No comments about Contemporary Country.

2 comments about The Art and Architecture of Islam, 1250-1800 (The Yale University Press Pelican Histor).

1. Simply a spectacular book. The text is fascinating and the images are first rate. The art and architecture of Islam is elegant and beautiful, obviously when you think of Islamic Architecuture of this period you think of the Taj Mahal, which of course, is one of the most spectacular buildings in the world, but there are so many others. This book will make you really appreciate the Architectuere and Art of this wonderful religion. Highly recommended.



2. Testo fondamentale nello studio dell'arte islamica e in grado di mostrare anche ai meno esperti i tesori di un mondo troppo a lungo sconosciuto in occidente.

1 comments about Project Management for Design Professionals.

1. Who would have thought that learning about project management could be so entertaining? Ramroth has included numerous examples, illustrations and commentary to propel readers through what would normally be a rather bland subject. I laughed out loud while reading and surprised not only myself, but also my napping children!

1 comments about Pet Architecture Guide Book Vol 2.

1. This is a book about special structures in Tokyo, known as "pet architecture." They are built in marginal or neglected spaces, such as small traffic islands, awkward triangular strips, or blocks that got chopped up as the city modernized and widened the roads for vehicular traffic. What results are mini-architectures, which Atelier Bow-wow attempts to give a kind of logic through a case study analysis that ranges from an add-on garage to homeless shelters.
   
   For anybody who appreciates the amazing constraints that become moments of extreme creativity, this is a great book. It has everything: nice clear organization, good photographs, and eloquent descriptions that note idiosyncrasies and aesthetic choices. Since the "pets" are listed serially, one can pick up the book, open it to any page, and begin there.

No comments about Site Analysis: A Contextual Approach to Sustainable Land Planning and Site Design.

5 comments about Small Strawbale.

1. Purchased this book for my husband, and he's enjoyed keeping it on our coffee table and using it for inspiration toward a future small eco-cabin we are planning. Good practical information, as well as fodder for dreaming.



2. This book has a handful of straw bale homes that the vast majority of people would never want to live in. There is also no real technical or design information.
   
   It is basically a storybook of a few people that decided to embrace a very minimal lifestyle. It may work for a few that would have lived in a commune or co-op in the sixties.



3. This was a good book, but I don't think it was as good as the other Steen books. There always seems to be something left out and questions that are still unanswered. But, it was OK.



4. With so many eco-yuppies building strawbale versions of "McMansions", buildings that are far too large with spaces that serve nothing but the vanity of their owners, it was a pleasure to find a book that espoused the virtues of building only what you need to live comfortably, instead of what you have been told you should want. These small strawbale buildings are within the financial grasp of so many more people yearning to live well on this planet, instead of trying to fill 3000 square feet of inflated ego and empty dreams. Go for it!



5. We live in a Strawbale home and have taken classes from the Steens at their home/workshop in Canelo, Arizona.
   
   This book is a very attractive and well put-together and very accurately describes many of the beautiful homes and buildings that we saw in Canelo, and that we have seen since we started building our own.
   
   Even if you don't ever plan on building anything, this book shows many, many excellent ideas for decorating and enhancing the home that you have. And it may even convince you to try your own hand at building.
   
   William and Colleen
   Buena Vista Colorado

5 comments about Collage City.

1. I am a second-generation Rowe disciple, I guess. I studied with a Rowe acolyte in graduate school and worked with co-author Fred Koetter in an urban design studio. Without the efforts these teachers have made to bring Rowe's ideas to urban design students, they may well have been neglected, because Collage City is a mess. It is badly marred by dense thickets of poorly-edited, idiosyncratic prose. It was one of the more frustrating books I had to read in school, but I'm glad it was required, because the close readings uncovered real gems of theory. Rowe reintroduced the complexities and possibilities of art into urban design right at the peak of Modernism's influence. Architecture was still in the thrall of La Ville Radieuse and socialist-utopian projects that aimed to simplify and disinfect cities. Jane Jacobs saw the social perils of these projects, Colin Rowe saw the architectural perils. His critique of the Modern project was among the most powerful, and among the least cogent. Still, though it requires some serious digging in prose-mud, the gems are there and worth the search. I recommend this book for graduate-level urban theorists or serious urban design students.
   
