1 comments about Castles of the Samurai: Power and Beauty.

1. Having bought this book based on the cover and title (with no review or other information posted) I was expecting a coffee table type book with lots of pretty photos and light on the text. It turned out that this book is not your average "jo" (the Japanese suffix used after a castle's name to denote "castle"-Himeji-Jo, Nijo-jo, etc). Happily, while it does have lots of "pretty photos" it also has a solid 42 pages of well written and informative text. The photos are well done, all 50+ full color pages of them. They document all the aspects of the Japanese castle-gates, towers, roofing, gables, outbuildings, doors, stone dropping windows, shooting holes, nail head covers, and of course those impressive sloping stone walls, moats, and keeps with photos of each aspect being grouped for comparison. There are even well done shots of the interiors of various castles, which are somewhat of a rarity. The shots are taken at a nice variety of castles as well, eschewing the easy method of running primarily nothing but shots of the easily accessible castles like Himeji, Osaka, and Matsumoto.
   The text is also well done, with informative, well done diagrams, charts, tables, and terminology. While most English language Japanese castle books focus on the military history of the structures, here they are given their signifigance as works of art and architecture as well. Detailed construction methods are given and illustrated. There are brief sections of the history of the castles and their destruction during the Meiji Restoration and World War II. I found the chart listing Castles, Daimyos, Domains, and Income in the Edo Period particularly valuable along with a table classifying existing castles as to date built, remains, type of keep, original buildings, walls, or keeps, and reconstructions using original materials or concrete. The only place the book comes up short is in the discussion of early castles or yamashiro (mountain castles), but of course there aren't any of these left to photograph. Overall a great job and a welcome addition to the sparse English references on Japanese Castles.

5 comments about A-frame.

1. As a kid I remember these things going up. I remember helping others build their vacation home but never got the opportunity to help build an A-frame. When I saw this book, it became the next best experience to building and/or living in one.
   
   The author does a good job capturing the history of A-frames. Of interesting note is R.M. Schindler's A-frame house of 1922. Schindler worked on Frank Lloyd Wright's Hollyhock House. You can see the FLW influence in the elevations.
   
   The author also does a good job of explaining the decline of A-frames: The evolution of American lifestyles to make the jump from a "second home" to the consolidation of the permanent home with the vacation home.
   
   The biggest complaint I have is the size of this book. If you buy this book, make sure your bi-focal prescription is current. I found myself having a difficult time reading the tiny little words from this little book.



2. I don't remember where I got this..sorry, not from Amazon. I don't have an A-frame but I have a casual interest in architecture. This book is just exceedingly well done. As many have mentioned, the cover and design have a retro 50/60's look which is very eye-catching. Inside, the images are again fabulous. The whole book is logically and well written with the author delving into the origin and then history of the A-frame to its apogee in the 60's and beyond to today. Interspersed are period photos and advertisements. At the end are plans for an A-frame.
   
   This is not a coffee-table, glossy picture, no substance kind of book. A fascinating fun read and it does look good on our little coffee table. I sincerely hope Mr. Randl delves into similar subjects in the future.



3. big beautiful book, lots of pictures, an easy read, lots of interesting history. I was hoping for something a little more technical, with details for a do-it-yourselfer to actualy build one but its not here. A fun book if you're interested in a-frames.



4. I live in an A-Frame so this book has much meaning for me. I loved reading about the history and seeing many A-Frames from around the world. I certainly would have let the author come to my house. It's a bit larger than most in the book - 2,800 sq. ft. I highly recommend the book to anyone with interest in the subject.



5. A wonderful survey of the A-frame, including many photos and plans of architect-designed versions. Included are interesting designs from those many Modern lovers will know. Rudolph Schindler was the first to have designed one, back in the 1920's. There is also a refreshing and very modern design by Campbell & Wong, and the one by Robert Broward in Florida from 1960 whose front end cantilevers over the sandy beach is exceptional. The rendering portrays its drama. Broward's design was one of the few structures along the Ponte Verde beach to survive Hurricane Dora in 1964.
   
