A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Here's a couple great shots of detail and texture. The Telus Centre for Performance and Learning in Toronto, Ontario by Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB), 2008. Photo by Lú_ . The Hedmark Museum in Hamar, Norway by Sverre Fehn, 1969. Photo by Peter Guthrie . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

"Supposedly the emperor [Hadrian] sent the plans for [the Temple of Venus and Roma] to the professional architect Apollodorus . Apollodorus, one of the great architects of Imperial Rome, had previously served Trajan, and known Hadrian for perhaps twenty years; the modern historian William MacDonald describes the architect as "a man of considerable consequence, a writer and a cosmopolitan citizen." When Hadrian sent him the plans for this new work, Apollodorus criticized the technical construction and the proportions of both the building and its statues. Hadrian reacted, according to later gossip, by having Appolodorus killed. - Richard Sennett from Flesh and Stone: The Body and the City in Western Civilization (W.W. Norton & Co., 1994, p. 97)

American Museum of Folk Art - Tod Williams Billie Tsien & Associates , originally uploaded by Scott Norsworthy . The American Folk Art Museum in New York City by Tod Williams Bille Tsien Architects , 2001. The project was featured on my weekly page in 2001 and 2002 . Previously: Tod & Billie Musing #1 Tod & Billie Musing #2 To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

This summer the Storefront for Art and Architecture closed for restoration of its famous facade, designed by Steven Holl and Vito Acconci . Since its opening in 1993, the venue has been popular for its hinged panels on the facade and tapered space, as much as for the varied exhibitions the non-profit holds. [Storefront for Art and Architecture interior | image source ] I'm a fan of the space and the exhibitions. The project's been featured on each of my web pages . And while I've yet to see the newly restored facade, I couldn't help post something in the meantime. So here's the a ground floor plan of the space, taken from a PDF on the Strorefront's web page.

Global Housing Projects: 25 buildings since 1980 edited by Josep Lluís Mateo and Ramias Steinemann, published by  Actar , 2008. ( Amazon ) Intended as "an inventory-cum-manual" on housing projects from 1980 to present, this book is part of the Architectural Papers series from ETH Zurich . A product of teaching practice at the Swiss school, the selection includes buildings that have proven their worth over a rather short amount of time, such as Charles Correa's 1983 Kanchanjunga project in Mumbai and OMA's Nexus Housing in Fukuoka, Japan. At the same time the more recent projects are not granted this sort of hindsight, and their eclecticism exhibits the shifts in architectural thinking and practice over this brief, roughly 25-year period. And even though the selections aren't as global as the title indicates (2/3 of the projects ...

Universita Luigi Bocconi in Milan, Italy by Grafton Architects Images are courtesy of Archivio Federico Brunetti. At the inaugural World Architecture Festival in Barcelona, Spain last week, Grafton Architects ' new faculty building for Luigi Bocconi University in Milan, Italy won the Festival's first World Building of the Year Award . The Irish firm's design beat out 224 shortlisted buildings from 43 countries. The jury -- composed of Cecil Balmond, Ricky Burdett, Charles Jencks, Süha Özkan, and chair Robert Stern -- were impressed by "its physical and conceptual density, [which] takes the touch, rebarbative DNA of Milan and 'lifts its skirts.'" Eight years ago Grafton Architects won the competition to design the University's faculty building with conference and leisure facilities, including a great hall and offices for professors and students. The architects saw the...

[Photo by shadowless09 ] Henderson Waves in Telok Blangah Hill Park, Singapore by IJP Corporation , 2008. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Exit-Architecture: Design Between War and Peace  by Stephan Trüby, published by Springer, 2008. Paperback, 113 pages. ( Amazon ) The notion that architects design spaces so they can be escaped from (Exit-Architecture) is an intriguing one, which architect and professor Steven Trüby from Karlsruhe, Germany theorizes in this provoking essay on war, stress and culture. He starts by dissecting one of the most famous quotes on architecture, Winston Churchill's statement that, "We shape our buildings, and afterwards our buildings shape us." Churchill uttered the phrase when pushing for the reconstruction of a space in House of Commons to its pre-WWII state, even though it would be too cramped for its purpose, something the British leader was aware of. While references to this quote disassociate it from this original context, Trüby wonders if dysfunctional cultural transmission like this is the norm, if decisions made under stress (the stress of war, in particular) shapes th...

