1 comments about City Walks: Boston: 50 Adventures on Foot (City Walks).

1. I bought this item for a early fall trip to Boston and found that these cards were better suited for more serious walker/hikers than a casual tourist looking for cool spots in the city.

5 comments about Architecture Without Architects: A Short Introduction to Non-Pedigreed Architecture.

1. Architecture Without Architects by Bernard Rudofsky demonstrates
   that anonymous builders achieved great form based on function.
   
   Confess right now -- designers, planners, architects!! You don't have
   this book? You don't even know about this book or its author, Bernard
   Rudofsky? Verdict: You are culturally deprived, which means possibly
   professionally challenged. Certainly missing chances for inspiration on the job.
   
   This classic contains a sweeping revelation of universal traditions of
   "vernacular" architecture -- structures and spaces built by untutored hands in
   "primitive" cultures, many now destroyed. Their images remain as amazing
   testaments to ingenious answers to survival issues and creature comforts
   in remote locales which, we see, have considerable sophistication.
   
   Today's higher education for the design professions, focused on formal issues
   of a few recent centuries, may have turned you away from study of remote cultures
   in distant times, viewing vernacular as "inapplicable" in a high-tech world.
   On the contrary, these places and structural events (including whole mountainsides)
   demonstrate the significant human act of building with nature-given materials,
   for human needs and use, with sensitivity to innately purposeful form,
   without a thought about the disruptive gloss of fashion cycles.
   
   Bernard Rudofsky was a brilliant iconoclast and innovator. As a restless architecture
   student in Vienna in 1923, he cut loose to undertake a wanderjahr exploring distant
   places and forgotten world cultures. Backpacking across Europe, Middle East, Asia,
   and Africa, he photographed what he discovered -- indigenous building
   forms and construction methods that created real architecture, unburdened by
   pretensions and formal imitations. He documented solutions that were
   simple and direct, and elegantly ingenious in the interest maklng things work.
   
   Today more than ever, "primitive" construction can amaze and instruct, and inspire
   by addressing ever-present habitation needs -- climate conditioning by controlled air flow,
   light control with roof and wall materials, floor heating, even lifts and elevators,
   all achieved by design strategies unacquainted with modern mechanics
   -- i.e."energy" powered by ingenuity.
   
   In the early 1960's, after his exhibition "Are Clothes Modern?" for New York's MoMA,
   Rudofsky prepared an exhibition on anonymous architecture, broadening his own photo
   documentation with collectors' images from other distant realms, enriching the
   theme of enduring historic form and purpose.
   
   His exhibition "Architecture Without Architects" (1964-65) brought avant-garde insight
   to the expanding horizon of modernist values, demonstrating that vernacular form and
   purpose are indivisible, and usually immutable -- as they are serving their purpose
   to perfection.
   
   In this recapitulation of the exhibition, there are shelters, streets, and functional
   enclosures crafted for the lasting use of whole communities. There are the "found"
   habitations of rocky hillsides, underground villages safely recessed from climate and
   predators; habitable hilltop fortresses, medieval streets lined with shady pedestrian
   arcades; a city of roofs built as "windscoops" to direct breezes into each room; huts
   made of decorative woven matting, some with vegetal roofs; decorative pidgeoncotes
   to facilitate fertilizer production; aerated vermin-proof granaries; streets shaded by
   mats and vines, high structures built of grass.
   
   The know-how of the anonymous builder shown here presents the a major untapped
   source of architectural inspiration for industrial man. The wisdom derived goes beyond
   economic and esthetic solutions that press on our wasteful modern mechanical
   solutions. In the author's words, It touches on the "increasingly troublesome problem of
   how to live and let live, how to keep peace with one's neighbors" while dealing with
   the diminishing natural resources we all must share.
   
   Here is Green Design before it was invented -- again. Here is Civic Design
   and indeed Urban Design when few except Rudofsky recognized it.
   This book of arresting images and informed ideas may stir you to speculate:
   What might simple ingenuity forge for us in our low-energy future?
   
   Jane Thompson
   Thompson Design Group Inc.
   Boston, MA 02210



2. this is a great classic book - a little sad it's all in black and white, sometimes grainy images, but a wonderful view on what existed in 1960s. i'm sure a lot of it has now disappeared.



