2 comments about Element.

1. The book was a surprise. As stated by other reviewers it has a hightened sense of graphic representation, with overlay line and pattern making searching out patterns in specifically chosen natural landscapes... It was this back to a base principle that was the interesting part. Basic yes. Fundamental yes. It leaves you with more a 'taught to fish' rather than 'given the fish' approach - which can be most infuriating when wishing to have a straight and direct answer. It a book that with a mind emptied of immediate questions will delight both mentally and aesthetically. I recommended this text for the simplicity of underlying basics that leads to the more complex.



2. I really enjoyed Balmond's previous book, "Informal", so I bought this one right away.
   But instead of a inspired engineer sharing his knowledge about complex design, here you can find drawings on photographs of beautiful landscapes (searching for patterns) and his "poetic" thoughts on nature.
   I have to say that this book is beautiful and well designed, but is not challenging intellectually like I hoped. If you're interested in architecture, stick to "Informal", way better than this one.

2 comments about Building with Earth: Design and Technology of a Sustainable Architecture.

1. The Hand-Sculpted House: A Philosophical and Practical Guide to Building a Cob Cottage (The Real Goods Solar Living Book)
   This is a great book..artistic and creative as well as practical. Lots of hands on information



2. This Gernot Mink's book is a great purchase. Its a practical technician book, with all needed information about buinding with loan, clavey soil, prefabricated panels, etc.. I think it is designed to builders and architects, but it is very easy to understand and can be read by everyone.

2 comments about Savannah Squares A Keepsake Tour of Gardens, Architecture, and Monuments.

1. Although you would think this more of a coffee table book, it is a good read and has some beautiful pictures.



2. Savannah has always been a "southern-charm" city. Some of it's beauty and history has been preserved by the renewal of interest in it's squares, small parks and cemeteries. This book is a perfect companion depicting the charm of this city-so unique in the busy world of today. Not only is the photography superb, but the accompanying writing is great. A great memory boost for someone who has been to Savannah or a precursor for someone preparing to tour the city. I visited in the mid 1960s and was delighted to see it again! Thanks!

5 comments about Visual Grammar (Design Briefs).

1. I stumbled on this book at the local library and found it a very fascinating read. I've been involved in graphic production for years and can push the objects around on the comp, but never really knew the basics and foundation of visual language.
   
   This is a great primer to learn the basic concepts that lead one to want to learn the syntax and the structure of the visual nouns learned.
   
   This is something I will purchase and pore over until I learn the concepts.



2. Wow. Thats just it for this book. Seriously, someone wanted a publication and farted this thing out. I mean, it gives you the vocab of the elements...thats it. Im a college design teacher and this book would be great for a middle-school art/design class.
   
   If you want simplistic...this may be for you.



3. This book certainly takes the simplicity route. It is ruthlessly straightforward in regards to expressing it's information, in a layout that is without a doubt concise and efficient. The nadir? It also unfortunately reads like stereo instructions and the knowledge it tries to impart is thoroughly basic at best. Simple shapes and the like may be the building blocks of structure, but without any really tangible information to be gleaned we are left with an attractive skeleton. Yes there are some bits of wisdom in this book as well as some fetching Adobe Illustrator rendered graphics, but by and large we're just left with more white space than a snowstorm. I really do think people should form their own opinions about reference materials however, maybe you could learn a great deal from this work. Buy it, try it, but I honestly can't envision the need for this volume in light of so many other exemplary works on the subject.



4. Everything was excellent except the quality of the binding on the book. it isn't bad enough for me to want to return it but it is something to mention.



5. The standard for visual literacy was set by Dondis A. Dondis in 1973 with "A Primer of Visual Literacy". However, it was (is) a heavy read. Christian Leborg's "Visual Grammar" gives us a more visual approach to the subject. His thesis is that we cannot understand the visual images that assault our eyes unless we share a common understanding of the symbols involved. Leborg enlightens us with a symplified but nonetheless complex view of symbols that are abstract, concrete, active, and relative. It's an interesting exploration using only basic geometric shapes. This is a "must have" book for those who teach design and a desirable book for students. All you need to know is that it is published by Princeton Architectural Press. Princeton publishes some of the most important books on design. Their positive discrimination is evident in all of their publications.

3 comments about Private Landscapes: Modernist Gardens in Southern California.

1. This book is a bit light on for photos. If you are buying it for ideas for a modernist inspired garden you might be disappointed.



2. Although this is mostly a coffee-table book (great pictures and original & later landscaping plans), it does give an unexpectedly generous amount of historical background on the modernist architectural movement in Southern California.
   
   It also focuses on specific examples of modernist houses and gives the background on the thought process of the architects and landscape designers, how they designed the houses and landscapes in relation to the lots and surrounding areas.
   
