3 comments about Modernity and the Architecture of Mexico.

1. I think this is the best book on modern mexican architecture that I have read. Unfortunatelly most of the books currently available on the architecture of that country are lacking on theoretical and historical data, this one is the exception. There isn't much that I can add to the "Mixed bag of riches" review, but I think that this is a book that will not let anyone down .



2. I am a dutch architect that has been living in Mexico for over thirty years, and I believe that this is probably the best book on modern mexican architecture that I have read. Of course not all the essays have the same quality. The best is the Mendez Vigata essay which I would rank as essential reading for anyone interested on mexican public architecture or to anyone interested in the relationship between architecture and politics. The Perez Gomez interview, the Arredondo, Curtis, Mereles, Burian's O'Gorman essay(there is not much information about that great mexican painter and architect elsewhere), and the Mijares (a personal view of Obregon's architecture from one of the greatest mexican architects) are very good. The essay on Juan Segura written by Antonio Toca, who is one of the most important architecture historians in Mexico, is dissapointing. Probably the worst is the Kalach essay on the Ciudad Universitaria Stadium, this was a real dissapointment since Kalach is one the one of the most interesting young architects in Mexico. So, if really have an interest in mexican architecture don't let the couple of mediocre articles included prevent you from enjoying this otherwise rare and wonderful book.



3. While an important and little written about topic, this book fails to deliver the valuable information in a readable manner. The language is dull and boring, and the writing is dry. It is very difficult to sit with it for an extended period of time. While the author attempts to address critical issues in Mexican architecture he over complicates the relevant information with the rhetoric.
   
   The noble attempt to provide dialogue with influencial authorities on the subject by way of interviews seemed tainted. This was because his questions were not open ended and were often worded in a leading manner. It was as if the author was trying to draw out the response he desired from the subject.
   
   While Burian's writing was lacking, some of the articles written by others contained in the book were more appealing.

2 comments about The New American Town House.

1. This book is simply that, a book about new American town house. It started with a description of the evolution of town house, rite from the time of Palladio & Vitruvius to the present time. The rest is 20 examples of American townhouses all seemed to be going skyward fulfilling all kinds of tastes ranging from chic, loft style, minimalistic, opulence, romantic. & so forth. There are tonnes of pictures in this book with helpful building plans. I always like variety & after browsing thru initial examples, the rest of the book I really couldn't bother with as they all look pretty much similar. Afterall, a townhouse is a townhouse. Anyhow, this book is beautifully presented & definitely worth keeping if you simply want a coffee book for show. Keep up the good work.



2. With the cities and suburbs spreading out into former farmland in the form of superstores, fast food chains, and garishly oversized homes reminiscent of motel conference centers, Gorlin and Goldberger present the compelling alternative: the townhouse, revamped, revitalized, and more relevant than ever. No matter what your esthetic, there is a townhouse to suit it, and you can find it in this book. It could be argued, in fact, that the townhouse represents architectural humanism at its best: inherently social, family-friendly, scaled to real human dimensions and needs. In other words, just right. An excellent introduction to an important new trend in architecture and home-building.

2 comments about Country Houses of Majorca (Country Houses).

1. It arrived in time... but the cover was not the way I expected



2. Discover the secret, hidden side to the island, where private houses quietly exist behind thick walls of olive trees, protected from curious gazes of tourists. The island, located near Ibiza off the Mediterranean coast of Spain, is the sort of place dreams are made of. Only a lucky few have turned such a dream into reality, and Country Houses of Majorca is your chance to see the stunning evidence in pictures. This is the side of Majorca only seen by those who live there, enjoying daily the luxury of not only the lush scenery but also the rich Majorcan culture and sumptuous cuisine (which you can test for yourself thanks to the house owners' favorite recipes we've included in the book.) The 260 photographs highlight the island's most impressive homes, including many undiscovered houses not published until now. Among these treasures you'll find Frederic Chopin and George Sand's one-time winter hideaway, a tiny fisherman's cottage miraculously perched on the island's southeast cliffs, and the beautiful, old, antique-filled "fincas" restored by Nona von Haeften and her husband, Wolfgang Siegfried Wagner, great grandson of composer Richard Wagner. Let yourself be seduced by the country houses of Majorca - you won't regret the experience, even if it sends you into fits of envy

4 comments about European House Now (Universe Architecture Series).

