Book Description

Karl Friedrich Schinkel (Prussia 1781–1841 Berlin) was appointed Surveyor to the Prussian Building Commission shortly after the Franco-Prussian war. He designed a series of buildings that became symbols of Prussia's cultural ambitions and national pride. The general disenchantment with France led Schinkel to design in a Neo-Greco style that symbolically recalled the political and moral freedom of Athenian Greece. ... Read more

Book Description

An accessible, informative illustrated guide to the top names of modern architecutre.

Reviews (1)

This is a great book on a fascinating subject
This book is the nineteenth in the Catalogue of Anomalies, and has a companion entitled, Ancient Infrastructure. This book is divided into eight chapters: ancient astronomical observatories; miscellaneous ancient structures; forts; ancient furnaces, smelters, hearths; pyramids, especially the great pyramid; cities and complexes; ancient towers; and anomalous stone chambers and passage graves. Each entry has a clearly delineated description, data evaluation, anomaly evaluation, possible explanation, list of similar and related phenomena, and then an in-depth examination of the structure.

This is quite a fascinating book! Unlike some books on similar subjects, this book treats its subjects in a no-nonsense, scientific manner, providing a real understanding of the structures. My one complaint against this book is that it reads like a textbook, being too often dry, making it rather heavy for the light reader. That said, though, this is a great book on a fascinating subject. If you are interested in anomalous structures, then I cannot recommend this book too much! ... Read more

Book Description

* Provides instant access to more than 1100 architectural equations
* No math menus and shortcuts allow any building element to be sized quickly and accurately ... Read more

Book Description

The Fair Housing Accessibility Guidelines provide important technical guidance on designing covered multifamily dwelling units as required by the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988. An essential reference for anyone involved in the design and construction of multifamily housing, this clearly written book demystifies the accessibility guidelines and helps readers reduce the risk of litigation. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Teacher helping a student's family
I am an elementary school teacher. This passed school year, I had a student whose mother was in a wheelchair. We spoke about his mother's situation and the difficulty his mother had getting into their home and maneuvering around the house. The doors of the house are too narrow; there isn't enough space in the bathroom for her to safely transfer out of the wheelchair onto the toilet. Also, the mother has received many burns from reaching over boiling pots to turn the knobs on and off. I decided to do some research over the summer for this family regarding how homes can be made to be more accessible for people with disabilities. I came across this book in the search for books and decided to by it. I found the book to be well-written, clear and concise, and easy to read. The diagrams also added to the readability. They were very useful in giving a visual explanation. This book opened my eyes to many issues regarding the accessibility of people with disabilities. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Subtitled Life Outside the Circle of Architecture, this book takes "a stroll through the borderlands that surround architecture" to bestow a quiet nobility on huts, shacks, shanties, teahouses, follies, and casitas.Writer Ann Cline is a professor of "capital-A Architecture," as she proffers in an up-front confession. But she has built and occupied a hut, and her thoughts on what she terms "life in the margins" are illuminating. In one example, she reveals that in "the years I had gazed out at a row of pomegranate trees at the rear of my yard, I never knew overripe pomegranates sometimes burst open. Reading in my hut one autumn evening, the sudden sound of a pomegranate cracking open riveted my attention."

"Everyone knows what 'the hut' stands for," Cline writes. She references the solitary St. Anthony, Lady Chatterly, and Heidi in three successive sentences and quickly moves on to Po-I and Shu-chi, "the world's first recorded recluses," and Lao Tzu, who "recommended refuge" in troubled times.

Cline's prose waxes wordy when she forays into art criticism, but at her best she writes with tender understanding about shack builders and dwellers: the mentally ill, the urban homeless, children in playhouses, and the Japanese wabi, who are drawn to a rustic life and who transform poverty into simplicity, a virtue, and a blessing. Some of her ideas may ring bells for readers who loved such counterculture staples as Handmade Houses: The Woodbutcher's Art, or such celebrations of simplicity as Tiny, Tiny Houses. But Cline's book is infinitely broader than either of those, although lacking their visual pleasures (all the photographs are small black-and-whites). A Hut of One's Own is a thinker's book, with a place on both the architecture and philosophy shelves, but thinker-builders should be entranced by it too. --Peggy Moorman ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Disappointing
If I were a student of architecture, I might find merit in this wordy disquisition about tea houses and follies and other quaint little structures. But I'm not. I'm just a schlep who is deeply curious about the EXPERIENCE of building and living in a hut. The subtitle, *On Life Lived outside the Bounds of Architecture,* led me to believe that's what the book would actually be about. Mea culpa, for having brought such intensely passionate expectations to what is a perfectly innocent but drab little book.