   But Mr. Randl does not stop at architect-designed A-frames. He carefully traces the historical development of the A-frame and how it became an icon in post-war America, weaving it with plenty of photographs, construction drawings, ideas on variations, and vintage advertisements from magazines to demonstrate its high popularity between the 1950's and 1970's.
   
   The author does well to support the premise that the A-frame became an American icon, making its way from vacation homes to restaurants and motel designs as well as religious buildings. He cites its influence upon Googie's (Lautner) and the Unitarian Meeting House in Shorewood Hills, Wisconsin (Wright). Even the now popular Lindal Cedar Homes of today grew out of Mr. Lindal's first design: an A-frame.
   
   If I had a critical wish for this book, it would be a much larger size, an oversize that perhaps presented many more architect-designed A-frames. I am sure more modern and organic architects have done them and it would be interesting to see those designs. Randl has in fact inspired me to consider one for a country retreat in my own home state. With this book's small size as the only demerit, I give Chad Randl's A-Frame an "A".

2 comments about Time-Saver Standards Site Construction Details Manual.

1. This is a great book that I use all the time in my design work. It's organized really well making it very easy to use. Like Gang Chen mentioned in his review, you can't just copy and apply each detail as is, you have to adapt it to your specific climate and design program. That said, the details are a great starting point. I recommend this book to not only landscape architects working in large LA firms, but also to the residential designers who incorporate a lot of detailing in their plans.



2. Detailing is difficult for young design professionals. College education does not cover enough detail design, the only ways to learn how to develop details are: 1) learn through working experience in design offices; 2) teach yourself by reading good books.
   
   "Time-Saver Standards Site Construction Details Manual" can alleviate this problem. When they wrote this book, Nicholas T. Dines, FASLA was a professor and director for the graduate MLA program at the University of Massachusetts, and already had 32 years of professional experience. Kyle Brown was an assistant professor of Landscape Architecture at California Polytechnic University, Pomona, and held a Bachelor and a Master degree in Landscape Architecture and was a Ph. D candidate in regional planning.
   
   "Time-Saver Standards Site Construction Details Manual" covers athletic surfaces (natural and artificial turf, athletic paving), curbs (asphalt, brick, wood, stone and concrete curbs), drainage inlets (catch basins, area drains, trench drains), drainage swales (concrete, stone and vegetated swales), lighting (accent, pedestrian and vehicular lighting), paving (aggregate, asphalt, brick, concrete, stone, wood and synthetic paving, reinforce turf), paving dividers (brick, concrete and stone paving dividers), paving edges, paving joints, pedestrian ramps, planting, ponds, retaining structures, seatwalls, steps, and walls. There is also a useful detail index at the end.
   
   The details in this book are useful, but you still have to adapt them per your specific project condition. For example, some of the paving details call for "reinforcement as required." If you just copy and use these details, I guarantee you'll get change orders for your job. You should adapt these details per the soils report and tenant or developer criteria of your job and / or consult your structural engineer to actually specify what kind of reinforcement you are using for these details in your job.
   
   "Time-Saver Standards Site Construction Details Manual" has 416 pages and 350 common site details. It is a good Site Construction reference book for architects, landscape architects and engineers. Like any other books, it'll not cover every situation for your job. As a design professional, you should still review and adapt these details for your job.

5 comments about The Elements of Style: A Practical Encyclopedia of Interior Architectural Details from 1485 to the Present.

1. It tastes delicious, but leaves you hungry.
   
   the book is stunning. the pictures are inspiring. the information is rich. it covers a lot of time
   
   now i want a book just as thick for each of the particular styles that are covered so i can actually learn and delve.
   
   
   still, its a great start.