1. CONTENTS (1999 EDITION)
   6 INTRODUCTION: SUSAN DOUBILET, DARALICE BOLES
   14 MOBIUS HOUSE: UN STUDIO/VAN BERKEL & BOS, ARCHITECTS, AMSTERDAM
   24 VILLA WILBRINK: UN STUDIO/VAN BERKEL & BOS, ARCHITECTS, AMSTERDAM
   30 KERN HOUSE: BAUMSCHLAGER & EBERLE ARCHITECTURE OFFICE, LOCHAU, AUSTRIA
   38 HAUSLER HOUSE: BAUMSCHLAGER & EBERLE ARCHITECTURE OFFICE, LOCHAU, AUSTRIA
   46 CASA LA CLOTA: ENRIC MIRALLES, BENEDETTA TAGLIABUE, ARCHITECTS, BARCELONA
   54 SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE: STUDIO ARCHEA ASSOCIATES, FLORENCE
   60 ALONSO-PLANAS HOUSE: CARLOS FERRATER, ARCHITECTS, BARCELONA
   68 VILLA DALL'AVA: OFFICE FOR METROPOLITAN ARCHITECTURE/REM KOOLHAAS, ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
   78 HOUSE VAISE: JOURDA PERRAUDIN, ARCHITECTS, LYONS, FRANCE
   86 SUZUKI HOUSE: BOLLES + WILSON ARCHITECTURE OFFICE, MUNSTER, GERMANY
   92 H0USE IN LAS MATAS: VICENS RAMOS ARCHITECTS, MADRID
   102 CUBE HOUSE: O. M. UNGERS, ARCHITECT, COLOGNE, GERMANY
   108 UNGERS H0USE III: O. M. UNGERS, ARCHITECT, COLOGNE, GERMANY
   116 H0USE/BARN: BARONE POTTGIESSER, ARCHITECTS, PARIS
   124 STONE HOUSE: HERZOG & DE MEURON ARCHITECTS, BASEL, SWITZERLAND
   138 HOUSE KADA B.: KLAUS KADA, ARCHITECT, GRAZ, AUSTRIA
   138 GASPAR HOUSE: ALBERTO CAMPO BAEZA, ARCHITECT, MADRID
   144 SINGLE-FAMILY HOUSE: MARIO BOTTA ARCHITECT, LUGANO, SWITZERLAND
   150 THE DECKHOUSE: JOHN YOUNG, ARCHITECT, LONDON
   162 HOUSE ON RUE ROBERT BLACHE: ARCHITECTURE STUDIO, PARIS
   168 STANDARD SOLAR HOUSE: DRIENDL*STEIXNER, ARCHITECTS VIENNA
   176 BOM JESUS HOUSE: EDUARDO SOUTO DE MOURA ARCHITECTS, PORTO, PORTUGAL
   184 HOUSE ADDITION: CHRISTOPH MACKLER, ARCHITECTS: FRANKFURT-ON-MAIN, GERMANY
   194 HOUSE IN ABBIATEGRASS: ZUCCHIARCHITECTS, MILAN
   200 DOUBLE HOUSE: GULLICHSEN KAIRAMO VORMALA ARCHITECTS, HELSINKI
   208 PHOTOGRAPHER'S RETREAT: NIALL MCLAUGHLIN ARCHITECT, LONDON
   214 HOUSE IN BRASSCHAAT: XAVEER DE GEYTER ARCHITECTURE OFFICE, ANTWERP, BELGIUM
   220 CAP MARTINET HOUSE: JOSE ANTONIO MARTINEZ LAPENA AND ELIAS TORRES TUR, ARCHITECTS, BARCELONA
   228 HOUSE AND STUDIO: MECANDO ARCHITECTS, DELFT, THE NETHERLANDS
   236 PROJECT AND PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS



2. "European House Now" is a worthy sequel to the earlier "American House Now," although I think some of the home selections were less inspired in the European book. This book features a wide variety of superior architects, but in some cases not the best works by those architects; for instance the book features one of my favorite European architects, Ben van Berkel and his splendid Mobius House, but then follows up with one of his aesthetically least pleasing works ever, the dreadful semi-subterranean Villa Wilbrink, a conscious affront to suburbia located in the Dutch suburb of Amersfoort.
   