3. Great book with great pictures and well organized, but all images are only in black and white, and the paperback itself feels flimsy. Thought it was a great present for a friend of mine, but the B/W is quite a let-down.



4. As the author shows, you don't need a degree to build practical beautiful buildings. Just the need and some perseverance can do wonders as shown inside.



5. Originally published in 1964, concurrent with the exhibition Architecture Without Architects shown at MOMA, this slim volume of text and photographs radiates heat and light when reviewed almost forty years later. In fact, Rudofsky's introductory essay is so fresh today it is almost inconceivable it was written the better part of four decades ago! Offering a scathing attack on modern approaches to the landscape and to problems of living more generally in a time of rampant population growth, Rudofsky shrewdly pointed to the fact that "part of our troubles results from the tendency to ascribe to architects-or, for that matter, to all specialists-excessive insight into problems of living when, in truth, most of them are concerned with problems of business and prestige." But what transpires when the focus can be maintained on functionality, efficiency, ease of use, and a design aesthetic that remains humbly in tune with and loyal to the mood and visual imperative of the land under development? To answer these crucial questions Rudofsky takes us back a few thousands of years to the origins of architectural strivings (even preceding man's earliest efforts) and the material results thereof.

   The essential point Rudofsky cares to make in these pages is that "vernacular architecture does not go through fashion cycles. It is nearly immutable, indeed, unimprovable, since it serves its purpose to perfection." Rooted in a practical, harmonious relationship with its setting, 'primitive' architecture exemplifies the art of living well through its consistent use of frugality in construction, cleanliness in line and detail, and a general respect for "creation." Further, its impetus is aligned with a human dimension fundamentally as opposed to an excessively hubristic predisposition to conquer nature at whatever cost. Finally, from Rudofsky's vantage, these principles are usefully to be understood as timeless guidelines for the future as well as descriptions of the past.

   According to Rudofsky, sophisticated people seek rugged country where what is intrinsic holds sway. His search for the origins of a humanistic architecture was always in rugged terrain where people's lives must necessarily challenge the difficulties of topography and the vicissitudes of climate. His primary heuristic interest was in elucidating the solutions creatively and spontaneously generated by these people in order to make such rugged locales inhabitable AND livable. Architecture Without Architects demonstrates the way in which basic solutions to complex problems were developed historically and why those solutions are so important to remain cognisant of today.

3 comments about Small Bungalows.

1. Found this book very interesting. There were pictures and plans of the houses featured. There were also explanations of features inside and outside the houses. Enjoyed reading this book. One of my favorites



2. I believe the value (value for money) to be good. I got some very neat ideas for the house we will be building from this very book. The setup of the book is high quality and the photography is awesome, the lay-out is clear and an easy read. I also need to state that some of the material has absolutely nothing to do with bungalow style interiors A (Kelly green computer room with sixty-ish style blue purple figures?)



3. This is the perfect book for me. I am a big fan of Arts & Crafts homes and I love to look at home plans. This book has both. The plans have all the details one looks for in a bungalow, plus a modern open floor plan. I want to build them all.
   
   Janice
   in the Sierra

5 comments about The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design.

1. This book is so poorly written and illustrated that I had difficulty not just giving up. Apparently it was never seen by an editor. The text is rambling and not clear. The illustrations are mostly so simple as to not convey any information. As far as I can tell his premise supporting the anthropic principle is just silly. While he is a well known physicist he engages in a lot of name dropping in an apparent attempt to enhance his importance.



2. The author jumps around and changes subjects too much. He starts an explanation, then stops halfway through and says he's saving it for the next chapter. His analogies are absolutely terrible. He is pushing a theoretical agenda, so don't read this book if you're looking for just a simple, straightforward explanation of string theory. I understood most of what he had to say only because I had previous knowledge of string theory.



3. Susskind's vision of the cosmic landscape provides the most compelling evidence yet that our Universe is just one of many in an infinite spacetime.
   This completely pulls the rug from under the "intelligent design" argument.



4. Thought provoking and fascinating book that gives a clear notion what anthropic principle is about. Have the physicists discovered a new fundamental law of nature? This book gives a definite impression that this indeed happened.