2. When this turned up on my doorstep, I got a real shock! I bought it as a reference book, something to "look things up in" from time to time, as needed. But, I found myself going through it, page after page after page. I couldn't put it down. It is jam packed with information, excellent drawings, photographs, text. I have nothing bad to say about it. The book is well bound, the paper excellent quality. Worth every cent.



3. As an Architectural Illustrator in black and white media, this book has been an invaluable reference tool. As a Librarian, no Library should be without this book. The only thing that one could wish for is that it was a multi-volume set with many more pages to peruse, like a novel you don't want to end.



4. EVERY STYLE IS FIRST DESCRIBED IN TEXT + PICTURES, FOLLOWED BY DETAILED DRAWINGS + PICTURES FOR WALLS, CEILINGS, DOORS, WINDOWS, FLOORS, FIREPLACES, STAIRCASES, BUILT-IN FURNITURE, LICHTING, WOODWORK, METALWORK AND SERVICES (STOVES, BATHTUBS ETC.) A MUST HAVE FOR EVERY INTERIOR DESIGN STUDENT - CUTS YOUR RESEARCH TIME IN HALF - A GREAT DESIGN TOOL TO USE FOREVER - A COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE - INCL. AN EXTENSIVE DIRECTORY OF SUPPLIERS AND USEFUL ADDRESSES, TERMS - EVEN SHORT BIOGRAPHIES OF ARCHITECTS/DESIGNERS THRU THE AGES. GREAT BUY FOR THE MONEY!



5. This book will save the theatrical designer a lot of time. It provides just the right amount of detail to get you going on the right track. This book is the first thing you should open when designing a period piece. My research time has been cut drastically. This is perfect for the junior high or high school teacher who doesn't have the time to spend hours and hours at the library. The drawings are wonderful. This book is worth its weight in gold.

3 comments about Baroque: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting.

1. The text of this book is boring, tedious and frequently gets bogged down in little details.
   
   So why did I give it five stars?
   
   It's because of the photos! The book is 500 pages long, and there are literally hundreds of full-color photographs of Baroque palaces, cathedrals, paintings and sculptures. The book pages are very large, and this makes the photos large and detailed as well. But the most sensational thing is the price: only 25 dollars for the hardback edition! Trust me, a book like this usually goes for 100 dollars or more. Perhaps it's subsidized by some UN agency? (A caveat: Since the book is very heavy, the postage might be larger than average.)
   
   Rolf Toman's "Baroque" is probably mostly directed at students of European art and architecture. As already noted, the text quickly gets tedious for the non-specialist, with details of 17th century Italian architects and the popes who paid their barbills. However, the stunning illustrations make the book an excellent birthday or Christmas gift even for general readers. I bought the Swedish translation for my mother last Christmas.
   
   In a sense, this is the mother of all coffee table books. If you have it on your coffee table or book shelf, you will be sure to impress your friends. Just don't tell them you got it at bargain price!
   
   The Baroque is a period in West European art history that began around AD 1600 and ended around AD 1750. Versailles in France is the most well-known example of Baroque architecture. Many churches and palaces in Rome are considered Baroque. The Baroque even spread to South and Central America, due to the Spanish and Portuguese conquests.
   
   Rolf Toman's book concentrates on French, Italian, Spanish and German architecture. There are shorter chapters on the other European nations, and an even shorter chapter on colonial Baroque. Further, the book contains sections on Baroque painting and sculpture, with exquisite photos of 17th and 18th century paintings from various European museums. The notorious Rococo style is mentioned only in passing.
   
   The Baroque has been much maligned. It's ostentation, connections to royal absolutism and Catholic counter-reformation, and supposed evolution into the Rococo, all has come up for criticism. And yes, the Early Modern Period wasn't a particularly happy one. I mean, the French revolution didn't exactly fall from the skies! Still, the Baroque is grossly underrated as a period in the history of arts, and could be seen as a development of the Renaissance.
   
   Recommended.
   
   PS. I have only seen (the Swedish) HARDBACK edition of this book. How the paperback edition looks like, I don't know. It seems to be even cheaper!



