A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Heading out of town for the Labor Day weekend. Posts will resume Monday or Tuesday.

Simmons Hall ball pit , originally uploaded by viggo . A ball pit (?!) in MIT's Simmons Hall dormitory by Steven Holl . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Wait five seconds and the faces below will change from serious to, well, something else. Wait five more seconds and they're back to serious and ready to get some work done. These are the employees of Gordon Kipping Architects , a New York-based office that focuses on the intersection of technology and architecture. Visit their site to see the faces larger and as intended, their changing demeanor enabled by a mouseover, rather than an animated gif. These changing faces show the personalities of those involved, but more importantly they also show how the technology-minded work is created by and for people. It humanizes the firm's work in a way that hopefully comes across in their designs.

Steven Holl appeared on Charlie Rose last month, shortly after his addition to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City opened. Holl's design -- officially called the Bloch Building -- was given a fair share of coverage on this page , though none since it's opening, so I provide the interview below. Also be sure to check out Tyler Green's seven-part coverage of the opening -- starting here and with links to all posts here . He calls it the best American museum since Piano's Menil.

the shingle church of Kärsämäki , originally uploaded by jukkar . Wooden church of Kärsämäki (2004) by Anssi Lassila, the winner of a student competition organized at the Department of Architecture of University of Oulu To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

"The causes of the malaise in the architectural profession may be traced back to education. Four weeks into first year and students are exposed to the barbarity of the review/crit/jury. Power, hormones, fear, vanity, genius, and individuality form a rich mix that sets the ethos for what is to come. Architectural education is still guided by the Victorian values of the (male) individual genius architect silently supplying aesthetic delights for rich patrons. The Rural Studio explicitly challenges these paradigms. It champions collaboration, communication, and process over product. It exposes students to a range of issues that they are sheltered from in normative architectural education -- group working, social responsibility, lateral thinking, building skills, new ways of building procurement, sustainability, contingent creativity. But at the same time one should not get too misty-eyed and see it as a completely non-authoritarian structure. Mockbee and his successors are far from...

Verb Natures edited by Albert Ferré, Irene Hwang, Tomoko Sakamoto, Ramon Prat, Michael Kubo, Mario Ballesteros and Anna Tetas, published by Actar , 2007. ( Amazon ) Desert America edited by Ramon Prat, Jaime Salazar, Michael Kubo and Irene Hwang , published by  Actar , 2006. ( Amazon ) According to the publisher 's web site, " Verb ™ is ACTAR’s main tool for the investigation of current architectural production," consisting of boogazines, monographs, and the yet-to-be-released minigraphs. The first and last are reconsiderations of the typical architecture books, be they monographs, case studies, or writings in the realms of history and theory. A boogazine is obviously a m...

Russo Club in Talca, Chile by Felipe Assadi + Francisca Pulido Architects The Russo Club in Talca, Chile is a strange hybrid of functions belied by its simple and straightforward name. Architects Felipe Assadi + Francisca Pulido admit that they never fully understood the program, which includes a "yard to perform events, a semi-olympic pool, a multiuse room with a strong trend to be a disco, but that during the day would be an office, a bar that at the same time is a gift shop, a restaurant,...offices rented to other companies, a training room and an internet sector for the employees." The architects describe their solution as, "a bar of several programs supported by a great emptiness that (dis)orders it using the artificial light, all of this inside a low density block and a co...

The "Bluff the Listener Challenge" on this week's Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me! -- the NPR quiz show -- is about an architectural design flaw recently in the news. In the challenge three stories are presented and only one is true. The potential design flaws are: 1. Visions of God created by optical effects at the Grand Canyon Skywalk 2. Upskirt glances afforded by glass stairs in Norman Foster's Hearst Tower 3. A recapitulation of Baby Jessica's ordeal at a fountain in her honor Click here to listen to the clip and discover the the answer.

Säynätsalo , originally uploaded by jmtp . Säynätsalo Town Hall in Säynätsalo, Finland by Alvar Aalto, 1952. Compare the overgrown steps in this shot to this early photograph on the cover of Architectural Regionalism . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

The title of this blog post is a quote from Jean-Claude Van Damme's guide to Kowloon Walled City (KWC), as he preps the action star for entry into the dark corridors of the "run-down piece of no-man's land" in Bloodsport . This is a clip I'd seen years ago in the early days of my ongoing KWC obsession (something I won't go into here, though here's a web page I made on KWC for a friend ), but found recently when the Walled City started to make its rounds on a few blogs . The clip is probably the best quality moving image of the place, capturing it in a way that books and web sites can't. Enjoy.

