2 comments about Cottage Retreats: Decorating Ideas for Every Mood.

1. This is 1 of my FAVORITE books....just take a look at the cover....need I say more!? GORGOUS!



2. I am re-doing a bedroom and wanted ideas for doing it in a "cottage style".The book has wonderful pictures that give you ideas for every room in the house.

2 comments about R. M. Schindler: 1887-1953; An Exploration of Space (Taschen Basic Art Series).

1. It has been about 3 years since I wrote the first review for this book on Amazon.com. In that time there have been some new, and I feel better publications about R. M. Schindler
   
   The most comprehensive Text is Judith Sheine's book (entitled R. M. Schindler) published by Phaidon. Please see my review for more details. Sheine is also the editor and narrator for two CD-ROMs produced by Planet Architecture. These are both excellent sources. Lastly is the lavishly photographed catalog for the Schindler Exhibit entitled The architecture of R. M. Schindler by Elizabeth A.T. Smith. This has good essays and photos although I feel is better as supplementry text to Sheine's new book



2. I am an avid fan of this master architect/builder and I am pleased to see that Shindler is finally getting the attention he deserves. There is an abundance of material about Schindler now available to the public. Whereas, just ten years ago only a few books were available about Schindler (Gebhard and McCoy). This is a large format book with lavish color photos. Early books on Schindler, such as those by Gebhard, McCoy, and Sarnitz were small in format and contained equally small black and white images.

   This book is divided into two parts: Essay and Selected Works. The essay, by noted California Author/Historian James Steele assumes that the reader has some familiarity with Schindler and the Wagnerschul. The author skips over biographical data on the architect, such as birth, upbringing, family life etc. and instead presents the reader with a concise, competent essay on Schidler's place in Early Twentieth Century architecture. The essay shows how Schindler was influenced by his mentors and peers such as Loos, Wright, Nuetra, and Irving Gill. It also touches on Schindler's rejection from Johnson and Hitchcock's International Style exhibit.

   The second part of the book - selected works - presents the reader with thirty-two of the architect's built works in a chronological order. The selected projects include twenty-five houses, six apartment buildings/complexes and a Baptist church. Each work contains a brief description. About half the projects contain color photos. These appear to be recent photos and include many interior shots. Some projects, such as the Kings Road House and the Wolfe Residence contain reproduced color drawings (plans, sections, elevations) There are also a few renderings, color and b/w. Other projects are, disappointedly, not given proper attention. The Lovell Beach House, considered by many to be Schindler's masterpiece does not have the plans and section that are so essential to the understanding of this seminal structure. One project, The Grokowski Residence, contains only one, small black and white photo - not sufficient to give an adequate description.

   The book also contains a map of L.A. with the architect's projects pin-pointed and a brief biography at the end. There is no bibliography that could point the serious scholar to additional sources, nor does the book contain any of Schindler's writings.

   THE BOTTOM LINE This book contains nice color photos - some apparently previously unpublished, some good graphic resources. It is not a deep book, however it can be a nice compliment to previously published work on this master architect/builder.

1 comments about John Pawson: Themes and Projects.

1. after reading that bruce chatwin had his london apartment designed by john pawson, i went looking for books on pawson's work, and found four. after studying them for a while, i chose this book. it is not the biggest, doesn't have the most pictures, and isn't the cheapest, but it does have beautiful balance. i tried unsuccessfully to wait until after work to look through it, but after a few hours i broke down and skimmed it. i am currently reading through it in detail, and i just love it.

   it has a nice selection of buildings and projects, and with all the various opinions from a variety of different types of people, gives an unusual, but fascinating introduction which leaves me wanting to find out still more. the one regret i have about this book is that there are no pictures of chatwin's apartment, but then none of the others i looked at had them either. there are also a number of useful references to other architects strewn throughout the text, as well as an index to john pawson's body of work. highly recommended.

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1 comments about The Southern Garden.

1. Lydia Longshore's, The Southern Garden, is not the typical pretty picture book about gardens. Although it is lavishly photographed, and written by a true garden lover and gardener, Longshore unflinchingly describes the breakup of her marriage and her attempts to "bring order and beauty to the bleakest of domestic moments."

   Her description of her childhood, her family, her own children, and her recovery after her divorce is haunting but without a trace of self pity.

   Longshore takes the idea of the garden and illustrates how much human life is truly part of the natural life: planting, growth, pruning, death -- all these events happen both in a garden and in one's life.

   As profound as any book of philosophy, as well as vastly informative, and lushly romantic.

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1 comments about Row Houses: A Housing Typology.

1. This is an excellent piece of research on the all pervasive housing type; the rowhouse. It is not an historical overview; it is a series of speculative projects, some student projects, with beautifully realized works of architecture as well. They point towards certain areas of research, into new possibiities of the type; spatial and subdivision innovations, interesting responses to topography, accommodation of parking, and different levels of interaction with the street. Highly recommended.

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