1 comments about Site Analysis: Linking Program and Concept in Land Planning and Design.

1. As a first year Landscape Architecture student, this book was very helpful for clearly laying out the site analysis concepts. You can't beat the graphics as well.
   
   Apparently, there is a new edition coming out, which might have been nice to wait for, but I needed it for a class. overall, a very good book.

1 comments about AIA Guide to Boston, 3rd: Contemporary Landmarks, Urban Design, Parks, Historic Buildings and Neighborhoods (Aia Guides).

1. Boston, America's London, is such an awesome ensemble of urban architecture that any author is presented with both a formidable task and the enjoyment of endless variation. With such an enormous canvas, the resulting work can be either a sloppy, undisciplined patchwork or a masterpiece. This little book is a masterpiece.
   
   What can I say? It's exactly what an AIA-sponsored architecture catalog should be. The selection of sites is diverse, interesting and distinguished. The essays for each site are complete: They're long enough to be instructive and short enough to keep your attention. The photographs are all monochrome, but they're large, numerous and of revealing composition as to add real value to the text. There's no long introductory essay, but a simple preface to introduce the city and the book, and there's a nice set of simple, functional maps in the appendices.
   
   The binding and the pages are sturdy to allow for hands-on field work as well as browsing. In many ways, this book resembles the AIA Guide to Detroit, which is also a benchmark for the AIA-sponsored series.
   
   As for the architecture... Anyone familiar with Boston and the surrounding towns knows that there are thousands of noteworthy sites. This book captures about 600 of the best of them, and your favorite sites are sure to be in here, be they buildings, parks or public artwork. Since historic sites play such an important role in Boston's urban cohesion, they are appropriately represented here. Important modern structures aren't neglected either. In fact, Boston includes a real critical mass of fascinating modern buildings, all appropriately included as well.
   
   Surprising to me is that Boston contains less colonial and Federal architecture than one might expect from its reputation and history as a colonial metropolis. There are few dense areas of unspoiled colonial or Federal urbanism, Beacon Hill and Charlestown being the obvious exceptions; rather, colonial and Federal sites tend to be widely distributed throughout the modern city. Maybe I'm just stating the obvious, but the city doesn't have the cohesive historical atmosphere and quaint sensuality of places like Charleston, South Carolina and Providence, Rhode Island, for example. It's more like Washington, DC, with its historic enclaves at Georgetown and Alexandria. That's not a bad thing, of course, but just an observation. Boston has its share of fire, neglect and urban renewal nightmares too, as this guide carefully notes. Two inexplicable omissions: Harvard Business School and the Radcliffe College buildings. Fenway, with its mindboggling cluster of important institutions, gets a bit of the short end as well.
   
   The catalog stays largely focused within the Boston city limits, but there are nice, (almost) complete excursions to Harvard, MIT and the neighborhoods surrounding those important institutions. Each chapter begins with a brief essay describing the history, general character and orientation of the particular neighborhood, and many important historic streets and public spaces are discussed within.
   
   If you're an architectural historian, architect, preservationist, serious enthusiast or cultural tourist, your architecture library is incomplete without this one.

3 comments about The New American Apartment: Innovations in Residential Design and Construction: 30 Case Studies (New American).

1. After purchasing The New American House (Vol 1-3), The New American Cottage, and The New American Swimming Pool which are all excellant books, I ordered The New American Apartment and was severely disappointed.

   I SENT THE BOOK BACK! (if that gives you any idea of my satisfaction.)
   
   There are several interesting photos but unless you have several million dollars, the designs and concepts are so unapproachable to the average person that the book was useless for my needs. This is the same kind of stuff they show in Architectural Digest (as opposed to Fine Homebuilding.)




2. A must have book for a library collection of inspirational modern design. The Book outlines each architect's space with dramatic and all encompassing views along with drawings to further explain the concepts. It left me wanting more!



3. This is a very good looking lexicon from cover to cover, yet it is more of a starting point in the design mode than a technical manual. I usually don't spend much for books, but this is one exception I can make with little after thought.

5 comments about For the Love of Old: Living with Chipped, Frayed, Tarnished, Faded, Tattered, Worn and Weathered Things that Bring Comfort, Character and Joy to the Places We Call Home.

1. Oh Mary...........we love you so.
   The book is an inspiration to us all. I can only get through a couple of pages before I have to head for the nearest "junk" or antique shop to get a fix.
   If you like this book, you will like all of her great books. You will not be disappointed.
   I can't wait for the next one to come out!
   Hurry, Mary.......we can hardly wait.



2. I received this as a gift on Christmas. The cover was absolutely lovely. I couldn't wait to look inside. YIKES! The photographer did a terrific job, the book itself is very pretty, great colors, could make a lovely coffee table book. However the content is TERRIBLE!!! . I agree with the reviewer that all those pictures of the tatered dolls and other items/artifacts are very creepy indeed. Frankly it just looks messy, gloomy & dusty. I adore old things, books, beautiful photographs and antiques but this book is horrible. Unless you have seen this book in person and like it, DO NOT waste your money. I cannot imagine paying 50 dollars or even the amazon discounted rate. Buyer Beware on this one....



