A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

"Old + New" is a new series that pairs two books: one old and one new. Most of the reviews on this blog are fairly recent titles sent to me by publishers, but I wanted to expand the reviews to include older books from my library. To do so I'm using this series to review new books and, when appropriate, dig out an old book and include it as part of the review. This series does not replace my typical  book reviews  or  book briefs  or my  Unpacking My Library  blog; it merely expands how I present books on this blog. Unexpected Chicagoland  by Camilo José Vergara and Timothy J. Samuelson, published by The New Press, 2001. Hardcover, 164 pages. ( Amazon ) Detroit Is No Dry Bones: The Eternal City of the Industrial Age  by Camilo José Vergara, published by University of Michigan Press, 2016. Flexicover, 304 pages. ( Amazon ) Camilo José Vergara  is an American treasure. Educated in sociology and skilled in photography,...

Here are some photos of the Kreeger Museum  in Washington, DC. The building was designed by Philip Johnson and completed in 1963 as the residence of David and Carmen Kreeger. (Photograph: Mark Andre ) To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos  #archidose

Stagecraft: Models and Photos  is on display at Columbia GSAPP's Arthur Ross Gallery until March 10th. The show combines models made by Kenneth Frampton's students over the years and photos by James Ewing of the same. The latter appear to layer photos of the models with computer post-production, but the exhibition booklet illustrates that the backgrounds and other effects are all in-camera. Impressive and worth seeing in person. Frank Lloyd Wright's Samuel Freeman House, Los Angeles (USA) 1924: Le Corbusier's Pavilion des Temps Nouveaux, Paris (FR) 1937: Jørn Utzon's Bagsværd Church, Bagsværd (DK) 1976: Norman Foster's Renault Distribution Centre, Swindon (UK) 1982: Peter Zumthor's Saint Benedict Chapel, Sumvitg (CH), 1988:

Columbia in Manhattanville edited by Caitlin Blanchfield, published by  Columbia Books on Architecture and the City , 2016. Paperback, 142 pages. ( Amazon ) In October 2016 I went on a press tour of the Jerome L. Greene Science Center , one of two buildings designed by Renzo Piano Building Workshop that were nearing completion as part of the first phase of Columbia University's new Manhattanville campus. The timing was a bit odd, given that it and the other building, the Lenfest Center for the Arts, won't open until spring 2017. (A third Piano-designed building, the University Forum and Academic Conference Center, will open in 2018, to be followed a few years later by a pair of buildings designed by Diller Scofidio + Renfro.) No doubt, the tour took place before all of the expensive scientific equipment would move into the building, but it also sped up any positive reception of the project, which has been in the works as far back as 2002 (when SOM was hired to work on Co...

Here are a few photos of Blob VB3  (2009) at the Verbeke Foundation in Kemzeke, Belgium, by dmvA Architecten . (Photograph:  Klaas Vermaas ) To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos  #archidose

Every now and then I come across small buildings that are an assemblage of reclaimed windows and doors fitted together like a game of Tetris. Many are like this glass house in, fittingly, Christiania, Denmark: [Photo: seier+seier ] Or this Cabin in West Virginia by Nick Olson and Lilah Horwitz : As much as I like the appearance of these sort of makeshift constructions, I figure any sustainability points gained in reusing old windows and doors are offset by the heat gain and loss of what I imagine to be single panes of glass. Hence these elements are better suited for interiors, as in Studio Boot in 's-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, by Studio Boot + Hilberink Bosch Architecten : Or temporary installations, as in Bow-House in Heerlen, Netherlands, by Malka Architecture: But easily the most ambitious project I've come across with the architectural element of reclaimed windows and doors is the Collage House in Mumbai, India, by S+PS Architects : [Photo: Sebastian ...

