A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

New York Dozen: Gen X Architects by Michael J. Crosbie, published by  Images Publishing , 2011. Hardcover, 224 pages. ( Amazon ) The following review appears in slightly edited form in the Fall 2011 issue of Yale School of Architecture's Constructs . A June 2011 report by the Center for an Urban Future on the economic impact of New York City’s architecture and design fields asserts, not surprisingly, that the city has “the largest collection of architecture firms of any city in the U.S.” With 8 percent of the nation’s architects, over 1,300 architecture firms call NYC home; as well the number of designers working in the city has almost doubled in the last decade. This density and diversity of talent make singling out particular architects above the rest a difficult task, but Michael J. Crosbie, Chair of the Department of Architecture at the University of Hartford, has taken it upon himself to highlight a dozen young offices that are emblematic of their generation in th...

Posts will be slim for the next week or so as I enjoy the holidays. MERRY XMAS + HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Two exhibitions worth checking out are now on display in New York City: Design with the Other 90%: CITIES , organized by the Cooper-Hewitt yet exhibited at the United Nations, runs until January 9, 2012; and Civic Action: A Vision for Long Island City is on display at the Noguchi Museum until April 22, 2012. The first "features sixty projects, proposals, and solutions that address the complex issues arising from the unprecedented rise of informal settlements in emerging and developing economies," while the second exhibits "new approaches to development in this area of Long Island City [where the Noguchi Museum and Socrates Sculpture Park are located] that [artists Isamu] Noguchi and [Mark] di Suvero helped to shape." In the number of ways that each is different -- in terms of population, geography, diversity, etc. -- they are also very similar, especially in how bottom-up approaches are embraced for urban change. Some thoughts on my visits to each exhibition f...

casa bromélia, 02, urban recycle architecture studio, salvador, bahia, brasil, 2011 , originally uploaded by M. Correia Campos . Bromelia House in Salvador, Brazil by Urban Recycle , 2011. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Spatial Agency: Other Ways of Doing Architecture by Nishat Awan, Tatjana Schneider and Jeremy Till, published by  Routledge , 2011. Paperback, 224 pages. ( Amazon ) Architecture may be defined as the "art or practice of designing and constructing buildings," but it is one that is increasingly substandard or incomplete, as architects apply their training and efforts on entities other than buildings -- installations, networks, images, etc. -- and those not fitting the traditional definition of "architect" shape space in numerous ways. Today's expansion of architecture beyond traditional definitions is the impetus of this catalog of "other ways of doing architecture." The authors word their book carefully, putting "architecture" in the subtitle and offering up the alternative phrase "spatial agency" as a way of getting at the root of the arena and players -- space and agents of change, rather than buildings and archite...

Netherlands Institute for Ecology (NIOO-KNAW) in Wageningen, Netherlands by Claus en Kaan Architecten, 2011 In the influential book Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things , William McDonough and Michael Braungart argue that recycling is in effect "downcycling," since the quality of the material is degraded. Instead they push for "upcycling," where the material, such as a plastic, is after use turned from, say, a bottle back into a bottle. This type of recycling, keyed to the chemistry of the materials in the things we make, theoretically produces a closed loop, hence the cradle-to-cradle (c2c) moniker. According to Claus en Kaan Architecten their design for the NIOO-KNAW is based on the c2c concept. NIOO-KNAW is a research institute that sits on the campus of Wageningen University , but falls under the aegis of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences . The institute's main building houses laboratories, offices, a restaurant ...

[All photos by Ben Benschneider ] In a recent ideabook on Houzz I looked at four houses adjacent to water; the last one is literally on water, a houseboat in Vancouver's Coal Harbour. Similar in vein, but on the southern side of the US/Canadian border is the Lake Union Float Home by  Designs Northwest Architects . Docked in Seattle, Washington, the two-story residence with rooftop deck was actually built in Vancouver and floated down to a ship repair yard by Seattle's famous Gasworks Park before it was completed and towed across Lake Union. The fairly modern home occupies a slip in a water-based neighborhood with a diversity of architectural styles. The architects contend they looked to the "marina warehouses that have adorned the docks for centuries...large, box-like structures [that] dominate the Seattle waterfront and reflect the utilitarian roots of Seattle and men like: Doc Maynard, Arthur Denny, and Ivar Haglund." The exterior expression is a blend of ...

Note: The above six books are pulled from my list of nine Notable Books of 2011  posted at Designers & Books. Most of the books were reviewed on this blog in 2011, but a few of them came in 2012, with links added later.  [Screenshot from my Notable Books of 2011 list | Click over for full list with my descriptions.]

Well, hums might be more accurate. Nevertheless it's interesting to get this sort of view of a master architect in action. Siza sings | Film by Fernando Guerra from últimas reportagens on Vimeo . A film by Fernando Guerra from Ultima Reportagans .

Here are some photos of new buildings in Paris, France. Photographs are by JP2H . [Two views of Biscornet by [BP] Architectures , 2011] [ An unknown building in the 13th Arrondissement; please comment if you know it. A 41-room student residence by Antonini + Darmon Architectes and Louis Paillard , 2010] [ Another unknown building in the 13th Arrondissement; please comment if you know it. The M9C mixed-use project by [BP] Architectures] [M3A2 - Cultural and Community Tower by Antonini + Darmon Architectes , 2011 - see this week's dose ] To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

This week has been quite busy, so my attention to this blog has been on the back burner. Nevertheless here are a handful of projects I've come across elsewhere that have struck my fancy for one reason or another; the old, the new, and one I've been looking forward to for a while. Click over to learn more about each. [ Dark Lens by Cédric Delsaux, 2011 | featured at The New York Times ] [Inntel Hotel in Amsterdam by WAM architecten , 2010 | featured at Architonic | photo by Roel Backaert] [Sorrento House in Australia by Robert Mills Architects , 2010 | featured at World-Architects.com | photo by Earl Carter] [Wohnüberbauung Allmend Baden in Switzerland by Burkard Meyer Architekten BSA , 2010 | featured at mapolis | photo by Susanne Willmer] [Mile End Park Ecology Pavilion in London by Gardner Stewart Architects , 2000 | featured at Inhabitat | photo by Roel Backaert]

Here are a few photos of the Suitcase House Hotel at the Commune by the Great Wall in Beijing, China by Gary Chang/Edge Design Institute, 2002. Photographs are by BEN+_+ . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose