No comments about Islamic Art and Archaeology in Palestine.

No comments about Building Shanghai: The Story of China's Gateway.

1 comments about FOBA: Buildings.

1. This compact monograph (2x17.5x23.5cm) is handsomely designed inside and out. FOBA's projects are well documented with photographs and many well drawn 3d renderings. This book will interest those who want to know about the progressive, experimental architects in Japan today and how their poetic solutions to design are implemented in a visually cluttered context.
   
   www.hjlbookreview.com

1 comments about Traditional Domestic Architecture of the Arab Region.

1. I like the book very much because it is filled with many line-drawings indicating different aspects of domestic architecture in the region. However the title is well chosen, the book has a broader significance because of the wide spectrum of subjects involved. After a short introduction dealing with some general terms the book continues with a chapter about The Arab Region. Here it describes shortly geography, climate and used building materials but also cultural determinants of the region like history and tradition, socio-economics, the nomadic input, values, ideology and the role of Islam. The Origins of Architecture delves into human needs and comfort conditions and describes climate and microclimates. Traditional Materials treats organic and inorganic materials and binding agents. Traditional Structures mainly is about covering structures, floor slabs, post and beams, corbelling, arches and vaulting in it's many varieties. Types of settlements and towns is the subject of Shelter. The Planning Elements treats the cell, transverse space, colonnade and arcade, the porch, veranda and loggia, gallery, peristyle, Iwan, courtyards and so on. A special chapter is Water and Waste Management which goes beyond the narrow definition of domestic architecture. Privacy is examined in Traditional Design Strategies together with designing for variable space needs, expansion and severe climate. There is also a chapter about Exceptions to the Rule, the special types of housing in the area. A large part of the book is then devoted to Case Studies classified according to country. Some very varied topics are dicussed in Western vs Eastern Ways. Then at the end of the book the Appendix is filled with a colourful collection of material documenting contemporary efforts for a synthesis of modern living requirements with environmental and traditional factors of the Arab Region. The last part can be read as general recommendations for the planning of housing in a arid region.
   In short the book does justice to the title and leaves, though in black and white, a colourful impression of domestic architecture in the region.

1 comments about Home: The Twentieth-Century House.

1. With his typical readable and informed style, Sudjic gives a design precis of the innovative house designs of this century, often relating them to allied domestic product design. Excellent photography and invaluable floor plans clarify the spirit of the designs, and captions contextualise the background to many buildings in an informed and entertaining manner.

   The latter half of the book inspires with its choice of innovative contemporary architecture and interiors, emphasising superb form and volume, simplicity and honesty of finishes and function, and elegant use of light. This book is a beautiful lake, reflecting the best current approaches to House design, yet has depth and substance to be savoured.

No comments about Contemporary Indian Architecture (Chefs Special S.).

No comments about Theatre London: A Guide.

5 comments about Mediterranean Villages: An Architectural Journey.

1. I came across this book by chanch in a local public library and was tranfixed. I had to have it, so now I have!



2. Steven & Cathi House have captured in black & white photography and pen & ink drawings an exraordinary thirty years of travel throughout the Mediterranean.
   
   As architects they are classically trained in drawing and photography; as artists they bring the reader their unique understanding of place and people in a poetic way. "Mediterranean Villages: an architectural journey" is filled with beautiful photos and drawings produced in a top quality hard cover edition.
   
   This is an ideal gift for art lovers, travellers, book lovers and of course, architects. In addition to its extraordinary visuals, it is filled with quotes that keep the reader fascinated.



3. An extreme close-up photograph of the Paraportiani Church in Mykonos is the first image we see of "Mediterranean Villages:An Architectural Journey" by Steven & Cathi House. It is an arresting photo that accents the sun-lit sides of the stone, plaster, and whitewash structure. The tone is set. Steven and Cathi, architects, lead us, gracefully, through the book, seeing the villages of the Mediterranean through their empathetic hearts and eyes. I am impressed how strongly the quality of the power of indigenous stone used in the village structures, walkways and stairways come through the pages of the book. The pen and ink drawings have a lively and rhythmical perspective. They invite me to walk the stairways-up and down and around the village and become aware of the relationships of the structures to the natural contours of the villages, and to the lives of the people living there
   
   "Mediterranean Villages:An Architectural Journey" is a testimonial to the sensitivity and appreciation Steven and Cathi feel for architecture that is an integral part of the total environment. The book, -- an architectural journey-- is a journey of the heart and soul. There is always something new to see and understand. The excitement of their discoveries which began 30 years ago when they made their first year-long trip to the hill towns of the Mediterranean area continues to feed Steven's and Cathi's imagination and artistry as architects today.



