A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Biosphere and Flower Pavilion in Postdam, Germany by Barkow and Leibinger, 2001 Built as a Flower Pavilion and centerpiece of the National Horticulture Show (BUGA) in Potsdam, Germany by Berlin-based Barkow and Leibinger , this building has an intended lifespan of at least 20 years, as a Biosphere and a major part the site's transformation into a new residential district of nearly 20,000. Partners Frank Barkow and Regine Leibinger looked at the history of the site as a conceptual basis for the competition-winning design. While used by both the Prussian and Nazi armies, it was the postwar creation of earthen berms to enclose Russian barracks that provided the dramatic direction of the project. The architects veered away from creating a glass, greenhouse-like object on flat ground, typical of previous European structures influenc...

King County Library Service Center in Issaquah, Washington by Miller|Hull Partnership, 2000 The following text and images are by Seattle-based The Miller/Hull Partnership for the King County Library Service Center in Issaquah, Washington, completed in July 2000. The Miller/Hull Partnership designed an 80,000 square foot service center located in Issaquah, Washington. Designed to serve the library system's 180 person headquarters staff, the facility houses administration, training, book processing, information services, maintenance, a traveling library program and includes space for a new West Issaquah Branch Library. A large 2000 sf public meeting space for community use is included in the building. The three story building mass is configured to engage the main arterial in the area, Newport Way. The north-south o...

New England Holocaust Memorial in Boston, Massachusetts by Stanley Saitowitz, 1991 Ironically in San Francisco, a city known for its progressive attitudes, controversy has arisen over local architect Stanley Saitowitz 's Yerba Buena Lofts, a stacked condo development of cast-in-place concrete, glass and industrial-grade steel on Folsom Street, south of Market. The design updates the Victorian context of bay windows into contemporary materials and methods, much to the public's chagrin. But before the loft project was even an idea, Saitowitz had completed a commission in another city known for its conservative aesthetics, Boston; the New England Holocaust Memorial in Carmen Park, near City Hall. The gap that exists between the acceptance ...