A Little Treasure
Space is at a premium in my tiny apartment, but there will always be room on my bookshelf for "A Hut of One's Own." Ann Cline's meditation on architecture, art, and culture is fragmented in places, and doesn't deliver big glossy visuals or a knockout blow to the senses. Rather, it's a quiet book that unfolds with fresh opinions, and acute observations. It's thought-provoking reading for artists, architects, and intellectuals of all stripes. I've had the book for years, and still find myself returning to it.

Content good - Presentation poor
The title gives the impression that you are going to be whisked away into that world everyone dreams about - your secret place. But in reality it doesn't quite do that. The photography is poor and the diagrams are not labeled adequately. Shame as I really wanted to enjoy this book. ... Read more

Book Description

Frank Lloyd Wright is one of the 20th century's best-known architects. Over 40 years after his death, historical and critical comment and debate are increasing and controversy continues to surround him. This volume is a chronologically arranged, annotated bibliography of English- and foreign-language sources including over 3,500 primary entries, with thousands more connected references, presented alphabetically by decades and genres. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Excellent history of modern(ist) aesthetics
Matei Calinescu's _The Five Faces of Modernity_ is an impressive intellectual history of five concepts central to aesthetics (i.e. the theory and philosophy of art) in the past two centuries-- the concepts of 'modernism', 'the avant-garde', 'decadence', 'kitsch', and 'postmodernism'. After an introductory discussion on the concept of 'modernity' itself, each of these concepts, or 'faces of modernity' is discussed in detail. This discussion generally includes an account of the word's origins and changes in its usage, close readings of important texts that used these concepts in exemplary or revolutionary ways, and a critical analysis of the assumptions that underly the term's application to aesthetics. Throughout, Calinescu ranges quite broadly in his scope, drawing upon texts from throughout Europe and the Americas (both North and South).

Calinescu's account is far too rich and complex to summarize here, but on the whole, the history of aesthetic thought he provides is based on solid research, compelling analysis, and insightful observation. In the process, he makes some astute, and rather surprising observations about how these aesthetic terms were initially used to describe politics or social thought, and only came to be applied to aesthetics later (this is especially true with 'avant-garde')-- yet, their aesthetic application is fundamentally shaped by their earlier social-political associations.

Although this book is quite solid, I do feel that it has some shortcomings that can't be ignored. First and foremost among these is that Calinescu's bizarre characterization of Romanticism. The Romantics, he rightly noted, were crucial in the development of modern aesthetics-- and in the notions of modernism, the avant-garde, and decadence in particular. However, his account of Romanticism is one that I simply do not recognize-- basically reducing it (somewhat inaccurately, I would add) to "the relativization of beauty" and the abandonment of the notion of eternal, transcendent truths or ideals. Part of the problem here is that Calinescu limits his discussion of Romanticism to France, focussing on Chateaubriand, Stendahl, and Hugo. If he had discussed the major German Romantic thinkers or the British Romantic poets, this account of Romanticism (and the role he assigns to it in developing a concept of 'modernity') simply could not stand.

The second main shortcoming of the book is that it focuses overwhelmingly on literary art. Painting and other forms of art are discussed a little bit in some of the chapters (particularly in the one on kitsch), but for the most part, Calinescu's book focuses on prose and poetry-- not on the visual arts (or still less on music). I think his account of some of these concepts (particularly 'modernism' and 'avant-garde') wuld have been greatly improved by considering them.

Still, those criticisms are relatively minor-- this is a great book and an important one on this subject. Highly recommended to intellectual historians, art historians, and those who are interested in a good 'history of ideas' account of these five aesthetic concepts.

A brilliant introduction to excessively used concepts.
Calinescu succeeds in a very difficult department: definind five concepts that have become common places in criticism. Calinescu's reviews is insightful, comprehensive an very well documented. It offers an excellent introdution to the novices and a useful guide for investigating the concepts to the initiates. Calinescu is probably one of the finest critics in this topic and his book exceeds authors like Hobsbawn. ... Read more

Book Description

A completely updated and revised edition of the classic reference work on architecture--now expanded with entries on landscape architecture.

This is a major revision and expansion of what has long been recognized as a basic reference in its field. Besides updating the existing text, the authors have broadened the book by including many new entries on landscape architecture as well as by significantly increasing their treatment of American architects and architecture. This is a highly readable work, worldwide in scope, covering architecture from ancient times to the present. Major entries on key individuals, styles, movements, materials, and terms range up to several pages in length and include cross references and bibliographies for further reading. This is an essential addition to the reference shelf of every architectural student and buff.