4. Here is that rare book in which the authors' personal passion for their subject joins perfectly with their talents for revealing it to us. As young architects, Steven and Cathi House moved to Greece to learn more about indigenous Mediterranean architecture--and themselves. Over a series of years, their investigations of towns and cities throughout the Mediterranean--recorded in fascinating drawings, indelible black and white photographs, and text--become a record both of the unforgettable landscapes they visit and their own coming of age as architects, artists, and people. This is the sort of book you can open some evening and just wander through a Spanish village, or an Italian hill town, letting it open up to you--then pick another site another evening. Mediterranean Villages is a book that readers will keep close at hand for many years.



5. This beautiful book is truly a love letter to a region of the world that these architect / life partners know intimately, and adore. And like the best of classic love letters, the mark of the writers' hands and the depth of their insights are all over this volume, page after luminous page, from cover to cover.
   
   The authors' ardent tribute focuses on the Mediterranean's "architecture without architects." This refers to villages built by the very people who live in the houses and worship in the churches using local stone they have quarried or the earth at their feet that they have baked into bricks and then protected with homemade plaster, whitewash, or paint. Fortunately, Steven and Cathi House do not idealize the object of their passion. Instead, they lovingly reveal these rural Italian, Greek, Spanish, and Dalmatian villages--imperfections, eccentricities, hardships, abandonment, and all.
   
   It is ironic that two formally trained architects are at the helm of a project illuminating villages that were formed so organically and without benefit of architects. Ironic, that is, until you realize that the House's "built" the book very, very slowly in their hearts and minds, over decades of time. In addition, they assembled it very much like hill towns and villages evolve.
   
   Reaching into their respective thick travel journals and rich portfolios of images, the authors selected hundreds of gorgeous black and white photographs and pen and ink drawings to reproduce alongside personal memories. They fortified this text with scholarly research and punctuated the book throughout with quotations they collected from a wide array of famous Mediterranean observers all across the arts. With these "vernacular" materials, they inventively constructed an easy, rambling design and an elegant "coincidence" of images and text that live and breathe like the late afternoon activities of an Italian hill town community on their small piazza in early spring.
   
   Mediterranean Villages: An Architectural Journey offers a unique perspective on an area of the world that is most often praised for its beaches, cuisine, museum treasures, or temperate weather. Simple stone and stucco façades are hereby proven to be evocative, eye opening, and inspiring, too.

No comments about Equilibrium (Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners).

5 comments about The Fields Of Athenry: A Journey Through Irish History.

1. I recently came across this book ,published in 2001,and what a wonderful surprise it is. There were two things that drew me to this book when I saw it. First,I spent an afternoon at my son in law's uncle's home a few years ago. He is a senior farmer who still farms ,lives in thatched roof cottage about 3 miles from the site of Moyden Castle .Smack dab in the middle of the Fields of Athenry, and one can see a similar castle from his front door,a mile or so away.It is one of my most memorable ,of many,memories of Ireland.The second reason is that the song "The Fields of Athenry" is one of my favorites. It was composed by Pete St.John,and has been recorder by thousands. It ranks right up there with "Danny Boy".My favorite version is by Paddy Reilly. A search on the web has much interesting things including the music and lyrics.
   
   By lonely prison walls
   I heard a young girl calling
   Michael,they have taken you away
   For stealing Trevelyn's corn
   So the young might see the morn.
   Now a prison ship lies waiting in the bay.
   
   Low lie the Fields of Athenry,
   Where once we saw the small free birds fly.
   Our love was on the wing,
   We had dreams and songs to sing.
   It's so lonely 'round the Fields of Athenry.
   
