3 comments about Historic Hudson: An Architectural Portrait.

1. A thoroughly entertaining account of a Hudson River city with a truly fascinating history. I recommend it to anyone interested in nineteenth-century America, American architecture, especially the vernacular architecture of the northeast, and America as it once was. The vintage photographs are wonderful!



2. This is/was a great book and it is beautifully written I have spent many weekends and summers in this area of the hudson valley. This book brought to life, the colorful past of this wonderful city.



3. The old photos are the best part, but everything else, especially the quality of the printing & the total lameness of the writing is inexcusable. A very sad exercise in vanity publishing.

1 comments about Louis I. Kahn: Building Art and Building Science.

1. Of all the literature about Louis Kahn, Thomas Leslie's book is precisely rooted in the struggle it took to translate Kahn's architectural visions into concrete manifestations. I applaud Leslie for not overly mystifying Kahn's philosophy or personality and for bringing credit to the many talented staff/collaborators that made Kahn's ideas better, such as Gus Kommendant, Marshall Meyers, Fred Langford, Jack MacAllister, Richard Kelly and others.
   
   As a docent of the Salk Institute and Kahn enthusiast, this book has several historical facts that exist nowhere else. Its technically fascinating, well supported visually and accurately written. A must.

No comments about The Tudor House and Garden: Architecture and Landscape in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries (Studies in British Art).

2 comments about Auguste Perret.

1. I was first drawn to Auguste Perret when I saw an exhibit of his work in Paris and have since been searching for a book which can convey the beauty of Perret's life work. Although this book has many great pictures, I miss the quality exhibited in the actual renderings. The book however, has much more to offer, and goes into depth about Perret's philosophies, the effects of his work, and his relationship with the infamous Le Corbusier. The style of writing coveys all of this information in an interesting fashion by incoporating specific stories. I particularly loved the cartoon that Corb drew with Perret sitting in front of a ribbon window (the commentary behind it is equally funny if you know architecture). The portion of the book on housing gives to architects a valuable lesson on how a building should not only serve a function but should make the ordinary daily routine much more interesting and enjoyable. I am struck with this quote from the book given by a man living in the pavillion for Madame Mela Muter: "The elements of this house are of such a fashion that to live there is pleasurable. It is pleasurable to open a door, pleasurable to close it, pleasurable to go from one room to another. What is marvellous, is that it remains as pleasurable at the end of two years as on the first day." If only we could learn from the work of Perret, a truly unique and gifted man who stood stubbornly by his vertical Parisian window while the austere architecture of Le Corbusier's strip window took hold of our concept of modern architecture.



2. A valuable addition to a series of monographs from this publisher. Karla Britton's account of the great French architect-engineer, a master of concrete construction like Breuer, but one who straddled two eras, combining boldly expressed structures with rich surface ornament. The Theatre des Champs Elysees was completed before the first world war, and its "nudity" shocked Parisians as much as the barbaric rhythms of Stravinsky's Rite of Spring, which provoked a riot when it was premiered here. Now, Perret's masterwork can be seen as a perfect balance of grace and daring--the greatest theater in the city. A couple of apartment blocks were even more ahead of their time, but Perret, like Breuer, stayed around too long and the later work, particularly the rebuilding of Le Havre, diminished his standing. Books of this quality and importance deserve much better production values. The series is overpriced and poorly designed; the bindings are fragile, the illustrations drab, and there is not even a proper title page.

3 comments about Chinese Imperial City Planning.

1. The tradition of Chinese imperial cities is one of the longest and best-documented traditions of preindustrial urbanism. Steinhardt identifies the principles that structured traditional Chinese city planning, construction, and use. The book is well written with many good plans and illustrations. A major contribution to urban history.



2. A classic book -- the paperback version is less intimidating (much lighter in weight and also cheaper in price) than the hardback, so this is a must-have for those interested in Chinese historical studies.



3. Chinese Imperial City Planning is an excellent historical account of the spatial development of China's ancient cities. Extremely well researched, Steinhardt does a nice job of chronicling the impacts each empire had on urban form in China.

   As a scholar interested in Japanese and other East Asian cities, the author's chapter discussing China's historical legacy to urban form in Ancient Japan, was especially interesting. This chapter clearly illustrates how necessary the study of Chinese cities is to the understanding of other Asian cities. It also demonstrates the care Steinhardt took in her research.

   I recommend this book to anyone interested in the historical origins of urban planning and spatial form in China and Japan.