2. The cover alone will stop you in your tracks, a magnificent photograph of the Hofburg Library in Vienna. Open the cover and you will find page after page of amazingly detailed color photos of architecture, sculpture, and paintings. And to top it off, the text is generally interesting without any mindnumbing pedantic nose-in-the-air commentary. I have been an architect for 25 years and have never stopped searching for a reasonably priced book of Baroque with high quality pictures and text. This is it.



3. The cover alone will stop you in your tracks, a magnificent photograph of the Hofburg Library in Vienna. Open the cover and you will find page after page of amazingly detailed color photos of architecture, sculpture, and paintings. And to top it off, the text is generally interesting without any mindnumbing pedantic nose-in-the-air commentary. I have been an architect for 25 years and have never stopped searching for a reasonably priced book of Baroque with high quality pictures and text. This is it.

2 comments about The Designer's Atlas of Sustainability: Charting the Conceptual Landscape through Economy, Ecology, and Culture.

1. Issues of sustainability are key to many different kinds of designers, from architects to graphic designers - and this title is designed to cross genres to appeal not only to designers but to the consumers using their services. Chapters provide a fine introduction to blending sustainability concerns throughout the design process: college-level collections in design as well as general-interest libraries catering to consumers need Designer's Atlas of Sustainability, a key to public policies, consumer needs, and basic sustainability issues.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. There are many books now on sustainability with most being page-after-page of lengthy, often-dry academic dissertation. Some of these books will not likely appeal to the design professional who demands more visual inspiration and smart, graphic layout in a book. Well, this book meets those needs and is a fine contribution to the topic.
   
   This book is not a "how-to" book with lists or formulas for making products more sustainable in their design and use. Rather, it explores the many dimensions of sustainability (ecological, social, economic) and lets the reader glean inspiration for core concepts and many brief but interesting examples.
   
   Ms. Thorpe approaches the problems of unsustainable industrialization with a keen perceptivity that intices the reader to think broadly and creatively about the world we live in and how to reimage it. In addition to traditional design priorities of function, form and cost, Ann Thorpe illustrates how all effective designs must now go through the additional "lens" of sustainability thinking to anticipate its impact now and though the product's life.
   
   Every page is colorful with pictures, creative graphic layout that makes learning new things about this topic more enjoyable. The writing is quite philosophical in its approach (which may be a bit too much for some wanting more 1-2-3 steps). Also, more detailed case studies would have driven home the concepts better as would a more integrated, direct writing style.
   
   But, Thorpes' approach is to teach one how to think and not what to think. It gives designers a new lens to evaluate the how design impacts human/ecological well being as well as the increasingly limited resources of our planet. But, this highly visual book was a nice change from many other, purely academic books I have read on sustainability. 4 stars overall.

2 comments about Plantations & Historic Homes of New Orleans.

1. This book is a severe disappointment, and what is dilapidated are none of the pictured selections but the creative imaginatiion that envisioned such a paltry display of the city's beautiful homes. Its focus is almost exclusively the French Quarter, with the jacket photograph misleading the purchaser into thinking that magnificient estates bordering St Charles Ave would be featured or at least included. Instead, historic relics of a bygone era, interesting in themselves,stand alone without any of their more recent cousins (50-100 years). Hardly one of the splendid Garden District homes is included, and the alleged "plantations" of New Orleans are such as Burnside, along the river road and some distance from the city's precincts. Instead of becoming a Christmas gift, as intended, this tome will be tossed in the trash, unworthy of any current or former New Orleanian. - Ernest Carrere



2. In 2005 New Orleans was devastated by Hurricane Katerina. Fortunately, many of the city's most treasured and historically important homes and mansions were spared from the French Quarter and Garden District to Uptown, Marigny, and Bayou St. John. Professional photographer Laura McElroy has created a superbly beautiful photographic guide to the best of these surviving architectural wonders, complete with their impressive columns, beautiful balconies, spacious verandas, impressive parlors, and even the historic servant quarters. Enhanced with an informed and informative text by Jan Arrigo providing context for the photographs, "Plantations & Historic Homes Of New Orleans" is highly recommended browsing, especially for students of architecture in general and devotees of New Orleans historic buildings in particular.