L1030635 , originally uploaded by fdo h . Sea Ranch Condominiums in Sonoma County, California by Charles Moore, William Turnbull, Donlyn Lyndon and Richard Whitaker (MLTW Group), 1965. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Wallpaper* has an exclusive, slide-show preview of the upcoming "Graphic Virtuosity" exhibition of architectural posters from the extensive collection of Canadian architect and architectural historian, Robert G. Hill. "Hill’s collection was assembled over a 40-year period, between 1960 and 2000, and comprises almost 1,600 posters assembled from museums and institutions in 20 different countries spanning Europe, Asia and North America. The exhibition consequently charts the history of the discipline, taking in key developments over time and around the globe, such as the conceptual representation of architectural ideas and the use of models, drawings and typography, all of which are employed to simultaneously promote the architect and architect’s work." The exhibition runs from 10th September to 8th December at the Erik Arthur Gallery , University of Toronto.

With the recently-started Firm Faces series and my own personal job search, I came across the occasional office using the blog format in various ways, be it for promotion or to express ideas that don't have a home on the firm's proper web page. So I've decided to add this (now) short list to the sidebar (under blogs::offices). :: Archimania :: hanrahanMeyers Architects :: Pentagram :: rolu | dsgn Please comment if you know of other offices that have their own blogs, and I will add them to the sidebar.

The New York Times ' City Room this week is taking questions for the editors of The Suburbanization of New York , Jerilou and Kingsley Hammett. Answers have already started to roll out. It appears that familiarity with the book helps, though is not necessary to understand the questions or the answers. See my review of the book here . (via Urban Planning Blog )

To stay updated on competitions, this site now has its own Bustler.net page , accessed from the far right sidebar by clicking on the Bustler logo. Bustler is "all about architecture and architecture-related competitions," and allows readers to comment on the various postings, as well as submitting competitions, need be. Keeping with the theme of competition, be sure to also check out Death By Architecture , another great page with thorough listings of architecture competitions, as well as other goodies.

Materials for Design by Victoria Ballard Bell with Patrick Rand, published by  Princeton Architectural Press , 2006. ( Amazon ) One of the most popular magazines with architects is the aptly-named Detail , as it presents detailed drawings alongside the typical professional photography. This thoroughness to how ideas are translated into buildings is also evident in this great book by Victoria Ballard Bell with Patrick Rand, focused on five materials used in much contemporary architecture. These five materials (glass, concrete, wood, metals, plastics) comprise the book's chapters and its way of categorizing the 60 buildings presented, with each chapter giving a brief but thorough overview of the material...

Nebesa Mountain Retreat in Livek, Slovenia by REAL Engineering Located less than a mile from the Italian border, the Nebesa Mountain Retreat near Livek, Slovenia is a grouping of buildings on the slopes of Mount Kuk that appears at first glance to be composed of traditional structures, though the project is a careful, contemporary design addressing local design restrictions and its role for vacationers. Designed by REAL Engineering, the project is comprised of four fully-furnished, two-person houses of approximately 50sm (540 sf), a social area with common kitchen, fireplace, and terrace, and a wellness center. The houses include north-facing verandas that give views of the valley and the mountain tops beyond. Living areas are adjacent to these outdoor rooms, with bathrooms and other facilities at the rear, making the south-facing facades primarily solid. The decision to ma...

Überorgan , originally uploaded by !architect4! . Tim Hawkinson's Überorgan installed at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Chicago magazine announces that "the heydey of Chicago architecture is back," with a compilation of Ten Modern Masterpieces . Their list (below) includes a number of obvious buildings but also a few surprises, though perhaps they are surprises to me due to my one-year absence from the city. Clockwise from top-left: GARY COMER YOUTH CENTER (2006) by John Ronan Architects, STATE STREET VILLAGE (2003) by Murphy/Jahn Architects, JAY PRITZKER MUSIC PAVILION (2004) by Frank Gehry, THE CONTEMPORAINE (2004) by Perkins + Will, SPERTUS INSTITUTE OF JEWISH STUDIES (late 2007) by Krueck & Sexton Architects, PRITZKER HOUSE (2007) by Wheeler Kearns Architects, REPUBLIC WINDOW & DOOR (1998) Booth Hansen Associates, SOFITEL CHICAGO WATER TOWER (2002) by Jean-Paul Viguier, UBS TOWER (2001) by Lohan Caprile Goettsch (now Goettsch Partners), and SHINGLE HOUSE (2006) by Cohen & Hacker Architects. Being now an "outsider" to Chicago, it seems to appropriate to...

Zaha Hadid drawing or Richard Linklater film? Here's a hint, as familiar things start to appear: This should give it away: Yep, it's a job site, part of Waking Life , Linklater's live-action/animated film on lucid dreams. The job site pan ties together two scenes, one in a bedroom with Julie Delpy and Ethan Hawke, the other with a guy ranting behind prison bars. It's a great film with some astounding animation (drawn over the live, digital movie) appropriate to its subject matter.