Strasbourg Médiathèque Malraux #7 , originally uploaded by hororo . André Malraux Library in Strasbourg, France by Jean Marc Ibos Myrto Vitart , 2008. Architect's description: Here, everything obeys the logic of the waterway: linearity of embankments, extent of the pier, alignment of trees. Even the buildings, set in profile from one end the other, are in perfect continuity parallel to the embankments, with their silos, like prows, vertically punctuating the extremities. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

When Tod Williams and Billie Tsien talk about their working process, their architecture, they say more about personal experience and preference, and how it influences their work, much more than other architects. This perhaps owes to the duo's diverse background and their working and personal relationship, though whatever the reason it's a refreshing antidote to architectural jargon focused more on form than experience. Their occasional quips in the lecture the other night that situated the two as near polar opposites of each other reminded me of a conversation with Peter Zumthor published in a 2G monograph on the firm. Here's a relevant snippet. Peter Zumthor: I try to makes something as whole and complete and simple as possible in expectation of the future life of the building, or the use of the building to come. What would you say is different in the way you work? Billie Tsien: We're looking for wholeness, too, but when we work on a project, it feels like a lot of...

A lecture by Tod Williams and Billie Tsien last night at the Center for Architecture was not only inspiring, it was enlightening, as they presented a bunch of projects I wasn't familiar with, and I thought I knew pretty much all of them. One of the projects I am familiar with is the American Folk Art Museum in Midtown. The architects spoke briefly about its narrow stair, one of three ornamental (non-fire) stairs in the building. Not really thinking about that stair since I walked it in 2001, I was struck by its similarity to the New Museum 's narrow stair when an image of it flashed on the wall (not the image below, the only one I could find on the web). [L: New Museum (image source ), R: American Folk Art Museum (image source )] Each is obviously quite narrow, each is tucked to one side of the building, and each provides a distant vista of the floor from which one is descending. While SANAA's "unformed" and Tod & Billie's "formed" designs (mo...

IMG_8817 , originally uploaded by iceman882 . The Lacey at 11th & Florida in Washington, DC by Division One Architects , under construction. Related: Today's archidose #207 To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

08.10.11 133 , originally uploaded by kriss69 . The Cité du Design in Saint-Étienne, France Lin Finn Geipel Giulia Andi Architects Urbanists , now under construction. Related: Half Dose #44: Saint- Nazaire Alvéole 14 To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Buildings That Feel Good by Ziona Strelitz, published by  RIBA Publishing , 2008. ( Amazon ) The phrase "buildings that feel good" -- with a clear emphasis on the word feel in this book's title -- brings to mind a number of things: thermal comfort, warm materials, uncluttered spaces, clear spaces. In other words one thinks about the experience of being in a space or place, the sort of consideration that tends to be played down by architects, in favor of talk of form, texture and light. But of course architects know that these are one and the same, as form, materials, and transparency influence (if not dictate, to some extent, in some circumstances) how one feels in an environment, be it "designed" or not. This book by Ziona Strelitz -- founder of ZZA , a London-based "research and consulting practice ... [who] provides ...

The Union in San Diego, California by Jonathan Segal Architect Text and images are courtesy Jonathan Segal Architect . During the 70’s San Diego had a flourishing textile business and strong union membership. The Golden Hill area directly adjacent to the San Diego Freeway and Downtown became the home for the textile manufactures union hall. Subsequently the union and textile manufacturing industry moved away and the site fell in disarray. Rather than demolishing the nondescript 70s slum block building, the architect took a sustainable approach and acting as owner/developer/contractor decided to adaptively reuse the building as fully sustainable edifice with two affordable live/work lofts and his own architectural office. In addition the property provided two parking lots that are now developed to include 13 individual “for rent” sustainable town homes. Conceptually the homes are designed to harmonize with the neighborhood, have significant individual presence on the street an...

