Book Description
Architects Jesse Reiser and Nanako Umemoto have been generating some of the most provocative thinking in the field for nearly twenty years. With Atlas of Novel Tectonics, Reiser+Umemoto hone in on the many facets of architecture and illuminate their theories with great thought and simplicity. The Atlas is organized as an accumulation of short chapters that address the workings of matter and force, material science, the lessons of art and architectural history, and the influence of architecture on culture (and vice versa). Reiser+Umemoto see architectural design as a series of problem situations, and each chapter is an argument devoted to a specific condition or case.
Influenced by a wide range of fields and phenomena Brillat-Savarin's classic The Physiology of Taste is one of their primary models the authors provide a cross-section of thinking and inspiration. The result is both an elucidation of the concepts that guide Reiser+Umemoto through their own design process and a series of meditations on topics that have formed their own sense as architects. Atlas of Novel Tectonics offers an entirely fresh perspective on subjects that are generally taken for granted, and does so with a welcome punch and energy.
Customer Reviews:
a rare exemplar of clarity in architectural writing.......2007-10-17
Reiser and Umemoto (henceforth R&U) have put together a wonderful role model of a textbook in a field that erroneously prides itself on having NO textbooks -- that is, by having far too many "must-read" books that remain disconnected and often irrelevant to the problem of learning HOW TO GO ABOUT wrapping one's head around this thing called Architecture. Without turgidity, mysticism, pedantry, or pretentious narcissism, the authors elegantly demonstrate one version of architectural head-wrapping: THEIRS. But make no mistake: to call it 'theirs' is only to specify the site of the (unavoidable)subjectivity that propels this kind of demonstration. And the clarity with which this demostration is done is yet another demonstration of the refinement of their subjectivity.
This book, along with those by George L. Hersey, is one of the very few books in the field that can actually help one in reducing the confusion in trying to understand what Architecture as a DISCIPLINE really deals with, so overcrowded it is today with so many extra-architectural issues/agendas. After all, it was never Architecture as such that was confusing or difficult to understand. People with clubby exclusionary motives, aided and abetted by academic survivalists -- the small sort of people Dryden derided as 'criticules'(teeny weeny critics) -- have made the topic into the unnecessarily convoluted intestine that it is today. And given the paucity of well-paying or creatively challenging work for architects in the real world, this nefarious practice of obfuscation will likely continue since "all forms of power are always accompanied by some form of mysticism."
But I digress.
I mentioned George L. Hersey's books earlier as exemplars of clarity. I was thinking of his `Architecture and Geometry in the Age of the Baroque'. There you see what actually qualified AS an architectural problem for architects like Borromini and Guarini. You also see the INTENSITY and COMPLEXITY in the SIMPLICITY of the problems they chose to deal with. This kind of architectural cathexis (focus of interest) is something that got lost a while ago with people wasting their vital fluids arguing over possibly important but ultimately extra-architectural issues like low-income housing, importance of having porches, evils of capitalism, etc -- issues that are really a matter of political will, compassion, self-control, and/or common sense.
Enter R&U:
Knowledgeable admirers of the Baroque that they are, they remind us what it really means to "play ball" in Architecture: ripped-pantyhose mediations on Heraclitus be damned, Architecture, like Baseball, has its internally generated/regulated rules that demand consistency with how Nature designs; and playing a great game regardless of all external factors (politics, ideology, economy, management, the weather, etc) is really all that counts in the end.
In five sections, R&U demonstrate the very thing they profess to practice - strategies of ordering - by crystallizing the perennial topics of Architecture. The five headings are:
1. Geometry
2. Matter
3. Operating
4. Common Errors to Avoid
5. The World
Under those five headings, Reiser and Umemoto present short discussions based on themes that are often paired into their basic Yin & Yang. Some examples:
Difference in Kind / Difference in Degree
Variety vs. Variation
Selection / Classification
Classical Body / Impersonal Individuation
Exact / Anexact-yet-rigorous
Continuity / Discontinuity
Intensive / Extensive
No doubt there are ways of looking that go beyond the binary but I agree with this manner of presentation for the clarity it can offer to the student who needs to first get his conceptual house in order anyway.