   Roy has done a masterful job in taking his experiences of nearly 40 years of finding an abandoned castle,built in 1550,obtaining ownership and restoring it to livable conditions. while telling of all his experiences,love of Ireland,its people and its cultures;he at the same time, outlines the history of Ireland and particularly that around Athenry and Galway.He is a gifted writer and while combining these two different themes;he is able to keep them separated. It is little wonder that he has done such a teriffic job with his book,when you consider most books like this are done with only a few years experience, Roy put over 40 years of his heart and soul into this book;and it shows.
   When one lives in a country like Canada where our history is only a couple of hundred years old,history really doesnt't have much to do with our daily lives or even our culture.However,with Ireland,one cannot get away from the tumultuous history this country has gone through for literaslly thousands of years. No matter where you go in Ireland ,history is right there before your eyes.For example ,a few years ago ,I spent a week in Galway,and yes ,watched the "Sun Go Down On Galway Bay".One rainy morning,not fit for man or beast,I took a stroll in an ancient graveyard in the middle og Galway. To my amazement I ran into a wonderful old gent who is on the restoration committee and he showed me a plaque dedicated to about 200 sailors who were shipwreked off the coast.They were from the Spanish Armada, and the British murdered them all and buried them in a common pit in this graveyard.There had been a monastary and a church on this site which the British had destroyed. The monks were likewise killed and the spot where they had been buried had been used for a dump for a couple of hundred years.They were in the process of restoring that too. Within a few meters there was the latgest Celtic Cross ever made. It was made for the World's Fair in Chicago,and after it was brought back here and installed as a famous family's memorial.A few minutes walk away, I visited a still functioning church which was visited by none less than Christopher Columbus ,looking for information before his trip to the new world. Amnother few minutes away is a monument commemorating the visit here by President John F Kennedy. Also nearby ,is a window where Judge Lynch had his son's sentence for murder carried out,by hanging. Yes,he has been remembered for this with the term Lynching or Lynch Mob.
   If you want a knowledgeable insight into Irish History and Culture;you'd do well with finding and reaing this excellent book.



2. I appreciate James Roy's style of writing in which the past is so cleanly entwined with the present. This book takes the reader on a short journey through Ireland's tumultuous history and brings it all to life in the lives and characters of the real people of Galway. I was looking for a book that would not gloss over Ireland like a tourist guide and I found one in The Fields of Athenry. I am looking forward to reading Mr. Roy's other works! Now if I could just come up with enough money to buy me a castle... :-)



3. I fail to see why the author bothered with his project- be it the "castle" or the book- given his low regard for the people and the place in general. I'd spent a fair amount of time in the area while growing up, and can tell you that the area has a charm that was utterly lost on the author. Don't waste your money, there are a myriad of books vastly superior to this one to be had. Just pick one at random and you'd have a better than even chance of it.



4. Mr. Roy's work is really two books in one -- a history of Ireland and its relationship with its Englsih invaders, and the personal story of how he bought a castle and restored it. Mr. Roy weaves the two stories together in alternating chapters, and does so with great skill.

   The Irish history is sound, concise, and informative -- Mr. Roy explains how the Norman invaders became co-opted by their Irish subjects and how running through the whole complicated skein of Irish history is the story of the great, but quarrelsome Irish families -- The O'Connors, O'Briens, Burkes, and Fitzgeralds. This focus provides a great deal of clarity to understanding the history of the Island.

   The story of Moyode Castle (Roy's personal story)is also fascinating, especially in detailing how the Irish accept this "foreigner" among them and how Mr. Roy comes to know and appreciate the local Irish culture. The book has many amusing tales of his encounters, although it is a little wistful, because he realizes that the Ireland he celebrates is gradually being lost to history.

   Well worth reading, particularly if you are looking to travel in rural Ireland, or ever hoped to buy a castle.




5. This author has an extrodinary talent, though he say's he's not Irish, to weave a tale of some of the most telling lore of Irish history with his ambitious effort (and the amusing stories that go with it)of restoring an ancient Castle in a town seemingly forgotten by history. All of Irelands real charactors of history are here and Mr. Roy does an excellent job of bringing them to our midst again, sometimes no matter how tragic or enlightening that may be. An excellent read from a very studied author.