Metropolis takes a look inside 180 Varick Street , a large building in Soho that's home to a number of New York's architecture and design offices. Those featured include 2x4 , MASS.com, Michael Sorkin Studio / Terreform , Hargreaves Associates , MESH Architectures , and Thomas Phifer & Partners .

Nebesa, Mountain Resort , originally uploaded by house42 . Nebesa Mountain Retreat in Kobarid, Slovenia by Real Engineering, 2004. More photos by house42 here , and more information at nextroom . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

"In the context of a post 9-11 political equator that divides the world and the city between enclaves of mega wealth and sectors of poverty, urbanites of labor and surveillance, the formal and informal, our institutions of architecture have lost their socio-political relevance. Instead, the architecture avant-garde has become fully complicit with an international, neo-liberal project of privatization and homogenization, by camouflaging gentrification with a massive hyper aesthetic and formalist project. New experimental practices of intervention in the collective territory will emerge only from zones of conflict. The radicalization of the local in order to generate new readings of the global is transforming the neighborhood -- not the city -- into the urban laboratory of the 21st century." - Teddy Cruz, one of the 50 manifestos (excerpt) in icon 's 50th issue .

In " Small Businesses " at The Smart Set , Lisa Anne Auerbach looks at free-standing small businesses, "modest monuments to individualism and self-sufficiency," spurred by her experience of Los Angeles on a bike instead of the typical, in a car. The images remind me of Atelier Bow-Wow 's Pet Architecture Guide Book , that duo's exploration of the small structures that fill the gaps in Tokyo's dense urbanism. Like that study, these images are of their place (primarily in and around LA but also South Carolina, Idaho, London, and even Jamaica), most notably being free-standing -- a very American trait -- and dolled up with signage, color, and/or some sort of formal gesture to attract attention. Botanica - Highland Park, CA 2003 "Small free-standing businesses are the proverbial canaries in the coal mines, the first to go when gentrification comes knocking. They are the businesses most sensitive to economic shifts, riding a delicate wave in the landsca...

Searching the internet for information on skip-stop elevators -- used most recently and favorably in the U.S. Federal Building in San Francisco by Morphosis -- another Thom Mayne project popped up, Cooper Union's new academic building now under construction in Manhattan. What struck me wasn't the fact that the building also includes skip-stop elevators, but that one can -- for a yet-to-be-determined amount of $$$ -- name the skip-stop stairs that connect the floors not served by elevators. The skip-stop stairs are just one of the many naming opportunities in the new building, from the building itself to academic spaces and special spaces like the stairs. These last are what intrigues me, as the Cooper Union page describes that "Thom Mayne has created a remarkable set of public spaces as the connective tissue of ... a 'boldly ravishing building.'" Realizing how important these naming opportunities are to academic institutions wishing to raise funds for n...

Paris , originally uploaded by ReallyLucky . The Eiffel Tower framed in one of the operable "eyes" of Jean Nouvel 's Arab World Institute in Paris. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Here's some items from a backlog in my inbox that I'm passing along to you, dear readers. Enjoy. :: Dwell on Design registration is discounted for Daily Dose readers. Just use the addblogp or addblogb code after clicking the link above. :: Issue 2 of the International Journal of Design is now available. :: Issue 2 of the International Journal of Architectural Research is now available. :: Building Asia Brick by Brick , a two year-long traveling exhibition and workshop sponsored by ArtAsiaPacific magazine and People's Architecture Foundation. The "landmark cultural and educational experience" will travel the People's Republic of China in 2007 before culminating in New York City in 2008. And as can be seen in the images above, bricks refer to LEGOs. :: Architect as Developer , a 6-8 hour seminar presentation with Jonathan Segal in Los Angeles, CA to explain the entire process of architect as DEVELOPER. :: Media Architecture 2007 , a two-day conference (Se...

MFO Park in Zurich, Switzerland by Burckhardt + Partner and Raderschall What makes an urban park? In all too many instances the land is treated as a sort of green oasis in the hardscape of the city, with grass, trees, and flowers acting as the antithesis of the built surroundings. In other instances the opposite is the case, and hard surfaces outnumber soft ones, making these spaces more plaza than park. MFO Park in Zurich, Switzerland sets a unique precedent for an urban park, straddling the two situations described above while incorporating something unmistakably urban: verticality. In what could be called a truly multi-disciplinary design, Burckhardt + Partner AG and Raderschall Landschaftsarchitekten AG created a vine-covered, multi-level ...