With their confident yet quiet presentation, R&U steer clear from trying to be clever or pointlessly esoteric. Every illustration serves to enhance the point they are trying to get across. And the point is always and consistently ABOUT HOW ONE MIGHT GO ABOUT DOING this thing called Architecture which essentially operates - without necessarily being delimited thereby in its possibilities - as a finite set of limits within a SYSTEM - a coherent system of desire and sensibility, as opposed to a smorgasbord of personal whims, tastes, styles, and personal baggage.
Discussion of each topic is accompanied by quirky but spot-on illustrations ranging from stress diagrams to engravings of Solomon's Temple from Villapando to Max Ernst collages to selections from their own projects. (Whether, if, and how well R&U actually applied these very principles to their own design work is a matter outside the scope of this review.)
Being teachers as well as practicing architects, R&U thoughtfully included a section (Section 4) that should be particularly useful for most architecture students who often end up getting the short end of the stick after going from one teacher to another without there being any rhyme or reason to the arbitrary sequence in which they are exposed to ideas.
The value of this book lies in its status as an exemplar of clarity in terms of its strategy of perception/observation, not necessarily in its enormity of scope, exhaustiveness, logical throroughness, or profundity in the application of Deleuze's or DeLanda's ideas -- which in this case is not really an issue.
As an exemplar, this book points a way possibly toward a New Architecture (again) but more importantly, a New Honesty/Modesty/Clarity in speaking/writing about Architecture.
Difficult Writing vs Clear Expression.......2007-06-07
This book gets lots of play right now in (big "A") Architecture schools. I'm a firm believer that if your thoughts are clear, your writing is clear. This book embarks on many dialectical examples that are explained with too much "difficult writing" for its own good. Grad students of the world, beware the three DDDs that inspire some of this writing: Deleuze, Derrida and Delanda. They plow enormous fields in complicated patterns and only yield a kernel or two. Ironically, I admire Reiser + Umemoto as architects and am looking forward to a book on their more recent work.
The Sinews of Design.......2007-05-07
An unxpectedly fine book on architectural theory that's rooted not in politics or aesthetics or lit-crit theory, but in the worlds of physics and engineering-- a look at architecture and architectural possibilities based on the sinews of buildings rather than the ideology of architects. I'm an historian by training, and an aficionado of architecture and design theory. Reiser + Umemoto have created a small book that offers a view of postmodern architecture seen through the lens of the physically possible. Anyone who wants to imagine new cities and new styles of building needs to consider the sheer physical constraints of design, and this book is a fine place to start.
Must read.......2007-03-26
Must read lexicon of architectural forays and methodologies for any critical architect or designer.
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The Art of Structural Engineering: The Work of Jorg Schlaich and His Team
Alan Holgate
Manufacturer: Edition Axel Menges
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ASIN: 3930698676 |
Book Description
Cable-nets, membrane roofs, and unique bridges are among the structures designed by Schlaich and his partners.
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Light Years--The Zumtobel Story 2000-1950
Manufacturer: Birkhauser
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 3764363320 |
Book Description
Light Years: The Zumtobel story 2000-1950 tells of the fascinating encounters which have shaped the firm, its rise to success, its projects and the company culture. Unearthing a wealth of historical, technical and creative details which all contribute to the development of state-of-the-art lighting systems, this publication presents intriguing artifacts including photographs, sketches, plans, technological and strategic papers. These chronicle the growth of this branch of technology, document the history of the company and attest to the numerous collaborations with renowned architects and designers. Interviews, conversations, and contributions from architects and designers including Ettore Sottsass, Nicholas Grimshaw, Peter Zumthor, Christian Bartenbach round off this captivating volume.
Book Description
McKim, Mead & White rivals Frank Lloyd Wright for the honor of the premier architectural firm in American architecture. During McKim, Mead & White's most creative period (1879-1915), the firm received nearly 1,000 commissions, which include many of the most famous and important buildings ever built in America. Now, following Rizzoli's Houses of McKim, Mead & White, authors Samuel G. White and Elizabeth White here document the great non-residential works of America's greatest classical architects. In lavish color and archival photographs, the book includes the Boston Public Library, Newport Casino, the second Madison Square Garden, the Washington Memorial Arch, the Morgan Library, major works at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, the campuses of Columbia and Harvard universities, Pennsylvania Station in New York, Bank of Montreal, American Academy in Rome, the Century Association, and the Harvard, Metropolitan, and University clubs in New York, among others. McKim, Mead & White: The Masterworks is certain to stand the test of time as one of the most important publications on American architecture.
Customer Reviews:
So close...and yet so far away.......2005-09-15
I had been panting over this book when I first learned of it's release and it was given to me as a gift, quite unexpected, considering it's costly list price.
1) Just because you are related to Mr. White does not mean you have the same gifts. Where architect White was a gifted visionary, builder and man about town, (not to mention murdered lover of Evelyn Nesbitt) author White is pedestrian at best and swinging from gilded-age coat tails at worst.
2) Some of the photography is excellent, and that is the reason this book still lives on my coffee table. However, I will warn you that much of it is flat and lacking in imagination.
3) For lovers of architecture like myself and others who would want to own this book, it is amazingly short of drawings such as elevations and cross-sections. To see these buildings on paper and then in lush color photographs would have been a better exercise than the travelogue style presentation in this volume.
In short, the book does have some lovely parts, but the whole is a bit disappointing. I don't know that I would pay retail for it, rather I'd look for a good used version, or ask Santa for it for Christmas.
Gilded Age Masters.......2005-09-04
Though the definitive book on these great architects work is still yet to be written, this book certainly does their work justice. I enjoyed the text and felt quite knowledged after reading it. I thought the pictures where bold and well selected, though not to the level of some books of this sort. I especially enjoyed the section on Penn Station, wow, what a building, it is so disheartening that it was leveled for a very mediocre building that may find itself meeting the same fate as Penn Station soon: poetic justice I suppose. I think instead of converting McKim, Mead, and White's Post Office Building into the new Penn Station, they should take the blue prints of the original and build it, this was the firms best work, it's a disgrace that is was so underappreciated by the city govenment a the time. At anyrate, if you have any interest in great Gilded Age architecture, you will certainly enjoy this book, just to get a peek inside some of the most exclusive clubs in America is worth the price of the book.
Overpriced and disappointing.......2004-05-27
Since the author touts himself as a descendant of Stanford White, one doesn't expect much in the way of critical perspective from the text of this book. More disappointing are the contemporary photographs - although reproduced at enormous size, they are oddly flat and lifeless. For a better book at a better price, check out "The Architecture of McKim, Mead & White in Photographs, Plans and Elevations"
Masterworks Still Vital to the American Landscape.......2004-04-05
When captains of industry like Morgan, Astor, or Vanderbilt chose to build grand edifices they engaged the services of the architecture firm McKim, Mead, and White. During the firms most inspired period (1879-1915), it built nearly 1,000 commissions, including many famous and important buildings that are still vital parts of the landscape and include: The Morgan Library, Boston Symphony Hall, Columbia University, and the American Academy in Rome.
Written by Samuel G. White (great grandson of Sanford White) and Elizabeth White, McKim, Mead, and White: The Masterworks documents non-residential works of America's greatest classical architects. This new book showcases twenty-four public buildings in remarkable detail. The majority of the buildings included in The Masterworks are still in use however several notable examples; Madison Square Garden, Penn Station, 4 pavilions at the World's Columbian Exposition, and Madison Square Presbyterian Church were demolished long ago.
The architects spared no expense when they created their masterworks and it is apparent that Rizzoli Publishers spared no expense in producing this lovely book. Contemporary color photographs by Jonathan Wallen document the buildings as they are today capturing the totality of their grandeur as well as their finest details. Fascinating archival photographs illustrate how the buildings appeared were when their doors first opened. And almost every building profile is augmented with elevation drawings, sketches, watercolors, and other rare background material. An informative text accompanies each profile. It sheds light on the personalities of the architects, their sources of inspiration, the personalities who commissioned the buildings, and the times when they lived and worked.
