Book Description

Offering unique subject matter, this book reviews a list of architects from around the world who have made significant contributions to the field of architecture, and who also happen to be women. Each section includes the architect's CV, firm biography, statement of most challenging project design (accompanied by plans, drawings, and photographs), list of project types, client list, and a list of awards and publications. ... Read more

Book Description

This groundbreaking and authoritative two-volume survey is the first truly comprehensive history of modern Italian architecture and urbanism to appear in any language. Told in lively prose, it recounts more than 250 years of experimentation, creativity, and turmoil that have shaped the landscape of contemporary Italy.Volume I: The Challenge of Tradition, 1750-1900, explores the dynamic balancing of forces demanded by a reverence for Italy's unparalleled architectural patrimony and a desire for new means of expression and technological innovation. From the neoclassical fantasies of Giovanni Battista Piranesi to the spectacular steel-and-glass gallerias of Milan and Naples, it reveals an underappreciated history of richness and complexity. Volume II: Visions of Utopia, 1900-Present, tracks the development of Italy's architectural avant-garde through the upheavals of the twentieth century. Beginning with the development of Italian art nouveau—"stile liberty"—and moving through futurism, fascism, rationalism, and on to the creative experimentation of the present day, it explores the work of such pivotal figures as Raimondo d'Aronco, Antonio Sant'Elia, Adalberto Libera, Giuseppe Terragni, Pier Luigi Nervi, Gio Ponti, Carlo Scarpa, Aldo Rossi, and Renzo Piano.The Architecture of Modern Italy is exhaustively illustrated with rare period images, new photography, maps, drawings, and plans. With Colin Rowe's Italian Architecture of the 16th Century, it provides a nearly complete overview of the history of Italian architecture. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

THE BEST CATHEDRAL BOOK EVER
This is the most spectacular book for you if you like lots of HUGE clear photos of TONS of gothic cathedrals. There are MANY pages of history and other information about the making and restoring of the cathedrals. A MUST HAVE for any gothic-history lover.

Big beautiful book! Coffee table caliber.
I first discovered this book in the library and I checked it out several times because I just loved looking at it so much. The pictures are so breathtaking, it increased my resolved to go to Europe and visit all these incredible places first hand. It's a great thourough book for anyone who is new to Gothic art forms as well as a visual reference for people who are already familiar with the style.

Hard to carry around, but very easy to read!

Fabulous book, fabulous bargain
Having borrowed this book over and over from the library, I really had a hard time parting with it when I last returned it. The photographs are splendid, a joy to look at. Since it also qualifies as a reference book, I looked it up ..... to but [buy] a copy but was certain price would be ... more than in was. Now I'm about to by my third copy --it is an amazing bargain.

Great purchase
I found the book superb. As a lover of Gothic arquitecture, I buyed it recently and I found lots of great color photographs, really interesting texts as they have been written by german experts, and more surprising, with an excellent price/quality ratio. After buying this book, I have completed the series buying the books dedicated to Romanesque, Baroque and Renaissance. All of them are really fantastic.

Absolutely Incredible!!
I have been looking for this book for ages! I have had all of the other books for a while and thought that "Gothic" was beyond me. Now I'm glad that I kept looking. I know that there are other books out there on the Gothic period, but none of them are as well-done as this one. Usually you would spend twice as much to get a book of this caliber in your library. The photographs and text perfectly compliment one another. This book delivers far more than I ever expected. ... Read more

Book Description

The only product selection guide you'll ever need!
Select the best products, systems, and components for any building project, in compliance with codes and regulations! Whether you're an architect or builder, you'll find top-flight guidance in Time-Saver Standards for Building Materials and Systems. The experts assembled by Editor-in-Chief Donald Watson provide easy-to-understand guidance on how various materials function. Using clear, explicit illustrations and short,bulleted comparison points rather than lengthy text, they explore with you key issues in selecting products and give you valuable information for a full range of product types. Information is organized by CSI MasterFormat, the product specification system most commonly used in construction and in the Sweet's catalogs. It's also cross-referenced to the UniFormat system, which indexes products by the sequence of assembly in design and construction, a real advantage in preliminary design and cost estimating. ... Read more

Book Description

Renowned architectural illustrator Thomas W. Schaller has revised and expanded his classic volume Architecture in Watercolor, now in paperback. Winner of the AIA's Citation for Excellence, Architecture in Watercolor is the acclaimed bestselling guide to the increasingly popular medium of watercolor, unparalleled in its drama, subtlety, and emotional power. With the addition of the thorough discussion of modern uses of watercolor, this book remains the preeminent authority in the field. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Stunning work. A treat for lovers of architecture
I bought this book thinking it was about rendering architectural subjects for watercolorists. It is not, so I was disappointed in that respect. But I was not disappointed in the artwork included in what is really a book intended for architects and admirerers of their work.

