1 comments about Smart Materials and Technologies in Architecture.

1. Michelle and Dan - GREAT JOB!!! This book is very insightful on smart/new materials subjects. Because the authors have gone to describe in depth the fundamental characteristics of materials, it really helps the designer to understand how things work at the scale of each materials. I recommend this book for designers/ architects who have interests in smart materials and technologies. NP

4 comments about A Building History of Northern New England.

1. This book is an invaluable resource for understanding and dating early buildings in all of New England.



2. Scholarly and comprehensively researched! The most impressive overview of the cultural landscape of New England yet published. It integrates research from a wide variety of sources and academic fields. A must read for anyone interested in the cultural landscape and material culture of this region.



3. Finally, a book that focuses on New England building history. This book should be read cover to cover for a complete understanding of the evolution of construction and to understand the important details often overlooked. I thought I had a pretty good knowledge of old house construction, but I learned something on every page. Excellent photos demonstrating the point discussed in the text. Should be on the bookshelf of every old house person.
   
   Chester, Vermont



4. Tremendous amount of scholarly work by Mr Garvin detailing construction of buildings in an important area of New England history and culture. Highly recommended.

1 comments about All About Paperweights.

1. 
   The book is not as comprehensive as the title suggests, virtually leaving out the Scottish factories apart from one or two cursory comments. This may seem remiss of the author, especially for those of us who cannot afford the early French weights of Baccarat, Clichy and St. Louis, most of which are snapped up by the American market, where the hobby is thriving. Many of the workers from these French factories migrated to America
   
   Whether the author has missed the Scottish factories intentionally or by error is hard to say, but we should remember that Strathearn, Perthshire and Caithness are relatively new kids on the block and two of those, Strathearn and Perthshire existed for a relatively short space of time. They have been superseded by ex-craftsmen from those factories, i.e. John Deacons and Peter McDougall, to name but two, who are making excellent weights at for the moment, reasonable prices and will have their place in paperweight history, perhaps with their weights commanding the same high prices that the French factories do now, but by and large the Scottish factories play a small part in paperweight history.
   
   Returning to the book itself, what is between the covers, particularly the photographs is nothing short of superb. Photographs of weights from the mid-eighteen hundreds, from the French factories, which coincidentally only made paperweights for a relatively short space of time. These weights are a joy to behold and particularly with the millefiore (thousand flowers) something different can be seen each time you look at the weight.
   
   If you cannot afford the many hundreds, sometimes thousands of pounds that these paperweights now command, a good colour photograph is surely the next best thing.
   
   The many differing forms of paperweight are shown in the book; Millefiore as mentioned. Lampwork and to a lesser degree Sulphides, a type of weight that showed enclosed within the weight, the portrait of a famous person of the day, comprised of a white material, looking a little like china clay. These weights are not usually as popular with the collector as the other types.
   
   If you are a collector or have an interest in paperweights, you will want to own this book.

2 comments about Florida Modern.

1. Jan Hochstim has clearly done a lot of research for this book and it will probably be regarded as the definitive study of the Modern house in Florida. As with many historical architectural studies it is obviously very visual but unfortunately the presentation of the copy and photos are pretty hopeless. Many of the pages give the impression that amateurs designed them.
   
   In the fascinating first chapter: The roots of Modernism, Hochstim explains that the advent of air conditioning more or less ended the run of Modernism in Florida. Admittedly there were not a huge number of Modern houses built since 1945 (and this book probably features the best of them) but those that were had to be designed to take advantage of the cooling breezes in the extreme heat and humidity for several months each year and don't forget the bugs. Another interesting challenge for the local architects was cost. Many of the houses in the book are small and to increase the apparent size extensive use of glass (adjustable for breeze control) brought the outside inside. Air conditioning finished these interesting design problems.
   
   The work of about forty architects is featured. They each get a brief introduction followed by photos and floor plans of their main work. It is these pages where I think the book goes seriously wrong. Frequently photos are completely obscured by white or black type. Floor plans have been reduced to mere decorative elements, made too small and appear in white on many photos. Hochstim writes very informative descriptions of the houses, frequently several hundred words long and amazingly many of these are presented as one long paragraph printed on an exterior photo of the house. All this is made even more annoying because the designers have left plenty of empty page space, either as white or colored panels.
   
   There are so many pages completely ruined by thoughtless design that I think the book is seriously flawed, which is unfortunate because if the words and photos had been handled professionally it could have looked really wonderful. These lovely homes certainly deserve better.
   
   ***FOR AN INSIDE LOOK click 'customer images' under the cover.
   
   
   



2. This book describes and illustrates almost a hundred homes built from 1945 to 1970 in Florida. The homes selected for this book represent the modern architecture that was developing in other parts of the country, especially California. The difference is that Florida architects were being influenced by other aspects such as Southern culture, the tropical vegetation found nearby, and aspects of cooling in the hot southern weathers. This resulted in more of an indoor-outdoor lifestyle than found in much of the rest of the country.
   
   The format of the book is broken down by the region in which the house is located and then by architect doing the design. In addition, the description of the houses is written by Mr. Hochstim. As a professor and a practicing architect he presents a much more interesting commentary than usually found. He often traces aspects of the design or construction techniques from one house to another illustrating how these techniques were developed and perfected.

5 comments about Carving Architectural Detail in Wood: The Classical Tradition.

1. This book was great. It has information I have not been able to find anywhere. I loved it so much I purchased his other one.



