A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Radical Games: Popping the Bubble of 1960s' Architecture by Lara Schrijver, published by  NAi Publishers , 2009. Paperback, 248 pages. ( Amazon ) Even though the 1960s are now nearly forty years old, the decade's impact on all sorts of cultural production, including architecture and urbanism, still resonates. TU Delft professor Lara Schrijver sees the lingering influence of the Situationist International , Archigram , Venturi and Scott Brown , and others as problematic, since she sees these groups' projects as reactions to modernism and therefore incomplete alternatives to modernism's failings. In three chapters (city, technology, architecture), Schrijver examines ...

Olympia Avenue Student Housing in Pullman, Washington by Mithun Photographs © Benjamin Benschneider are courtesy Mithun . According to the project information from Capital Planning and Development at Washington State University , the Olympia Avenue Student Housing is "the first student housing facility constructed on the WSU Pullman campus since 1972." Furthermore, it "will set a new standard of quality for residential life, offering flexibility to adapt to students' changing needs while reflecting the University's values in sustainability and ... enhancing the student experience." Completed in August 2009, Mithun designed and permitted the building in only five months. Including design and construction, the project's duration was just over one-and-a-half ye...

THE BURJ , originally uploaded by WOWHYD . The Burj Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emerites by SOM , 2009. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

The idea of a Louvre branch on Abu Dhabi's Saadiyat Island is just mind-boggling. When completed in 2013, the museum will present "works drawn from the Louvre and other French museums and from its own permanent collection." But if the numbers in Adran Hornsby's article on the end of "starchitecture" in the latest Hunch are any indication -- approximately half of the $1.4 billion budget is allotted for "Louvre art loans and management and curatorial services" -- the majority of art will be shipped to Abu Dhabi. But what art? Curators will have to pass on paintings depicting the female nude, a rather large canon of Western art, as Hornsby points out. So when thinking about a project that buys the use of the name Louvre, borrows its art, and is still largely undefined in terms of its contents, it seems appropriate that Jean Nouvel 's design is basically a big roof, a dome over a bunch of buildings and outdoor space. The name and the architecture ...

Here are a couple Friday afternoon facades. [Beekman Tower in Manhattan by Gehry Partners, under construction | photo by Philippe2032 from Paris ] [Campus Audiovisual in Barcelona, Spain by David Chipperfield Architects , 2008 | photo by jmtp ] To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Completed in the summer of 2007, the Grand Teton National Park Discovery and Visitor Center -- officially the Craig Thomas Discovery and Visitor Center -- by Bohlin Cywinski Jackson still racks up the awards, most recently a 2009 AIA Seattle Honor Award and a 2009 Western Red Cedar Architectural Design award . It's easy to see why in the playful yet restrained design that echoes the surrounding mountains of northwest Wyoming. [photo by Nic Lehoux ] When I think of a national park visitor center the one overlooking Mount Rushmore, as portrayed in Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest , comes to mind, mainly because I've never been to a national park appointed with such a building. I'm not sure if the cafeteria in the visitor center in the film is modeled on the real thing, but a few things come across in the film set: a spacious interior, a modern/rustic aesthetic, and expansive views of Mount Rushmore. The Grand Teton Visitor Center has all these qualities, though i...

Nottingham Contemporary , originally uploaded by stoneroberts . The Nottingham Contemporary in Nottingham, England by Caruso St John Architects , opened on November 14, 2009. See many more photos in stoneroberts' flickr set on the building. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

The Atlas of American Architecture: 2000 Years of Architecture, City Planning, Landscape Architecture and Civil Engineering by Tom Martinson, published by  Rizzoli , 2009. Hardcover, 544 pages. ( Amazon ) Any book that calls itself an atlas will by virtue of that word's most familiar association be BIG. This book does not disappoint in that regard. Lying one foot by a foot and a half when open, this survey of American architecture in the last 2,000 years deserves to be perused in the manner of atlases with maps. This is certainly not a portable guide, even though author and city planner Tom Martinson calls it such. He admits the 544-page book is a hybrid, a syllabus and guide, yet unconventional in ea...

