found a bit repetitive.



2. What a pleasure! Lady Henrietta's books are always a wonderful combination of how-to and design history. Unlike many decorating books, this is a pleasure to read, even if you're not planning on specific changes. Also, while the photographs are all of splendorous homes of the wealthy, the author consistently gives tips for those of us with a significantly tighter budget. I recommend this to anyone interested in design history (beautiful photos!), and I wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who lives in a "classic" home, regardless of your level of know-how.

1 comments about The Architecture of McKim, Mead & White in Photographs, Plans and Elevations (Dover Books on Architecture).

1. Man-o-man, I used to love looking at old buildings and would be in awe of the amount of work that went into them. All of the art work, craftsmanship, and downright labor. Well, this book really brings to the forefront through numerous period photos and floor plans. The book actually contains very little wording, but then the photos and floor plans are enough to tell you many things about the structures. Most of the buildings are in New York City and I recently had the opportunity to visit. As I walked along the many streets, I came across buildings that had been built by the architects and it was just awesome to look, of course, only from the outside at the wonderful structure and compare it to the photos and floor plans that are now etched in my mind. I look at the book and discover new things about the works of art that I hadn't known before. Sorry if it sounds a little romantic but when I pass one of the new office buildings or structures, well, I'm just not moved by them. Dave Sanchez

2 comments about At Home on the Prairie: The Houses of Purcell & Elmslie.

1. This book helps to address the problem of a dearth of material on Prairie School architecture by anyone other than Frank Lloyd Wright. Not that Wright wasn't an important proponent of the school, but he was far from the only architect of this style. More needs to be done to document the works of the others such as Griffin, Mahoney, Tallmadge and Watson, and Purcell and Elmslie.
   
   This book does an admirable job of this in regards to the latter two architects and their brief but productive joint practice. The two produced a remarkable number of very liveable houses in the space of ten years, houses that are notable for the quality of detail often achieved on quite modest budgets.
   
   The book itself includes a brief history of the practice and then a description and pictures of a selection of many of the houses that they designed. The pictures are first rate. The descriptions, though necessarily brief, cover not only the construction and features of the house but some of their subsequent history as well.
   
   I found this book an important and welcome addition to my collection of books on the Prairie School.



2. The partnership between Purcell and Elmslie lasted only about a dozen years (1909-1921). But during that time their firm was second only to Frank Lloyd Wright 's in the number of houses they designed. In addition, the work of Purcell and Elmslie, to me anyway, seems to have generated more features seen intoday's architecture than the houses of any other architect of the period.
   
   To be sure the Purcell & Elmslie lack the dramatic styling features of say 'Falling Water.' But then so does everything else. The Purcell& Elmslie features that I see today include the internal fireplace (dramatically designed), the wide use of windows, built in cabinets, open designs that lead from room to room, and more.
   
   This book is a beautifully photographed and printed review of some two dozen Purcell & Elmslie homes. Most of the homes included are of the prarie home style extremely common in the midwest, but in reality seen from coast to coast and Canada to Louisiana. It is a beautiful book.
   
   I can only ask that Korab and Legler consider another book on Purcell's later work when he moved to Portland, Oregon and designed houses the fit into a more urban setting.

3 comments about Moisture Control Handbook: Principles and Practices for Residential and Small Commercial Buildings.

1. This book has a load of information in it and many helpful diagrams. I am pleased to have added this to my collection of moisture books.



2. This book is great for explaining to our clients the challeges they are having, the way to prevent and a great picture how it should have been done.
   
   It is in simple english for anyone to understand.



3. This is an excellent introductory overview of practical problems and solutions relating to moisture control in buildings. The diagrams are outstanding! The emphasis is on moisture problems and solutions in low-rise framed buildings. My only disappointment is that the underlying physics are not described and that predictive techniques are not presented. An excellent reference book for builders, and a must read for anyone involved with trouble shooting, inspecting, insuring, repairing, and restoring building envelopes

2 comments about The Face of Home: A New Way to Look at the Outside of Your House.

1. I bought this book online so I never had good look inside before I bought it . There are a few the thoughts fit with my idea of what a nice house is but then there where more ideas where I would be saying huh, what...that does not look so good.
   
   My advice is to get a good look inside the book before you buy it.



2. First, I should say that Jeremiah Eck is my favorite architect. If I ever build a house (which is hard, because I live in Boston where there are essentially no lots), I'll probably use him as an architect. So I should love this book, and I mostly do. Ideally, I'd like an architecture book to:
   
   1) have lots of great pictures and floor plans of wonderful houses
   2) have interesting ideas to convey
   3) have good prose to read
   
   I'd say this book scores very well on the first two points, and less so on the third. The photography is excellent, with lots of great houses. Mr. Eck is trying to convey some important ideas about the exterior of a house. Ideally, he things the exterior of a house should have a style that follows from other elements of the design, rather than being superficial decoration. So on the strength of those reasons alone, you should buy it. But for some reason I find his prose hard going. I can't quite put my finger on what bothers me, but it doesn't pull you forward. I found this to be true of his first book, "The Distinctive Home" as well. I'm very pleased I read it anyway.