A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Visions of Light traces the evolution of cinematography from the origins of the motion picture camera to films at the close of the century. The film uses comments from cinematographers and director's of photography to illustrate the importance of light in telling a story. Arranged chronologically, the relationships between a film's visuals and technology and the culture of Hollywood are the most influential. Early films carried photography to the medium of film, most filmmakers using the motion picture camera similarly to still cameras. Over time filmmakers began to use movies to create a story. In a sense the "silent years" were movie's golden age: unencumbered by sound any expression of feeling or thought was accomplished through the camera. Sound briefly hampered film's progression as the camera grew to accommodate the aural input. Studios flowered, though, and cameramen develo...

One-Family Home in Floriac, France by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), 1998 Rem Koolhaas became internationally popular after the release of S,M,L,XL , a book almost as big and heavy as a CMU. His firm, Office for Metropolitan Architecture ( OMA ), produces work that ranges through the sizes the book indicates. Easily this one family house in Floriac, within the Bordeaux region of France, could be filed under S. But like the book illustrates common themes stream through the various scales of work, giving equal weight to each project. This house, completed after the release of the monograph, is one of OMA's strongest buildings to date and illustrates these themes: innovative and creative design solutions through thorough programmatic analysis expressed against existing architectural and urban conditions. Koolhaas's strong functionalis...