3 comments about XS: Big Ideas, Small Buildings.

1. This book is about creativity and innovation; not just small-house-designing, but compact-space-creation. It contains not only residential projects, but also public facilities (e.g., bus stops) and objects (e.g., stunning tents), plus some "think-outside-the-box" structures for extream weather (e.g., north pole), remote locations, unusual situations (e.g., floating on a river) and pure entertainment (a pocket-size [before use] inflatable space). It also includes all the information about the architects and designers and the prices (generally very cheap, the inflatable space only costs about 5 franc!). However, I would like to have more informatin about those designs, maybe more pictures or text to get a more complete 3D feeling of those spaces.
   
   I discovered this book in a bookstore. After skimming through it, I immediately decided to order one copy. If you want to find some recent architecture and building cases, you'd better get some other books or buy some magazines. But if you want to know how far architecure and design can go and want to experience some intellectural stimulation, then get this book. You will be enlightened.



2. I found this book while doing a newsstand project for my studio class. I was interested in seeing how other designers had tackled the high level of detail that becomes necessary when creating a small structure (and get some inspriation for my own project along the way). I wasn't disappointed. Although I usually like to see more process sketches in architecture books (Xs is completely lacking in this regard), the variety, creativity and inventiveness of the projects exhibited won me over. The different uses of materials are especially diverse and inspiring. The photographs are thoughtful and do a good job of showing much of the detail that makes these structures interesting in the first place. The text is well-written (I consider any architecture writing not filled with euphemisim and jargon a godsend), and the quotes from the designers is insightful. I started showing Xs to other architects in my firm and it quickly became a hit. It is, above all else, an accessable, fun book.



3. This is a nice little book, well put together, of some unique projects you might not otherwise see because they are so small. It isn't very indepth on any of them, no more that 3-4 pics usually. Contains a lot of projects with novel use of materials, most are built pretty cheap too.
   It is good general book and worth... I think.

1 comments about Contemporary Asian Bathrooms (Contemporary Asian Home Series).

1. This is an undeniably beautiful coffee table book, which shows plenty of photos for bathroom design in Asian countries (Japan, China, Thailand, etc). If what you want is an overview demonstrating how gorgeous a bathroom can be, given an unlimited budget and (often) a lot of space, then you'll probably find this a five-star book.
   
   That wasn't what I was hoping for, however, so I'm personaly a little disappointed. First, when you can buy the finest (such as lots of marble) then it's easy to create something beautiful. For my purposes... as a new homeowner, I've been considering doing one of my bathrooms with an Asian theme. This book didn't give me much in the way of ideas for that. On the other hand, it's so pretty that I don't really mind.

No comments about Thomas Jefferson: Architect: The Interactive Portfolio.

4 comments about Classic English Interiors.

1. A book of grace and perfect taste. A good book to come back to when you need another idea... end tables, curtains, carpets, furniture placement...... lovely ideas...ideas that can work in a small apartment, modest colonial or grand house..... it's the 1 book in my collection of 50 or more interior design books that I would NOT sell... it is my favorite....



2. A must have reference for any professional or amature decorator. But be warned, if this is your first book by Lady Henrietta you will be hooked and will soon order her entire body of work.



3. Very beautiful book, I enjoy looking at it, lovely (mostly formal) drapery ideas, but for the money, I wish I could have checked it out at the library.



4. Classic English Interiors is a great book depicting the more upper-scale homes/interiors of England. The photos are exceptionally good too. If you are contemplating using English style in your decorating scheme, this is surely a good book of information and photos.

3 comments about Architecture After Modernism (World of Art).

1. I have the luxery of learning under Diane, and this book is required for one of the 3 courses she teaches. What makes Diane and her work compelling is that she is able to use history to defend and defeat modern architecture. Clear and consise, Diane's work will follow the background thoughts of many future architects.



2. Thought provoquing and illuminating. Always analyzing architecture from the larger scope of society. Never apologetic nor reserved in her comments, the author comes out as a real person. Whether you agree or disagree with her, I prefer a book like this one than a nonjudgemental review of buildings trends and theories. Wonderfully illustrated, and very clear in most passages. I really enjoyed the analysis of public spaces.



3. Though this was a required text for school, I find myself reading it weeks after finals. It assumes a basic knowledge of Architecture & isn't for the casual reader, but there's much good information to be had. Tends to make me want to travel to the places mentioned.

3 comments about Pamphlet Architecture 15: War and Architecture (Pamphlet Architecture).

1. The work of Lebbeus Woods has always fascinated me. From the initial shear beauty of his art of alternate built landscapes both familiar and alien to his in-depth commentary.
   