The drawings and paintings of buildings of all kinds can take your breath away. There are some projects of great magnificence (the proposed Arts and Cultural Center in Rome on the cover is one in particular.) There is a section on different mediums such as ink line and wash, pastel and charcoal, standard watercolor. There is a historical perspective section that includes classic paintings of John Singer Sargent and Winslow Homer. In particular, there is a picture of Sargent's of a doorway on a canal in Venice that is familiar--yet set in this book it gives a new insight into how artists can show architecture for not only the features of a facade, but with style. The purely architectural works are more finely drawn and less "painterly" but they are amazing in their own right. My favorite is a picture of the addition to the Jewish Museum in New York, which combines artistic feeling with an informational slant, showing what a modern addition would look like added to the noble French Mansard style original building.

While this book wasn't what I needed for technique, I had a wonderful time drooling over the pages at some really wonderful architectural renderings in watercolor, ink and pencil. A real visual treat.

Positively Sublime
Schaller's sublime style of rendering is reason enough to buy this book (and perhaps to clip the pages and insert the images into frames that once hosted pictures of your relatives!)

Watercolor is a difficult medium, and this guide, if it was intended to be such, does not serve the beginner well with introductory techniques. However, it does portray stellar examples of watercolor rendering, and a study of Schaller's work can reveal graphic composition/ and color techniques to complement any renderer's toolbelt.

His examples show artistic use of depth, composition, foreground-background balance, dynamism, and shadows.

I've always read the word "spellbinding" in reviews. After this book, I know what that means. I am surprised, after reviewing Schaller's work that he is not renowned as an artist outside the architectural sphere (at least to my knowledge).

Art and technique of architectural watercolor illustration.
You don't have to be an architect to appreciate the architectural artwork included in Thos. Schaller's book, "Architecture in Watercolor." Albeit created for the practical purpose of visualizing architectural projects, the delicacy and skill with which they are executed, elevates many of these illustrations to fine art, reminiscent of Japanese woodblock prints in their beauty. With historic illustration references as well as those of his own creation, Mr. Schaller has created a handsome coffeetable book under the guise of a guide to technique. ... Read more

Book Description

Lavish presentation of the most courageous (and sometimes outrageous) collaborations between some of the world’s most critically acclaimed architects and designers and the leading fashion houses of our time. The New Boutique brings together the most cutting-edge fashion boutiques of the twenty-first century in the major fashion capitals of the world: London, Milan, New York, Paris and Toky. Stunning photography throughout and critical texts by Neil Bingham, leading commentator on architecture, design and fashion, included are Sybarite’s Marni boutique in London, Claudio Silvestrin’s flagship store for Giorgio Armani in Milan, Frank Gehry’s project for Issey Miyake in New York, Philippe Starck’s work for Jean Paul Gaultier in Paris and Herzog and de Meuron’s Prada Epicenter in Tokyo. A compelling reference for anyone interested architecture, design or fashion worldwide ... Read more

Book Description

Bauhaus Architecture

Photography and Concept Hans Engels Text Ulf Meyer

This outstanding collection of photographs by the acclaimed photographer, Hans Engels, provides a detailed survey of surviving Bauhaus architecture in Europe. Focusing on buildings designed by Bauhaus members during the institution ’s existence from 1919 to 1933, the book looks at some 65 building projects in Germany, Vienna, Barcelona, Prague, and Budapest by architects including Walter Gropius, Ludwig Hilberseimer, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Informative commentaries and site plans accompany the photographs. ... Read more

