No comments about Colonial Homes: 165 Plans with American Style (American Collection) (American Collection).

No comments about Wiener Werkstatte: 1903-1932 (Special Edition).

5 comments about Historic San Francisco: A Concise History and Guide.

1. while this is a very concise history of the city, with a lot of material packed into relatively few pages, I find it extremely odd that the author skips from The Summer of Love in the late 1960s all the way to the earthquake of 1989. One has to ask, what informed the author's choice to ignore twenty years of history? Did the murder of mayor George Moscone and supervisor Harvey Milk by Dan White never happen? Did the gay civil rights movement and the development of The Castro neighborhood into the most visible gay community in the world not happen? This seems an irresponsible omission on the part of the author. What a shame.



2. I really can't recommend this book enough. Mr Richards is a fine writer who breathes life into San Francisco's history using an array of colouful (and often hilarious) anecdotes. I've read a number of other books on the the bay area's history and for sheer enjoyment this stands head-and-shoulders above the rest.



3. If you don't have an affection for San Francisco history, you should have one after reading this short book. While I would have appreciated a few more anecdotes about San Francisco in this book, I really appreciated the breadth of history it was able to convey -- and in a reasonable length. Highly recommended.



4. This is a very well-written and entertaining history/guidebook to San Francisco. The chapter on the Barbary Coast is especially interesting, as are the anecdotes from San Francisco's early history. Far better than the bilge offered by Lonely Planet and Time Out.



5. This book is a hybrid between a history book and a guide book. Each chapter historically chronicles a meaningful period of time betweensignificant milestones (i.e. the goldrush of 1849 or the earthquake of 1906). Following each chapter is a guide to monuments, landmarks, and musuems that have items pertaining to the preceding information.

   There is a fair amount of illustrations and photographs and the writing style of Rand Richards is very readable. I highly recommend this book to anybody living in or planning to visit the San Francisco bay area.

1 comments about Legoretta + Legoretta: New Buildings & Projects.

1. this is defenitly a good book for your collection. quality of the paper and the photogrphs are really high. it has covered more of their letest project than repeating old ones.

4 comments about Frank Lloyd Wright's Glass Designs (Wright at a Glance).

1. I obviously did not have read the reviews close enough. This is
   a tiny book with pictures so small that it's useless to me.



2. "Frank Lloyd Wright's Glass Designs," by Carla Lind, is one of a series of "mini-books" devoted to the work of one of the world's greatest architects. This volume, which explores Wright's interest in glass, contains many praiseworthy features: Lind's concise yet informative text, a wealth of stunning full-color photographs, fascinating sidebar quotes from Wright and others, and a useful bibliography for further reading.

   The plentiful photographs truly capture the genius of Frank Lloyd Wright. We can see his bold work with colored glass and geometric patterns in windows of many different shapes and sizes. It's marvelous to see how each glass creation complements the larger architectural space of which it is a part.

   Houses represented in the book include the Darwin Martin house, the Schaberg house, the Roberts house, and many more. But my favorite photograph is a breathtaking two-page spread of the second Jacobs house. If you love Wright, if you love glass, or if you love the art of home design, you will certainly love this excellent little book.




3. I ordered this book to get glass design ideas for my new house. It's tiny but worth its weight in gold. Sharp photographs (32/57 pp.) and minimal description provide just what I needed.



4. Great coffee table book (despite its size). Lots of photos that give a quick oversight to the breadth of work by this architect/artist.

2 comments about Skyscrapers.

1. Andres Lepik's Skyscrapers is an oversized presentation fitting to its subject of skyscrapers, providing tall full-page photos of technological monuments to accompany discussions of major world skyscraper icons and their backgrounds. An exciting survey of the past, present and future, Lepik's Skyscrapers earns a place in any serious architectural library.



2. The book starts with an interesting history of skyscrapers, then goes into details of 50 skyscrapers from the past 100 years. Each skyscraper has 2-4 pages, including large photographs. I was a little disappointed that the 2IFC tower in Hong Kong was not included, but happy to see Taipei 101. An excellent touch was to add 6 upcoming skyscrapers, like London's Shard of Glass and the amazing CCTV headquarters in Beijing.

4 comments about Chicago In and Around the Loop : Walking Tours of Architecture and History.

1. For those of us who grew up around Chicago and know downtown, this is a great book not just a vague coffee table book. Lots of good photos and history.
   
   I loaned this from the library and am planning on buying it on Amazon.
   
   Highly recommended!



2. Gerard Wolfe has produced an inclusive and engaging book concentrating on the area in and around the Loop in Chicago. In a series of walking tours, he weaves history and architecture into a "must see" for tourists, native Chicagoans and armchair travelers, alike.



