A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Clark and Menefee by Richard Jensen, published by  Princeton Architectural Press , 2000. Hardcover, 192 pages. ( Amazon ) The office of Clark and Menefee dissolved in 1999 with few built works, primarily residential structures in the Carolinas, where they were based. Jensen's book focuses on seven completed buildings (four houses, a cabin, an inn and a school) and a bus shelter, as well as three competitions, two of which were awarded first prize. Paramount for the firm was the reconciliation of architecture with its physical, cultural and spiritual place, each an equal aspect of a building's site, according to Clark in one of three essays included in the book. The small format book suits the work of ...

Midwest Rural House in Ann Arbor, Michigan by Ply Architecture, 2003 Before Ply Architecture won last year's House: Case Study Cleveland Competition, the Ann Arbor-based firm designed this house in their Michigan hometown. While the former looks at the American single-family house via ideas of flexibility and prefabricated construction, the latter provides solutions to a particular family-of-four's needs and desires. Each finds their home in the Midwestern landscape, though the house in Michigan musts also respond to the Japanese and American cultures of the client's family, adding a unique twist to the suburban house. Once entering the house it is apparent the design incorporates certain elements from Japanese re...

Minneapolis Rowing Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Vincent James Associates Architects, 2001 The 2003 Wood Design Awards , juried by Laura Hartman (of Fernau & Hartman Architects ), Raymond Moriyama, and Peter Bohlin (of Bohlin Cywinski Jackson ), were awarded to 13 projects from over 200 submissions. The projects chosen use wood as a "significant element [that] plays a central role in the success of the building," according to the competition web page. The Minneapolis Rowing Club in Minneapolis, Minnesota by Vincent James Associates Architects (VJAA), one of the 13 projects, is a fitting recipient embodying the ideals sought by the Wood Design Awards . Also located in Minneapolis, VJAA is a practice that attempts ...

Tenerife Opera House in Tenerife, Spain by Santiago Calatrava, 2003 Photographs are courtesy of Javier Salmones . Before the official opening of Frank Gehry's much anticipated Walt Disney Concert Hall in October, Santiago Calatrava 's Tenerife Opera House in Santa Cruz, Tenerife will open to the public. With its inauguration on September 27, the Opera House will bring attention both to the city of Santa Cruz and the Canary Islands, a grouping of seven islands west of Morocco. An autonomous region of Spain, the islands are known more for its nightlife and beaches than for cultural amenities, though surely this building is an attempt to infuse the islands with both high culture and world-class architectur...

Herzog & de Meuron: Natural History edited by Philip Ursprung, published by  Lars Müller Publishers , 2003. Hardover, 480 pages. ( Amazon ) One year after the architects Herzog & de Meuron were awarded the 2001 Pritzker Architecture Prize , the Canadian Centre for Architecture mounted an exhaustive exhibition of the firm's work, entitled "Archaeology of the Mind". Also curated by Ursprung, the exhibition is documented in this book with essays, interviews and images, fit into six categorical chapters: Transformation and Alienation, Appropriation and Modification, Stacking and Compression, Imprints and Moulds, Interlocking Spaces, Beauty and Atmosphere. As these titles (and the exhibition and ...

Selfridges in Birmingham, England by Future Systems, 2003 Wednesday, September 4, saw the opening of the new Selfridges Department Store in Birmingham, England, an important part of the large shopping development Bullring . Designed by London's Future Systems , the blob-like building is a contemporary take on the windowless retail box, a standout in this otherwise architecturally typical, yet ambitious, development in the city center. Extending the street plan of Birmingham into the development, the overall plan of the Bullring attempts to integrate itself into the city, but ultimately it is an updated mall, Selfridges acting as one of the two anchors as in a typical dumbbell mall plan, forcing itself upon the city. The emergence of ...

Architecture for Education: New School Designs from the Chicago Competition edited by Robert V. Sharp, published by BPI, 2003. Paperback, 136 pages. ( Amazon ) Sponsors BPI and the NEA published this book in 2002 to feature the entries for the architectural competition " Big Shoulders...Small Schools " from two years previous. Formatted as three small books bound inside a school-like folder, each piece documents a different aspect of educational design: Book 1 includes a history of school design in Chicago and the competition's background, Book 2 houses the designs with generous illustrations and explanatory text, and Book 3 has a group of essays expounding the benefits of small schools, accessibility and sustainability. As these issues ...

Dongbu Kangam Tower in Seoul, South Korea by KPF, 2003 Korea's recent boom in construction has created it's share of bland high-rise architecture, a phenomenon not limited to its urban centers, but others such as Chicago with its predominance of painted concrete boxes. The steel and glass variety of skyscrapers has always taken precedence in people's minds when it comes to quality and the sheer exuberance of seeing the building rise from the ground to the sky. But it is definitely not solely a high-rise's structure that determines its appeal, its form and cladding dictate its relationship to its surrounding, and its lower floors indicate its immediate relationship to pedestrians. The Dongbu Kangnam Tower in the Gangnam-gu dist...