   I have always been a fan of Finnish architecture; unfortunately it is somewhat underrepresented here. Despite that shortcoming, the one Finnish selection (the Double House in Espoo, Finland) by the Helsinki firm of Gullichsen Kairamo Vormala is a splendid example of constructivist school philosophy tempered with rationalist emphasis on economical construction based in part on prefabricated structures.
   
   Alongside the Espoo house, my other favorites in the book are all Spanish and Portuguese, with the Cap Martinet House on Ibiza and a beautiful Portuguese home by renowned modernist Eduardo Souto de Moura being the best examples of southern European modernism displayed in the book.
   
   There are a few structures that while interesting structurally, were aesthetically unacceptable to me as they were extremely avant-garde modifications of century old structures which shortchanged both old and new; chief among these offenders is the House Kada B in Leibnitz, Austria, in which a beautiful blue home built in the 1800s had an enormous brown box attached to it in a most unstately manner. Second offender is the Cristoph Mackler home addition onto a sixteenth century Lake Constance home. I am actually a fan of the new structure, and think Mackler is brilliant, but the juxtaposition between the two structures is visually distressing to say the least.
   
   All in all this is a great book worthy of being in any architectural library. I gave it four stars for some home selections that I thought were sub par, for an under representation of Scandinavian architecture (some of the most creative, innovative, and beautiful in the world), and especially for the extremely tiny house plans that you actually need a magnifying glass to read.



3. Every thing in this book is nice... the houses themselves are fantastic, the names included... it is full of ideas although like any architecture book you might like or dislike some of the content; that's a matter of taste. But we will all agree that we need some desent plans to understand the projects, now THAT is the ONLY drawback here, you lose orientation inside these magnificant houses because the figures of the plans are microscopic and poorly labled. this affects how much you can get out of the book. otherwise it is wounderful.



4. Like these fine authors' previous book, American House Now, this book is an important new entry into the architecture literature field. Doubillet and Boles have compiled an impressive group of houses from which one can critically look at and judge the direction of contemporary architecture. Boles and Doubillet are gifted and well-seasoned experts in this field. We may read their words and analysis with great confidence. I loved it.

No comments about Architecture Everywhere: Investigating the Built Environment of Your Community.

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 Structure, Space and Skin: The Work of Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners.

1. This book has a bunch of interesting projects that use designed enginnering to solve issuses. There are also some really nice an innovative details and some great looking drawings.



2. A very good description of this particular period of grimshaw's work. Concentrates on the select projects with plenty of images, drawings and most importantly details. It is these details that grimshaw and partners are known for and form a valuable resource



3. This is the first volume of Grimshaw's work and it's very impressive. Shows his most chalenging projects in the period between 1988-93, with texts, model shots, sketches and computer-generated images.

2 comments about Timeless Cities: An Architect's Reflections on Renaissance Italy (Icon Editions).

1. Mr. Mayernik transports the reader to the glorious past of Rome, Venice, Florence, Siena, and Pienza; a past in which city builders sought to make their cities into reflections of the perfect heavenly City of God; a past in which every stone, every building, every piazza was an episode of the larger urban narrative that played itself for its citizens as a great "theatre of the mind."

   Mr. Mayernik's writing allows us to view the urban mythologies of these places not as History, events frozen in by gone times and no longer capable of speaking to present generations, but as living lessons in city building; he invites his audience to learn the 'language' of these five cities so that we too can build memorable places.




2. Timeless Cities is indeed a wonderful journey, a voyage across time and ideas. The author tells a poetic, scholarly and delightful story of five Italian cities and how they became meaningful and memorable places, remaining so to this day.

   For those who have experienced the magical, transforming impact Rome, Florence, Venice, Siena and Pienza have on their visitors, David Mayernik unlocks the richly poetic ideas which are their very essence. An architect and traveler, his writing is filled with the passion of one who truly loves and understands the tradition of those great cities: the tradition of humanism.

   For all for whom life is, above all, a cherished series of discoveries and experiences, Mayernik extends a masterful invitation to explore those places which stir our souls and which demonstrate the highest fulfillment of our collective potential for cultural and artistic achievement. He then challenges us to again seek to create cities "through which dance the Muses", cities which are "built Ideas suffused with cultural Memory". Accept his gracious invitation. It is a journey you will treasure.

No comments about Russian Architecture and the West.

No comments about Lancaster House: London's Greatest Town House.