3. I always love this author's books even though she tends to decorate even shabbier than I do. This particular book is just a work of beauty for the coffee table, I love the cover. There is a blue opera chair inside that tears at my heart with its beauty. I love inside the covers, the way she tells a story about her family and about why she sees beauty in some of the most beastly things. It is always interesting to see how others decorate and I believe Ms. Randolph-Carter is a green decorator indeed, taking recycling of old things to a new level.



4. This book is beautiful. It is a coffe table copy. One you want to use for display. I was drawn with interest to someone who sees beauty in such old things. The book is very unique. I'm glad I have a copy.



5. I loved Mary Randolph Carter's book American Family Style so much and this book seemed to me like a part two of that original book. Although this book wasn't filled with pictures of her family it was filled with the same warmth and comfort as the original. Even though it may not be filled with exactly the things I might put in my own home it is something I enjoy reading. You can tell the author truly LOVES these lost, rusty, beautiful things. I truly can appreciate that.

2 comments about The Most Typical Avant-Garde: History and Geography of Minor Cinemas in Los Angeles.

1. In this brilliant and comprehensive history of alternative cinema in Los Angeles, David James performs a profoundly radical act-- he reclaims Los Angeles from Hollywood. For all of us who have been struggling daily, over months, years and decades, and against all odds to produce cinematic works in the heavy shadow of "the industry", this amazing book is both moving and empowering.



2. This work is an exploration of the classical (Robert Florey, Maya Deren...), modern and contemporary territories of the avant-garde cinema in Los Angeles and the West Coast. It reveals and explains a fascinating tradition of films as innovative as largely unknown, that build alltogether something we could name the honor of the cinema. David E. James' book is deep, brilliant, imaginative, rich, subtle, sophisticated and perfectly clear. One can't imagine a more perfect use of the art and craft of a responsible historian of art , both responsible towards the freedom of art and towards the rigour of history.

No comments about Marcel Breuer: 1902-1981: Form Giver of the Twentieth Century (Taschen Basic Architecture Series).

1 comments about Simplified Design of Concrete Structures (Parker/Ambrose Series of Simplified Design Guides).

1. This is a decent introduction to reinforced concrete design, but I do not like the way the material is presented. Ambrose has done a poor job in picking up Parker's work.

   First and foremost, Ambrose does not appear to be a very good writer. The text is written in the first-person, which I find awkward and unprofessional for such a topic. There are numerous typograpical errors. The first six chapters of the book are largely qualitative and superficial discussions on concrete uses, production and so forth. Earnest problem solving doesn't start until Chapter 7.

   Parker's 3rd Edition of Structural Steel design has been a trusted companion of mine for many years. The information is concise and the presentation robust without a lot of nonsense. I was hoping to get that same treatment out of Ambrose with this edition of concrete design. Ninety dollars later, I discovered that I have not.

No comments about Building Construction: Principles, Materials, & Systems Homework and Classroom Assignment Manual.

No comments about Contemporary Country.

5 comments about Seaside Style.

1. You need to know this is just about the place, Seaside, in Florida-which is fabulous. I really enjoyed the book.



2. although the book is lovely to look at, the houses are quite similar and very typical of that particular part of Florida, which I did not realize in the description. My intent was to view houses that would fit in all seaside areas and the book therefore was a disapppointment.



3. When one thinks of Seaside, Florida, images of white picket fences, quaint beach cottages painted in pastel colors and tin roofs are evoked. From classic Greek Revival to urban contemporary, the mix of interior and exterior styles fascinate and capture the reader. In Seaside Style, Nesmith allows readers not only to experience the broad range of architectural styles but also tour the interiors of these amazing spaces. Highly recommended for coffee tables from Maine to California and Alabama to Illinois.



4. As a Seaside neighbor in Old Seagrove I have a special interest in Seaside, but I found the book to be much more than the chance to get inside houses of people I know and others I see every day. While the writing in the style of architectural magazines might be called "gushing," Eleanor Lynn Nesmith subtly focuses her seasoned critical eye on the people who brought more than their money to the "New Urbanism" community. The result is the story of how Seaside got its soul. The somewhat dark--almost broody--photos of Steven Brooke suited my taste, though maybe not everyone's.



5. The new Seaside Style book through the pictures of Steven Brooke and the words of Eleanor Lynn Nesmith takes us on a tour inside some of the homes of Seaside. A small town along the Gulf Coast of Florida, Seaside gained world fame as the birthplace of New Urbanism.
   With humor and insight, the author walks us through 23 houses and gives us a glimpse of both the homeowners and their personal style.
   The photographer takes us there with his stunning images.
   A must buy for anyone with an interest in New Urbanisn or viewing the individual styles and the pleasures of living at the beach.