5. Product came in a timely manner and was in great condition. Was a great pick as a Christmas present for my boyfriend's father.

5 comments about Feng-Shui.

1. A book must not be miss if you are looking for answer in feng shui as the author Eva Wong had all the question and answer you need to know.



2. Wish I'd seen this book before I had read other books on the subject - I could have taken the author's advice to read a couple of them thoroughly than try to read a library's worth on this harmonious way of living and designing your environment.

   Feng-shui has shed the image of "some Easern mumbo-jumbo that has no impact on modern life," as people have increasingly realized and accepted its benefits and become more aware of the need to live in harmony with the environment.

   This is a great book on the subject - easy to read but full in addressing its subject. It should be required reading, not just for any urban or other planner, but for anyone interested in living a better life.




3. Eva Wong's book has much in its favor. Historically, the selection of a grave site was one of the most important commissions a feng shui master would receive. You had to be at peace with nature for a long time, and this was no snap question.

   Mistress Wong introduces you to this ancient Chinese landscape of the mind. I would never have come to appreciate the red raven formation in front of my Seattle home were it not for this informative book.

   I do not pretend to be expert in these arts. Westerners used to consider all of this 'black magic.' This is fusion culture for those who like fusion cuisine. Bon appetit!




4. When I started to become interested in Feng Shui, I didn't know where to look. So many books are out there, but which ones are for real? And which ones are just jumping on the new fad band-wagon? At some point I came across some information on Eva Wong and decided to purchase this book. It was a great decision.

   With Feng Shui, you have to realize that it is an ancient art that is so much bigger than what you read in a book. This volume is an excellent step in the right direction if you are desiring to learn about the tradional Chinese practice. It covers everything from the history of Feng Shui to taking readings of your home. It is simply amazing the time and knowledge that goes into this practice and Ms. Wong breaks it down chapter by chapter.

   Taking time to really sit down and study Ms. Wong's book has been rewarding...and has me asking to learn more. One great piece of advice she does mention is to learn one or two books well...no need to ready everything everyone has written on the subject.




5. I had been searching for a good feng shui book for months when I found this one. This books is both beautifully written and a very easy read, which is quite rare for an instructional book. The layout of this book is a mastery in itself, and the cross references between chapters are great. Although I had originally planned to skim - or yes maybe skip - some of the chapters, I quickly found myself engrossed. The background information gave me a much clearer understanding of the art of feng shui and a strong foundation for its practice. Often I find teachers of Chinese art forms caught in a trap between a desire to make the art form easier for the Western world to adopt/understand and a desire to stay true to the art form as it should be practiced. In my opinion, Ms. Wong did a masterful job of avoiding this trap. It is at once a very practical, very beautiful guide. Thank you for a wonderful book!!

4 comments about Simplified Irrigation Design, 2nd Edition (Landscape Architecture).

1. I have some basic knowledge of irrigation and right off the bat I was irritated with the way the chapters where laid out. He starts right in with sprinkler head performance and layout before going into the explanation of irrigation, and the basic principles of hydraulics that I believe should be the foundation what you learn first before anything else. The other thing that was that for the money I don't believe it was worth it maybe more like $20-25. Most of the information you can find on the internet searches. But, all in all it was a very easy reading book that did help me fill some holes in my irrigation knowledge.



2. This resource is excellent. Extreme detail, great illustrations, and information that is not provided by other typical irrigation books you'll find at Home Depot. I'm a landscape designer and highly recommend this resource.



3. I read this book to get ready to take my Texas Irrigation License exam. It explained how to properly install a professional quality sprinkler system in an easy to read and understand format. This book goes into detail about how to layout the sprinkler heads, how to pipe it all together, and how all the parts work together. I have read many irrigation books...This was the best book to get a good understanding of sprinkler systems without becoming an expert in the field of irrigation. Perfect for the do it yourself homeowner or individual wanting to get into the irrigation industry. I now have my license and highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn to install a good sprinkler system without having to read an irrigation reference manual.



4. I was very disappointed with this book. The author places emphasis on the use of one brand of irrigation equipment, seldom mentioning other options that may better fit the application. I also found several errors in the enclosed calculations... not simply a typo, but in the methodology of the formulas. I would not recommend this book...