"Commendably wide in scope . . . special care has been taken to make the definitions and terminology as close and consistent as possible."-- Architect and Surveyor

"Immensely useful, succinct and judicious . . . this is a book rich in accurate fact and accumulated wisdom."-- The Times Literary Supplement

"A magnificent panorama of world architecture, scholarly conciseness at its best."-- Art Review ... Read more

Reviews (1)

An essential for everyone's reference shelf .
From Aalto to Ziggurat, the bounty of information provided in this well illustrated and value priced volume will keep you informed for a very long time. A great general reference of architecture and landscaping for both the student and the home owner alike. ... Read more

Book Description

Project Management for Building Designers and Owners presents the concepts, tools, and ideas to help design firms and owner/client project managers to better communicate and perform their jobs. Topics include:oStreamlining the complexity and costs of current building design and constructionoIntegrating the often-fragmented nature of the team in designing and constructing buildingsoAssessing the reengineering trend of reducing in-house facilities and staff in planning, coordinating, and managing a projectoOutsourcing responsibilities to traditional engineering, architectural, and facilities firms as well as program and project management firmsoComparing traditional design firms and specialty firms - in terms of finding and keeping capable staffs, project scope management, fee and time pressures, and a myriad of other issuesoCommunicating effectively within this highly fragmented, specialized, and complex arenaThis edition comprehensively outlines the fundamental means to effectively manage and control a project's scope, schedule, and budget. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Good travelling resource but has serious indexing flaws
This an excellent resource for the architecture student travelling across the USA; however, the second edition has so many incorrect index listings that the indices are practically useless.It's as if the second editionwere released with the first edition index (although I haven't done anactual check).Wait for a third edition or plan to go through and amendthe index with correct referent page numbers.

Informative, comprehensive, enjoyable.
This book is for travelers and architecture fans alike. If you are both, you will see how good this little book is. It provides general introduction and detailed information of 220 representative buildings in America. Thebuildings are ordered by their age, but indexes of architects and locationsare available at the end of the book. With this guide in hand, you can addlots of fun to your next travel. ... Read more

Book Description

Friedensreich Hundertwasser's (Vienna,1928–2000) style as an architect was heavily influenced by Antoni Gaudí and some of the Jugendstil architects. His inclusion of irregular, almost accidental forms grew out of his antipathy to what he saw as the severity and austerity in modern architecture. Over the course of his career he developed revolutionary ecological stands with regard to architecture which earned him the nickname "Architecture-Healer." ... Read more

Book Description

"Professor Wittkower's....studies of humanist architecture are masterpieces of scholarship."-Sir Kenneth Clark, Architectural Review.

A fourth edition of the forty-year-old classic.

Focusing on the principal architects of that time-from Alberti to Palladio-this bestselling classic explains the true significance of certain architectural forms, bringing to light the connections between the architecture and culture of the period. With publication scheduled to coincide with that of Architectonics of Humanism, this important reference is superbly reproduced in a new, large square format.

The late RUDOLF WITTKOWER was a college professor and eminent scholar residing in London, England. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

More than just Architecture!
Already recognized since 1949 as "a masterpiece in scholarship" in its field by several eminent architects, the 173 page tome: ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES IN THE AGE OF HUMANISM, 4th ed. (1971) by Rudolf Wittkower; had, incidentally, also provided an in-depth explanation on proportion and ratio as they differed in usage between architectural procedure and Boethian mathematics.
Of special importance is part four 'The Problem of Harmonic Proportion in Architecture' (p. 101) where the author made the salient point that "Although the Pythagoreo-Platonic concept of the numerical ratios of the musical scale never disappeared from mediaeval [sic], theological, philosophical, and aesthetic thought, there was no over-riding need to apply them to art and architecture" (p. 159).

Rudolf Wittkower unknowingly provided in part four the distinction between an elite Quadrivium education containing Boethian "mathematical arts" while "the 'liberal arts' of painting, sculpture, and architecture were regarded as manual occupations" (p. 117). The author explained "That the high Renaissance architects shunned theory" and "that they were practitioners rather than thinkers" (p. 30). And further "Italian architects strove for an easily perceptible ratio between length, height, and depth" (p. 74). So then according to this author, all of the Renaissance architects conception of architecture was based on a "commensurability of ratios" (p. 108).

Rudolf Wittkower indicated "that the [Renaissance] architect is by no means free to apply to a building a system of ratios of his own choosing, that the ratios have to comply with conceptions of a higher order and that a building should mirror the proportions of the human body" (p. 101). In developing the centrally planned church, Renaissance architects faced the dilemma of the pragmatics of church construction combined with the belief in divinity and the acceptance of Roman Catholic dogma.

