1 comments about Single Building: Type Variant House: The Process of an Architectural Work.

1. Despite its modest format, this elegant monograph more than does justice to Vincent James' extraordinary copper pavilions floating in a birch forest, comprehensively illustrated here with a wide range of visual materials, from early design sketches, construction photographs, and extensive working drawings to exquisite images of the finished building through four seasons of rain, mist, snow, and sun. Fold-out plans are provided in the inside cover, with a location key to all photos for readers' convenience. The graphic design of the book is clearly a labor of love, far beyond the often perfunctory standard of architectural publishing. Professional readers will regret the absence of scale information, but this is a minor lapse amidst the books many virtues.

1 comments about Sources of Architectural Form: A Critical History of Western Design Theory.

1. This is a great book for architecture and design theory. Pretty easy read with good illustrations. It discusses the philosophy behind architecture/design/art from different periods.

3 comments about Between Silence and Light.

1. If you are inerested in late modern architecture and the thoughts "behind the men", it is a good resource. Lots of bright photos of Kahn's work. The text is a little sparse. but for the price it's a good deal.



2. Kahn's words in this book are very wise.

   For just one example: The reason a city might deserve to exist is not due to packing a lot of warm squirming bodies into a small cubic footage, but rather to be a place where persons can explore things that interest them beyond the requirements of reproduction of individual and species life which determines peasant (and other non-urban) life.

   A city is a place where a young person, as they walk through it, observing various master craftspersons at work, may find something they *want* to do for their whole life (not just something they *have* to do to earn a "living").

   This is remarkable stuff, especially when we compare it with the ethical vapidity of postmodernism. Read this book and then see how the "world" you live in and the architects who designed it shapes up. Do you live in spaces which nurture creative human association? Or do you live and work in "decorated sheds" that put sugar coating on places that make you and your loved ones be banal?




3. If you're someone who's interested in architecture,but don't seem to get the hang of it, the word of Louis I. Kahn might help. I was a sopmore when I read the book , classes were a bit blur to me,it was like seeing an image but not sure of what you were looking at. But this book put things in a way that incouraged me as a student , to see the many concepts from life that concerned an architect, and how an an archetect was more of a artist of living, a thinker than just a constrution manager.

No comments about Paris on the Potomac: The French Influence on the Architecture and Art of Washington, D.C. (Perspective On Art & Architect).

5 comments about Perfect Acts Of Architecture.

1. This is a great book, awesome spine and cover design, and the typeset plays really well with the subject matter, especially for Rem and Elia's Exodus proposal.
   
   Also you get pretty much all of the Manhattan Transcripts for about the same price as they'd be on their own.



2. First what this book is not. This is not a book about buildings, in a traditional sense, although all the architects with work represented in the book are actually far busier these days building real buildings than creating the sort of explorations seen here. Don't confuse this book for anything other than avant-garde drawing exercises.
   
   So what this book IS -- well, the possibility that these avant-garde drawings can be a good thing, even a visionary and optimistic thing, that they can inspire, and finally can stretch the possibilities of what we mean by architecture. The title calls these "acts" of architecture, which really is just a bit of jargon meaning ravishingly beautiful drawings that are riffs on architectural ideas. These ideas don't always boil down into words (you could for instance skip most of the text), or comprehensible buildings, but are irreduceably visual and all exciting.
   
   The collection presented here is a work of a generation of visionary architects now our elders and respected and all that means (like building real stuff now), but at the time this work was done these architects were effectively scribbling in their attics with no real commissions. The group as a whole was, and continues to be, enormously influential. It's also interesting to see the development of such famous architects as Rem Koolhaas or Tom Mayne (although hard to single them out amongst this group) compared to their mature and more "mainstream" production now.
   
   One star is cut from the rating for the quality of reproductions. This is a catalogue for the MoMA and Wexner show, and the original drawings at the show were far more subtle and ravishing that the printing here. Especially the Mayne and Libeskind work suffers. Finally, Terry Riley's introduction is pitch-perfect, as one would expect.



3. Notwithstanding that these projects (thankfully) were never built, they shatre the commonality of lacking any substance. The drawings are obtuse and match the pretentious texts that typify what passes for academic writing today. In the main, however, they have nothing worthwhile to say. This book might best be described as a collection of self-important musings by architects who have made questionable contributions to the cities we live in.



4. The author notes that these works were produced in an economic slump when many architects were forced to turn to drawings and teaching to suplement their incomes. In a way, that period was the beginning of the end of architecture too. In place of real design, intelligent solutions, an interest in housing and other real-world problems, the architecture of academia took root. For some, this took precedence over real building and design. What we have here is a series of absurd propositions that Kipnis (perhaps he too was in an economic slump and needed to write a book), finds more fascinating than they really are. This was the period when it became popular (amongst a self-styled academic elite), to produce incomprehensible drawings as a way of distinguishing oneself from the pack. Great claims were made about the newness of this architecture and like much of what went before, we are suffering bthe urban degredation that Eisenman, Tschumi, Libeskind et al have reaped on cities across the globe. - Flack lackey Kipnis does little more than ingratiate himself into the circle. Like his subjects, however, he has little to offer sensible architectural commentary. Avoid.



5. The book shows exceptional stratigical drawing from a selection of famous achitects. Although some explanations about the projects is short, this book is great for architectural students because it simply provokes thought.

1 comments about Oppositions Reader: Selected Readings from a Journal for Ideas and Criticism in Architecture 1973-1984.

1. a great project, a necessary book to understand the Seventeens, not only in the architecture, not only for architects.

5 comments about Paris: An Architectural History.