2. Frederick Wilbur is the American Master Carver of our time. In this book, written with scholarly erudition, Frederick Wilbur finds the plain words to show us how he works and how we can hope to improve our own carving. This book is indispensable for every wood carver's library. Read it now and refer to it for years. William Tapia



3. This is an excellent book and I highly recommend it. It is quite large, very thorough, is loaded with colour photos (every second page?) and as well, colour diagrams. It covers everything (that I can think of) with almost step-by-step instructions and many examples from both real life (pictures of buildings, doorways, windows) and the workshop (finished items on the table). I find the colour photos very useful, as they give a good indication of the kind of beauty you can aim for, and the photos of work in progress also very useful. I don't think black and white photos are as good for this kind of book, so I was very happy to see so much vivid colour.
   
   I would say you would need to be a bit beyond beginner to get the most out of this, perhaps early novice would be enough.
   
   Overall a very useful book, well worth the money and the best I have seen for carving these kinds of things, and I have the Taunton books (which often seem lacking, somehow).



4. Just what I was looking for. Thanks



5. This work is very descriptive in both word and picture of architectural detail. It demonstrates methods of calculating the plan or measuring the details to permit you to lay out elegant but traditional carving projects. It has been a wonderful source of learning for me and a guide to several carving motifs. The author is publishing a second book that I am anxious to see.

1 comments about The Chicago School of Architecture: A History of Commercial and Public Building in the Chicago Area, 1875-1925.

1. This is Condit's most significant contribution to the history of architecture-- a must-read for anyone interested in Chicago, its architecture, and the broader themes of American vernacular inventiveness in design and engineering. Condit is not forgiving of the reader-- prepare to learn more than you might have planned about caissons, load-bearing structural systems, windows, etc.-- but on the other hand there's little or no sense of being instructed in "good taste" here, either. Condit makes a plain-speaking argument and provides the information to support it. Those who wish to delve deeper will want to look to Condit's two-volume study of architecture in Chicago, long out of print but still available used. There his strong-willed personality appears more forcefully and so does his penchant for the technical; one leaves the work with a richer vocabulary, a sharper eye, and perhaps a sharper tongue, as well.

3 comments about Neoclassicism in the North: Swedish Furniture and Interiors 1770-1850.

1. A rich variety of houses, some grander than the others, but all well-to-do peoples dwellings. Some of the manors featured aren't very well known even in Sweden, but they certainly deserve their place here. The few I do miss are featured in "The Swedish Room" e.i. Lay-out-wise it is by now perhaps a little dated, but the auther knows his subject very well and the accompaning photos are mostly marvellous. When a Swede writes on Swedish interiors the result is accurate as this book shows.



2. This book is a treasure of neoclassicism in Sweden. It is supported by sensible (not gushy interior design talk) text and is logically sequenced.

   The pictures and additional material is excellent; although the lighting in some of the photographs is less than perfect.

   This is an inspirational reference for the topic.




3. This is another great book for Swedish decorative detail .A great asset in the decorative artist`s Library.A good source for Bolander`s beautiful wall murals. Great photography with excellent detail shots .A beautiful and knowledgable book. I am a decorative artist specializing in custom painted furniture for decorators and designers and have found this book to be a great resource and very helpful in my work.

No comments about Design Hotels Yearbook 2007.

5 comments about Mall Maker: Victor Gruen, Architect of an American Dream.

1. There are only two things to say about this book on Gruen the Mall Maker: 1) The writing must be overlooked, and 2) the substance of the book is crucial to understanding American cities and American culture as we know it today. It made me want to read more about architecture, city planning and economic trends as market forces redesigning neighborhoods, towns, cities and, ultimately, our country. It made me want to go back to school and get a degree in Urban Planning. It made me want to petition the school board to include the study of commerical design and the rise of malls in every high school American history class. It made me want to recommend it to all of my friends who live in cities, love cities, love their malls, live near malls and who shop at malls. The subject matter fascinated me; the writing - not so much so.



2. This is an excellent book about a single, fascinating individual and about American culture in the twentieth century. There is an irony here: Gruen was very idealistic about the mall's potential to improve society, but he didn't realize that, ultimately, his creation would cause the "malling of America." And he DID build the first mall...the first ENCLOSED mall (rather than an outdoor arcade), which was copied all over the country and is now the dominate type.



3. Mr. Gruen developed and expanded the concept, but no, he did not originate it - he and the automobile made it more successful and widespread, enriching us all.
   
   1956 the first mall? Er, no, not really: not by a century. Google "Arcade+Providence"

   The Arcade Building building by J.C. Bucklin & Russell Warren, 1827-1829
   
   The shopping arcade started here. While not called "shopping mall" the arcades were the start of having multiple shops under a single roof. The shopping mall is the same, with addition of parking and not usually urban but sub-urban or even rural.




4. My first true mall shopping was done in a Gruen mall, although I was quite unaware at the time of the fascinating story behind this complex man and his vision for America's public spaces.

   Thanks to this engaging work by Hardwick, I feel now feel enlightened as I prowl the mall that Gruen built. You don't need to be an architect or a social scientist to enjoy this book because the author makes the subject approachable for the inner shopper in everyone.




5. A great read and remarkable that no one has written about Gruen before now. if American retail and architecture is your thing, this is a must have. Hardwick captures Gruen in an objective light, in his time, for the reader to judge. can't wait for the next Hardwick bio.

1 comments about Colonial Homes: 165 Plans with American Style (American Collection) (American Collection).

1. I was disappointed because the majority of the plans in this book have the master bedroom on the ground floor. Even the section on "Early American Colonials" shows floorplans with the master on the ground floor. I've purchased 5 different new-build houses in the suburbs of NYC, Chicago and London and never come across a home with the master on the ground floor. Two realtor friends tell me they are unusual and difficult to resell unless in a retirement community. If you're looking for a ground floor master you'll probably find the book useful but anyone building a traditional house will probably be disappointed as I was.