5 comments about Louis I. Kahn : Unbuilt Masterworks.

1. So I'm looking through this book of photographs of unbuilt projects, and gradually I realize. . . I'm looking at photo. . . . graphs of. . . unbuilt projects. They're great-looking photos, too. There's a building at the Salk Institute in La Jolla which I know isn't there, and another Jewish memorial NYC which I don't think exists, and they look great.

   What Kent Larson has done is a simple, powerful, cool idea that took a lot of time, energy, MIT architectural thinking, and SGI computing power to accomplish. Larson first pieced together a reasonable paper version of each structure, then assembled a 3-D virtual model of that structure, then had to choose the best virtual camera angles under the best false sunlight for the best portraits. Larson went as far as using high-resolution photographs of existing Kahn walls to skin these virtual surfaces, and added a patina of wear and tear, just to make it more convincing.

   So Larson's work is the result of a lot of a helluva lot of choices. It helped the interpretation that Kahn preferred a limited palette of building materials - like concrete - which helped Larson orchestrate this score. It didn't help Larson that Kahn was known for his close attention to lighting effects. All that lighting took the most sophisticated possible CAD/CAM rendering on SGI hardware.

   But the payoff is - shocking. You get bright sunlight, soft counter-reflections, complex reflections in glass (the glass-block Jewish memorial is the showboat piece in that respect). You have to see them to know how much you want to believe them, if that makes any sense. To know how much you'd like to visit these six new Kahn buildings that will never exist. In a weird way, this project advances Kahn's career and reputation, not only from beyond the grave, but lapsing over into architectural cyberspace.




2. Larson has not only demonstrated superb skill in computer rendering but also a much deeper understanding of Kahn's architecture. Reviews by Scully demonstrate the histrorical development of Kahns work & Mitchell has done a fine job of giving the analysis. This book will help in establishing some standard for presenting unbuilt works of architecture in the future.

   Format of the book is good in its simplicity although some reference to drawings would have made it a more comprehensive study. Great book ... a collecter's item for all "Kahnian's" across the world.




3. This is not just another architecture book. It is also a beautiful photography book. It is astounding that these luminous images are of spaces that were never built!



4. I have known the eight projects presented in this book for over thirty years, but now realize that my understanding was only superficial. This extraordinary volume reveals aspects of the buildings impossible to perceive from drawings and models: the layering of space, the rich materiality, and - most of all -Kahn's genius for manipulating light. Delightfully, this ambitious and unorthodox study is sure to rattle those who regard Kahn as an unapproachable icon.



5. Kent larson presumes he can show a finished Kahn using a computer. As we all know, the building process is evolving. It certainly was for Kahn. Larson's leaden computer graphics shed not even the glimmer of a candle on the genius of Kahn.

1 comments about Canals (Norton/Library of Congress Visual Sourcebooks in Architecture, Design and Engineering).

1. Kudos to Amazon for selling this book as I have been unable to find it anywhere else. The author is obviously an expert in his subject and consequently this is a fascinating read and a worthy addition to the number of books on this subject. I look forward to a follow-up.

1 comments about University of Chicago: The Campus Guide.

1. Princeton Architectural Press has finally produced a volume in this series up to the standards we expect from them. Past volumes have been plagued with problems: Lack of historical context, pompous and politically correct archispeak, mundane or incomplete photography, overemphasis of unrealized campus plans and lack of complete coverage. This iteration eliminates those problems and brings us a truly lovely survey of a beautiful university, with exceptional aerial and interior photography, insightful essays (without being written in "art-catalog arcane"), complete coverage of the grounds and neighborhood and an appropriate level of historical context. Lets hope that the series continues at this more rigorous standard.

2 comments about Islam: Early Architecture from Baghdad to Jerusalem and Cordoba (World Architecture).

1. I have been to most of the counties which have monuments described in this book. It is nice to have some copies from it when you are visiting any site and read it there. You will understand much more than your traveling guide can inform you. Also it is good for student who study Islamic culture and history



2. If ever there was a collection of artefacts that proves the sayings "Less is more" and "God is in the details" then it has to be the collection of archictectural jewels found here in this beautifully illustrated overview of early Islamic architecture.

   It shows the domination of geometric art and form, light and space that typifies the brilliance of early Islamic architecture.

   It's a great coffee table book, and something to inspire, educate and inform as well as to soothe, relax and dream of.

   regards,

   martyn_jones@iniciativas.com

No comments about Taj Mahal (Wonders of the World).