Horizontal House in Shiga, Japan by EASTERN design office Text and images are courtesy Anna Nakamura + Taiyo Jinno of EASTERN design office . See also coverage elsewhere of other recently completed projects: Slit Court , Slit House , and MON Factory/House . This house [completed 2007] does not look like a house. The shape of the house traces the boundary of the village, which consists of six houses in all. There is a position to observe the village from afar. Our intention is to form scenery from there, to create a shape that naturally extends the stone wall of old times. The horizontal slit carved there. It becomes familiar within the scenery of the village. When you enter the house, you will be surprised at the sequence of views that the slits cut out and the spaciousness there. Because of the horizontal slits surrounding the whole house there is scene...

Tokyo Cocoon Tower , originally uploaded by Manuel.A.69 . The Mode Gakuen Cocoon Tower in Tokyo, Japan by Kenzo Tange Associates , 2008. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

"Consumption and affluence have increased in many parts of the world, and although they seem to form a baseline of contemporary society, some counter-movements are also visible within consumer society. Not a wholesale refusal but some level of consumer savvy, such as re-use, purchasing sustainable, 'ethically produced' or local goods. Here, the market finds a way to respond. When viewed cynically, that indicates that there is no 'moral' component to the market, but that profit is the only concern. While this may be true, if the public enforces a conscience upon producers by choosing to purchase some goods over other (and price being one of numerous factors in that choice), the results are not necessarily bad. The TV-program Extreme Home Makeover encompasses a number of different features of this debate. On the one hand, it presumes the desirability of an identity expressed in architectural terms (although primarily on the surface more than in the space). Bedrooms ...

Here are a couple photos of the Brandhorst Museum in Munich, Germany by sauerbruch hutton , 2008. Photographs are by ludd , who has many more photos of the museum. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Opening tomorrow night, Nov. 12, at the Aperture Gallery and Bookstore are "two exhibitions exploring Chicago's past and present:" Michael Wolf: The Transparent City and Barbara Crane: Private Views , each recently released in book form. Wolf's photos -- featured on this blog previously -- are the more architectural of the two exhibitions; his camera captures the Midwestern city's glass high-rises and the residents within, while Crane focuses in on the details, gestures and bodies of street fair revelers. [ Michael Wolf: The Transparent City | image source ] Wolf is known for shots like the one above that crop out a building's context but manage to convey a great deal about a place. One would have a hard time confusing Hong Kong's and Chicago's vertical living, both captured by Wolf. But the show also features details, "fragments of life—digitally distorted and hyper-enlarged—snatched surreptitiously via telephoto lenses: Edward Hopper meets B...

Archivox Architectes - Aulnay-sous-Bois , originally uploaded by urban photography vu en ville . Residential Center for Disabled in Aulnay-sous-bois, France by Archivox atelier d'architecture , 2008. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Corporate Architecture: Building a Brand by Alejandro Bahamón, Ana Cañizares and Antonio Corcuera, published by  W. W. Norton , 2009. Hardcover, 504 pages. ( Amazon ) A couple months ago this web page featured a book showcasing the architecture (among other secondary creations) of a fashion house well aware of the power and importance of the images their buildings convey. The coffee table book captured a number of recent architectural gems, though this awareness is hardly a newfound condition. The middle of last century saw glass box headquarters in Manhattan and elsewhere bearing the names of their corporate clients, and the ensuing postmodern skyscrapers continued the trend of using the latest style ...

Palmwood House in London, England by Undercurrent Architects Photographs are by David Butler . Palmwood House is located in London's South Lambeth area, on a small triangular plot at the oblique intersection of two streets. Undercurrent Architects envisioned their project for a single-family house as "a prototype building for problematic urban sites." Constrained by "height restrictions, acute boundaries, failed development plans and conservation controls," the solution nevertheless provides generous indoor and outdoor spaces "despite its restricted volume." The triangular floor plan is split into three areas on the ground floor: an open living/kitchen/dining, a bedroom, and a walled courtyard. Above is another bedroom and a roof terrace that overlooks the courtyard. Natural light is brought inside via the courtyard and terrace, small openings on the street, and skylights to the ground-floor bedroom and stair. In each c...