   But there are more accessible urban design primers: Aldo Rossi, et al, The Architecture of the City, for example, covers much of the same ground Rowe so spottily tilled [except where Eisenman is involved in the book: he is a worse prose-stylist than Rowe]. For non-specialists I also recommend Witold Rybczynski's City Life as a thoughtful and LUCID introduction to American urbanism, along with a critique of the last few decades of urban "development".



2. Does not contribute much to the discussion, written in a lengthy, self-important, arrogant manner.



3. This book is the most pompous garbage I have ever seen. It is unreadable drivel that has no point and adds nothing to the search for solutions to our urban problems. What were the authors thinking? They deserve the "Emperor has no clothes" award for this trash. Save your money and buy "A Pattern Language," "Edge City," "Changing Places," "Home from Nowhere," or any of many meaningful books that say something relevant.



4. Colin Rowe proposes a form of inclusive urbanism that meshes the modern city with the traditional city.



5. Rowe and Koetter's brilliant excursus of urban design theory via the texts and contexts of intellectual history.

4 comments about Harbor Hill: Portrait of a House.

1. Harbor Hill: Portrait of a house deals with one of the most important private homes built in America's "gilded age." Both the family involved, and the architect, provide the meat for a good story. Unfortunately, the result is a dry review of the details. Perhaps there are few surviving photographs of the home's interior, but too few are included to gain a good picture of the interior design and furnishings. In the end, the book is something of a disappointment.



2. BEAUTIFUL PHOTOS AND WELL WRITTEN STORY OF AN ESTATE THAT NO LONGER EXISTS....THE AUTHOR MADE IT EXIST AGAIN, IF ONLY IN THE MIND OF THE READER.



3. Gave as gift and person who received it absolutely loves it. She could not put the book down and we have ordered another copy to give as gift to somene else! Very well written and immensely interesting.



4. Harbor Hill was one of the most spectacular mansions ever built in America. Designed by the iconic Stanford White and built to embody the MacKays desire to accend to the pinacle of NYC society. This book charts the rise of the MacKays and their ultimate demise, along with the similar fate of this great house. The mistress of the house was a real peice of work, but this beautiful showplace was really her creation, she knew what she wanted and Stanford White gave it to her, with Mr. MacKay's money of course. The book is well researched and it's an interesting read and the images are first rate. Honestly, it's tragic that this house no longer survives, you just wonder what kind of philstine could tear something like this down, unfortunitely this being America and not Europe, none of us should be surprised it was so uncerimoniously destroyed. Harbor Hills fate closely resembles the great Philadelphia mansion, Whitehall, and the MacKays are more than a bit similiar to the Stotesbury's, both thought they built their great estates to last for centuries and instead they barely outlived them..when you see the kind of grand mansions built today in places like Bel Air and Palm Beach, you can't help but notice how inferior they are in comparison to the great Gilded Age mansions like Harbor Hill, it's a shame we dont have more respect for beautiful architecture of the past, we inherited so much from the Europeans, but that unfortunitely was not one of them...too bad for Harbor Hill, now just a ghost, haunting old sepia stained images.

1 comments about David Adjaye: Houses.

1. The book is chock full of excellent photos, plans, sections, diagrams, sketches and thoughtful text. This is a top notch architecture book which is a perfect snap shot to David Adjaye's residential work and happily enough, millwork and furnishings also by the architect. With Adjaye's work primarily in/around London, a good portion of it is not totally ground up but intelligent re-workings and engagement with existing structures. I'm looking forward to the inevitable "Houses Vol.2".

No comments about Images in Stone: Southwest Rock Art.