Amazon.com

When designers such as Richard Neutra, John Lautner, and Albert Frey came together with members of the Hollywood elite like Frank Sinatra, Bob Hope, and Lucille Ball, they produced luxury homes nestled in bouldered hills and vacation estates located along green fairways. Palm Springs Modern documents this 40-year architectural explosion in the California desert.

One of the more dramatic collaborations was between Los Angeles architect Quincy Jones and billionaire Walter Annenberg, erstwhile publisher and ambassador to Britain under Richard Nixon. Annenberg and his wife, Lee, commissioned the Rancho Mirage Estate house with the express purpose of entertaining such heavyweights as Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Ronald Reagan. Jones envisioned water and green grass on the outside--"I don't want to see one grain of sand except in the golf traps"--and an interior sympathetic to the Annenbergs' collection of impressionist art and oriental antiques. Near the end of the two-year project, Lee asked that the Japanese- and Mayan-inspired pyramidal roof be pink. So it was that pink became the signature hue of the Annenbergs' fabulous Rancho Mirage home.

Using many of the same general principles Jones employed--an open floor plan and the integration of the interior and exterior spaces--Donald Wexler and Ric Harrison's Steel Development Houses represent a very different perspective. Built almost entirely of steel, concrete, and glass, these 1,400-square-foot houses cost between $13,000 and $17,000 in 1962 and could be built in three days. They are minimal in design, aside from the butterfly ceilings, and are incredibly energy efficient. By using steel instead of wood, the buildings are expected to last for many, many years with little or no maintenance. Who would have guessed that the Bauhaus principles, which originated in Germany with Walter Gropius, would find their way to the California desert?

Author Adele Cygelman offers a succinct history beginning with the rise of desert modernity in the 1930s through to its fall from grace in the early 1970s. The photographs by David Glomb are spectacular. All together, Palm Springs Modern is a tantalizing feast of some of the very best mid-century domestic design. --Loren E. Baldwin ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Excellent coffee table book: not an architectural text
Palm Springs Modern provides a superb photo tour of a handful of landmark homes that defined the 'modern' style in the 1950s and '60s. Because wealthy businessmen and celebrities could afford edgier architecture, the authors focus on these homes -- with a welcome chapter on the talented William Cody in between. If you want a scholarly treatise on modernism in architecture, buy another book. If you want a tantalizing sample of some of the best work, PSM is fine. By the time modernism made its way into mass production homes, it lost much of its inventiveness and aesthetic. Those familiar with the Palm Springs area will notice that the Alexanders' ubiquitous 'butterfly' rooflines have become almost cliche, while the Loewy house and most of the PSM subjects remain exotic.

Do you need to own PSM before buying or designing a home for the California desert? Clearly the answer is NO. But if you want a virtual tour of some of the most inspired homes of the genre, PSM belongs on your coffee table. And yes, if you live in the Midwest or Northeast you would do yourself a service by putting this away in a closet somewhere during the winter.

Grab your sunscreen-Let's go!
A classic. If you've never been to Palm Springs, you'll be catching the next flight after leafing thru this fine book. Gorgeous photos of simply incredible buildings. Palm Springs has a quality and character unlike any other "resort" town. The fabulous architecture of the mid-century building boom and a renewed appreciation of the designs of that period has revitalized (again) the Palm Springs area. If you can't visit Palm Springs personally, then pour a martini, sit back and enjoy this book. It's almost like being there!

Hot Desert Modern
Palm Springs Modern illustrates (in photos) a collection of homes by designers who tested design concepts in the harsh desert environment that complimented, and indeed enhanced the outcome. Those of us who seek inspiration and documentation of the modernist period will find this volumn satisfying. It is not a scholarly book, nor is the text particularly deep in theory of architectural modernism. And it doesn't matter that some of the homeowners were celebrities. What really matters is that there are so many fine examples of modernist architecture and in such close proximity.