5 comments about The Complete Valley of the Kings: Tombs and Treasures of Egypt's Greatest Pharaohs (Complete).

1. I bought this for my daughter and she loved it. The pictures along with the writing made it very easy for her to understand, but not "babyish". I would heartily recommend this book for people that have a genuine interest in ancient Egypt.



2. Did you know that there are chambers in the bottom of many temples that are still 'uncharted"? Neither did I. This is a great book.



3. This is a truely comprehensive reference book of the Valley and like others in the Thames and Hudson series is a must for scholars of Ancient Egypt. Excellent!



4. Excellent book, if you are interest in ancient egypt, read this book, you'll learn a lot of interesting facts about the valley of the kings, the pharaohs, etc..



5. It is the best book on the Valley of the Kings. In it you can find not just information but a treasure, a treasure showing the magnificent treasures of ancient Egypt.

5 comments about Robert Polidori: Havana.

1. There are two principal cities in the world where time seems to stand still. One is Pripyat' Ukraine which was abandoned following the Chernobyl disaster in April, 198. In that unfortunate time literally all the people left within 24 hours. The other is Havana whose middle and upper classes departed over several decades following the Cuban Revolution mainly to live in the United States.
   
   Unlike Pripyat' where vegetation and wildlife replaced human inhabitants, the City of Havana lives on despite its painful decay.
   
   Robert Polidori's Havana depicts several days in the life of the city in the early years of the new century. Probably by chance, the period he photographed represented simultaneously the zenith and nadir of the Revolution. His camera details the architectural heritage of the colonial era set among the blockish facades of Socialist reality. Even as neglect defaces these urban jewels, a certain spirit shines through recalling a city whose exiles in Florida still yearn to return.
   
   As we enter the last days of the Cuban experiment in our hemisphere, the Havana so lovingly pictured here will not endure. Buildings and homes will be restored naturally enough. But the spirit of the urban caretakers of this legacy might have been lost forever if not for Polidori's lens. This is an amazing and dreamy work that belongs to a city and people whose heritage stayed behind.



2. Polidori's work is not just about the places he photographs. This book is something to recommend to people with no understanding of Havana or it's history as well as those that do know the city. He has captured an eerie world, ghostly and abandoned, yet clinging to life. It's a dark tropical dream. If you find peeling paint and dark hallways strangely inspiring, you will treasure this collection of work from a masterful photographer with a great appreciation for decay and its warmth as well as sadness. Look at these photographs and enjoy their mysteries.



3. Being Cuban American and having visited Havana numerous times as well as having the opportunity to actually see firsthand, many of these grand interiors Polidori so eloquently displays for all to page through and imagine the events that have transpired in these interiors. The joys, the struggles, the rise and fall of a culture with all it's social graces. This book captures what I captured with my own eyes passing through those marvelous mansions of Cuba's golden age. Havana is truly a Paris of the Caribbean, although decayed and damaged, she is still beautiful, graceful and inspirational to all who visit her. Thus the term "Havana-itis", a disease thought to befall visitors who fall instantly in love with the grand ole dame. I believe there is still hope for her to be restored to her rightful brilliance one day, If only the current government would allow it.



4. Visceral images of a unique city, in which splendor and squalor are juxtaposed, and the past is suspended within the present, decaying yet enduring. Robert Polidori has captured the beauty and melancholy of Havana, gazing unflinchingly at the ruins and the people who inhabit them. When the boycott is finally lifted, all this will be swept away by a tide of new development, so try to see it now and use this wonderful book as an introduction and a lasting memento. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)



5. These photos are breathtakingly spectacular. As soon as I saw this book, I had to buy it. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything that captures exactly what being in Cuba feels like: as if you were witnessing the beautiful ruins of a decaying Roman empire. It's the most spectacular, cinematic misery you could ever experience. And I'm glad that someone like Robert Polidori has captured it so faithfully before it all crumbles to the ground (or gets built over with hideous concrete Spanish hotels).

5 comments about Calatrava: Complete Works, 1979-2007.

