A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Newtown House in Lawrence, Kansas by Dan Rockhill The houses of architect Dan Rockhill, and his office Rockhill and Associates , are unique products of his upbringing, locale and clients. Being raised on a farm gave him the skill and patience to construct each house in its entirety, or at least the majority of each house, obviously the most individual aspect of his firm. Living in Kansas helps to generate the houses' forms, influenced by both the landscape and the industrial objects created to harness its bounty. Lastly in a seemingly liberal, though ultimately conservative, area of northeast Kansas, Rockhill has found the right clients - or the right clients have found him - to build his contemporary structures in steel and glass. Locate...

Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media by Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky, published by  Random House, 2002. Paperback, 480 pages. ( Amazon ) A lucid analysis of the media's conformity with the agendas of those in power, this document provides three in-depth case studies to illustrate the media's propagandistic role. Professors Herman and Chomsky develop their Propaganda Model through extensive research of demonstration elections in Latin America, the plot to kill the Pope in 1981 and the Indochina wars in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. In each case, the media played an important role in both filtering the news that reached the public and supporting the interests of the govern...

Mori Arts Center in Tokyo, Japan by Gluckman Mayner Architects, 2003 Roppongi Hills is the latest undertaking by Japanese developer Minoru Mori, over 27 acres in the Roppongi area of Tokyo, which, like much of the city, has a shortage of useable land. The mixed use development - the largest in the history of Japan - includes office, residential, hotel and retail spaces totaling nearly 8 million square feet, as well as multiple open spaces throughout. Therefore every piece of the site is accounted for in tenant space or public use, reflecting the amazing amount of control the developer had over the design of the site. The Mori Arts Center is a small, yet important, part of the development which focuses on maximizing pro...

Educational Facility in Istanbul, Turkey by Murat Soygenis Text and images courtesy Murat Soygenis. Designed by Istanbul architect Murat Soygenis, the new educational facility in the recently planned campus for Yildiz Technical University - YTU - provides spaces for academic offices, classrooms, laboratories, library, cafeteria and a below-grade garage, and will be a 22,500 s.m. edifice on the eastern corner of an existing historic military barrack when all three phases are finalized. An existing two-story, stone military barrack was preserved and converted to an educational facility, with the new educational buildings - like this one - facing a major university mall on both sides of the historic, rectilinear building. With the historic ...

Brazilian Museum of Sculpture in São Paulo, Brazil by Paulo Mendes da Rocha, 1988 Paulo Mendes da Rocha's Brazilian Museum of Sculpture in São Paulo, Brazil is a simple yet provocative design that uses a large beam to give the museum a presence, while also fulfilling the need for shade and shelter for the exterior plaza. The architect's sketch, at left (click images for larger and expanded views), clearly illustrates this idea and its focus toward the visitors that use the plaza for relaxation, relief and performances. The image at left shows the entry to the museum which is actually buried under the plaza. The museum's differing ceiling heights create a stepped outdoor space that is split by the entry fissure. These different heights also acco...