Jeez, it's a picture book!
I rather liked this book. Yes it's gushy and fluffy. I particularly liked the part about Walter Annenberg's interest in ecology after he turned 250 acres of desert into a personal Euro-Disney. However the pictures are nice, if somewhat disembodied from their context. The text is ridiculous, but I'm trying to get worked up to buy property there, so I was mainly interested in images. Of course, there is nothing useful in the way of floor plans, site maps, etc. However, if you live in the Midwest or New England and want to get really depressed about your current weather, this is the book to buy.

Less is NOT more
This book does serve a purpose, in that it gives a peek into a handful of distinguished Palm Springs residences. Sure, we get to see a few pictures of the famous Kaufmann house (by Neutra), and a few other houses that pretty much look like it, photographed in chilly and clinical detail, accompanied by a chilly monograph. But we have no sense of how these houses may have inspired more ordinary buildings in town, like the wonderful Alexander subdivisions -- which I'm told comprise the most consistent collection of modern suburban architecture in the USA. Where are the houses that regular folks live in? A few crumbs could have been thrown to the masses ... I would have liked some gas stations, some cool furniture, a dash of innovative interior design, perhaps. Go ahead and buy it, but I can pretty much guarantee that as a coffee table book, it's fairly unappetizing fare. And it doesn't much relate to the familiar Palm Springs modern style we all know and love. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent artist reference!
This book is a wonderful resource for 3D animators in particular. "If you do a lot of animation that requires scenery (and doesn't it all?) this book is a must have." -Taming The Wave, June 1996 ... Read more

Book Description

From its trademark row houses to Benjamin Henry Latrobe's landmark Cathedral (now Basilica) of the Assumption, Baltimore architecture can rightly claim to be as eclectic, exciting, and inspiring as that of any American city. Many of its important buildings figure prominently in the oeuvres of leading American architects: Latrobe, Robert Mills, Maximilien Godefroy, Richard Upjohn, Stanford White, and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe among them. Yet Baltimore's distinctive urban environment also owes much to the achievements of local talents, including Robert Cary Long Sr. and Jr., John Rudolph Niernsee and James Crawford Neilson, E. Francis Baldwin and Josias Pennington, Laurence Hall Fowler, Alexander Cochran—not to mention generations of skilled craftsmen and builders.

Baltimore's architecture rewards close study, and in The Architecture of Baltimore contributors and editors Mary Ellen Hayward and Frank R. Shivers, Jr., have brought together an impressive group of scholars, writers, and critics to provide a fresh account of the city's architectural history. The narrative begins by looking at eighteenth-century Georgian buildings that reflect the grandeur of the style, goes on to the prosperous port city's Federal-period achievements, including many country houses with their delicate details, then proceeds to Baltimore's monumental contributions to early nineteenth-century American neoclassical design. Romantic stylings follow, with excursions into the Greek and Gothic Revivals, and the popular Italianate-mode for town and country houses, the soaring spires of churches, and the classical dignity of public spaces like the Peabody Library. Later in the nineteenth century a picturesque eclecticism produced such monuments as the Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad's Mount Royal Station, as well as intriguing changes to the city's versatile row houses. Contributors discuss the evolution of industrial buildings and the growth of the city's architectural profession. The Architecture of Baltimore also addresses the arrival of modernism in Charm City, examines the origins and challenges of historic preservation, and assesses the Baltimore renaissance of the period 1955-2000, which saw the construction of Charles Center, Harborplace, and the sports complex at Camden Yards.

Here at last we have a comprehensive guide to Baltimore's architectural heritage—lost and still-standing alike. Illustrated with nearly 600 photographs, architectural plans, maps, and details, this impressive work of scholarship also offers an engaging narrative of the history of Baltimore itself—its men and women of all stations, its taste and traditional preferences, its good choices and lamentable ones, and its built environment as a social and cultural chronicle. ... Read more

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Reviews (4)

mindless nepotism
This book has some nice photographs but adds nothing to already published scholarship on this topic. The author is not a professional architectural historian; he is a descendant of Stanford White. His text is gushy and uncritical, and makes only scant mention of the social and economic forces that contributed to the rise and decline of these grandiose houses.

A minor correction
The point of this review is to correct an error in Steven Goldstein's review of this book. McKim, Mead, & White were not involved in the construction of the Metropolitan Opera, as he states.

This is a wonderful, ravishing book, although I suppose some readers might be disappointed that the author has limited himself to surviving examples of McKim, Mead, & White's work, with current photographs ... all of them gorgeous. Vintage photographs, where available, would have been a nice addition. For example, it would be interesting, if possible, to compare the Pulitzer mansion in New York as originally built with the current photos ... it has been divided into something like 9 condominiums!

Luscious Vision of the Gilded Age
Speaking as a practicing architect and longtime admirer of the works of Stanford White, I found this book was nonetheless a revelation. Gorgeously photographed, it shows a broader spectrum of the residential work of this illustrious firm. McKim Mead and White have a well-deserved reputation for grand public buildings (Penn Station, Madison Square Garden to name two that have sadly been demolished) but are less known for these spectacular houses built for the robber barons of the Gilded Age among whom Stanford White circulated. What is suprising is the facility with which they moved from lavish and elegantly detailed city houses to surprisingly unpretentious inviting summer homes on Long Island and elsewhere. If you love Beaux Arts architecture, skip this book at your peril.

Sumptuous photography and insightful text
This book combines rich visual appeal with a serious analysis of the residential work of McKim, Mead & White. The introduction is particularly valuable for its succinct survey of the firm's development and its discussion of the collaboration of the partners. ... Read more

Book Description

In recent years, museums have achieved the status of architectural monuments in their own right, especially in America, where the museum itself is often as much a focal point as the art it displays. With exciting new buildings currently under way in New York, Denver, Minneapolis, Atlanta, and Boston, now is the perfect time for this survey of 39 museums throughout the United States, by more than 50 of the world's greatest architects, from Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Kahn to Santiago Calatrava, Frank Gehry, and Richard Meier.

This landmark publication looks at American art museums designed since the Museum of Modern Art was completed in New York in 1938, including the Getty Center, the Kimbell Art Museum, the High Museum of Art, Houston's Museum of Fine Arts, Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Art, the Phoenix Art Museum, and the Milwaukee Art Museum. Each building is described in short texts by the architect and museum director and documented in beautiful photographs by renowned photographer Paul Rocheleau. As this dazzling book shows, the art museum has become one area where architects are allowed, even encouraged, to push the boundaries of design with radical new forms and cutting-edge materials. AUTHOR BIO: Scott Tilden is the editor and conceiver of architecture books, including American Synagogues: A Century of Architecture and Jewish Life and Daniel H. Burnham: Visionary Architect and City Planner. Paul Rocheleau has published many books of photographs, including volumes on Frank Lloyd Wright, H. H. Richardson, and Frederick Law Olmsted. Wim de Wit is special collections director of the Getty Research Institute and the author of numerous books and articles on architecture. ... Read more

Book Description

Returning to the subject of their bestselling book Barn (1992), David Larkin, with barn preservationists Elric Endersby and Alexander Greenwood, takes the reader on a tour of barns throughout America. Featuring all-new sites and structures, Barn is a perfect introduction for those not yet initiated into the world of barns as well as a definitive resource for all barn owners and architecture enthusiasts.

The book discusses the form and function of American barns. It gives their complete history--from Colonial times to the present, the old and the new--and illustrates the incredible range of styles of these structures. From rural villages in New England to the farmlands of the Midwest, from the Deep South to the Southwest, and up and down the West Coast, Barn: Preservation & Adaptation fully demonstrates the adaptability and enduring charm of one of the most iconic forms of American vernacular architecture.

Today there is great activity restoring and converting barns. No longer used just for farming, barns have been converted into bookstores, theaters, restaurants, garages, and even houses. Barn explores renovations, interior design options, and structural and cosmetic changes that have kept these traditional farm buildings vital and functional into the twenty-first century.