The Rule of Taste.......2004-03-04
One of the most handsome books on architecture of recent years, beautifully written in a style that is concise without being in the least off-hand. You may find yourself mourning the passing of an age when so much distinguished architecture enhanced our cities, and mourning equally the fact of so much of it being taken for granted (and in many cases, heartlessly demolished)
One regrets, however, that the book's designers have gone the fashionable route of having its pages printed in a nearly matte-finish.
Rather than being the velvety ideal, here the photographs seem compromised by this technique. A good example is the photograph of the library at the University Club,( New York). What must be the most complexly rich and improbably Italianate room in North America comes off looking disapointingly murky and flat.( The author/photographer's previous book, Houses of Mc Kim Mead White, while employing the same approach, was rather better printed.)
But this is a quibble; the book is ravishing.
Book Description
The first study of a bold, prolific, controversial, early twentieth-century architectural firm.
At the turn of the twentieth century, when American architecture blossomed in the spirit of the City Beautiful movement, Beaux-Arts-trained Whitney Warren and lawyer Charles D. Wetmore put their stamp on New York City with Grand Central Terminal. Their mansions, clubs, hotels, apartment houses, and office buildings were powerful emblems of the era. 32 pages of color, 240 duotone photographs.
Customer Reviews:
A 'must' for any college-level architectural studies collection.......2006-06-23
Warren & Wetmore was one of the most successful, busy architectural practices in the U.S. for the first thirty years of the 20th century, producing over three hundred public projects from the Grand Central Terminal to the Hotel Vanderbilt. The firm's blend of classical and French styles into American practices comes alive in THE ARCHITECTURE OF WARREN & WETMORE, the first study to examine the firm's creations as a whole. New color photos blend with historic black and white shots, drawings, and plans and are enhanced by a foreword by Robert A.M. Stern. Commentary tells us the best designs produced by the firm were private commissions, and chapters reveal these highlights. A 'must' for any college-level architectural studies collection.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
WARREN AND WETMORE.......2006-03-16
Wow, what a great book, the images are vivid and well done and the text is very scholarly, which is not surprising considering that Stern is the dean of the Yale School of Architecture. It is obvious that Stern has a great deal of respect for Warren and Wetmore. This book focuses on many of their great works, but the masterpiece is of course the singular Grand Central Station, this building is colossel and spectacular, just as the late, great Penn Station was Mckim, Mead, and Whites masterpeice so it is with Warren and Wetmore. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an appreciation for beautiful things.
Book Description
Nobody can make a building soar like the architectural photographers of Hedrich Blessing. Since 1930, they have been the world's messenger of modern architecture. Based in Chicago, the architectural photography firm has achieved an international reputation that extends far beyond its regional association, and has made them the photographers of choice for some of the greatest architects of our time. Coinciding with a major retrospective at the Chicago Historical Society, Building Images: Seventy Years of Photography at Hedrich Blessing chronicles the history of this groundbreaking firm with close to 150 dazzling shots of architectural and design masterpieces by such greats as Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright, Albert Kahn, Eliel Saarinen, Bruce Graham, and many more. Architectural historian and memoirist Tony Hiss contributes a lyrical, insightful essay on what makes the assiduous photographers of Hedrich Blessing rise above the rest. Building Images brings the majesty, nuance, and poetry of our era's great buildings to light with these indelible photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Inspiring Work from the Masters.......2007-01-01
If you have any desire to learn about how to photograph architecture or interior spaces, sometimes a picture is worth more than a thousand words. Sometimes they are the very best teaching aids you can use, far better than pages of technical writing, diagrams, measurements and angles. Look at the composition, the light and the color. Aside from just enjoying the beautiful photographs for what they are, you can learn a great deal from them, if that is your aim. Highly recommended for anyone who wants to know how to make compelling photographs of structures, interiors and designed spaces. You may need other books to master the technicalities of the craft if you're just beginning, but start here.
(Another great place to learn is from the work of Julius Shulman...)
Simply beautiful.......2003-12-06
There are some bodies of work that simply stand out from others. Be it style, approach, purpose, or quality, there's something that clearly puts certain groups of work above the vast majority of others. This book is such a body of work.