   I think the best part of this book is how it juxtaposes pictures and plans of each house from the past and how they look in the present day. Thus, you can get an immediate sense of how well the designs have held up over time. Some of it looks dated, but much of it remains relevant (especially with the resurgent interest in mid-century design). Also, you get to see how some of the houses were revised by later architects and designers. You get to see how the original plants have aged as well.
   
   I borrowed this from the library, but I may end up buying it.



3. Kathryn Smith's erudite introduction and the authors' texts add historical resonance to this enticing collection of new and original gardens (including several by Burton) that set off classic houses by Schindler, Neutra, Soriano, and Quincy Jones. The plans and photographs are reminders of how Garrett Eckbo and others led the way in integrating modern architecture with landscape, inspired by Neutra's vision of the house as "a machine in the garden." (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

No comments about Super Normal: Sensations of the Ordinary.

No comments about Architect and Engineer: A Study in Sibling Rivalry.

5 comments about The Phenomenon of Life: Nature of Order, Book 1: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (The Nature of Order).

1. Read 'The Fifteen Properties' excerpted in the 'First Nomination for Book of the Century' customer review, or any other excerpt, and then consider the words of Gordon L. Prescott from 'The Fountainhead':
   
   "The flowing life which comes from the sense of order in chaos, or, if you prefer, from unity in diversity, as well as vice-versa, which is the realization of the contradiction inherent in architecture, is here absolutely absent. I am really trying to express myself as clearly as I can, but it is impossible to present a dialectic state by covering it up with an old fig leaf of logic just for the sake of the mentally lazy layman."
   
   I wish I could give a 'no star' review, but amazon doesn't have that option.



2. Anne Broadbent's review below is completely unjustified. She writes "At the beginning of the first book, Alexander shows a beautiful pagoda - but I still think I wouldn't want to have one near me, in the guise of a shopping centre, school, house, gym, restaurant, bank or whatever: I'd rather see it in its original cultural setting." Alexander agrees completely with this point. His whole theory involves local adaptation following the fundamental properties and transformations that he has outlined in these books. Nowhere does he suggest that we should use the pagoda's form in any other cultural context. If you look at some of the examples he gives from nature you will understand this. He discusses the way sand dunes form following some of the fundamental properties. Does this mean he claims we should create sand dunes in the jungle? Of course not. Examples of buildings, places, and natural phenomena, are used as a means of displaying these fundamental properties and how these properties occur universally in phenomena which the majority of humans, and all other life forms would agree contain the quality of life. Throughout the series of books, Alexander provides hundreds of examples of human creations and natural creations to support his thesis. This may or may not be news to Miss Broadbent, but this is widely acknowledged as good scientific method.



3. I very much enjoyed 'Pattern Language' and had great hopes for this series, however, after finishing book one, I am not sure I will invest in further volumes. I give the author credit for the time and effort spent in trying to develop his 'unified field theory' of good design, but unlike some of the common sense examples in Pattern language, this book moves to a level of metaphysical abstraction that seems to stretch the ideas past their breaking point. Not-Separateness? The Void? Though he makes a valiant effort, I just couldn't shake the fact that I was reading an after-the-fact justification of the authors pre-conceived tastes. Which essentially boil down to: old = good, new = bad.
   Most off-putting also, were the scrawled, barely legible sketches that were meant to illustrate some of the principles. They are so poorly rendered as to be distracting and not very helpful to boot. I would expect more graphic sense from someone purporting to explain the universal secrets of good design. I really wanted to love this book, but I find it simply frustrating.



4. I haven't finshed reading the content of this book - this is more a comment on the delivery medium...
   
   The 'hardcover' book more closely resembles a cardboard cover book. Mine is easily bent and permanently warped in multiple dimensions - makng it much more like your typical large paperback book than a $75 hardback book. It seems harder and harder for publishers to strike that balance between quantity and quality of pictorial content on the one hand, and quality and flashiness of the cover on the other.



5. As a total amateur, I have no design training. I am fascinated by architecture and design, but really only "know what I like". I read "A Pattern Language" when working on object oriented computer systems and find it fascinating - I still re-read it. So, when I saw this book, I was hoping that it would be interesting.
   
   It is way beyond interesting. It completely changed the way I look at the world. It deserves to be read carefully, slowly, savored. Alexander makes his work accessible to both architects and lay people alike.
   
   Bravo.
   
   Even with two kids in college, I am going to spring for book 2. Higher praise could not be given.

1 comments about Beyond the Bungalow.

1. I really enjoyed this book because it points out several historic house museums that I was not aware of and can now add to my must see list. This book covers those homes that are not technically bungalows but are still a part of the rich American Arts and Crafts movement.
   
   The text is a bit hard to work through but the author does have some wonderful ideas. There are roughly 50 different houses shown all from the exterior and about 25 have additional interior photos. Not all the homes are available to the public so it is a nice way to see inside some private homes.
   
   This is not a how to book but it covers its subject nicely.

No comments about Store Windows No. 15 (Store Windows).