This highly engaging history and the profound beauty of these handcrafted structures will enchant all barn aficionados interested in their architecture and their historic preservation.
... Read more

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Book Description

Reviews (1)

a solid, valuable visual guide to Chicago's architecture
Chicago is generally known as one of the centers of modernist architecture, and this visual guidebook, complete with maps, photographs and authoritative little essays on most of the important buildings, is a must-buy if you plan to tour this richly textured urban center. It's also one of the best small resources for anyone interested in architecture from 1850 to the present. Inexpensive, designed to slip in your pocket, it holds up well-- I depend upon mine to help me with the walking tours of the city I give on a regular basis, and it's still in one piece after three or more years of hard use. ... Read more

Book Description

Bungalow: The Ultimate Arts & Crafts Home is the definitive compilation of Arts & Crafts architecture, philosophy, and architectural details. Bungalow expert Jane Powell examines a variety of bungalows and Arts & Crafts homes across the U.S. and Canada, exploring and dissecting the best to come up with a book that defines the very nature of the bungalow itself.

From a sleeping porch to a claw footed tub, to hallmark uses of wood, stone, and tile, the insightful text is accompanied by Linda Svendsen's detailed and expressive photography.

With a brief history of the arts & crafts movement included, Powell's latest offering is the perfect gift for bungalow owners, Arts & Crafts enthusiasts, and those looking to restore old or build new. Go deeper into the world of Arts & Crafts, and see exactly what makes a great bungalow design-from interior design to colors, architectural elements to the littlest details. ... Read more

Book Description

The teachings of Mies van der Rohe have had a great influence on the American architect and artist Gene Summers. Thanks to state-of-the-art technology and Summers' own creative talents, he was able to help transform Mies' visions into built structures. For 16 years Gene Summers was a close colleague of Mies, working with him on many projects including the Seagram Building in New York and the Bacardi's office buildings in Cuba and Mexico. Also working independently, Summers created projects for C.F Murphy Assoc. such as the McCormick Convention Centre and the Malcolm X College in Chicago. Familiar with bronze as a building material, Summers used this knowledge to design furniture and household objects before devoting himself entirely to this area of art. This volume is the first presentation of Gene Summers' oeuvre, surveying the many areas where he was active. Phyllis Lambert, President of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums, provides an enlightening introduction to his work. ... Read more

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You don't have to live in a Craftsman-style bungalow house--as I have for nearly a decade--to appreciate the popular architectural style that flourished in the early 20th century, or this handsome book devoted to it. Interior designer Paul Duchscherer and photographer Douglas Keister have combined their talents to give the bungalow its due, defining the style and its variations, discussing its influences and its evolution. Keister has a great eye for color and design; he is a man who loves wood and makes no bones about it. Warning: you may want to talk to a real estate agent about a Craftsman of your own after looking at the beautiful homes in this volume. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

A Great Resource
I found The Bungalow; America's Arts & Crafts Home by Paul Duchscherer & Douglas Keister to be extremely helpful with my remodel. I tagged pages with the ideas that I wanted to convey to my designer and architect. The pictures are beautiful and really assisted in developing the plans and overall look in the remodel of my bungalow style house. Very inspiring.

Duchscherer Fan
This is a great book with wonderful color photographs! Check out his other two books in the series, as well as photographer Douglas Keisters's "Bungalows on CD-ROM".

A beautiful pictorial of the bungalow style of architecture
This an outstanding book for anyone interested in the familiar and well loved style of architecture known as the bungalow. All color photos show the gamut of this genre ranging from basic to elaborate. Both interior and exterior shots detail this rich archetictural art form. An inspiration to anyone interested in maintaining, restoring or recreating one of America's favorite homestyles.

An inspiration to bungalow owners.
I own an eighty-year-old bungalow. My brother owns a house that isn't quite a bungalow, but has some arts & crafts interior elements. As I read the book I kept thinking "That's it! That's my house!" My house came to me in what real estate agents would call "pristine condition"--which means nobody's done anything but bare-bones-basic maintenance for decades. After reading the book (or, rather, browsing the photos; there's not much text), I know better what's original & authentic. While I'm not planning to restore my house to exactly 1913 appearance, I now feel more confident about some of my plans to rejuvenate my new home. ... Read more