Book Description

Capabilities-based planning has become a central theme of defense planning.It is defined in broad terms in the 2001 Quadrennial Defense Review, but opinions differ about its details and how to implement it.This book reviews and extends ideas developed over the last decade regarding capabilities-based planning.It puts capabilities-based planning in the larger context of defense activities generally, sketches an analytic architecture for carrying it out, and offers recommendations about how to proceed, including a suggested architecture that emphasizes mission-level work and such concepts as mission-system analysis, exploratory analysis, and hierarchical portfolio methods for integration and tradeoffs in an economical framework.Capabilities-based planning is related to the objective of transforming U.S. forces to deal effectively with the changes taking place in military affairs.The book also emphasizes that the new paradigm of capabilities-based planning is particularly apt given the objective of transforming U.S. forces to deal effectively with the changes taking place in military affairs. ... Read more

Book Description

This massive compendium by a noted architectural historian contains over 2000 line drawings, and clear, concise definitions for over 5000 important terms relating to the architectural achievements of a great variety of world cultures, ancient to modern. Includes cutaway views, close-ups of intricate details, precisely rendered plans for many famed structures.
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Reviews (2)

Recommended for a beginning library
Excellent graphic representations of ideas, from time to time I am unable to find a word.

This is a MUST have item for the art history student library
There are so many facets of archetectural history that building terms seem to have lost their meaning. Especially in the ancient buildings from ancient Greek to medieval Gothic periods, the terms are so numerous -- and necessarily so.

The definitions are so clearly written in practical, easily understandable language. The illustrations are so detailed and clean that minute discrepancies between one term and another are easily identifiable. When writing reviews or analyses of various architectural buildings and styles of buildings, this book should always be within reach of the pen or computer terminal. ... Read more

Book Description

Many of the bridges built during the past 10 years show a high degree of experimentation. Bridges are also starting to attract attention as important features of the cultural and architectural landscape. With an introduction by the acclaimed architectural critic Hugh Pearman, this captivating reference analyzes 30 bridges around the world that display the most cutting-edge architectural and engineering trends in recent bridge construction. Each bridge is displayed in full, lavish color, while the accompanying text, drawings, and details demonstrate how the bridge is constructed and what innovative design and engineering features it incorporates. Projects range from the impressive 5,328-foot Great Belt Link in Denmark to the innovative covered-tube walkway designed for the Plashet Grove School in East London, from the Charles River Mainline Bridge in Boston, Massachusetts, to the Roosevelt Lake Bridge in Phoenix, Arizona. Plus, readers will find dozens of other interesting projects by such internationally renowned architects and engineers as Jürg Conzett, Future Systems, T. Y. Lin, I. M. Pei, Modjeski and Masters, WilkinsonEyre Architects, and many others. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Exceptional!!
The author's selection of these thirty bridges offers readers an insight into modern bridge design...many of the bridges are truly unique and stunningly beautiful. The gorgeous photographs and intelligently written text make this the best book of its kind that I have ever read. Must reading for every structural engineer!

A bridge lover's delight!
The author has put together an elaborate study of 30 unique and interesting modern bridges. The discussion of each is quite detailed and often very technical but nonetheless very informative and well supported by beautiful photographs and elaborate diagrams. For anyone who has an interest in modern bridges this is an eye-opener. For the few of us who travel with bridges as destinations, this is a wonderful guide for future trips. ... Read more

Book Description

This is the first comprehensive, scholarly study of a most fascinating aspect of American history and culture. Generously illustrated with both black and white and full-color photos, this A-Z encyclopedia covers every aspect of American folk art, encompassing not only painting, but also sculpture, basketry, ceramics, quilts, furniture, toys, beadwork, and more, including both famous and lesser-known genres.
Containing more than 600 articles, this unique reference considers individual artists, schools, artistic, ethnic, and religious traditions, and heroes who have inspired folk art. An incomparable resource for general readers, students, and specialists, it will become essential for anyone researching American art, culture, and social history.
In addition to profiles of painters, sculptors, carvers, and lithographers, with details on their principal works and where they can be viewed, entries include: Artist Schools * Basketry * Beadwork * Ceramics * Ethnic and Religious Traditions of Folk Art * Flasks * Museums and other institutions holding collections of folk art * Painted Furniture and other Artifacts* * Quilts * Rugs * Shop Signs * Stoneware * Tavern * Toys * Weathervanes * and much more. ... Read more

Book Description

The most recent works of Norman Foster are the focus of the latest instalment of a monumental multi-volume retrospective that celebrates in unprecedented detail the architect’s remarkable career.