3. I currently live in Chicago and have had a great time exploring and learning about new (to me) places with the help of this book. There is a good amount of info. to give the reader a decent background on many of the buildings in the Loop. It omits lengthy and unnecessary history topics to focus on the highlights of each walking tour, leaving the lengthy history for other books to explore. I've learned alot about my own city by reading this book and highly recommend it.



4. An excellent set of tours of all neighborhoods of downtown Chicago, profusely illustrated with contemporary and archival photos, with a lively and user-friendly text. Especially helpful for the first-time visitor, although I understand it has been adopted by the Chicago Architecture Foundation as a guide to train its docents who give walking tours. I have not come across any better guide to the Loop and its surroundings, with a crisp style and useful historical facts. Dr. Gareth Shellman (shellman@csd.uwm.edu) Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA

3 comments about Architectural Programming: Information Management for Design.

1. As far as I know, this is the Omnibus of Programming reference books. As was said before, it is not something you just sit down and read, but it is a great reference and should get your head straightened out on how to handle producing a good programming document. I'd suggest marking pages 24-25, (the Issues and Facts checklists. These come in handy) as well as page 73, Concept Diagrams. If you are still a student, page 73 will go a long way toward getting to the version of "simple and clear" your particular prof expects. Just grit your teeth and pay the price for this one, because you'll need it!



2. Transaction was ok, but Amazon waited 8 days to ship my book, and I had already been in class for 5 days by the time it arrived. A little disappointing...



3. This book provides several ways of gathering and organizing information during the programming phase of design. This is not a book to sit down and read in an afternoon, but worthwhile of having in a reference library.

5 comments about Frances Elkins: Interior Design.

1. So chic. So classic. Just the absolute best. Nothing more to say.



2. The foreword by Albert Hadley is an excellent way to introduce the work of Frances Elkins, whose interiors are timeless, sophisticated and well composed. Elkins was so far ahead of her time and it is incredible to look at photos of homes she decorated in the 30's and 40's that still look modern, if not at least current, today. Elkins definitely had a style of her own, and has undoubtedly paved the way for modern designers today like Kelly Wearstler by creating interiors that were a clever blend of styles, periods and genres.
   
   Elkins actively promoted the work of Jean-Michel Frank and his associates (the Giacometti brothers) in the USA, and was one of the first decorators to commission Tony Duquette to produce pieces for her interiors. She is without doubt one of the greatest decorators of the 20th Century.
   
   Full of inspirational photos, this will definitely be a book in my library that I will go back to time after time after time.



3. Frances Elkins was a legendary interior designer of the early 1900s whose works included major residential and public commissioned projects as well as fabrics, furniture and accessories. Her works were among the best of her times and she earned a reputation for her progressive outlook in the field - but Stephen M. Salny's FRANCES ELKINS INTERIOR DESIGN is the first book devoted to her life and works, gathering all of her achievements under one cover. Full-page displays of all her works from thirty years accompany biographical and artistic notes in a splendid, authoritative treatment by a researcher whose lifelong study of David Adler led inevitably to his sister Frances Elkins (who was Adler's collaborator on many commissions).



4. As one of the earliest designers to mix classic and modern styles together, this book on Frances Elkins proves that she did so masterfully. She understood, as few designers did at the time, the relationship between the two was a shared use of wonderful materials and superior craftmanship. This book proves to be a great source of inspiration for successfully accomplishing the same mix today.



5. This book portrays the superb taste of Frances Elkins through her long and successful career. Her bold use of color was unheard of when she began her trade in the early part of the twentieth century, but she did it with such style and finess that it was accepted. The use of fine antiques blended with contemporary furnishings was something else not done previously and set the trend for the "eclectic" style so popular ever since. First, working with her renowned architect brother, David Adler, in the Chicago area and then striking it on her own merit, she set a style and was one of the early women designers to become successful. The photographs and color interpritation in this book are excellent and in profusion. This book is a must for those interested in the interior design field, both past and present, because of her ageless style.

1 comments about Wirtz Gardens, The.

1. This book comes in 2 volumes, with both over 100 pages each. High quality bound and exclusive paper makes this book a pleasant reading experience. It is worth the price - at its current price I personally consider it even underpriced ($ 168.00). Every page shows high quality impressive photographs of the Wirtz gardens. The text, without dominating the presence of the photographs, is highly descriptive about the plants with their common and latin names, the spirits of the featured landscape designs, and the rationales and philosophies behind each featured design. The Wirtz Gardens are an example of Art while tying classical designs and natural elements of the environment together. This book features a very eclectic approach to landscaping with mysterious and calm beauty. I highly recommend this piece of art for anyone considering to hire a landscape architect or for someone who is looking for inspiration. Even for simple reading pleasure, this book is a treat.