1 comments about JCY: The Architecture of Jones Coulter Young.

1. Get a great feel for Australian Architecture with this book. It also has famous Australian Graphic Design! There are tons of black pages with white ink, and of course awesome photography. The book is a graphic designer, interior designer and architects dream!

1 comments about Building Type Basics for Places of Worship (Building Type Basics).

1. A useful primer for anyone involved in the design of places of worship. Covers a wide range of design considerations and uses sophisticated examples.

No comments about Urban Design Futures.

5 comments about A Better Place to Live: Reshaping the American Suburb.

1. Langdon describes why modern American suburbs, with typical cul de sacs, feeder roads, and strip malls, rob us of our sense of community and of our connections to our neighbors. He explains how the over-reliance on the automobile is both a cause and a result of these suburban designs. But he goes further, describing why older neighborhoods feel so much better to us-- neighborhoods with grid layouts, houses with front porches, homes placed fairly close to tree lined streets. If you've ever looked around at modern American developments and wondered why they feel alienating and uncomfortable, this book will answer your questions in fascinating detail. Langdon's prose is beautifully clear.



2. There are more books that I can count that address American suburbs, and of the dozen or so that I have read this is by far the most comprehensive, best written, and most illuminating. Far from simply being a 250+ page rant about how bad suburbia is, Langdon offers an immense amount of very specific advice about how it can be made better. You don't have to be a landscape architect or planner to appreciate and enjoy this book. Anyone concerned with ensuring that we all have great places to live will benefit tremendously from reading it.



3. Langdon's book is a gentle and articulate introduction to New Urbanism - the notion that our cities and our suburbs are a mess, and that in their place, we should have higher residential densities, mixed-use zoning, and pedestrian-oriented design. Langdon extols the benefits of the traditional street grid, and bemoans suburban developers' fascination with "pods" (i.e., clusters of cul-de-sacs). The author highlights the design of individual houses, and describes various ways of hiding garages and "granny apartments." Places given special attention include Seaside (Fla.), Kentlands (Md.), Laguna West (Cal.), Portland (Ore.), Kirkland (Wa.), and Bellevue (Wa.). The book is profusely illustrated with well over a hundred photographs and diagrams, a welcome change from authors who feel they can discuss this topic at length without a single illustration.



4. Mr. Langdon has some excellent points in his book. For instance, he makes a very convincing case that modern suburbia is sterile and that it encourages heavy reliance on the motor vehicle. He also offers good solutions, including more mixed-use neighborhoods, higher architectural standards, and different street layouts.

   However, Mr. Langdon never adequately addresses a significant objection to his ideas: they are *expensive* to implement. At times, he does concede that his ideas would require higher expenditures on housing. Usually he counters this with arguments resembling "well, Americans don't need wet bars and a television set in every room. If only they would give that up, we could have more intimate communities." At times it seems as though he is actively encouraging Americans to consume less, an idea that could form the backbone of another book. In this book, it only detracts from his argument.

   Sorry, Mr. Langdon. While Americans may want better communities, you can't force them to give up their television sets and wet bars in order to get them. Come up with a better way to pay for your ideas; otherwise, concede that the market has given modern Americans exactly what they want.




5. Reading this book started out as a requirement for my Urban Planning class. However, I became so interested in what Langdon had to say, and his easy to read diction, that I couldn't put it down. I would recommend this book to anyone who lives in the city, in the suburbs or anywhere in between. Everyone can relate to the issues that Langdon brings up, and they are truly interesting and relavent in today's society. A great book to use as an introduction to issues of urban planning and urban improvement.

No comments about The Dynamic Landscape.

2 comments about Designing MIT: Bosworth's New Tech.

1. This book about the architectural development of MIT should be interesting and informative to both academics, MIT alumuni as well as the casual individual interested in historic preservation. Designing MIT is both clearly written and wonderfully illustrated. I would rate is as a MUST BUY.



2. continue to be seen as a lackluster urban university scattered among classrooms, office buildings, and dormitories in Boston's Back Bay section. The architect chosen for this unprecedented, highly-visible, and risky large-scale architectural undertaking was William Welles Bosworth, a MIT graduate in architecture recommended by John D. Rockefeller. Yet, Bosworth continually had to reckon with the influence of other prominent architects who had put forth their own visionary plans. Among these were Ralph Adams Cram, who had designed West Point's campus; Steven Child, a student of Frederick Law Olmstead; and the chairman of MIT's Dept. of Architecture, Desire Despradelle. Jarzombek tells the story of how Bosworth managed to remain true to his own plans rooted in his neoclassicism while accommodating the ideas of other architects and the preferences of the powerful patrons. This complex, historic project is followed with plentiful old photographs and architectural drawings from MIT's archives. The author, a professor in MIT's Dept. of Architecture, gives equal treatment to the diverse individuals who had a role in the shaping of the project, the architectural concepts of the time, and Bosworth's work and resolutions of issues along the way. Needless to say, the architectural project succeeded in putting MIT into the forefront of U. S. science and engineering universities. And Bosworth's cluster of impressive buildings continues to play a central role in MIT's staying in this position.

2 comments about Proportion: Philosophy, Science and Architecture.

1. The book looks great. Haven't had time to open it yet, but it looks like it's in great condition.



2. beyond architecture, this book examines the racionalist vs. empirist debate in science, art and phillosophy. most impresive is the way it disolves the dilemma, explaining that both approaches are essentially the same as knowledge is acquired via a continuous process of inventing and discovering, inhaling and exhaling, imposing laws on nature and observing them.

No comments about The Charrette Handbook: The Essential Guide for Accelerated, Collaborative Community Planning.

1 comments about Creating A Vibrant City Center.

1. This accessible, 200-page book offers a terrific overview of urban design principles and how they can be applied to regenerate/revitalize downtowns and city centers. It covers all the basics in 15 easy-to-digest chapters that contain informative images with detailed captions. Best of all, a collection of case studies offers live examples of how cities as diverse as Kenosha Wisconsin, Portland Oregon and Manchester England (along with another 14 case studies) have successfully integrated the principles outlined in the book.

2 comments about Richmond's Monument Avenue.

1. lots of old pictures of Monument Ave. If you have ever visiting this area, you need this book.



2. An incredible documentation of the only street in America to have its own National Landmark status. The authors did their research on this fascinating piece of Americana, and the street comes alive in beautiful photographs and fascinating description.

   A MUST for anyone's coffee table!!