A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Img2007-09-22-010 , originally uploaded by picturenarrative . The Westside Sales Centre in Toronto, Ontario by Alsop Architects , 2006. Not sure if this building still stands, but according to this recent article the loft building it was designed for has "been scuppered." To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

ito , originally uploaded by sinor favela . Brugge Pavilion in Bruges, Belgium by Toyo Ito & Associates, Architects , 2002. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

A video (zooming in and out on select details) made up of 381 photos stitched together. (Link via a comment at Architectural Record )

Here are my baker's dozen favorites from the 67 projects I featured in 2009 on my weekly and daily pages, in roughly chronological order. See also my favorite books of 2009.

Wonderland , a video by artist Hye Yeon Nam , was a runner-up in the Grand Prize category of the Metropolis Art Prize 2009 . The artist describes the apparent backwards movement of everybody but her as an "attempt to convey the feeling of displacement [related to her move from Korea to the US] and conformity by acting of walking." Even knowing that she was walking backwards and reversed the video to achieve the end product, it is difficult to reverse the action in my mind's eye. It's slightly jarring, though interesting to note that nobody around her seems to take notice of her admittedly nonconformist behavior. (Thanks to Glenn at Times Square Alliance for the heads up.)

Olympia Tower building (2009) , originally uploaded by m_granados . Olympia office building in Bucharest, Romania by PZP and AUKETT Fitzory Robinson , 2009. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Here are my baker's dozen favorites from the 70 books I reviewed in 2009 on my weekly and daily pages, in chronological order. Click images for reviews. Next week I'll post my dozen favorite doses featured on these two sites in 2009.

33: Understanding Change & the Change in Understanding by Richard Saul Wurman, published by Greenway Communications, 2009. Paperback, 64 pages. ( Amazon ) According to his web page, Richard Saul Wurman 's singular passion in life is "making information understandable." He has tackled this ambitious goal by authoring over 80 books (ACCESS Travel Guides, Understanding Series, etc.), creating web pages , chairing design conferences, and creating the TED (Technology/Entertainment/Design) conferences in 1984. One of the design conferences he chaired was the National AIA Convention in 1976, for which he created an exclusive booklet, What-If, Could Be: An historical fable of the future . In it, the...

Located 50 km (30 miles) south of the Egyptian Red Sea shore town of Marsa Alam, and an hour flight south east of Cairo, Wadi El Gemal National Park was officially declared the 24th protectorate in Egypt in 2003, primarily due to its striking landscape and important cultural resources. Wadi El Gemal Visitor Center in Marsa Alam, Egypt by MADA Architects Text and images are courtesy MADA Architects . Stretching from the Red Sea coast to about 50 km (30 miles) inland, Wadi El Gemal National Park (WGNP) includes roughly large areas of terrestrial habitat and marine life, as well as Roman ruins, significant religious sites, quarries, and indigenous communities. The combination of marine and terrestrial habitats represents an important integrated ecosystem. The one-story, 250-sm (2,700-sf) Visitor Center is located at the WGNP’s northern entrance atop a hill. The building serves two...

With the holiday season, a self-imposed deadline for a portion of my book approaching, and now a strong cold keeping me in bed, posts on this blog will be slim for the next two to three weeks. The last also means that this week's dose and book review on my weekly page will be a bit late. Thanks for understanding.

John Lewis, Leicester. Foreign Office Architects separate. , originally uploaded by Iqbal Aalam . John Lewis Department Store and Cineplex in Leicester, England by Foreign Office Architects , 2008. This project is pictured in a bd news story from yesterday that reports the "award-winning practice Foreign Office Architects is to be dissolved because its husband and wife co-founders [Farshid Moussavi and Alejandro Zaera-Polo] are splitting up." To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Negotiated Terrains edited by Nina Rappaport with Heather Kilmer, published by W. W. Norton , 2009. Paperback, 144 pages. ( Amazon ) In 2001 the Louis I. Kahn Visiting Assistant Professorship at the Yale School of Architecture was established as "an opportunity to infuse Yale with new ideas and new voices," according to Dean Robert A.M. Stern. The professorship, which is earmarked for young architects and can be seen as an antidote to Stern's reactionary views, has been documented so far in two books, 2007's Layered Urbanisms and this year's Negotiated Terrains . The first documents the studios of Gregg Pasquarelli ( SHoP ), Galia Solomonoff ( SAS ), and Mario Gooden ( Huff + Gooden ), and the second presents the studios directed by Jeanne Gang ( Studio Gang ), Sumil Bald ( studio SUMO ), and Mark Tsurumaki ( LTL ). Documentation includes an interview with the architects, their studio description, the project's program, and the student projects broken d...

Here are a couple in-progress views of the Office Building in Saint-Etienne, France for Cogedim-Ric and P Nallet Immobilier, by Manuelle Gautrand . Photographs are by kriss69 . [Photograph taken on August 7, 2009] [Photograph taken on October 4, 2009] To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Unpacking My Library: Architects and Their Books edited by Jo Steffens, published by  Yale University Press , 2009. Hardcover, 192 pages. ( Amazon ) The photographs of twelve famous architects' bookshelves collected here remind me of visits to apartments and offices when my eyes would linger over the books arranged on shelves, distracted from the task at hand, be it socializing or work. Finding myself with my head cocked 90-degrees to read the bindings would snap me out of my perpetual gaze. This book makes me realize I'm not alone. Of course it is much more than photos of bookshelves for bibliophiles to run their fingers over the books of other bibliophiles. It is a testament to the importance of books in many ways: in com...

Walsh College in Troy, Michigan by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates Photographs are by Justin Maconochie . Walsh College outside Detroit, Michigan consists of five locations, with its main campus in Troy, just north of the Motor City. This location consisted of a 75,000 sf (7,000 sm) facility located on 30 acres (12 hectares), but the school is undergoing a much-needed expansion program. The first element in the three-phase program has recently opened, a 36,000 sf (3,300 sm) addition housing a new library, lecture hall, classrooms, and seminar rooms on two floors. Designed by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates (VDTA), the new L-shape building is located to the east of the existing, to which it is linked on the first floor. The configu...