No comments about New York Minimalism.

No comments about The Alhambra: Plans, Elevations, Sections & Drawings (Vol 1).

No comments about Design and Plan in the Country House: From Castle Donjons to Palladian Boxes (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art).

1 comments about The Sacred Place: The Ancient Origin of Holy and Mystical Sites.

1. This compelling work investigates holy places and their relationship to mankind's spiritual awareness. The author believes that monuments and temples have their roots in natural features of the landscape that inspired the religious impulse.
   
   Part One: Ancient Mind, Holy Land looks at the spirit of place, memory and the variety of sacred places, whilst Part Two explores rock art in Southern Africa, the Americas, Australia and Atlantic Europe, Palaeolithic cave paintings and natural sacred places like ritual caves, sacred mountains trees and wells.
   
   Part Three investigates magic markings, shadow play, quartz and rock art, and Part Four deals with the geographies of the ancient soul as it manifested in stone age sacred geometry, stone circles, standing stones, Minoan and Greek temples.
   
   The author concludes that here have always been profound interactions between mind and nature and that there is a spiritual power in the natural world that resonates within the heart and mind of mankind.
   
   This thought provoking book is lavishly illustrated with full color photographs and maps and concludes with a bibliography and index. I also recommend The Mind in the Cave: Consciousness and the Origins of Art by David Lewis-Williams.

No comments about Mies van der Rohe, Federal Center Chicago: Zentralpostamt mit zwei Hochhäusern / Central Post Office with Two Office Blocks.

4 comments about Unreal America Architecture and Illusion.

1. The main thrust of The Unreal America is that commercial interests are choking out our experience of genuine regional and cultural diversity--in architecture, travel and even our knowledge of history. The first three quarters of the book is devoted to the theme parks, shopping centers and architectural restorations that Huxtable abhors, including Disney World, Celebration, Florida, Las Vegas and colonial Williamsburg. The last quarter of the book is disjointed from the beginning because she abruptly switches gears and lauds buildings that she finds exhilarating and which properly integrate materials, use and environmental context.

   The book is must reading for anyone who has a passion for architecture and is concerned about how commericalism and real estate development affects our society. Although the tone of Huxtable's writing is haughty, angry and sometimes repetitive, her message is an important one. Huxtable rails against The Disney Company and its penchant for creating fake, idealized versions of real places. Walt Disney's dream was to create clean, controlled environments where happiness abounds, but in the years since his death in 1966, the dreams and fantasies of children of all ages have become mass-merchanidised and channeled into a narrow focus of personalities and products. Huxtable maintains that Disney has become a mass dispenser of schlock-from amusements to art to architecture.

   Huxtable also decries the way that shopping center malls and superstores such as Home Depot and Walmart have choked out diversity in retailing. "In the reality of suburban America," she writes, " there is no place else to go", because malls and movie megaplexes have replaced downtowns and streets. Huxtable acknowledges that architecture is largely influenced by investment economics. She is a realist that does not expect that strip malls and shopping centers should go away, but she denounces the banality of their designs and how our collective experience of that stifling sameness makes society more homogenized.




2. This book was awesome from the beginning to the end. The way she wrote was breath taking. I like cheese and pasta. Cheese is good on asparagus. I like the cheese on this book.



3. Though her thoughts on what she thinks are "good" modern architects are very illuminating and insightful, her rants against Disneyfied structures and environments are tiresome, pithy and repetitious. She seems like she's trying to sound like a hip, streetwise rock critic or something. Forget the first 50% of the book (or skim), and save your time and energy for the last 50%.



4. The Unreal America: Architecture and Illusion, by Ada Louise Huxtable, is a book that is inviting to a non-academic audience. Huxtable makes case studies of structures that she has experienced and groups them into two categories- 1) What she finds reprehensible, the theme architecture discussed in the beginning chapters- 2) What she finds enlightening and exhilarating, the extension and modification of modernist ideas in contemporary works. Because of this categorization, the book is a bit disjunctive as Huxtable switches gears from complaining to lauding. Her approach to all structures is personal. She tends to incorporate her own reactions into her criticism and back up her feelings with formal description and by citing philosophers of culture such as Baudrillard and Eco. It is refreshing that Huxtable does not invoke a Marxist critique to indicate all that is wrong with corporate theme architecture and all that is right with public projects. On the other hand, her subjective disdain or praise is convincing only insofar as one acknowledges these opinions as expert. The first part of her book comes off as a social critique of theme parks, malls, and consuming venues that take their forms from the past. The second is more descriptive of how architects control materials and space to successfully fit a use/purpose while also creating new structural forms. This book deals with complex issues of simulacra and new history, but Huxtable keeps the language simple and approachable to the non-academic reader. Unfortunately, those already familiar with Baudrillard, Eco, Barthes, et al will find these arguments long dated. This book is a quality introduction to contemporary architecture for the uninitiated. The cognoscenti, however, will find the book unremarkable. A more comprehensive book that is excellent complementary reading to The Unreal America, is Architecture After Modernism, by Diane Ghirardo, which achieves more objectivity and depth.---William V. Ganis (WillemG@aol.com

1 comments about Living in a Dream: Great Residences of the World.

1. Hardcover, 180 pages, 10.5" by 14.5" ...Yes, I said fourteen and a half inches tall!

   Its a great book for children & adults who love famous palaces & castles of the world. Many color photos, history, floorplan, and a beautifully colored cutaway drawing of each of the 12 residences. They include: Windsor Castle(England); The Alhambra(Spain); Neuschwanstein Castle(Germany); Peterhof(Russia); Red Fort(India); Katsura(Japan); Versailles(France); The Doge's Palace(Italy); Royal Palace of Stockholm(Sweden); Topkapi(Turkey); The Potala(Tibet); Hearst Castle(California).

No comments about Franciscan Mission Architecture of California.

No comments about Hvac: Trainee Guide Level 4.

2 comments about Scandinavian Country (Architecture and Design Library).

1. I really loved this book. As one reviewer commented, the pictures definately make you wish for a home by a fjord. They alone are well worth the price of the book. Every so often,I page through the book again and enjoy it as much as the first time I looked through it.
   
   I disagree with the reviewer who complained about the quality of the writing. The text explained the photographs, which made them so much more meaningful. For example, Scandinavian countries have a very short summer. Because of this people spend every moment of the long summer days they can out of doors. They don't need fancy outdoor furniture for tea or meals. A couple of chairs and a small table will do nicely. Also, becuase of the long dark winters, Scandinavians love to paint and deorate their homes in bright colors. They almost always have natural pine or handwood floors and wood furnishings. Because of it's simple and oh so appealing decorating style, this book has influenced the way I decorate.



2. This book makes you wich a small house by the fjords! The photos are superbe! To welcome you in the north Europe, that's a very good book. You have the right colors, as much light as you needed and the nature all over the pictures. Flowers everywhere. A small walk through History. All in a very simple way. When you know this countrys, you know everything's writh about this book. Yet,some things are missing. If you buy this book to have information, don't expect to find many details about how to decorate a house in the scandinavian style. Not really! After this first book, you will surelly want to find other ones about the subject! Because, you're just beginning to know what north european houses are about! Not a bad beguinning! Not at all! If I were you, I'd start right here.