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While Newport, Rhode Island, may not have been the birthplace of shingle style, it certainly became--somewhere around the 1860s--a stronghold for an approach that would become popular in American architecture. Established as a major shipping port in the mid-18th century, Newport went on to become a fashionable destination for the wealthy and the ambitious who took a liking to enormous houses (which they referred to as "cottages") which were built along the eastern shore of Aquidneck Island. Shingle Styles begins its case-by-case study of various American structures by focusing on a lasting monument in Rhode Island, the William Watts Sherman house, designed by Henry Hobson Richardson. Built in the 1870s, the Sherman house set the standard for many of the unifying themes of shingle style: long horizontal lines created by extended roof overhangs, rows of aligned windows, and a cantilevered upper gable. The decisive change in the Sherman house, however, and the strongest element of this new architectural style, was the use of wooden shingles for an exterior wall covering rather than red clay tiles or stone. As author Leland M. Roth points out, this simple change "opened up possibilities for variations in texture and surface, with the shingles cut and nailed in different patterns ... especially in the upper gables." Roth goes on to detail a total of 30 structures, including homes, clubs and lodges, churches, farms and barns, and a hotel. The story of shingle style is also told through more than 200 illustrations and photographs, mostly in color. Along the way we learn about Frank Lloyd Wright's home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois; James and Merritt Reid's Hotel del Coronado in Coronado, California; William Ralph Emerson's Felsted in Deer Isle, Main; and Greene & Greene's Gamble House in Pasadena, California. As an architectural characteristic, shingle style has its limitations. How much can be said, after all, about buildings which are unified only in their appearance of being covered entirely in wooden shingles? Roth helps to push appreciation to the next level, however, showing how the influences of craftsman, bungalow, prairie school, and postmodern touches have helped to enliven the style. --John Russell ... Read more

Reviews (8)

Great Book - Well worth the read
The book "SHINGLE STYLES Innovation and Tradition in American Architecture 1874 to 1982" is a truely exquisite book. The shingle style architecture is one of the last american architectural styles, and should be deeply cherished. The book has beautiful photographs by Bret Morgan and flowing text by Leland M. Roth. The book brings you through time, starting in the gilded age with lavish country homes, and ending in recent 1982, again displaying a lavish country home, stating the continuation of the shingle style. While reading the book you tend to have vicarious dreams of living in the later 1800s, going to the country home with the faimly and walking along the beach or senic country path, with your shingle villa in the background. The book makes a fine contribution to any library, and in my library it is prominately positioned in reach of all that wish to indulge in the enjoyment of the shingle style of architecture. I strongly recomend this book, and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Delectable
A truly delectable book! After chewing it over thoroughly from cover to cover, I've been dreaming of shady porches, snug fireplaces, the smell of old houses in the rain. Bret Morgan is a wonderful photographer; his pictures evoke all of this -- I ate them up!

"...a treasure trove..."
"Shingle Styles" is a treasure trove of architectural images and ideas. We are planning a new house inspired by the Shingle Style and this book has been most helpful in talking to our architect and contractor. The more recent houses are particularly helpful in thinking about adapting a historic style to our contemporary needs.

Sublime photos, grounding text
This is a wonderful book. The photos are sublime--going well beyond mere structural illustration and explanation to capture the spirit of the original design. The text gives grounding information about the evolution and permutations of what has come to be called Shingle Style and examines 30 structures, both familiar and unfamiliar. Roth recounts not only the training and shaping influences of the architects who designed these, but also provides such information as the circumstances surrounding the original project, a bit of social history, or the preservation efforts of present-day heirs. The presentation is thorough without being overwhelming or deadly, dryly academic. Morgan's wonderfully poetic photos take a similar approach: conveying not only the architecture of the whole, but also revealing the telling detail. I liked the inclusion of modern-day exemplars of this American style.