Here is a photo of Richard Meier's The Hague City Hall & Central Library  adorned with a Piet Mondrian-esque mural as part of a celebration of 100 years of De Stijl . (Photograph: Happy Hotelier ) To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos  #archidose

The Future Architect's Tool Kit by Barbara Beck , published by  Schiffer , 2016. Hardcover, 48 pages. ( Amazon ) This "tool kit" geared to children ages 8 to 12 is a companion to architect Barbara Back's earlier The Future Architect's Handbook . Although I don't have that book, it appears that Beck builds upon the basics outlined in that book and includes materials for doing hands-on exercises. Specifically those materials are (as seen above) a pencil, a pad of gridded paper, a scale, and an eraser. The Handbook  presented drawings of a house by fictional architect Aaron, and in turn the Tool Kit  enables kids to design their own house. Chapter one of the 48-page  Tool Kit  book is a review of the drawing conventions (plans, sections, elevations) described in the previous book; depending on how well a child grasps the idea, he or she might not even need the Handbook . From there Beck guides the "future architects" through the design of a hou...

Chronicle Books, with Little Free Library and AIASF, has announced the winners of its Little Free Library Design competition . They received 300 submissions from 40 countries and selected three winners: Judges' Choice * Owlie by Bartosz Bochynski of FUTUMATA, London Chronicle Books' Choice Rachel Murdaugh of Clark Nexsen, Asheville, North Carolina Stewards' Choice Tree of Knowledge by CIRCLE (Ryo Otsuka, Lin Zihao), Tokyo *Judges included Todd H. Bol and the staff of Little Free Library, Kevin Lippert of Princeton Architectural Press, Dan Cohen of Gramming for Good, Brett Randall Jones of David Baker Architects, Christina Jenkins of Project H Design, Renée Elaine Sazcı of AIASF, and the team at Snøhetta's San Francisco office.

Here are a some of my photos of The Office for Creative Research's We Were Strangers Once Too  installation on display in Times Square until March 5th. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos  #archidose

Garden City Mega City: Rethinking Cities for the Age of Global Warming  by WOHA & Patrick Bingham-Hall Pesaro Publishing, 2016 Paperback, 384 pages [Front and back covers of Garden City | Mega City | Image: Pesaro Publishing] Two thousand sixteen was a good year for Singapore's WOHA : the firm had just completed Skyville@Dawson, one of their largest projects; their projects were put on display at  an excellent exhibition at the Skyscraper Museum  in New York City; they participated in the Venice Architecture Biennale; and they released their latest monograph, Garden City Mega City . It was at the Biennale that I first encountered the book by WOHA and longtime collaborator Patrick Bingham-Hall, the photographer, writer and head of Pesaro Publishing. A book launch took place at Palazzo Bembo, inside a darkened room whose walls were graced with drones-eye videos of their projects. Some covers of the books laid out on a table showed the lush vegetation covering th...

Here are a some photos of a bike store (designer unknown)  by SANAA next to their Naoshima Port Terminal in Japan. (Photographed by  Ken Lee .) To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos  #archidose

New York YIMBY just posted some renderings of an infill project in Brooklyn's Clinton Hill Historic District. The four-story townhouse is designed by Ramona Albert a Brooklyn-based architect whose bio includes experience at Front Inc, a facade consultancy with many big-name projects in its portfolio . Perhaps her experience at Front influenced the exterior of the townhouse, which is elegant, unique, yet entirely appropriate to its setting. Per YIMBY, the "massive front arch [is] meant to evoke the many carriage houses in the neighborhood, including those just up the street." The design makes me think immediately of a Philip Johnson house , though the articulation of the faux-travertine front facade is rooted in contemporary fabrication techniques, most likely gleaned from Albert's experience at Front. The rear facade, below, is understandable tamer, though it does make the modern design underlying the whole townhouse more apparent. Although"Broo...

Here are a some photos of the Katyn Museum (2015) in Warsaw, Poland, by BBGK Architekci . (Photographed by  Piotr Krajewski .) To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the  archidose pool To contribute your Instagram images for consideration, just: :: Tag your photos  #archidose