The images presented are commercial photographs. They were taken over a span of 70 years by different photographers, all of them doing architectural photography as a professional venture for commercial purposes. All too often it seems that people automatically assume that if something is commercially produced, it simply cannot exist on the level of other things that have been produced for the purpose of art. And unfortunately, a lot of the photography and design we come in contact with on a daily basis just reinforces this notion. However, there are certain individuals who are capable of completing a commercial venture in such a beautiful, elegant, and truly artful manner that it becomes astoundingly clear that commercial work need not be anything short of fine art. In design, we have people like Viktor Schreckengost who have proven this. In photography, there are photographers like those at Hedrich-Blessing.
I do not mean to imply that these photographers are infallible or incapable of producing work that would simply fall into a pedestrian classification. However, given the photographs in this book, it is clear that they have been able to produce a large number of photographs that are both highly communicative and visually clear, concise, and overwhelmingly elegant. Few photographers have been able to approach architecture in such a way.
The book itself does a simply wonderful job presenting these photographs. The layout, editing, text, and photographs are nearly perfect. The introduction, written by Timothy Samuelson, is wonderfully done and does an excellent job of introducing the photographs that follow. The reproductions of the photographs are gorgeous. The order is very well thought-out and the periodic sections of text that identify the photographs contain individual paragraphs about some of the photographs that provide wonderful insight into the process, the photographers, etc.
I think just about anyone could get something out of this volume. Most of all, though, I think that it's something that would be most meaningful for photographers, designers, and architects. Or anyone with a strong sense for the visual, for that matter. I don't know how many times I've spent a coupel hours just slowly going over the photographs in this book. Every time I've done so, I've gotten something different out of the images. And almost always I feel refreshed and eager to get out there and work on making better images myself (I'm a photographer).
I cannot say enough good things about this book. But given that I'm sure you probably think I've already written too much, let me just say this much more - this is a significant volume, being beautiful throughout, more than worthy of the price, and sure remain a prized part of your collection for many, many years.
70 Years of Historic Beauty.......2000-10-09
What a beautiful collection of photographs! The images in this book are some of the most georgeous photographs of buildings that I have ever seen, beginning with that stunning shot of the Chicago Federal building on the cover. This is the kind of coffee table book that is very smart and invites attention. The images move though 70 years of different styles of architecture, but with a consistent focus on what is most important -- a detail, a beautiful shape, or a play of textures and color to create a mood that shows the strength of the architectural designs. This consistency is amazing considering how many photographers Hedrich Blessing has used -- 19 in all. The book features images that you rarely see elsewhere, like the 1930's panoramic shot of the Palmolive building with the spikes of lighting in the sky (and shows just how far back Hedrich Blessing goes)to the more abstracted photographs, like the design elements of a servant's hallway( something you might never notice as important or beautiful). The essay by Tony Hiss does makes good points about why Hedrich Blessing's work is important. The book wonderfully designed. I especially liked the way each photographer's work is referenced by their name next to the page number and the way that two photographs are paired together on the same page. The book reflects 70 years of history in ways that show how architectural photography started and the way the field has grown. This book could be broken down into different books on different subjects: retail/commercial design, tall buildings, residential interiors, etc., but overall, the book shows off Hedrich Blessing's art fabulously. A must for architectural and photographic enthusiasts!
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Hodgetts + Fung Buildings and Projects
Rizzoli
Manufacturer: Rizzoli
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
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General
| Architects, A-Z
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Schools, Periods & Styles
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| Abstract Expressionism
| Ancient & Classical
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| Byzantine
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| Contemporary Art
| Cubism
| Dadaism
| Expressionism
| Fauvism
| Folk Art
| Futurism
| German Expressionism
| Gothic
| Impressionism
| Mannerism
| Medieval
| Modern
| Neoclassical
| Pop
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| Romanesque
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ASIN: 0847818128
Release Date: 1997-01-15 |
Book Description
With backgrounds in theater, film, and industrial design, Craig Hodgetts and Hsin-Ming Fung, the principals of this award-winning Los Angeles-based firm, celebrate architecture's theatricality and the visual, media-oriented culture of Southern California. Hodgetts + Fung's brightly colored, rigorously structured buildings and installations cleverly integrate computer and multimedia systems, natural lighting, and eclectic materials such as tinted plaster, aluminum siding, and sheet metal. The firm has designed a wide range of projects, including a widely praised temporary library at UCLA; a historic theater renovation in Hollywood; offices for film and talent companies in Los Angeles; Los Angeles Arts Park, a competition entry for an arts and cultural center; and installations at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco, and the Library of Congress. Thirty-two projects are presented in this first monograph on the firm, which received the 1994 Academy Award in Architecture from the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the 1996 Chrysler Award for Innovation in Design.