1. This slim guide is one of the most comprehensive guides to Paris architectural style over its history. Though the guide is very good,it omits alot but is still a really great resource to walk you through the centuries of building in the city. If you love architecture or Paris or both you will enjoy this book which is chock full of color photos, lithographs, old maps and desriptions of styles, movements and the history behind these. If you are a student or a tourist this is a fun guide.



2. the book will serve to be very beneficial to my daughter which is studying architecture in Paris.



3. First of all let me state that one star for this book is absolutely ridiculous, I must confess, I dont hold a PH.D in Parisian architecture, but i do know a thing or two about Paris, and this book is excellent, there are images and information about the architecture of Paris, that I had not seen before. I love Paris, and have always been fascinated with the architecture and Hausemans layout of Paris. If you have any interest in the architectural history of Paris, then really I cannot imagine you not having some appreciation of this book, maybe when your in Paris you can run by the afore mentioned reviewers copy he left out of disgust and save yourself some money. Highly recommended.



4. I took this book with me on a month-long architecture study trip to Paris this summer. I started reading it before the trip, and found it very dry and badly written (I have a B.A. in History, so I've read my share of dry texts!). I hoped that being in Paris would enliven the book. That didn't happen; Paris itself only highlighted the deficiencies in the book, the most glaring of which being the complete omission of the city's pre-Roman, Roman, and early Middle Ages history. (Saint-Chapelle is not in there at all!) In lieu of this, Sutcliffe spends an inordinate amount of documenting the development of the distinctive hotel-style residences in the city. There are the obligatory bits on Haussman and the Pompidou Center, but both - particularly the latter - are so opinionated that it made me question the credibility of the entire book. At the end of the trip, I left my copy behind in my dorm room. Au revoir!

   Unfortunately, I haven't found a good Paris architectural history to recommend instead of this one. If you're in the city and want a good, well-illustrated book on the development of early city (pre-Roman through the Middle Ages), pick up the exhibition catalogue at the archeological museum under the plaza in front of Notre-Dame.




5. This is without a doubt the best book I've found yet on Parisian architectural history. Sutcliffe has done an incredible job of merging discussion of the architectural features of Parisian buildings and monuments with the historical context that influenced (and was influenced by) them.

   If you have ever been fascinated by the spectacular buildings, monuments, and boulevards of Paris, this book will be a treat. After reading this book, Paris seemed like a totally new city to me. Apartment rows that I'd previously not even noticed suddenly took on meaning and importance for me. The larger patterns of the city became clear to me. And I felt a physical link with the history of Paris.

   I loved Sutcliffe's writing style, mixing humor with information and sharing his personal opinion of buildings with the historical facts. I also enjoyed the insights on the social atmospheres and values of each timeperiod and how they influenced the way in which the structures were built and what the public reaction to them was at the time.

   I have many books on Parisian architecture, but this is the one that I always come back to and read over and over...

3 comments about Chambers for a Memory Palace.

1. An interesting format for a discussion of design principles with beautiful pen and ink sketches. Imaginary letters written between two architects discussing well known and not so well known buildings that illustrate proportion, paths, angles and why they appeal to our eyes and hearts. Recommended by a designer whose course I took. A very pleasing book.



2. For the way this book is advertised, I did not feel like it accomplished what it sets out to do. Nevertheless if you are an amateur buff of architecture like me this is a good book to add to your home library collection.



3. Easily the best book on architecture, and mere observation, that I have ever read. Great even for those with little or no knowledge of the field.

2 comments about Us Gold Counterfeit Detection Guide (Official Whitman Guidebook).

1. This is a better that average book if you are interested in looking for what to look for in a fake coin. There are descent photos and information on tell tale signs. There is no real model to tell you of any specific markings to determine if it is a genuine coin, just what to look for in a fake. Better detail, die marking information and die pairing would have made this a great book. I recommend this to anyone who is interested in stepping into the gold coin market.



2. As a budding gold coin collector, this book is a must have. Currently, I have 4 gold coins in my collection. Two have been graded and are genuine specimens, one was returned counterfeit, and one I have yet to send in. Now, I have a guide to help me screen my coins.
   
   The picture quality alone of the coins shown in this book makes it a buy. They are most helpful in showing you what to look for. Having only heard of the "Omega Man" up to this point, there are a few of those coins pictured in the book.
   
   If only the grading service I use would return coins telling you what makes it a counterfeit like the book shows you.
   
   I rated it at 4 starts because I think there should be more than the 200 pictures. Also, more info on the "Omega Man" and other history of counterfeiting would be nice to have. When was the first "Omega Man" coin discovered?

2 comments about Digital Eisenman: An Office of the Electronic era (The Information Technology Revolution in Architecture).

1. This small size book is copiously illustrated with 55 extremely high quality photos (most in color) of models, computer generated renderings, schematics (including plans, sections, perspectives, site plans), office at work, graphics, etc. The text is very clear, sharp, and easy to read despite a small print of part of it, and as expected from Birkhauser. From the publishing technical point of view this book is perfect, but its small size is not an advantage. It is a solid review of a character of Eisenman's works on example of some particular ones, or rather of some methods to produce his works. It is not a monographic review of his works, but rather a handbook with snapshots showing some techniques employing computers and models similar to those used by Frank Gehry.



2. This book is so tightly bound you will fear ripping it to shreds just trying to open it. Once open, and it is a struggle, you will be awe-struck at the beautiful reproductions of the near-impossible structures designed by Eisenman. Galofaro cuts the architect's excessively thick theory, asking simply, "how has digital production affected his theory based practice?" As tiny as this book is, it is BIG on content and imagery. The author has not spared us his investigations - unearthing some of the architect's little known projects (many unbuilt to date). And while it is not the singular authority on the work of Peter Eisenman, it is definately an essential addition to any collection on contemporary architecture.