   This small book pulls some big punches, revealing the examined paper architectural propositions expressing the underlying spirit and intent of the buildings within their context, altered, re-revealed to that society's 'catastrophe.'
   
   Well worth a buy for students to Architects to all those wishing escapism back to simple truths, and to delight in the satisfaction gleaned. Only wish the inside images were colour!



2. Woods is as much philosopher and urban planner as architect in the traditional sense. His buildings rip open the landscape of the ordered grid, and also open new possibilities about what it means to inhabit a space. The functions of some of his ideas for buildings are obscure even to him. He is constantly trying to deconstruct the politics of architecture and it's place in history. He actively embodies Heidegger's idea that "dwelling means to recieve the sky", except in his dwellings it also means to recieve the ground, and to actively take part in constructing your world.



3. In this work I have seen the necessity for Woods' architecture to exist; where before I had only seen compelling drawings. Lebbeus Woods has dedicated this manifesto to the city of Sarajevo, and to all cities which bear the signs of armed conflict on their walls. He states that the emergence of a new architecture is especially crucial in Sarajevo where the architecture was the target of the attackers (from within) who meant to destroy the culture there in all of its manifestations. The architecture of that culture, the places of worship and of social congregation, became the primary target for the ethnic genocide. As much as the bodies of the people, the architecture was destroyed for its significance as the public body. Therefore it is the architecture which must give a physical presence to these atrocities. Woods makes it clear that it is the responsibility of the architecture to preserve the memory of the destruction- not in a sentimental or memorial manner- but in the same manner as the life of cities has been preserved through use and adaptation throughout history. The war is part of the reality of the place and therefore should not be erased. This work also resists the glorification of war of the Italian Futurists, and the `tabula rasa' erasure of existing conditions of the Modernists. This is a work which acknowledges growth and destruction in the same breath. It is existential in its acceptance of reality and its means of building with it.... not nihilistic. It is existential in that it knows no reality other than what is there, but is not fully convinced by its authority. It revels in the multitudinous nature of the contemporary world, of the present. Unlike the Modernists, Woods does not intend to reinvent the city but to allow the city to be more itself. This work, his infamous drawings, is an attempt to recognize the reality of a place through actualization of events.... By building in and upon the ruins he remakes them into the living substance of the city, leaving no trace unexposed.

No comments about My Father, Frank Lloyd Wright.

4 comments about Build Your Own Stonehenge (Running Press Mini Kits).

1. this little model is very well done and when assembled it looks like the real thing. Very enjoyable indeed.



2. so much detail went into the creation of this product! I'm so impressed with it I'll be buying it for friends as well! Anyone who loves miniatures will go nuts for this tiny kit!



3. Yes, it's tiny. It's supposed to be tiny, that's the point. The whole thing fits in a tiny box, it's the same with the rest of the Running Press Mini Kits. But, like most of their other kits, this is a lot of fun and really cool. You get a tiny model Stonehenge to build and display in your home/office/whatever. If you're quirky, eccentric, or just into this kind of thing then you'll love this. I do!



4. Pay close attention to the Product Dimensions: 3.2 x 3 x 1.3 inches. It's very small, with TINY pieces.

5 comments about Bucky Works : Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today.

1. I've been interested in the ideas and work of Buckminster Fuller for a long time but whenever I've tried to read his books I can't get through them, they're too dense for me. J. Baldwin has a clear and concise writing style which he enhances with illustrative photographs. His book really shows the practical applications of Bucky's work. I highly recommend this book to anyone.



2. I bought tis book several years ago based on a recommendation as a good intro th Buckys work. This book is a gem for all of those who are inclined to engineering and design, not only because of the explanations and ilustrations, but also as testimonial to the thought of the great genius.
   
   Im still amazed that Bucky's thought have not been embraced by us modern citizens.
   
   I am trying to introduce a revolutionary solar coating here in Venezuela [..], I think of the aluminum domes built in Ghana that used natural convection for cooling, and people thoight they were in fact to cold!!! sustainable development has been around longer than we thought, are we ever going to strat smelling the coffee???



3. Inventor Richard Buckminster Fuller, "Bucky," died in l983 at age 88. He is known the world over for his invention of the geodesic dome. The author of this book knew him for 31 years.
   
   Bucky, as he was known to everyone, (except his wife of 66 years) was not a college graduate, yet he received 47 honorary degrees during his lifetime. His influence on architectural and product designing was--and still is--tremendous.
   
   This book is of interest not only as a tribute to his inventiveness, but for detailing why many of his concepts, to this day, have not been accepted. The full-page cartoon on page 20 is a classic example of his frustration. It depicts an automobile being made on the driveway of a home. Bucky argued for years how ridiculous it is that we build houses 'from scratch' on a house lot. If we built cars that way, as the cartoon shows, they would cost $300,000! It should be noted that the American Institute of Architects (AIA), in 1928, passed a resolution "...on record as inherently opposed to any peas-in-a-pod-line reproducible designs." Others, sewer system builders, carpenters, electricians, etc., indicated they too would oppose home-building innovations.
   