Customer Reviews:
Good Graphics.......2000-05-16
This is a good monography of the L.A. based architectural firm hodgetts and Fung. Most of their work in the book has a connection with the film industry.
The book addresses the earlier work of the firm. It does a good job in providing an insight of the firm's style and approach to design.
Book Description
Originally published in 1923, this documents the work of the famous Philadelphia-based firm which designed many outstanding residences in Mid-Atlantic and New England states.
Customer Reviews:
Illustrative Grandure.......2000-06-15
This monograph has good text and lots of photographic images for anyone who loves period houses. What sets it apart from other books of its kind is the inclusion of pages of detailed drawings by the architects. The illustrations are absolutely magnificant and very educational for those interested in how these intricate works went from the minds of the architects to actual built works of enduring beauty. A very good book.
Book Description
Pentagram is an international design consultancy founded in 1972 with offices in New York, London, San Francisco, and Austin, Texas. Pentagram Book Five is the company's fifth monograph, highlighting 50 case studies of its projects from the last five years -- 1993 through 1998 -- across the fields of graphic design, industrial design, and architecture. Pentagram Book Five is both a celebration of the creativity and a testimony to the collaboration of Pentagram's partners, each of whom brings an individual voice to the firm's idea-based design. From the start, Pentagram's partners balked at the common practice of designing in the vacuum of specialization, choosing instead to bring together a broad range of designers, disciplines and backgrounds to collaborate on projects. The combined efforts of these architects, product designers, and graphic designers have landed them coveted work with such diverse clients as the American Institute of Architects, Coca-Cola, Swatch, and Toshiba, who chose Pentagram for the unique perspective this collaboration brings. Edited and introduced by communications journalist Randall Rothenberg, Pentagram Book Five is also a how-to, giving insights to the way Pentagram's partners approach the problems given them by their clients: How to bring new audiences to a struggling theater? How to make computers a natural part of the kitchen? How to sell the Bible to readers of contemporary fiction? How to create a feeling of "heritage" in a manufactured town? Each case study takes the reader through the designers' and clients' thought processes and shows why the project is successful, in terms of both business and design requirements. Pentagram partners represented in the book include: Lorenzo Apicella, James Biber, Michael Bierut, Robert Brunner, Michael Gericke, Kenneth Grange, David Hillman, Kit Hinrichs, Angus Hyland, John McConnell, Justus Oehler, Woody Pirtle, John Rushworth, Paula Scher, Daniel Weil, and Lowell Williams.
Customer Reviews:
Great Design Firm, but an Average Book.......2000-11-28
Pentagram is one of the best design firms on planet earth, so this book is a must have for a creative professional. BUT the book lacks real inspiration - it's very dry stuff. While the volume has many pretty pictures with "case studies" the book doesn't really tell you a story. The work itself is very good, but you can see that in an awards annual like Graphis. You just get the feeling that they didn't have any fun putting this book together. I judge my design books on how often I run to them for inspiration - and this volume doesn't rate too high. I have an ancient book by the founders of Pentagram (Fletcher, Forbes & Gill) which blows these kids out of the water. So this book is a must have for the reference library, but you may want to wait until it's on sale.
Good design at its best.......1999-09-17
Pentagram...what more do you need to know? It gives amazing insight into the thoughts behind their work in 50 examples. The forward contains a short but very complete description of the history of this powerhouse company of design. A must have book for anyone who studies or loves "good design" of any kind.
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