2 comments about The City of To-morrow and Its Planning.

1. Le Corbusier has a dream for Paris, and it is a really interesting and unusual one. He creates a model for the cities, and his model has been living for almost a century. Although, you may reject to see it built, put aside living in it, it is a complete (well, almost complete) model. In this book, Le Corbusier presents his model city in detail from streets to building codes. He not only talks about the physical structure, but also the life style it would create. The mass of the city scares you, but you admire how he defends his vision, which is strong and bold, just like the book itself.



2. As an architecture student interested in the "art" of city planning, I found this book fascinating! Gives Le Corbusier's "radical" views and ideas plenty of substantive support. It is not only a book of design theory, but a book of urban history. Even if you're not too fond of Corbusier's work, this is a must-read for anyone interested in architecture!

1 comments about Roman Imperial Architecture (The Yale University Press Pelican History of Art).

1. I found this book to be an excellent, even masterly, coverage of the subject. It is bound by its period, but still gives a sense of the continuity of architectural development from the native Italian, Etruscan, Hellenic and particularly the Hellenistic influences on the growth of Roman architecture into and through the Imperial period. It also covers the continuity of architectural styles, technologies and traditions into the Romanesque period.
   I liked the way in which the author covered the regional influences on architecture in the various parts of the Roman world, especially contrasting the East, with its substantial existing traditions, styles and techniques, with the "frontier" type of situation in the West, where the new introduction of Roman technologies and styles all but eclipsed those which had gone before.
   The author's writing style seemed the relaxed intimations of a man comfortable with his mastery of the material and without the need to prove himself. I found a particular enjoyment in the tone of someone enjoying passing on the details of his favourite subject.
   I thoroughly recommend this book to anyone interested in the way the Romans solved some of the universal challenges of a built environment.

5 comments about The Genius of Japanese Carpentry: The Secrets of a Craft.

1. I live in Japan and I like cabinet-making. I would love to learn how to make the old furniture I see around me: the joinery, the staining, the tools you use, but it seems all I find is how-tos or picture books about temples and huge structures ...
   Temples are fine, but how about small drawers and tables?



2. This book presents an excellent detailed view of the entire restoration process of the picture hall which is part of Yakushiji temple. I have been marvelled at the bracket (tou-kung) structures in ancient Chinese and Japanese temples but I was not able to find much information about them anywhere. This book not only describes in detail how the bracket system holds the weight of the roof, but also how they are constructed, with detail photos and diagrams of many mortise/tenon joints.
   In short, it is just an incredible book that gives you insights into how those Japanese temples were built, without a single piece of nail that holds them together, but yet lasted for centuries.



3. Did you know that wood from trees that were growing on the south-facing side of a mountain has got to be used in the southern-facing face of a Japanese temple, so that it experiences the same weather conditions as it used to and doesn't warp so much? Or that the curving grain of a wood can be used to support a load from above, so the curve neutralises the sagging? This and many other fascinating aspects of the highly refined art of Japanese carpentry are revealed in this book. Every page makes you marvel at its precision, sophistication and sheer ingenuity. Azby Brown writes with clarity and knows how to capture all the interesting details.



4. This book is an excellent begin to the study of the japanese temple carpentry, with a lot of tips of the architectural solutions used by the japanese. It shows some history of the japanese temples, but not so deep. Also it is not a how to book, as i said it is a begginers book full with photos of the temple carpenter's workshop and closes of some joints.



5. A high-level look at Japanese joinery in carpentry and temple architecture. Good photographs and diagrams. This book would have more meaning to a carpenter as it is not an instruction book to learning and implementing these techniques.