The recipient of the Praemium Imperiale and the Pritzker Prize in architecture, Norman Foster is considered one of the most innovative and environmentally sensitive architects at work today. In buildings such as the Great Court of the British Museum, the Reichstag in Berlin, and the Commerzbank in Frankfurt, the tallest building in Europe, he has designed dazzling structures that dramatically alter the environment in which they are placed by addressing our most basic needs for light, space, and communion with the world around us.The design and construction of these landmark buildings as well as a strikingly diverse range of other projects completed from 1990 to 2000 is the subject of this fourth volume in an authoritative six-volume series on Foster’s career.

In addition to offering close examinations of individual projects, the book contextualizes Foster’s work, identifying themes and connections across the decades, discussing influences and inspirations, and invoking a host of historical, cultural and architectural references. It also reveals the essential characteristics of Foster’s distinctive design philosophy, showing how a commitment to social and environmental issues and engagement with new technologies remain the primary goals of his working practice. ... Read more

Book Description

More than ever before, architecture at the beginning of the 21st century is changing and evolving at lightning speed. Appropriated, chewed up, mulled over, digested, contemplated, and contorted - gathering up along the way fashion, ecology, politics, and art - architectural concepts become veritable things unto themselves in the present tense. As astoundingly diverse as contemporary architecture is, most importantly it is a reflection of what's happening right now all over the world, in people's minds and in the global collective consciousness.

The many faces of world architecture today make for a mind-expanding book. Here you'll find the most recent work of over 60 architects and firms, including familiar names such as O. Gehry, Meier, Ando, Foster, and Starck, as well as a host of newcomers sure to be the architecture-celebrities of future generations. Highlights include Jakob & MacFarlane's morphological Restaurant at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Diller & Scofidio's "Blur Building" proposal for the International Expo 2001 in Switzerland (an ovular structure suspended over a lake, encapsulated by a fine mist of water, creating the look of a cloud hovering over the lake), and Herzog & de Meuron's remarkable Tate Modern. Proving that contemporary architecture is not limited to physical building design, New York firm Asymptote's Guggenheim Virtual Museum is also included, a place where visitors can take a cyber-stroll through rooms that are designed to be "compelling spatial environments." Presented alphabetically by architect or firm, Architecture Now! can be used like a reference guide, with extensive photographs and illustrations, biographical and contact information for designers, and a careful selection of today's most influential architects. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Architecture Now, Volume 2
In a characteristically perceptive and graceful introduction, Paul Goldberger suggests that the world has caught up with the good sense and refined sensibility of this Seattle firm. This is a handsome, expansive study of a dozen houses, built for people of means and taste-a rare combination. All but two are located in the northwest, and each immerses you in the natural beauty of its site and its inner serenity. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)

A 'K-Tel' collection of the top 40
'AN!'is a comprehensive directory featuring the works of just about everybody who is anybody famous and/or affiliated with famous institutions. Also included are those who have a standing membership in the architecture mafia or have been tapped for future membership. (Don Pietro Eisenmann not included here. He don't like to swim with the small fish, know whaddimean, Tony?) And as a directory, it is pretty neutral in so far as it is not tilted to favor or sell any particular style among so many that are sprouting today. And as a directory, it is useful to those who want a visual overview of what is generally considered exciting by oggly-eyed students and those in the business. This book in no way helps you figure out whose work is important but it gives you a, oh, say, 120-degree panoramic picture of who's who. In addition to being a name directory, this book is like a dictionary of slang, out of necessity. That means, it will be outdated by the time you get your next commission. The book, this and the one that preceded it, contain works done in the name of architecture and spans the gamut from the pretentious to the dead sincere; from the cartoony to the reality-driven; from the arty-farty to the real-estate-minded; from the laughably onanistic to the genuinely original. In a word, it's got the good, the bad, and the ugly, all under one roof. Only thing missing is the truly fantastic. BR>This second volume is visually more interesting than the first. But, regardless, this volume is a continuation of the first--both volumes being really one book divided into two--and thus this review really covers both-as-one. As an omnibus, it serves its function admirably by being so inclusive. A good buy, especially for students and teachers.
For those old enough to have lived thru the happ'nin 70's will know that why I call this the 'K-Tel' Collection. A double LP set or one 8-track. Order yours now. Cassettes also available.

