No comments about Urban Spaces: New City Parks.

5 comments about The New York Apartment Houses of Rosario Candela and James Carpenter.

1. Alpern continues with the format used in his "New York's Fabulous Luxury Apartments", which serves the subject matter well. This new volume is also a worthwhile extension of the earlier work for those interested in New York apartment buildings, with very little overlap. However, considering the fairly high price of this book, it would have been nice to see included current photos of at least some of the apartment buildings as they appear today. This would also have provided another level of the always fascinating "then and now" element already included in the book, where illustrations were included depicting what some of the apartment buildings replaced. This was an excellent opportunity missed, perhaps, to provide an amazing encapsulation of the ever-changing and yet at the same time remarkably un-changing landscape of New York City, without detracting from the intended subject of the book. Overall, though, a very agreeable and interesting reference work.



2. An exquisite book! There are stories about each apartment house and how it came to be. I found the two architects, Candela and Carpenter, to be very interesting characters. The homes they designed are ahead of their time. The floor plans are fascinating. The book also shows, by the floor plans, how people lived and what their needs were. The authors even quote costs of building and tell of the people who lived there. If you like real estate you will find this fascinating.



3. Let me first say that I loved the period black and white photos of the buildings, I also appreciated the fact that all of the buildings mentioned came with requisite photos, that is a must in book of this sort. I really didn't know that much about these buildings nor the architects so this book gave me a real education, I came away more knowledged and very impressed. The attention to detail the architects employed in these buildings is amazing and the fact that so many are still extant is a tribute to the artistry and talent that went into designing and building them and obviously contempory wealthy apartment seekers appreciate these attributes or else we all know these buildings would have been pulled down long ago, just like so many of the Gilded Age mansions they replaced. This publishing house puts out such finely crafted books and this one does not disappoint, I highly recommend it.



4. Candela and Carpenter were two of New York's most noted architects of the inter-war era, specializing in luxury apartment buildings. Architectural historian Andrew Alpern has assembled a reference text of their buildings, organized in geographic sequence. In this book, a typical building has two pages dedicated to it. One page consists of a floor plan, and the facing page has a photo or rendering of the exterior, combined with a one-to-six sentence description. Also, there are several brief essays at the beginning of the book.

   I enjoyed this volume, which Alpern has directed at a very narrow segment of readers, but it's not for everyone. This is a volume for architectural enthusiasts who are intrigued by room arrangements. Others might be better served by a book broader in scope (including some by this same author).




5. Alpern has written several books about New York apartment buildings and this is his best. This time he focuses exclusively on the genius of two ground-breaking designers, James Carpenter and Rosario Candela. If you are not adept at reading floor plans (of which there are many), it might not be immediately obvious what defines the genius of these two architects. It is the innovation of their layouts and the graciousness of their spaces that made apartment house living so desireable, allowing for the migration from town house to apartment building. Regardless, everyone will still enjoy the exterior and interior views of these great New York buildings and get a sense of how the rich really live. Alpern raises our awareness of the apartment house type in the City to a higher level, just as others had focused on the greatness of NYC's commercial structures.
   Each building is described in detail and there is some chatty material about who lived where, who bought what, and maybe a little more of that would have added fun to the book. There is a chronology of all the buildings and I would have liked to have seen thumbnail pictures of the buildings next to the timeline, since the book is organized geographically. It is otherwise an excellent and elegant study of the complete apartment house works of these two great designers.

1 comments about Toward a New Regionalism: Environmental Architecture in the Pacific Northwest.

1. This just was not what I expected to get from the attached description. The book is not bad just not what I was looking for.

5 comments about Leisurama Now: The Beach House for Everyone 1964-.

1. Can you imagine walking into Macy's in 1964 and buying a beach house? Already furnished and ready to go... what a concept! Before a friend brought this book to my attention I didn't know anything about the Leisurama project. After reading it I've got to say that for anyone interested in the history of architecture/planning and intrepid marketing ideas in the 20th century, this is a Must-Read/Must-Have book. It explores a nearly forgotten, yet ambitious, experimental enterprise in the 60s; sensitively explored by a true appreciator of the genius, the talent, and the flaws of the men who built it. Then it unfolds the the part you really want to know: what has become of the place in the 45 years since. (and whether the project succeeded or not is left up to you.)
   This book is the perfect combination of well-researched, well-written history, clean, pleasing design and photography, and clever presentation. I wish all books were this satisfying. Like savoring a box of fine Belgian chocolates, it's just a real treat.



