A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

A New World Trade Center: Design Proposals in New York, NY by various architects, 2002 Organized by Max Protetch, the exhibit "A New World Trade Center: Design Proposals" is featured at the Max Protetch Gallery in New York City through February 16. Included here are five submissions included in the exhibit. At left is "Floating Memorial/Folded Street" by Steven Holl , with Makram El-Kadi and Ziad Jameleddine. Next is "Zero Zones" by Raimund Abraham which features three buildings situated so sunlight pierces slats in the buildings each day at the exact times the planes hit the WTC Towers. At left is "Oblique WTC" by Lars Spuybroek of Nox Architects : "Elevators form a highly complex structure of diagonals where at some platforms more than five or six different cores come together to form larger ...

National Wine Centre of Australia in Adelaide, Australia by Grieve Gillett and Cox Architects Located in Adelaide, Australia, the National Wine Centre of Australia is a design by the firm Grieve Gillette and Cox Architects (now Cox Architects ). Featured are images (click on each for larger format) by photographer Steve Rendoulis , also based in Adelaide. Text is courtesy of the photographer, with all images copyright Steve Rendoulis. The design brief for the National Wine Centre called for a world class interpretive and educational centre representing the whole of the Australian wine industry. The building was to house wine industry offices, an interpretive exhibition, education areas, function hall, restaurant, cellaring and tasting facilities. Just as wine carries the characteristics ...

Yancy Chapel and Mason's Bend Community Center in Alabama by Rural Studio This week's dose pays tribute to Samuel Mockbee, founder of the Rural Studio in Alabama and partner in Mockbee Coker , who passed away December 30, 2001 at the age of 57. Featured are text and images from the Rural Studio , including their Mission Statement and two projects: Yancy Chapel in Hale County and Mason's Bend Community Center, both in Alabama (photos by Tim Hursley). The mission of the Rural Studio is to enable each participating student to cross the threshold of misconceived opinions to create/design/build and to allow students to put their educational values to work as citizens of a community. The Rural Studio seeks solutions to the needs of the community within the community's own context, not from outside it. Abstract idea...

American Folk Art Museum in New York, NY by Tod Williams Billie Tsien Associates, 2001 The previous dose featured the design for the American Folk Art Museum , designed by New York's Tod Williams Billie Tsien Associates , in their words and images. Here we present images from the completed building (opened on Dec. 11, 2001, next to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan) and my critique of the museum. Only 40 feet wide, the Folk Art Museum has one primary facade, facing 53rd Street. The architects opted to design a facade that is simple in its composition yet complex in detail, as each tombasil panel that comprises the facade differs from the others through variations in pouring methods (some molds were smooth steel, some irregular concrete). An overcast sky greeted me as I visited the museum, effectively muting the panel...