A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

I'm not sure when it happened, but at some point I went from disliking interviews — preferring texts written by architects, much of it in the vein of theory — to gravitating to them. Now I find myself opting to read interviews, be they online or in printed matter, over other content; interviews are only below critical reviews in my rankings. I chalk up the switch to a few things: preferring the informal and clear language of interviews over the theory-/archi-speak used my too many architects; a wide prevalence of interviews, especially online; and an appreciation for them after having done a few of them myself . From the reader's perspective it may seem that interviews are easy: turn on the mic, ask some questions, transcribe the interview (or have AI software do it, more likely), lightly edit, publish. But each step of the process has its concerns, from making sure to hit "record" (yes, that happens) and having the right mic in the right location in the right room (A...

With Intention to Build: The Unrealized Concepts, Ideas, and Dreams of Moshe Safdie Moshe Safdie, in conversation with Michael J. Crosbie Images Publishing , November 2020 Hardcover | 9-1/4 x 9-1/4 inches | 184 pages | English | ISBN: 9781864708493 | $35.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : Moshe Safdie explains that probably more than half of his lifetime design work is unbuilt, and he considers his unbuilt work to be some of his most significant work. In this richly illustrated book, replete with detailed diagrams, sketches, models and studies, Moshe Safdie explains that for those who design in order to build, not succeeding in building is never a failure (there are many reasons why a project might not be built) because these designs are part of the evolution of an architect's work. This volume is a fascinating journey through Safdie's thoughts and career, and also a historical reference of the social and political forces at play at the time. Not only a treatise on Safdie...

Contemporary Architecture in China: Towards A Critical Pragmatism Li Xiangning (Editor) Images Publishing , August 2018 Hardcover | 9-1/4 x 11 inches | 440 pages | 1,300 illustrations | English | ISBN: 978-1864707793 | $69.95 Publisher's description : Architectural exhibition is an important aspect in the study and transmission of architectural culture. The academic thoughts and design styles that influence the trends of global architecture are all established through one or a series of important architectural exhibitions. This book is produced based on the GSD (Harvard Graduate School of Design) autumn exhibition: Towards a Critical Pragmatism: Contemporary Chinese Architecture . It reveals a unique perspective of contemporary Chinese architecture by showcasing 60 works from 60 contemporary architects within five thematic categories: cultural, residential, regeneration, rural, and digital. The selected architects attempt to maintain, from the earliest moments of the desi...

Architecture Can! HWKN Hollwich Kushner 2008-2018 Matthias Hollwich, Marc Kushner, HWKN Images Publishing , October 2018 Flexicover | 5-1/4 x 9-1/2 inches | 216 pages | 290 color illustrations | English | ISBN: 978-1864707915 | $30.00 Publisher Description : Architecture Can! is an intriguing journey through the works and projects of the groundbreaking architecture firm Hollwich Kushner, based in New York. Partners Matthias Hollwich and Marc Kushner design projects at every scale: intimate, awe-inspiring, and everything in between; from residences to universities, museums, and urban plans. As two founders of leading architecture social media network Architizer, Hollwich and Kushner frankly admit the power of social media in contemporary architecture practice. Images of new and advanced buildings and concepts travel the globe at high speed, influencing a new generation of projects before the previous generation has broken ground. To stand out, they believe, archit...

Krueck +  Sexton: From There to Here by Krueck + Sexton Architects, introduction by John Morris Dixon, published by  Images Publishing , 2017. Hardcover, 272 pages. ( Amazon ) I'm not exactly sure when I first became aware of the work of Chicago's Krueck + Sexton (my best guess is seeing their competition entry for the American Library in Berlin in the early 1990s), but they were one of just a handful of firms I wanted to work for when I moved back to Chicago after architecture school in Kansas. Their built work at the time, mainly houses and interior residential projects in the city, exuded Miesian modernism – but with a twist. Although cognizant of, and trained in, Chicago's modernist history (Ron Krueck and Mark Sexton both attended IIT), they were not constrained by it. The over 20 projects covering nearly 40 years of work in this monograph are testament to the formal experimentation born from those Miesian roots. The sizable book organizes the built and ...

