A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Flyover Country in Kansas by Stan Herd The following text is an excerpt of Flyover Country by crop artist Stan Herd, featured in Oz Volume 19 . A Kansas farm child discovers the world one small intimate detail at a time. When encountered for the first time, a sparrow is as fascinating as the universe. Without majestic mountains or postcard sea coasts for comparison we are forced to focus on subtle detail. Early memories of summers spent roaming the cottonwood strewn valley we call "the pasture" just up over the rise west of our farmhouse are still vivid. Those adventures reveal an abundance of discoveries unending in their uniqueness. Each season brings new creatures to bluff creek sandbars which trickle through the valley most of the year. Particularly hot dry summers find the stream disappearing altogether excep...

Yellow House in Flims, Switzerland by Valerio Ogliati, 1999 Valerio Ogliati 's father Rudolph (1910-1995) donated his extensive collection of cultural artifacts to the Swiss town of Flims, on condition that the Yellow House be preserved and used as a museum and cultural center. The elder Ogliati insisted upon a stone roof and white surfaces, two distinctive traits of his work. His son followed his father's wishes almost verbatim, though he transcended the unspectacular design of the existing house through minor interventions that create a surrealist, Aldo Rossi -esque object in the middle of town. The main elements of Valerio's intervention include repairing the existing masonry; inserting new, deep-profile windows; creating new internal structure and floor surfaces; and adding the r...

7 South Dearborn in Chicago, Illinois by SOM The following text and images are by Skidmore Owings & Merrill (SOM) for their proposed tower at 7 South Dearborn in Chicago, Illinois. Slated for completion in 2004, 7 South Dearborn will be a 108-story, 1,550-foot tower, which will be the world's tallest building. When topped by two digital broadcast antennas, 7 South Dearborn will achieve a total height of 2,000 feet. The mixed-use complex will include commercial office, residential, retail and parking. The 1.9 million sf building will include 360 residential units on 40 floors, 765,000 sf of office space on 32 floors and 800 parking spaces. In addition, 90,600 sf on the top 13 floors will be dedicated to communications facilities. The 75,000 sf of retail will include restaurants, shops and amenities such as food delivery service, a private fitness club, laundry/cleaner an...

Tower of Winds in Yokohama, Japan by Toyo Ito, 1986 Friedrich Schelling's famous quote, "Architecture is Frozen Music" attempted to find a relationship between the solidity of architecture and the intangibility of music in his era. While the Baroque, and subsequent Rococo, styles in architecture contain a plasticity and flow of ornament that seems to validate the statement, it does not go beyond purely surface characteristics. If we look at the purpose, goal and process of both music and architecture, finding clear relationships is difficult, though this does not deter architects from finding inspiration in music, and vice-versa. A good example of both is Toyo Ito 's Tower of Winds, in Yokohama, Japan, and Savvas Ysatis and Tay...

Museum of Sex in New York, NY by SHoP Architects, 1999 The following text and images are by SHoP Architects (Sharples Holden Pasquarelli), based in New York City, for their Museum of Sex project to be built in New York City. The first Museum of Sex in the United States will be in New York City, occupying an "L-shaped" corner site with views of the Empire State Building. The extremely narrow floor plan suggested the use of a layered organizational device, and the generative concepts of organic form, tactile expression, exposure and concealment led to thinking of this device as "skin". The skin is an undulating topography composed of layered surfaces with specific functions. The particular placement and curvature of the walls are designed for optimal performance as dictated by program requirements such as circulation, ex...