Now?
If you are like me you would buy this book not because of the flashy pictures, but because the author's name is Jodidio. Say it! It's fun! Just like the pictures in this book. Readings are redundant for anyone who keeps up on their popular architecture periodicals. Most of the featured projects and architects have also been showcased in magazines I read a year or two ago. ... Read more

Book Description

Almost every early culture once had a system of symbols that was eventually replaced with a spoken and then written language. In Chinese culture, the evolution of symbols and their meanings took a slightly different and unique path. Rather than the visual symbols being replaced by the written language, in China, the symbols themselves evolved into the written language. In SYMBOLS AND REBUSES IN CHINESE ART, author Fang Jing Pei catalogs the hundreds of symbols in Chinese artistry, and describes each of their meanings. (A rebus is a pictorial representation of a word or syllable.) He explains, for instance, why a depiction of a bat can mean happiness, and why some beautiful images, such as sparrows and pears, are rarely seen. Using myths, folklore, history, and religion to explore the significance of each symbol, Fang presents a comprehensive understanding of the important role symbolism has played, and continues to play, in Chinese culture. ... Read more

Book Description

Why save architecture? This book offers a critical foundation for preservation and the management of change.

The Architecture of Additions examines the impact of new building on important existing architecture and suggests answers to the questions of how one building affects the meaning of another and how they should affect each other when one of them is protected in the public interest. 400 illustrations .AUTHORBIO: Paul Spencer Byard heads the Historic Preservation program at Columbia University Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. ... Read more

Book Description

This three-volume catalogue is the first of two Parts of the Catalogue Raisonné to cover the large corpus of architectural and topographical drawings from the Paper Museum. With a second Part dedicated to drawings of Renaissance and later architecture (A.X, forthcoming), the present title covers the drawings documenting the remains of antique buildings. These architectural remains were to be found for the most part in Rome and the surrounding countryside, stretching south east to the Alban Hills and east to Palestrina and Tivoli. Commissioned and collected by Cassiano dal Pozzo and his younger brother Carlo Antonio, the drawings formed a fundamental part of their ambitious enterprise to record all surviving traces of Roman civilization in the Museo Cartaceo. The drawings included in this catalogue are divided between the Royal Library at Windsor Castle, the Department of Greek and Roman Antiquities of the British Museum and the Sir John Soane's Museum, with an additional group from the Stirling-Maxwell albums now dispersed among other institutions and private collections. The material ranges from fragments depicting a single architectural detail to folios with views of whole towns and fortification schemes. The number of older drawings acquired by the dal Pozzo brothers in the present group far exceeds those that were newly commissioned by them, and includes groups of drawings connected with architectural treatises by Antonio Labacco (for his Libro appartenente all'architettura, 1552) and by Giovanni Antonio Dosio (for his Trattato) as well as by Pirro Ligorio for his encyclopaedic collection. One of the earliest sheets bears drawings of the Arch of Trajan in Benevento, newly attributed to Francesco di Giorgio Martini (1439--1501). Among the commissioned works by Cassiano are copies after earlier architectural drawings by, for example, Giuliano da Sangallo from his famous sketchbook in the Vatican, the Barberini Codex. The arrangement of the drawings in volumes 1 and 2 of the catalogue is chronological by artist. Volume 3 consists of individual drawings and smaller groups arranged by location (starting with Rome and moving through Albano and its vicinity, the Campagna and the rest of Italy) and then by subject (capricci, columns, entablatures, cornices, friezes, architraves and other architectural fragments). Comparative photographs of the extant buildings and other sources for the drawings are included. Introductory essays introduce the different categories and groups of drawings, discuss the ways in which the dal Pozzo brothers ordered the architectural drawings within their Paper Museum and place the material in the context of previous and contemporary collections of architectural drawings. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A guide for the Ages
In this book by the Eastman Kodak company, there is hands on showing and telling of how to restore old prints, along with other useful topics such as negative reproduction. The techincal terms are aimed at the experanced photographer and printer and may be a little hard for the average person to follow. If you have old prints that are faded, and negatives that are old and spotted, this book will help you step by step to restoring them back to good condition. In "Conservation of Photographs", it also explains the storage and preservation of your prints so they will last a few life times. This book is a must have for the person who has ever wanted to restore antique photos and has the knowledge of the darkroom. ... Read more

Book Description

This compact book introduces the fundamental issues, tasks, and problems of site engineering. It addresses site surveying and mapping, site drainage, slope stabilization, and basic site structures. It also discusses laser technology, water conservation, environmental impact, and use of ground for thermal buffing and explores topical issues in modern surveying, computational mapping techniques, and computer-aided design (CAD). ... Read more