A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Lieutenant Petrosino Park in New York, NY by I-Beam Design, 1996 This is I-Beam Design 's (Azin Valy & Suzan Wines) submission for the Biennale di Venezia , proposed for the intersection of the Soho, Chinatown and Little Italy areas of New York city. The text is written by I-Beam Design. The proposed design creates a programmatic, cultural and spatial connection between Lt. Petrosino Park and its surroundings. A hanging garden extends from the facades of the surrounding buildings to a series of columns within the park. Neighboring residents are invited to participate directly from their windows in selecting, growing and planting the flowering vines and ivy that constitute the garden. This simple gesture provides animated patterns of light and shade at street level, and a view of the entire street through a levitating tapestry of rich greenery and brightly colored flowers from the windows above. The ...

Landesgartenschau in Weil am Rhein, Germany by Zaha Hadid, 1999 Zaha Hadid 's first major executed project, the Vitra Fire Station, brought her, and the chair manufacturer's campus, international attention. Containing structures by Frank Gehry , Alvaro Siza, Nicholas Grimshaw, and Tadao Ando , in addition to Hadid, Vitra became synonymous with cutting-edge design, even though most of the company's output is early Modernist design. The adjacent German town of Weil am Rhein took advantage of Vitra's attractions, choosing Hadid because of her formally bold fire station. Though the British architect has a recognizable style - evident in her sweeping, gestural paintings - the proposal for the Landesgartenschau (state flower exhibition) stands apart from her previous works. Hadid's fire station at Vitra is an object, sitting in a concrete ca...