The Church was to provide the "easily perceptible ratio" with the simple logic that "As man is the image of God and the proportions of his body are produced by divine will, so the proportions in architecture have to embrace and express the cosmic order" (p. 101). That cosmic order and harmony are contained in certain numbers Plato explained in his TIMAEUS.

Assigned to the architects, a Quadrivium trained Roman Catholic friar and musical theorist, Franchino Gaffurio (1451-1522) "in a truly Platonic spirit he regarded this principle of harmony as the basis of macrocosm and microcosm, body and soul, painting, architecture, and medicine" (p. 124). It was under this famous Renaissance musical theorist in 1525 that "the old belief in the mysterious efficacy of certain numbers and ratios was given new impetus" (p. 102). "It was Pythagoras who discovered that tones can be measured in space. What he found was that musical consonances were determined by the ratios of small whole numbers. If two strings are made to vibrate under the same conditions, one being half the length of the other, the pitch of the shorter string will be one octave (diapason) above that of the larger one" (p. 102). "Thus the consonances, on which the Greek musical system was based - octave, fifth, and fourth - can be expressed by the progression 1:2:3:4. One can understand that this staggering discovery made people believe that they had seized upon the mysterious harmony which pervades the universe" (p. 103).

"The musical consonances are determined by the mean proportionals; for that the three means constitute all the intervals of the musical scale had been shown in the TIMAEUS. Classical writers on musical theory discussed this point at great length. An exhaustive exposition is to be found in Boethius' DE MUSICA, first printed in Venice in 1491-92, and of very great importance for the doctrine of numbers throughout the Middle Ages and during the Renaissance" (p. 111).

Yet Boethius's DE MUSICA was de-emphasized by Renaissance architects in recognition that the "harmony of the universe which Plato had described in the TIMAEUS on the basis of Pythagora's discovery of the ratios of musical consonances" prompted the "application of Pythagoreo-Platonic system of harmonic ratios directly to architecture" (p. 125). As it turned out (not surprisingly) "Gafurio [sic] was regarded by his contemporaries as a critic in architectural matters" (p. 125).

The author of ARCHITECTURAL PRINCIPLES IN THE AGE OF HUMANISM provided the evidence that although the Quadrivium of the mathematical arts of music, astronomy, geometry, and Boethian proportion and ratio, was known to the Renaissance high architects, they preferred the 'harmonic proportion'; 'proportion of excess'; and the 'proportio proportionum'; derived directly from Plato's TIMAEUS and Pythagoras's three means (arithmetic, geometric, and the harmonic) over Boethius's DE MUSICA, though it was a substantial part of friar Gaffurio's ecclesiastical education. This resulted in "proportionally integrated 'spatial mathematics', which we have recognized as a distinguishing feature of humanist Renaissance architecture" (p. 26).

In comparison, for the practical application of Boethian proportion and ratios, please read: THE PHILOSOPHER'S GAME (2001) by Dr. Ann E. Moyer, where the rules of Boethian proportion found in rithmomachia, had been clearly defined, though inadvertently, by Rudolf Wittkower. ... Read more

Book Description

Mario Botta (*1943, Switzerland) trained as a technical draftsman and was an assistant to Le Corbusier and later Louis Kahn. He has attempted to reconcile traditional architectural symbolism with the aesthetic rules of the Modern Movement.

Botta gained international acclaim for such buildings as the Capuchin convent in Lugano. In the 1980's, he designed the Museum of Modern Art in San Francisco. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (8)

