1 comments about St. Peter's (Wonders of the World).

1. Mary Beard is a Professor of Classics at Cambridge University. She is the editor of The Wonders of the World which is "a small series of books that will focus on some of the world's most famous sites or monuments." Several books have already been published, including Beard's The Parthenon (Wonders of the World), Beard's and Keith Hopkins' The Colosseum (Wonders of the World) and Cathy Gere's The Tomb of Agamemnon (Wonders of the World). Keith Miller's first book is a worthy addition to the series.
   
   Like the other books in the series, this book reveals the architectural and cultural implications of its subject. It is aimed not at specialists but at the general inquisitive reader ("the intelligent ignorant," as Beard often refers to herself).
   
   Keith Miller starts his book in the 1st century CE at the Hippodrome of Nero, one of two places where the Apostle Peter may have been crucified. It continues 250 years later with the conversion of Emperor Constantine in the fourth century, and his building of the first Christian basilica, commonly known as Old St Peter's. Miller enlivens the step-by-step creation of the present-day basilica with some of the functions the building has performed: for example, the imposing of woolen pallia on newly consecrated metropolitan archbishops and the coronations of Charlemagne and other emperors.
   
   In 1506 Pope Julius II had the fourth-century building mostly demolished. Miller carefully describes the complicated development of the new basilica. He describes how Donato Bramante's plan was superseded by Peruzzi (after Bramante's death in 1514), then the contributions of Sangallo, Michelangelo and Raphael. He explains Bernini's colonnades, baldacchino and statuary throughout the building. He provides an in-depth look at the underground grottoes and the necropolis.
   
   I thought Miller was particularly good on the question of precisely where St Peter is supposed to be buried and whether his tomb is actually here. He reviews Pius XII's 1950 confirmation, and the later discovery that there were bones of at least four different people, one a woman. Miller provides a balanced view of the debate, including some irrefutable evidence that someone of great significance was buried on the site. He carefully analyzes the necropolis, with drawings and a chronology.
   
   Miller's background is in art history, and he is excellent at describing the works of art still in the basilica or have been moved from the building. He is good at delineating architectural perspectives, magnitude and dynamics.
   
   I would have preferred footnotes and a better bibliography; Miller does acknowledge a few texts including James Lees-Milne's St. Peter's: The Story of Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome published in 1967, as well as "various texts" by Gottfried Semper. Despite these nits, this book is readable and well researched.
   
   Robert C. Ross 2008

No comments about American Collection Ranch Style: 200 New House Plans (The American Collection) (The American Collection) (The American Collection).

1 comments about French Touch, The.

1. The book is a great resource for someone interested in building or renovating to create an authentic "french look". French architectural elements are categorized and many pictures of authentic elements are provided in the book. By using the book as a guide, one can choose authentic looking or actual reclaimed elements widely available as opposed to the garish alternatives on the market that are advertised as "the french look". Kudos to the author !!!

4 comments about Living Homes: Sustainable Architecture and Design.

1. This book offers a good introduction into building with earth, straw and recycled materials. There are lots of nice photos with a brief story telling how and why the builders used the chosen materials.

   This book does not go into depth on how to make a home out of straw bale, adobe, rammed earth or any other techniques. There are lots of other good books that do though.

   I am kind of disappointed in a couple of the things the author says that are a bit misleading or untrue, probably unintentionally, but non the less they are there and you will not pick them out unless you are well read on alternative building techniques.




2. Finally! A book on sustainable architecture that shows quality buildings designed by Architects. All too often, these books show buildings that are not well designed, and detailed, and the quality of construction is lacking. I was very pleased to see well known architects, as well as lesser known architects' work detailed in this beautiful book. This book is wonderful to look at and it also has excellent, well written descriptions of each project.
   It's a great read, and it is now in my personal library. I also bought one for the office.



3. In the course of designing our new house, my family and I were looking for inspiration. This book gave us plenty of ideas and opened up new possibilities as to materials we could use that would be kinder to the environment that traditionally built homes.

   The photographs are beautiful, and it was interesting to read what each of the book's homeowners had to say about constructing their houses. I had always thought that homes built of rammed earth or bales of straw were boring-looking, but this book proves the materials can be used to make great-looking houses.