2. This book is fantastic, very thorough and well researched. The layout and design of the book
   compliments the subject as well.
   
   I first learned of Paul Sahre because he was in the same design program as me in college (Kent State University). I immediately became interested in his work because I enjoy to keep up with graduates of my future degree.
   
   I recommend this book to whoever is interested in the Leisurama subject. I knew little about them prior to this book, and for me Sahre makes the topic come alive giving visual tours of the homes as well as a visual history.



3. Paul Sahre has done it again. This book is a visual tour de force and important contribution to the legacy of the Leisurama era. It is gorgeously designed, rigorously researched and a truly wonderful read.



4. I lived on eastern Long Island 50 years and never heard of Leisurama Homes till I saw a PBS tv special two years ago. I took a ride to Montauk and found this development very interesting. The book is nicely done with tons of color photos and alot of history which i like along with then and now photos. You can tell the author did the utmost in research for this book. Highly recommended.



5. This book can be appreciated for both its design aesthetics and its telling of Montauk history. Leisurama tells how people lived and continue to live in their environments, which are these pre-packaged homes. The fun part is the book's layout which jumps timelines and stories, comparing what was then and how it has transformed now. We need more than old radios or televisions or wood paneling to express the 60's and the generation of idealism. Which makes Leisurama a fun and strange book. There are too many things in this world that we will never know of because we lose interest and move on. Here we have an opportunity to obsess over the author's obsession and be part of a history that is still very much alive.

5 comments about Private Splendor: Great Families at Home.

1. PRIVATE SPLENDOR is by far one of the best of its type. Author Alexis Gregory and photographer Marc Walter are guests in eight great houses still inhabited by their aristocratic families. An intimate view into the lifestyle of today's owners is presented in a good blend of the scholarly and the artistic. Granted, more about the architecture, art, furnishings, family history, etc., could have been told and shown, but each palace is worthy of its own book. This is a very good book that shows life in great houses beyond the velvet rope that would restrict the casual visitor.



2. I find this to be a beautifully photographed book, I have dupilcated one of the floral arrangements already. A great idea book.



3. This book is excellent! If you've ever wondered what it must be like to live in grandeur like the British nobility and some European Royal Families, then this is the book for you!
   
   Buy it today!



4. This is a fabulous book. I bought the book because of my connection and time spent at Harewood House in England. The photographs are so fantastic and the text very competent. Which in the case of Harewood is quite an accomplishment since the history is long and quite complicated. Alexis Gregory is to be congratulated on getting all the facts right. I know this home intimately and the photos show Harewood just as it is in all its glory.
   
   I was also fascinated with St. Emmeram Palace in which I have also spent much time. Again the images and the accompanying text are best examples of their craft.
   
   But the best part of the book was discovering other stately homes and palaces that I did not know about. It was exciting to get a look inside these private spaces. A more beautiful book will be hard to come by. I could not put it down. The only complaint with the whole book is that there was not more of it- more photos and more homes included!
   
   I am often disappointed by such photography/history books, but this is the exception to that rule.
   
   My highest compliments!



5. Beautiful objects, great architecture, photos show dark inhospitable living conditions of a time gone by. I would have liked more photos of living areas and brighter conditions

1 comments about Dream Homes Florida (Dream Homes).

1. I live a short distance from many of the homes that are profiled in this book and hope to use some of what I saw in my dream home. Very professional and glossy images (about 5 per home). The book appears to be a portfolio for the builders that are profiled within and that is not necessarily a bad thing. The only thing that is missing from this great book are the floor plans to these magnificent homes. This did not take away from the rating, because these homes are totally customized to their owners and do not have the cookie cutter look that many mansions in Central Florida have. The builders that are profiled state often how they like the challenge of designing a home that the owner will enjoy for a lifetime.

3 comments about Hollow Land: Israel's Architecture of Occupation.

1. Weizman begins his introduction by telling the story of the founding of Migron, a Jewish settlement built on Palestinian land in the West Bank. Convincing the Israeli military to build a cellular antenna, settlers first hire a single 24-hour guard. The guard is followed by his family, followed by five more families, and "by mid-2006 it comprised around 60 trailers and containers housing more than 42 families: approximately 150 people perched on the hilltop around a cellular antenna" (p. 2).
   
