1 comments about Kazuyo Sejima In Gifu.

1. This is my last buy, and i need to say taht is a excellent buy. This book contains one of the most beautiful house project in the contemprary scenario. Is in Japanese and English, and contains detailed plans and very goood pictures. This package contains instead other mini book with other projects of sejima about social houing like a catalog.
   The best of all, the price, a masterpiece under the 20.
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   Este libro ha sido lo ultimo que he comprado en arquitectura y tengo que decir que es una compra excelente. Contiene uno de los proyectos de vivienda contemporanea mas interesantes. Esta en japones y en ingles, lleva en el interior planos detallados y muchas fotografias. Este libro ademas viene con otro mini librito donde aparecen otros proyectos de sejima realacionados con vivienda social. Una muy buena compra.

No comments about Japan - Culture of Wood: Buildings, Objects, Techniques.

1 comments about True Urbanism: Living In and Near the Center.

1. Mark Hinshaw takes the conventional American Dream of a single family home with a big yard and proposes an alternative: living in a densely populated area where children and the elderly - and all in between - enjoy the broad sweep of humanity and the convenience of near-living. In this book about urban planning, he takes on questions of sociological significance - caring for our aging population as well as raising children in an atmosphere of tolerance and understanding.
   
   For the student as well as the layman with an interest in the way our country will (should?) look when our children are grown, True Urbanism is a horizon-stretching, thoroughly enjoyable read.

4 comments about Richard Meier: The Getty Center.

1. Just a spectacular building, the perfect building for this breathtaking site. This book is well conceived and the images just pop off the page. This building was a long time coming, but it was well worth the wait. I am a huge fan of Meier, his work is so light and inviting. I love how the L.A. sunlight plays off the tavertine, it just glows. Of all the great buildings Meier has designed this will be the one for which he is remembered and I'm sure he is fine with that fact. Fine book on a fantastic building, oh and not a shabby art collection either.



2. After visiting THE Getty Center, I've become a huge fan of Meiers' work. Although most of his work in the past seems untouchable to me, this project has a clean but warm inviting feeling around every corner. The photographs in the book are superb and layout the book with remarkable light, clarity and stunning imagery. The photographer John Linden is a true master of the camera. His work carries the book. Not a bad read either, but who reads books on architecture? This book and the project itself pure eye candy. Buy it.



3. Despite the succinctness of the book, I knew all I needed to know about the Getty Centre which costed a whopping US$1 billion to build. Getty Centre is to the other extreme of the Bilbao Museum by Gehry. The latter one is both an architecture building & a sculpture as a whole but the former offering is a Modern building in the best traditions of Le Corbusier, Philip Johnson, or even Miles van de Rohe. I'm disappointed to read that Richard Meier didn't get the chance to realise his total vision upon the project & therefore, the integrity of his design is ultimately compromised. 2 of the incidents worth mentioning are the engagement of the interior designer, Thierry Despont to provide the colour coordination of the galleries. He's better known as the designers for the rich & famous such as Ralph Lauren & Bill Gates. In this instance, Theirry applied heavy & bold colours to complement the art works & when the art works melted into the scene, the emphasis upon the art works themselves are lost in totality. Secondly, the engagement of the landscape artist, Robert Irwin who introduced the circular garden which broke the link between 2 main buildings of the Getty Centre. It's interesting to read about the material chosen, the travertine, & how it blends nicely with the white metal panels that Richard Meier is well known for; the maximisation of controlled light to highlight the artworks & yet, not harming them in anyway required fine detailing & ingenuity in which Richard Meier & team delivered. The book comprises of many photographs taken from many angles imaginable under different time of the day. Many elevation plans, sectional plans, conceptual plans, model plans, detailing plans, & all you need to know about the Getty Centre. Definitely worth reading for an architecture enthusiast.



4. A question everyone must ask when they first visit the Getty Museum is, "How did anyone ever build this enormous, complicated, graceful complex of buildings?" In The Getty Center by Michael Brawne, the author takes you to the earliest stages of the project with breathtaking photography and detailed text. The photography from beginning to end allows you to feel that you can take part of the" Getty Experience" home with you. I bought this book for my daughter when I was at the Museum gift shop and got home feeling sorry I didn't have my own copy, so this is my second purchase of this beautiful book

1 comments about Twentieth-Century American Architecture: The Buildings and Their Makers.

1. Twentieth-Century American Architecture: The Buildings And Their Makers surveys the major figures, influential movements, and landmark buildings that have identified and defined the American architecture over the past century. Carter Wiseman's informative text is enhanced with photographs as he focuses on the architects whose personalities and abilities indelibly influenced architectural progress. These figures range from Louis Sullivan Frank Lloyd Wright, and Philip Johnson, to I.M. Pei, Robert Venturi, and Louis Kahan. Twentieth-Century American Architecture is an impressive, authoritative, narrative history that is "must" reading for students of architecture, and highly recommended, accessible reading for the non-specialist general reader with an interest in the development of American architectural trends and the men behind them.

No comments about The Architecture of Modern Italy: Volume II.

No comments about Destructive Turfgrass Insects: Biology, Diagnosis, and Control.

No comments about Geometric Patterns from Islamic Art & Architecture.

1 comments about Renaissance Perfected: Architecture, Spectacle, and Tourism in Fascist Italy (Buildings, Landscapes, and Societies).

1. This is a thoroughly amazing, informative and very well illustrated narrative of a most unusual and little-known Fascist re-building effort which was carried out in grand scale to help increase tourism in Italy and to spread the political influence and recognition of the Fascists in Mussolini's Italy between 1922 and 1945.
   
   Entire plazas and piazzas were rebuilt, giving them a medieval flair, with stone turrets, parapets, towers, massive cobblestone streets. Entire village squares were rebuilt to look as though they had been designed in medieval times. The results were quite pleasing, imposing and not only were definitely attractive to tourists, but were also a source of pride for the local community, and the setting for many impressive local festivals. These imposing structures, continued tourist attractions, still stand today and are often mistaken as being of medieval origin and construction.
   
   Copiously illustrated (color and black and white) throughout the book (including "before and after" photographs) as well as with drawings of modern origin and from antiquity, and with fifty-four pages of well-researched and very informative notes, as well as a substantial Bibliography and a copious index, this book stands alone as a notable monument in itself. As well as being a tremendous tool for researchers, it is also a fascinating voyage into a little known civic enterprise carried out in the midst of some very troubling times.
   
   Dr. Lasansky has, with this book, made a valuable and beautiful contribution to history -- with her painstaking and thorough research and with the exquisite layout of this book.

1 comments about Toward a Simpler Way of Life: The Arts and Crafts Architects of California.

1. When I began studying architecture, many of my favorite architects were designers in the Arts & Crafts style. They were my favorites before I even heard of the Movement. This book is not only a must have for students of architecture and Arts & Crafts fans, but a valuable resource for history scholars in general who want to learn more about the people who shaped the region and the way we live here. The book is nicely photographed, showing buildings in their early surroundings, as they exist today, a variety of good close-up details, etc. All photos are black and white, some with an authentic sepia tone look. Some color photos would have been nice. I wish that a book like this existed for the architects of each state. Each essay is well written by a variety of different authors, many of which are familiar names to Arts & Crafts enthusiasts.

   J. Wheeler

   San Francisco Bay Area Arts & Crafts Movement

   http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Orchard/8642/