A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Like E. Fay Jones's famous Thorncrown Chapel from 1980, the Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel is fairly easy to find, given that the building has its own website with directions, the state has historical-marker signs along the roads leading to Bella Vista, Arkansas, and the chapel has even more signs pointing people in the right direction once visitors get closer. Completed in 1988, the Cooper Chapel is tucked behind a strip mall in a wooded area above the shores of Lake Norwood. [The approach to Cooper Chapel at 504 Memorial Drive | Photo: Google Maps ] Comparisons to Jones's Thorncrown Chapel, his masterpiece completed in 1980, are bound to happen, especially with a building of almost the same size, serving a similar function, also located in Northwest Arkansas, and expressing many of the same formal characteristics (delicate structure, pitched roof, framing of wooded surrounding through glass walls, etc.). As at Thorncrown Chapel, one passes an office building before ...

Posts have been a little slim lately, owing to being on a family vacation. This week I managed to drag a few non-architects to see two renowned chapels by Arkansan E. Fay Jones, one completed in 1980 and one in 1988. The first is, obviously, Thorncrown Chapel, located in Eureka Springs, Arkansas (the second, Mildred B. Cooper Memorial Chapel, will be the subject of my next post ). It's a building I included in last year's  100 Years, 100 Buildings , but I didn't get the chance to see it in person until just the other day. [Spread from 100 Years, 100 Buildings ] Finding the chapel is pretty easy, given that the building has its own website and there explains that "Thorncrown Chapel is located a mile and a half west of Eureka Springs on Hwy 62 West. GPS often does not show the correct location of the chapel. For an accurate map click here ." With a smartphone, that Google Maps link makes navigation easy, as do the historical-marker signs along 62. I'll adm...

Here are some photos of the Jan Michalski Foundation Library in Montricher, Switzerland, by Mangeat Wahlen Architectes Associés . (Photographs: Trevor Patt ) 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

Here are some of my photos of Jenny Sabin Studio's Lumen  at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, Queens, on display until September 4, 2017. 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

Thirtyfour Campgrounds by Martin Hogue , published by  The MIT Press , 2016. Hardcover, 266 pages. ( Amazon ) It's summer, which means – deer ticks be damned – it's time to get outdoors. For many, getting outside equates with camping, which in the United States most likely means heading to one of the thousands of campgrounds run by KOA (Kampgrounds of America) or some other private or government operator. Catered to people with as little as a car and a tent or as much as an RV with all its trimmings, campgrounds are places that most people take for granted; they provide a number of home-like amenities but also act as starting points for venturing into more untamed nature via hiking, fishing, and other activities. As depicted in Martin Hogue's clinically artistic Thirtyfour Campgrounds , they are places of potential, of "civilization" interfacing with "nature" so people can get away from the former and explore the latter. One of the most telling ph...

Here are some photos of Studio Gang's Hive at the National Building Museum in Washington, DC. The installation is on display until September 4, 2017. (Photographs: 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