   But Weizman is not content to recite the facts of Israeli occupation. His analysis draws heavily on post-structuralist thinkers like Foucault, Deleuze and Guattari. Covering everything from Israeli architectural aesthetics, checkpoints and border terminals, to the Wall, Ariel Sharon's conception of depth security, Israeli urban warfare doctrine and targeted assassinations, he repeatedly penetrates the surface of his extensive empirical research, locating the social narratives which give birth to these phenomena.
   
   He is primarily concerned with charting what he calls the "elastic geographies" of the occupied territories (p. 5), a continually modifying frontier in which architecture and space become both a form of power and a conceptual way of understanding the political issues at stake.
   
   Some issues he tackles are well worn, but by combining his extensive fieldwork as a consultant for B'Tselem with a robust theoretical approach, he still brings interesting insight. In a series of chapters covering Israeli settlements, checkpoints and the construction of the wall, he exposes not just the extensive control of Palestinian society, but also the way in which Israel's sense of security has come to depend on a conception of the territories as a malleable and vulnerable space. The spread of these control mechanisms in Israeli society, he claims, constitutes a "cognitive and practical system that sees the physical separation of Jews and Arabs, and the total control of Palestinian movement, as an important component of Jewish collective security" (p. 155).
   
   Some of the issues, however, are less well known, such as his analysis of Israeli archaeology, architecture and landscape. He shows how city planning and architectural policies have attempted to make Jerusalem "an exhibition-piece of living biblical archaeology" (p. 29), drawing on Palestinians as "fossilized forms of biblical authenticity" (p. 43) while simultaneously seeking to reduce their contemporary presence.
   
   Weizman's strength is in the way he hits on two registers at once. His section on Jerusalem connects in a straightforward way with Israel's sustained attempts to minimize the Palestinian population in the city, and to visually and ideologically "unite" the Jewish suburbs with the historic city. But it also taps into the enduring manifestations of the contradiction between Zionism's secular modernism and its ancient biblical promise.
   
   Above all, "Hollow Land" doesn't just explain Israel's spatial practices of occupation. It explores the way in which Israelis' and Palestinians' self-understandings are deeply embedded in these structures. This is Weizman's contribution. While some may feel his work is too abstract, this is where the "cycle" that so often takes the blame for this conflict is found. Weizman is painting a picture of how we have lost ourselves within the conflict, and what it might mean to find a way out.



2. Hollow Land is very throughly researched and Eyal Weizman is clearly passionate about his topic. The book provides an interesting perspective on a widely discussed topic.
   
   The author is an Israeli, which gives him access and a through knowledge of the issues that many other authors lack. He is an activist and artist working on Israel-Palestine issues. He is also an architect, all of which gives him a unique perspective on the whole Israel-Palestine conflict. His descriptions of Israel's architecture of occupation shows his deep familiarity with the facts on the ground.
   
   His interest in architecture some times took the book in directions I was not interested in, such as the history of the selection of the architect for Ma'ale Adumim. However in general this provided a fresh perspective, and new information.
   
   The author clearly has strong opinions about his subject, but that does not interfere with the narrative. Hollow Land will interest anyone who cares about Israel-Palestine issues, as well as anyone interested in modern occupation. Hollow Land is also an example of a well written, throughly researched book that should server as a model for other authors.



3. Weizman's analysis of the articulation (division, consolidation, dimensionality, etc.) of space as a primary expression of political power is highly original in approach, full of extraordinary insights, and provides a powerful moral argument against the occupation of Palestine. While some writers theorize about this sort of thing, Weizman's application of highly refined ideas to concrete practices demonstrates a kind of eloquence and courage that is rare in discussions of Israel and Palestine.
   
   I think Hollow Land is an intellectual masterpiece.

No comments about The New City Home: Smart Solutions for Metro Living.

3 comments about Baroque: Architecture, Sculpture, Painting.

1. The text of this book is boring, tedious and frequently gets bogged down in little details.
   
   So why did I give it five stars?
   
   It's because of the photos! The book is 500 pages long, and there are literally hundreds of full-color photographs of Baroque palaces, cathedrals, paintings and sculptures. The book pages are very large, and this makes the photos large and detailed as well. But the most sensational thing is the price: only 25 dollars for the hardback edition! Trust me, a book like this usually goes for 100 dollars or more. Perhaps it's subsidized by some UN agency? (A caveat: Since the book is very heavy, the postage might be larger than average.)
   