4. I received this much-anticipated book today. True to description, it contains beautiful photos (one page was misprinted with a wide pink streak across the photo) and text from architects, owners, etc. What it doesn't have much of is anything more than brief or shallow explanations of HOW sustainable living takes place -- minimal floor plans (meaning only for a few of the homes reviewed.

   For one clear example, Lake/Flato architects built a truly innovative vacation house, with the living area surrounded - wrapped really - in the bedrooms and bathrooms of the house. Only a floor plan can reveal their creative arrangement of the rooms. The house is featured in this book, but no indication of the remarkable new layout - maximum living in minimal space. (Look for the Contemporary Architecture series for Lake/Flato architects for more information.)

   Broad but shallow is a good summary for this pretty, but not nearly as informative as I had hoped, book.

No comments about Monochrome.

No comments about Europan 9 (Europan).

4 comments about The Art Deco House.

1. Thanks. The shipping is a little long, like usually with books coming from USA.
   To recommend
   Olivier



2. This book is full of beautiful pictures and is well written. However, I was expecting a book about the average art-deco home. This book featured only the more extravagant homes of the time. It did not help me decide how to furnish my modest 1930's home.



3. The opening sentence "One of the big issues that exercised the minds and consciences of architects and social commentators between the two world wars was the future of domestic architecture" sets the tone for the book that follows. It discusses all of Modernism in the Twenties and Thirties, not just Art Deco, including Rietveld-Schroder and Villa Savoy among the Deco houses. It gives the context of the famous "machines for living" quote, often used as a rallying cry of the anti-Modernists, but which actually only refers to the thermostatically-controlled central heating, hot and cold running water, and other conveniences that were new back then.

   The author talks about the personalities, events and the Jazz Age itself as much as the houses, explaining the style had none of the intellectual seriousness of the International Style, was usually very expensive, and was never big in Britain.

   It's a very substantive book, full of interesting pictures, from an extremely knowledgeable and charming author.




4. There are some glorious color photos in this book of Art Deco (or Moderne) houses. Twenty-nine are featured as well as places like Miami Beach, Los Angeles apartments and Napier, New Zealand. This last place is the Deco capital of the southern hemisphere and I think there should have been more photos than just the four shown.
   
   Each house starts on a spread (frequently with a photo of the architect) and Adrian Tinniswood explains in detail the thinking behind the design. He also writes additional essays on other aspects of Deco style. Unfortunately there are no plans to any of the houses, something I would have thought was fairly essential to a book of historical architecture. I've always wanted to see a plan of the amazing Butler House in Des Moines.
   
   A major disappointment for me was the bland layout. Each page has only one column which makes the photo sizes very inflexible, most pages end up with one photo and a lot of empty white space. Someone should have suggested using more photos (especially interiors) and creating some interesting side-bars.
   
   The twenty-nine houses featured are probably the best examples of the Art Deco style but have a look at two other books on the same subject, 'The Modern House Today' by Kenneth Powell, wonderful color photos of sixty-five still standing Moderne houses in England and 'Classic Modern Homes of the Thirties' by James and Katherine Ford, an inexpensive black and white reprint of a 1940 book featuring houses in America. Both these books have some floor plans.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.

1 comments about Performing Architecture: Opera Houses, Theatres and Concert Halls for the Twenty-first Century.

1. All the new halls and cultural spaces intended for public performance. Text is informal but pictures talk for themselves. This is not a technical text but rather an artistical aproach to expose the beauty of a very specialized field .

1 comments about Case: Lafayette Park Detroit (CASE).

1. This small book is a gem. It was a surprise to know about this project and how well it has withstood time. Pity is not bigger, with more before and after pictures.

1 comments about San Antonio Then and Now (Then & Now).

1. They say that every Texan has two hometowns: his own and San Antonio. My father brought his family to San Antonio in 1955, and at sixteen I found a true home there. I am the eldest child, so I never stayed in San Antonio for very long, but I would keep coming back to S.A. This book is food for the heart of the exile. Every photograph is enough to make one sigh for the city that Will Rogers said "has something no Chamber of Commerce can destroy." O. Henry said, "Owlish, polyglot San Antonio." I love this book and I love that city.