Last Is More: Mies, IBM, and the Transformation of Chicago by Robert Sharoff, photographs by William Zbaren, published by  Images Publishing , 2014. Hardcover, 160 pages. ( Amazon ) Mies by Detlef Mertins, published by  Phaidon , 2014. Hardcover, 560 pages. ( Amazon ) Mies van der Rohe: A Critical Biography, New and Revised Edition by Franz Schulze and Edward Windhorst, published by  University of Chicago Press , 2013. Hardcover, 512 pages. ( Amazon ) Ludwig Mies van der Rohe (1886-1969) is one of the triumvirate of 20th century architects (the other being Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright) who continue to be the subject of books long after their passing. They are the most influential architects of the modern age, with each afforded the occasional reassessment due to exhibitions, preservation battles and other contemporary happenings (Le Corbusier's recent labeling as a " militant fascist " is an example on the negative spectrum of this). Even ...

The Architect's Guide to Writing: For Design and Construction Professionals by Bill Schmalz, illustrations by Bob Gill, published by  Images Publishing , 2014. Paperback, 160 pages. ( Amazon ) Writing Architecture: A Practical Guide to Clear Communication about the Built Environment by Carter Wiseman, published by Trinity University Press, 2014. Paperback, 230 pages. ( Amazon ) I am an architect first and a writer second. Educated as an architect and urban planner, I find myself devoting most of my time to writing, be it for this blog, online publications or printed matter . While my situation is different than most architects who run or practice in firms, I share an educational background where studio comes first and writing comes much later – certainly not second but maybe fourth or fifth. This condition makes sense, given the need to express ourselves through drawings and models, the need to understand structures and materials, and a general reliance of t...

Furniture by Architects edited by Driss Faith, published by  Images Publishing , 2013. Hardcover, 208 pages. ( Amazon ) The appeal of furniture for architects – both as something to use to improve a space and something to tackle as a design problem – is undeniable. But it's also been said (by Mies van der Rohe, most famously) that designing a chair is much more difficult than designing a building. Perhaps that is why architects have created so few masterpieces of furniture, especially when compared to their raison d'etre of buildings. Sure, in the former camp, the Barcelona chair by Mies comes to mind, as does Marcel Breuer's Wassily chair and Eero Saarinen's Womb chair, but the hits are few. Still, this does not stop architects from trying, especially if they have an enlightened client who is willing to pay for an architect's experimentation with furnishings, experiments that can move from the custom realm to mass production. This book collects over 80 pieces...

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...

St. Louis Architecture: Three Centuries of Classic Design by Robert Sharoff and William Zbaren, published by  Images Publishing , 2011. Hardcover, 134 pages. ( Amazon ) American City is a book series created by architectural photographer William Zbaren and journalist Robert Sharoff. They describe the series, which started with Detroit in 2005 , as "about Classical courthouses, Romanesque train stations, Art Deco office buildings, Mid-Century schools, Modern museums and the occasional geodesic dome." This broad range of styles and typologies clearly indicates that the books span long time periods, not just focusing on the old or the new. Detroit Architecture covered significant architecture produced between 1845-2005, and its follow-up on St. Louis starts with the Old Courthouse from 1864 and ends, 50 buildings later, with a 2010 plaza by Maya Lin. Forthcoming are books on Chicago and Savannah, but it's interesting to note that the first two titles foc...

Glenn Murcutt: A Singular Architectural Practice , by Haig Beck and Jackie Cooper, published by  Images Publishing , 2002. ( Amazon ) Glenn Murcutt is an anomaly of architecture: a celebrated and internationally well-known architect who eschews style and size in favor of functionalism and the level of control that comes from a "singular practice." His relatively solitary ways, deliberate process, and exceptional buildings earned Murcutt the Pritzker Prize in 2002. This monograph illuminates his working method and ideas about architecture while also dispelling some myths, mainly that he only builds remote, bush houses and only designs with linear plans. The book is broken into three sections: the fi...