A great companion volume to Scully's "The Shingle Style"
"Shingle Styles" makes a great companion volume to Vincent Scully's "The Shingle Style". The lack of plans here didn't bother me because Scully's book has so many. Architects like Stanford White conceived of these buildings in 3D and presented them in 3D sketches and vignettes, and "Shingle Styles" takes a similar pictorial approach. Almost like the old sketches, the color photographs show the 3D reality of the buildings, and the play of natural light across their textured surfaces. "Shingle Styles" goes beyond Scully's book to include great examples across the U.S., and also some examples of modern houses inspired by the Shingle Style. I especially enjoyed learning of the 1982 recreation of "Kragsyde", one of the long-lost ultimate Shingle Style houses. ... Read more

Book Description

First House: the grid, the figure and the void presents a range of innovative first houses designed by a group of famous Harvard graduates from the 1930s - many of which have never been published before. These include such influential figures as Edward Larrabee Barnes, Ulrich Franzen, John Johansen, Philip Johnson, I M Pei and Paul Rudolph.

This examination shows both what these soon-to-be-famous American architects were taught by their émigré Bauhaus instructors Walter Gropius and Marcel Breuer, and the development of their personal artistic vision.

Each building is accompanied by a rich collection of background period information. Artworks by American painters such as Calder, Pollock, Motherwell and Kline are incorporated as both emblems of their time and sources of design inspiration. The furniture designed and used in many of the buildings is also illustrated and ranges from the well-known work of Eames to the forgotten steel wire chairs of Landrum.

The book concludes with a review of the personalities involved in publishing these modern houses: the photographer Ezra Stoller, writer Peter Blake and historian Vincent Scully. These men also tried their hand at self-designed 'First Houses' for their own families.

This book provides an extensively researched text with previously unpublished discoveries that are tied together in a uniquely personal and emotional narrative that opens a clear view upon the designers and their time. ... Read more

Reviews (2)

Brilliant and Unsurpassed
As an architectural historian, I have read a number of books that approach this subject, but none so comprehensively and with such a thoughtful analysis. Clear and concise writing with intriguing visual comparisons and beautiful illustrations and drawings. I recommend this book by the brilliant author/architect to anyone interested in 20th-century American architecture.

At Last !!
This book reviews the box type architecture of the '40s, but with a twist, with details.This author features the first homes' interior gems.Yes, paintings, furniture and from old photographs, first time owners are rediscovered. Philip Johnson (also wrote at the end), I M Pei, Noyes, etc. its like the first album for a superband or superstar. Mr Bjone as an architect himself does an excellent job in this endeavor. Refreshing, the new cool. ... Read more

Book Description

Palm Beach: An Architectural Legacy details the meticulous restorations of over twenty great houses and public buildings on what has been called "America's Riviera." These houses were restored from 1988 to the present, and each house has won the Preservation Foundation of Palm Beach's coveted Ballinger Award. The glorious photography showcased here respectfully documents the superb restoration of these houses, many of which have never before been published.

The cycle of building and restoration chronicled here encompasses one of America's enduring architectural landscapes, as well as the dynamics of its social history. Public and private structures designed by some of the style-setting early architects are depicted, including the works of Addison Mizner, Joseph Urban, and Maurice Fatio, as well as anonymous designers whose feats of imagination rivaled those of the most celebrated professionals.
... Read more

Book Description

The New York-based architectural firm LOT/EK (pronounced "low-tech") has made a distinctive mark on the architectural landscape through a series of seemingly whimsical projects that make a point of using prefabricated industrial materials in unexpected ways. In their hands, a shipping container can be transformed into a mobile working unit, a museum, or a restaurant. In the process, they question our relation to the industrial environment and the artificiality of the urban landscape.

Lot/Ek: Urban Scan, the first and only monograph on the firm, is organized categorically and alphabetically. Twenty-three projects are presented in detail, including American Diner (a restaurant in a container), the InspiroTrainer (created for the Museum of Modern Art), Mixer (a cement mixer-cum-video immersion unit), the Meltzer Gallery, the Boon boutique, the MDU (Mobule Dwelling Unit), and the Goree Memorial and Museum. It also includes more than 1,000 photographs of infrastructural objects--everything from air conditioners to water tanks--that serve as the raw material and inspiration for this creative practice. ... Read more

Reviews (3)

Catalouge of Mundane Items with Ingenious Solutions
This is worth the price, if just for the images they collect of eveyday industrial items and how these items fit into the manifesto of LO/TEK. Great Work!!