   One reason the geodesic dome concept succeeded was that the military did not need to consult zoning and codes when it needed a transportable light weight and super strong structure for a mountain top or an Arctic location.
   
   You will be amazed at how much his 1934 car designs resemble today's vans. Equally amazing is his "traveling cartridge," a small car transportable by air or rail. No need to rent a car. It could even be used as a sleeping unit.
   
   His "Triton City" was designed as a floating city (100,000 people) for Tokyo Bay. You see variations of this idea almost every year and it is invariably presented as a new idea. His "Fly's Eye" dome is now under commercial development and you may be seeing into the future when scanning this section of the book.
   
   An example of the tremendous respect for Fuller's concepts can be seen in the naming of the 60-atom carbon molecule discovered in the early 1970s. It is called "buckminsterfullerene" and is often referred to as "Buckyball." Its soccer-ball-pentagon-hexagon pattern very much relates to Fuller's icosahedron-based constructions.
   
   Fuller maintained that the entire universe, from atoms to galaxies, "is make made up of islands of compression in a continuous sea of tension." This "tensegrity" concept may even apply to biological cells according to a recent (1993) paper by Dr. Ingber.
   
   As the author often notes, Fuller--as a person and as a designer--had his faults. However his accomplishments and his influence on others far outshine his failures. Many inventors can relate to the problems due to being "before your time" and to the difficulty of displacing the "established way" of doing something.
   
   This book is crammed with photos, many never before published. Buy it, enjoy it. Donate it to your local school library. There is a whole new generation out there that can be inspired by it.



4. Buckminster Fuller has fascinated me since my teens because of his borderline science-fictional ideas and his quest to use technology to provide for 100% of humanity -- which unfortunately is a moving target during an era of population growth. Baldwin's book doesn't quite satisfy my curiosity about the current state of Fuller's posthumous work, since he gives me the impression that it's stuck somewhere back in the post-Hippie 1970's. I certainly hope that the field has advanced further along than the dumbed-down "Whole Earth Catalogs" version which celebrated geodesic model kits and "sustainable" (i.e., voluntarily hardship-inducing) technologies.

   What I would like to see in a proper review of Fuller's legacy includes (a) mathematicians' assessment of his synergetic geometry, which is more radically anti-Euclidean than non-Euclidean in that it rejects the whole Greek paradigm of "abstraction" from physical objects; (b) economists' assessment of his argument that with proper resource use and rational design decisions we really could take care of 100% of humanity; (c) a discussion of why, if Fuller's goal is indeed practical, after 250 years of industrial and technological progress we've devolved from objectively useful work -- making and moving stuff on farms, in mines and in factories -- into to a situation where we hold absurd, time-wasting and nonproductive "jobs" in "services" (which sociologist Daniel Bell characterized as postindustrial "games between persons"), while billions of other humans don't even have the basics for a materially decent life; (d) and why this goal isn't on the agenda of any major politician or other world-recognized and respected figure.

   In other words, I find implicit in Fuller's work the question, "When do we declare victory in the Industrial Revolution, and go on our long-overdue vacation that futurists used to call 'The Postindustrial Leisure Society'?" Although Baldwin supplied me with some useful information on "Buckminster Fuller's Ideas for Today," it wasn't quite what I wanted.




5. I haven't actually read this book but JB is my professor and a fascinating human. Everyday of class is a treat to listen to his life experiences and stories. He was a student of Fuller and clearly understands his theories and has furthered them in ways that would make Bucky proud.

2 comments about Building Information Modeling (McGraw-Hill Construction Series) (Mcgraw-Hill Construction Series).

1. I was interested in this book because it seemed less like a "how to" book and more about what makes this technology work. It has not disappointed on those issues at all. Very rich in information. The biggest weakness I have found is that the author clearly favors certain software packages over others, which I can understand... everyone has their preferences. However, when discussing Autodesk's Revit platform, I found the book to be overly biased and sometimes, flatly, mistaken. This issue does not however, severely detract from the overall value of the information. Where the book seeks to discuss BIM without focusing on specific software, it is without equal. As long as you aren't making purchasing decisions based on the information, anyone familiar with the basics of BIM will find it fascinating.



2. Well organized, well written. Provides information about model composition which most books on this subject do not include. Very informative. Organizations looking to move down the BIM/VDC path should definitely take the time to read as they will learn a great deal about the process changes needed to effectively utilize 3D models in their workflow.