24 FAMOUS HOUSES
CONTENTS (1997 EDITION)
6 INTRODCTION: SUSAN DOUBILET DARALICE BOLES
14GWATHMEY SIEGEL & ASSOCIATES ARCHITECTS: PACIFIC PALISADES RESIDENCE
26MACK ARCHITECTS: STREMMEL HOUSE
36HARIRI & HARIRI: BARRYÆS BAY COTTAGE
44DONALD McKAY AND COMPANY: PARK ROAD HOUSE
54FERNAU & HARTMAN ARCHITECTS COLLECTIVE HOUSING
62CARLOS ZAPATA DESIGN STUDIO: LANDES HOUSE
72RoTo ARCHITECTS: TEIGER HOUSE
82CLARK & MENEFEE ARCHITECTS: CROFFEAD HOUSE
90SCOGIN ELAM AND BRAY ARCHITECTS: MOUNTAIN HOUSE
100 ISRAEL CALLAS SHORTRIDGE ASSOCIATES: DAN HOUSE
110 ANTOINE PREDOCK ARCHITECT: WHITE RESIDENCE
120 UKZ DESIGN: NEE RESIDENCE
128 ERIC OWEN MOSS ARCHITECTS: LAWSON/WESTEN HOUSE
136 RICHARD MEIER & PARTNERS, ARCHITECTS: GROTTA HOUSE
148 MORPHOSIS: BLADES RESIDENCE
160 MACHADO AND SILVETTI ASSOCIATES: CONCORD HOUSE
170 KONING EIZENBERG ARCHITECTURE: 31ST STREET HOUSE
176 KONING EIZENBERG ARCHITECTURE: TARZANA HOUSE
184 STAMBERG AFERIAT ARCHITECTURE: HOFFMAN HOUSE
194 THE STANLEY SAITOWITZ OFFICE: SEADRIFT LAGOON HOUSE
200 ARQUITECTONICA INTERNATIONAL: CASA LOS ANDES
208 STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS: BERKOWITZ-ODGIS HOUSE
216 STEVEN HOLL ARCHITECTS: MAKUHARI HOUSING
226 JOHN LAUTNER ARCHITECT: GOLDSTEIN RESIDENCE
236 PROJECT/PHOT0GRAPHY CREDITS

Heterogeneous In Concept, Orderly In Execution
This book, the earlier and superior companion to "European House Now," is an excellent introduction to the various modalities of modern architecture in America. Beginning with the thoughtful introduction, Doubilet and Boles showcase some truly stunning American homes, demonstrating the lasting value and societal insights that mark great architecture.

Without question the greatest architect featured in the book is the master of overlapping pure geometric shapes and planes, Richard Meier. Perhaps his greatest work is his stunning Grotta House, which just might win my vote for most beautiful private residence in the US. He is also featured in a piece of earlier work, the Hoffman House, which has since been modified by two of his proteges. Also interesting for its geometry, but more for its combination of materials is the Pacific Palisades House by Charles Gwathmey. Of great geometric interest are the Dan House by the brilliant Franklin Israel, and the stunning Lawson/Westen House by the genius of geometric manipulation, Eric Owen Moss. These homes are national treasures, are well illustrated here, and are also well explained by the enlightening text.

There are a couple of clunkers in the mix as well, namely the horrid deconstructivist monstrosity on Martha's Vineyard by Steven Holl. After looking at the illustrations and grasping that he was inspired by ancient use of whale bones as a building method, I appreciated why nobody builds houses from whale bones anymore. The Knee Residence finished in large maroon panels and small windows appears more like a prison than a single family home. Although I actually do appreciate the intriguing structural techniques used in these two homes, I cannot appreciate their lack of aesthetic refinement.

My only critique of the book as a whole is that the house plans are extremely small and difficult to read. This is a minor complaint, as overall I think this book, like the homes it illustrates, is a masterpiece.

Where are the Northwest architects??
Works by outstanding firms from the Pacific Northwest are totally omitted.(Miller/Hull, Cutler, Olson Sundberg Kundig and Allen...anyone?) An otherwise fine book.

great photos
This book is smaller than I thought, I thought it was going to be like a coffee table book.no it is like 7 inches tall, or maby I am getting bigger like in that movie where the guy gets big after drinking that stuff.I dont know.

Small But Delightful Book
This small but delightful book discussed about the modern American architectural, not modern in terms of Classic Modernism but contemporary via fusion of Classic Modernism & Post Modernism.The author stressed that USA, being a relatively young country has a "can do" attitude, open minded & daring to explore new ideas.It also mentioned that America isn't obsessive or overzealous in the interpretation of architectural stylistic movements.Rather, it only takes what it needs, reminding me of Japanese doing the same thing to technology, that is refining existing technology to make it better.There are 24 buildings (all of them are for residential purpose) here signifying where USA is at in terms of modern architecture.Notes rather than essays are utilised to explain the buildings.The pictures domost the talking in this instance. Notable architects are Stephen Holl (deriving his work via America's literary content), Richard Meier, Antoine Predock, Owen Moss, Arquitectonica, RoTo, Carlos Zapata, Morphosis, John Lautner,& so forth.The choosing of the works here should be of a subjective rather than objective nature because there are other architects which I believe do fit the bill in creating the so-called American architectural but have been overlooked such as Frank Gehry (his Californian style despite his Canadian origin), Ricardo Legoretta (the latest AIA Gold Medal laureate), Philip Johnson, etc.Still, this is a wonderful book to look thru. ... Read more