1. I received this book as a gift from much cherished colleagues - and I very much appreciate their generosity.
   While the book does offer a comprehensive overview of Calatrava's work I would say this is a book for the lay reader, not the professional. Firstly there is not enough technical information in the form of plans, sections, elevations. Secondly, the amount of real estate allocated to Calatrava's sketches of the human body not to mention the post hoc sketches of his designs suggest a somewhat vain and spurious connection with the architectural work itself. And thirdly, the book is grossly oversized - and overpriced - to be a really useful addition to the office library. In short this is not even a coffee table book, it is a work of overweaning self-regard. not an unimportant lesson for today's architects, but perhaps not the intended message.



2. this a very good book, and of course the price for such a luxury edition is more than reasonable. the only drawback is the lack of planimetric information, which for me as an architecture student is basic if you want to fully understand a work of such complexity....
   anyway, the watercolors are pretty good, and as my title in this review inferred, this is obviously a more artistic focused book rather than architectural.
   so be warned, the book and the whole presentation are breathtaking, but the content is more artistic than architectural, so be prepared not to find blueprints of various of the works presented in this book.
   
   XD



3. This book has everything you need to know about this amazing architect.
   maybe it lacks floor plans, other than that the study sketches reveals a lot of informations on the buildings.



4. I could not agree more with the reviewer below that stated this book is not the end all be all, but for admirers of Calatrava's work, it would be a must have...uh if you have the requisite trust fund that is..this book is SERIOUSLY overpriced, even at 500 plus pages it's just not worth this much bank. The images are quite good and the text interesting though not indepth. I was most intersted in Calatrava's transit station in lower Manhattan, I was a bit disappointed more text and imagery was not given to that. All and all, just really for affluent ardent Calatrava fans.



5. Santiago Calatrava is an astounding architect, engineer and artist. His work has revitalized the organic tradition of Frank Lloyd Wright and Bruce Goff. Calatrava's work is rewarding on both a macro scale and micro scale because he pays equal attention to building details and to his all-encompassing vision (as best expressed at the City of Arts and Sciences complex in Valencia). It should be stated clearly that this is a coffee table book and not a scholarly book. The emphasis is clearly on the photos and on Calatrava's watercolors. Another point that needs to be made is that the title of this book is somewhat misleading. It only includes a bare-bones listing of all his work and covers just a selection of his major built, unbuilt and upcoming projects in depth. For that reason, this is a fine addition to a Calatrava collection, but it is not the be-all or end-all.

5 comments about For an Architecture of Reality.

1. Unlike poetics of bordom this one is short and sweet. Simple concept told with pictures and very little narrative. I read it on a train ride. Thanks.



2. Even though this book was written a while ago (by fashions standard) it is completely relevant today. Benedikt nails down what I've been looking for and inarticulately talking about for a while: the "realness" of buildings. I'm tired of flash and fashion and this essay is a call to arms for architects to re-engage fundamental concepts about how our designs relate to space and time. A must read, preferably in masters years...



3. Mr. Benedikt writes with good intentions but a pretentious flare that I feel undermines the very statement he is making with this book. If one is to get from the beginning of an idea to the end of that idea with efficiency and clarity, one should probably do so without excessive quotes, brackets and interstitials like "I think." This call to arms is reduced to an academic brain tease, muddles its point, and probably wastes a lot of black ink. How "real" is that? Covering one side of each bleached-white page with black ink? Excellent points are made, but there is much too much of Mr. Benedikt between each.



4. I'm in the middle of an M.ARCH degree right now and this book has been the most influential thing I've read so far. It reminds me why I'm in school and what I'm supposed to be learning how to do. You can make sexy images and wonderful compositions that pretend to be sections and plans, or, you can think about the actual presence of the building. It's the difference between Hadid's work - which is incredibly beautiful on paper and in her paintings and yet often disorienting in real life - and Kahn's work which has fairly boring plans and sections (to me), but is powerful beyond words in actuality.



5. 10 years ago I borrowed this small book to a friend who liked it so much I never saw it since. The thoughts on the essence of realness in architecture, though a reaction to postmodernism, have made a lasting impression, and I was happy to regain the book. It is a reminder that architecture sometimes, just by being there, defines a _here_ and _now_ for us. No references, no games, no pretending. Pure existance. Thoughtprovoking and challengeing.