   Rolf Toman's "Baroque" is probably mostly directed at students of European art and architecture. As already noted, the text quickly gets tedious for the non-specialist, with details of 17th century Italian architects and the popes who paid their barbills. However, the stunning illustrations make the book an excellent birthday or Christmas gift even for general readers. I bought the Swedish translation for my mother last Christmas.
   
   In a sense, this is the mother of all coffee table books. If you have it on your coffee table or book shelf, you will be sure to impress your friends. Just don't tell them you got it at bargain price!
   
   The Baroque is a period in West European art history that began around AD 1600 and ended around AD 1750. Versailles in France is the most well-known example of Baroque architecture. Many churches and palaces in Rome are considered Baroque. The Baroque even spread to South and Central America, due to the Spanish and Portuguese conquests.
   
   Rolf Toman's book concentrates on French, Italian, Spanish and German architecture. There are shorter chapters on the other European nations, and an even shorter chapter on colonial Baroque. Further, the book contains sections on Baroque painting and sculpture, with exquisite photos of 17th and 18th century paintings from various European museums. The notorious Rococo style is mentioned only in passing.
   
   The Baroque has been much maligned. It's ostentation, connections to royal absolutism and Catholic counter-reformation, and supposed evolution into the Rococo, all has come up for criticism. And yes, the Early Modern Period wasn't a particularly happy one. I mean, the French revolution didn't exactly fall from the skies! Still, the Baroque is grossly underrated as a period in the history of arts, and could be seen as a development of the Renaissance.
   
   Recommended.
   
   PS. I have only seen (the Swedish) HARDBACK edition of this book. How the paperback edition looks like, I don't know. It seems to be even cheaper!



2. The cover alone will stop you in your tracks, a magnificent photograph of the Hofburg Library in Vienna. Open the cover and you will find page after page of amazingly detailed color photos of architecture, sculpture, and paintings. And to top it off, the text is generally interesting without any mindnumbing pedantic nose-in-the-air commentary. I have been an architect for 25 years and have never stopped searching for a reasonably priced book of Baroque with high quality pictures and text. This is it.



3. The cover alone will stop you in your tracks, a magnificent photograph of the Hofburg Library in Vienna. Open the cover and you will find page after page of amazingly detailed color photos of architecture, sculpture, and paintings. And to top it off, the text is generally interesting without any mindnumbing pedantic nose-in-the-air commentary. I have been an architect for 25 years and have never stopped searching for a reasonably priced book of Baroque with high quality pictures and text. This is it.

2 comments about Tall Buildings.

1. 25 selected, half realized and half not projects are very well depicted in this survey by excellent photos, renderings, plans, sections, site plans, models, sketches, details, hard line presentation drawings, etc. There is a balance between larger photos and more numerous tech. drawings. The book "Skyscrapers: The New Millennium" (ISBN: 3791323431) includes more projects, but fewer tech. drawings.
   CONTENTS:
   Foreword 7
   Preface 8
   Tall Building as Metaphor 10
   PROJECTS 33
   Edificio Manantiales, Santiago 34
   Monte Laa PORR Towers, Vienna 38
   Max Reinhardt Haus, Berlin 42
   Elephant and Castle Eco Towers, London 46
   Electricité de France (EDF) Headquarters, Paris 50
   Landmark Lofts, New York 56
   Arcos Bosques Corporativo, Mexico City 62
   Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street Tower, New York 68
   30 St. Mary Axe, London 72
   New York Times Headquarters, New York 80
   Turning Torso, MalmO 86
   Industrialized Housing System, Korea 92
   122 Leadenhall Street, London 98
   Central Chinese Television (CCTV) Tower, Beijing 102
   Highcliff and The Summit, Hong Kong 110
   JR Ueno Railway Station Redevelopment, Tokyo 116
   London Bridge Tower, London 122
   World Trade Center, New York 126
   New York Times Headquarters, New York 132
   Jin Mao Tower, Shanghai 138
   Togok (XL Towers), Seoul 144
   Kowloon Station Tower, Hong Kong 150
   World Trade Center, New York 156
   World Trade Center, New York 164
   7 South Dearborn, Chicago 170
   Appendix 177
   Acknowledgments 187
   Photograph Credits 189
   Trustees of The Museum of Modern Art 191



2. This book by MOMA is tremendously informative and visual. Great images from drawings, renderings, models and actual building photos really enhance the viewing of this book. There is also a corresponding exhibition at the MOMA QNS from July 2004-Sept 2004.