A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Crawford Art Gallery in Cork, Ireland by Erick van Egeraat, 2000 Brick, and other modular, masonry units, such as cinder block, are commonly used, and thought of, in orthogonal applications, naturally following from their rectangular shape. Even in Erich Mendelsohn's Einstein Tower the plastic form, made in brick due to cost constraints, is painted to resemble the desired material of concrete. But at the addition to the Crawford Art Gallery , in Cork, Ireland, Dutch architect Erick van Egeraat uses brick in a new, novel way, wrapping the two existing portions in a undulating curve of matching brick. The architect adopted the thin-joint mortar system, in which bricks are glued together creating a superior bond, to achieve the aesthetic intention. With t...

Soldier Field Addition in Chicago, Illinois by Wood + Zapata The proposed Soldier Field addition in Chicago, Illinois by Wood + Zapata, of Boston, and local architect Dirk Lohan of Lohan Associates , is the most controversial project in Chicago since Helmut Jahn's State of Illinois Building (now Jarmes R. Thompson Center) was built in 1985. In the latter the public was offended by the non-contextual design, a steel and reflective glass shell with a curved, stepped setback, drawing responses that it resembled an alien craft landing in the loop. While the proposed addition to Soldier Field has also been called an alien spaceship, the design is only a small part of the controversy over the addition, with issues of transportation, scale and, pri...

Printing Plant in Slagelse, Denmark by  Søren Robert Lund Arkitekter, 2001 A small practice based in Copenhagen, Søren Robert Lund Arkitekter MAA PAR opened after winning the competition for The Arken Museum in their home country of Denmark. Still their most recognizable building, the museum established Lund as an architect able to handle a relatively large commission with a small practice (currently eight employees) while achieving a high level of design. That building's datum is a long, sloping wall with heterogeneous forms and planes radiating from this main spine. At the new printing factory for the newspaper Berlingske Tidende in Slagelse, the building's center is two metal-clad sculptural forms that contain the printing hall, with adjacent low-slung wooden boxes. Naturally the printing hall recalls the recent...

Lewis Center for Environmental Studies in Oberlin, Ohio by William McDonough + Partners, 2001 The following text and images are by William McDonough + Partners for their design of the Lewis Center For Environmental Studies at Oberlin College in Ohio. The Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies represents a collaboration of ideas and interests. The client, Dr. David Orr, has written on what he calls “architecture as pedagogy” - the idea that the buildings we learn in teach us as powerfully as the content of our classes. In response, the Lewis Center was designed throughout to embody the curriculum of ecological mindfulness central to the Environmental Studies Program. The result is a remarkable synthesis of building and landscape, state-of-the-art sustainable materials and innovative design strategies. The Lewis Center manifes...