Thirty-five years ago the Theatre Development Fund 's TKTS ticket booth opened in Times Square at Broadway and Seventh Avenues, aka Father Duffy Square. The booth served to revitalize the area by selling half-price, same-day tickets to Broadway shows. Unfortunately the architectural design of the booth exhibited the same discount nature. [the original tkts booth | image source ] In response to the sub-par design (appropriately more signage than architecture) that was still around nearly 30 years later and the enormous potential for the site, the Van Alen Institute held a design competition in 1999. That was one of many competitions that I registered for but didn't enter, in this case not making the deadline with anything worth submitting, though 683 people/teams were able to submit. Nevertheless I vividly remember the uproar over the winning scheme by Australia's John Choi and Tai Rohipa, because their entry went outside the limited footprint allotted for the booth in th...

Here's a couple staircase shots. The Hayward Gallery at Southbank Centre in London, England by the Greater London Council (GLC) Department of Architecture. Photo by Doilum . The NYU Department of Philosophy in New York City by Steven Holl Architects . Photo by Scott Norsworthy , who has a flickr set with many more project photos. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Here's a handful of lectures happening between now and the end of the month. Saturday, October 18 Debating Density: Theory and Practice 2:30pm @ Tishman Auditorium, The New School: 66 West 12th Wednesday, October 22 2008 Rosenblatt Lecture: Tod Williams and Billie Tsien 6pm @ The Center for Architecture, 536 LaGuardia Place Thursday, October 23 Peter Eisenman and Greg Lynn, moderated by Kurt Forster 8:30pm @ the 92nd Street Y Tuesday, October 28 Current Work: Snøhetta Craig Dykers 7pm @ The Great Hall at The Cooper Union, 7 East 7th Street Tuesday, October 28 Book Launch and Presentation: Growing Greener Cities: Urban Sustainability in the Twenty-First Century 6:30pm @ The Municipal Art Society, 457 Madison Avenue

, originally uploaded by kwikzilver . America's Cup Building "Veles e Vents" in Valencia, Spain by David Chipperfield Architects , 2006. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Walking through Madison Square Park at lunch today I noticed this fall's art installation , a number of wooden huts lifted high in the trees. [artist's sketch | image source ] The Tree Huts by Tadashi Kawamata are on view from October 2 to December 31. Attentive readers of this blog will recognize the artist's name from a post in early 2006, when I expressed admiration for his 1989 installation in Toronto. [ Toronto Project 1989 | image source ] His Tree Huts certainly don't pack the same punch as the vortex of wood above, but similar themes can be found in both pieces. Of course both use standard size lumber, though more importantly both interact with their context by wrapping or overlapping with the existing context. In the case of Toronto the context is made up of old buildings, while in the case of Madison Square Park the context is, of course, trees. The inaccessible huts appear to be punctured by the tree trunks, though the dynamism of the older and larger ins...

Even though this is obviously a rendering (not the real thing) of a 15-foot (4.5m) high book made for the lobby of the Burj Dubai , as reported by World Architecture News , it is hardly incredulous. It seems appropriate that the tallest building in the world, one inspired by the Emerald City , should have an over-the-top book associated with it. [Burj Dubai Opus | image source ] According to WAN, "the Burj Dubai Opus will stand tall in the lobby of the tower from its opening next year." There will also be "limited editions and collector’s item copies, some of which will be auctioned off for charity." Of course, a plethora of questions come to mind when thinking about a book three times taller than a person. Where does one keep it? How does one open it? How thick is the paper? How is it bound? What's the point? But more than any question, one has to wonder: Can it even be called a book?