A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Mosewich House in Kamloops, British Columbia, Canada by D'Arcy Jones Design, 2003 The following text and images (click for larger and expanded color views) are courtesy Vancouver-based D'Arcy Jones Design . This pragmatic and inviting family house is perched on the edge of a steep slope in a suburban setting. Existing ponderosa pines, bunch-grass and sagebrush were carefully preserved by siting the house away from the street. A private, sunny courtyard merges the kitchen and dining areas with the landscape. Intimate views of vegetation and exposed rock are a welcome contrast to long views towards the river valley below. A robust, dark tinted stucco mass anchors the house to the ground, morphing to create courtyard walls, terraces, fir...

Many Masks: A Life of Frank Lloyd Wright by Brendan Gill, published by Da Capo Press, 1998. Paperback, 544 pages. ( Amazon ) The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright: A Complete Catalog by William Allin Storrer, published by  University of Chicago Press , 2002. Hardcover, 593 pages. ( Amazon ) Brendan Gill's approach to the life of Frank Lloyd Wright as a man wearing a series of masks over his ninety years - from artist-writer-dandy to professional great man - is as an analogy that may not be appropriate. Wright's personal relationships and relationships with clients are the focus of the book, particularly his willingness to lie in order to deflect emotions or to garner jobs. As such, the book reads much like contemporary tabloid fare, though it does provide in...

Urbanscape Switzerland by Angelus Eisinger and Michel Schneider, published by  Birkhäuser , 1999. Hardcover, 368 pages. ( Amazon ) Subtitled "Investigations and Case Studies on Topology and Regional Development in Switzerland", this book is the product of a commission by Avenir Suisse (Think Tank for Economic and Social Issues) to examine the European country's contemporary urban condition and its future potential. Essays and interviews feature experts from various fields, including economics, sociology, politics and architecture, commenting on issues like the urban agglomerations of Geneva, Basel and the Ticino; areas of cross-border fertilization and intense development that belie the traditional view of small villa...

Thingvellir Visitor Information Center in Thingvellir, Iceland by Glama-Kim Architects Iceland's Thingvellir National Park was declared a national park in 1930 in order to protect the natural and historical site from encroaching development and to conserve the area for future generations to enjoy. Naturally, it is home to the largest lake in the country and a remarkable series of faults and fissures in the earth's crust. Historically the Iceland's Parliament - the first in the world - was established on the site in the year 930, in use until well into the 18th century. For these and other reasons a Visitor Information Center was built to aid what has become one of Iceland's most visited tourist sites. Designe...

McCormick Tribune Campus Center in Chicago, Illinois by Office for Metropolitan Architecture (OMA), 2003 The first completed building in the United States by Rem Koolhaas and the Office for Metropolitan Architecture ( OMA ), and only the second building on the Illinois Institute of Technology campus since the sixties (beat by one month by Helmut Jahn's design for a dormitory across the street to the south), the McCormick Tribune Campus Center straddles Chicago's well-known elevated train tracks to connect the educational and residential areas of the campus designed by the great Mies van der Rohe in 1940. Rem Koolhaas's design was chosen in February 1998 from a field of five finalists - including Peter Eisenman, Zaha Hadid, Helmut Jahn, and Kazuyo Sejima - in an ...

Le Corbusier: Architect of the Twentieth Century by Kenneth Frampton, published by  Abrams , 2002. Hardcover, 208 pages. ( Amazon ) The prolific architectural historian and professor Kenneth Frampton published two book about the great architect Le Corbusier in as many years. 2001's Le Corbusier , part of the World of Art series, took the author's typical critical stance, but last year's book, featured here, is a coffee table book with large color and b/w photographs by Roberto Schezen. The book starts with a short introduction and ends with a chronology of realized projects. In between, brief descriptions accompany the 17 buildings included with plans and sketches to help i...

Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis in St. Louis, Missouri by Allied Works Architecture, 2003 The Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis (CAMSTL) opened to the public on September 20 with its first exhibition titled "A Fiction of Authenticity: Contemporary Africa Abroad" featuring ten artists' works in the gallery spaces (and one site-specific installation across the street from the museum). Small by current museum standards, CAMSTL's 27,000 s.f. contain performance space, class room studios, a technology lab, the requisite bookstore and cafe, and offices, in addition to its two gallery spaces. Designed by Portland, Oregon's Allied Works Architecture , the museum shares its site in the Grand ...