Seclusive Architecture
Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lignano came to our school, Carnegie Mellon, in March 2003, to give a presentation of their retrospective work. I must admit that we, as the whole audience were enchanted by what they presented to us. LOT/EK, a NYC based architectural firm, has set its focus on mostly mobile units of architecture that involves structures and modules to be used in mostfully art and entertainment contexts.

They've done a lot of small structures that bring technology and entertainment together. Their projects for MoMa, Whitney Museum, and the Guggenheim are a couple of examples. Although they're very unique designs in addition to comprehensive enhancements in media use, they have a seclusive atmosphere. That was one of the issues that was brought up by the students and faculty. The modules, however comfortable and ergonomic they can be, tend to separate individuals from the outside environment almost completely. They did not provide a good answer to the question. Yet, there's no reason for harsh criticism for that; since they devote themselves to one particular theme in architecture. Perhaps we, as either students or professionals, always have the image of Le Corbusier or Aalto in our minds, that we think that an architect should do everything. It becomes nice when a man can get a hand on many things, but it should not be disrespected when a hand does one job only. In fact, specialization becomes a must with globalism.

I really liked their project for University of Washington, where they placed literally a 'slice' of an aeroplane onto a grass area in the campus. They've designed mobile seats, that can rotate vertically and horizontally, to allow for lectures, lounge relaxing and exhibitions, as the seats move.

'Isolating functions, not people...' Yes, this is what they had said, I now remember. I agree, their intention is not to isolate people. They instead intend to isolate functions, so that they are better realized without interruption. One might disagree with that, if interruption is a personal pleasure.

LOT/EK is definitely one of the most specialized, unique, creative and technological architectural firms today. Purchase the book to see their amazing work.

Machines for Living. Finally!
I first learned about architects Ada Tolla and Giuseppe Lagnano (of LOT-EK) from an article in the House and Home section of the New York Times. I was intrigued by their use of low-cost, yet structurally sound, architectural elements (used shipping containers, tanker truck tanks, etc.) to create flexible spaces that are visually striking, yet responsive to human needs. A rare combination in architecture. Reading and looking through this book, my sense of interest morphed into outright enthusiasm. Not only does their work make sense environmentally--making sane reuse of items that are often discarded--their designs are extraordinarily well thought-out, architecturally innovative, socially aware and beautiful. ... Read more

Book Description

When Marcus Whiffen's classic introduction to American architectural styles was published in 1969, Reyner Banham called it "one of the most enjoyable general works on American architecture that has ever appeared."

This new edition, containing descriptions, histories, and illustrations of more than forty architectural styles, has been revised and updated to include two new entries on late modernism and on post-modernism and a description of "streamline moderne," now recognized as an independent style. The number of illustrations has been increased to 200.

Marcus Whiffen is Professor Emeritus in the School of Architecture at Arizona State University. ... Read more

Book Description

Fortunately for the many admirers of his architecture, theories, and designs, Frank Lloyd Wright was not only a lover of space and a man of vision--he was also a man who liked to save things. Since he opened his first office in Chicago in 1893, Wright held on to drawings, sketches, notes, photographs, manuscripts, and correspondence. Many of those artifacts survive today in his official archive at Taliesin West in Arizona. Produced in conjunction with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, this extraordinary book offers a fresh presentation of the documents of one of the world's most famous architects. It is, in effect, a museum in a book. The unique book experience contains 25 interactive, three-dimensional features, removable facsimiles of original documents, never-before-published architectural sketches, and an audio CD containing excerpts from Wright's weekly addresses at his architectural compound, as well as television interviews. Following the proven success of other Wright titles, this is an engaging journey into the life and work of the iconic American architect through words, pictures, and artifacts. ... Read more

Book Description

Whitemarsh Hall, known as "the Versailles of America," was one of the largest and most exquisite estates in North America. Edward Townsend Stotesbury, one of the wealthiest Philadelphians in the early twentieth century, commissioned renowned architect Horace Trumbauer to build the one-hundred-forty-sevenroom mansion in 1916 on three hundred acres just outside Philadelphia. Whitemarsh Hall, which took five years to build at an estimated cost of $10 million with all the furnishings, was a wedding present for his second wife. ... Read more