A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

The Evolving Project:  The Journal of Architectural Education and the Expansion of Scholarship Edited by Igor Marjanović, Marc J. Neveu, Sara Stevens ORO Editions , April 2021 Paperback | 8 x 10 inches | 300 pages | English | ISBN: 9781951541699 | $40.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : Through a selection of essays from the Journal of Architectural Education (JAE) and its 75-year history, this volume showcases not only the development of a single publication but also the evolution and expansion of the entire discipline. This book celebrates the rich history of the JAE , which is the longest continually running peer-reviewed journal in the discipline of architecture, as a major platform for the dissemination of new pedagogical and scholarly ideas. From discourses on drawing and design processes to issues of new media and the environment, The Evolving Project is a journey in space and time that documents the changing project of architectural education after World War II—namely its tran...

Gesture and Response:  25 Buildings by William Pedersen of KPF Architects by William Pedersen ORO Editions , March 2021 Hardcover | 7-3/4 x 10-1/2 inches | 585 pages | English | ISBN: 9781943532308 | $60.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : “Tall buildings have anthropomorphic characteristics that encourage me to think of them as human participants in the city,” writes William Pedersen, FAIA, in the introduction to Gesture and Response .  Within this new book of 25 of Pedersen’s designs, the reader will immediately see how buildings and cities continually reach out and react to each other. Pedersen—co-founder with A. Eugene Kohn, FAIA, and Sheldon Fox, FAIA, of KPF Architects—selected these designs as emblematic of his architectural aspirations, contextual concerns, and material manifestations.  He shows how monumental buildings made from hard glass, stone, and steel can exist at a gentle human scale. From 333 Wacker Drive (1982) in Chicago to Hudson Yards (2019) in New York...

Visual Discoveries: A Collection of Sections by Allen Keith Yee ORO Editions , November 2020 Paperback | 10-1/2 x 8-1/2 inches | 224 pages | English | ISBN: 9781943532964 | $35.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : There are three standard methods to visually represent a building: the plan, elevation, and section. The section drawing is a vertical slice of a building, depicting the relationships between interior and exterior as well as any level changes. While the section can serve as merely a functional drawing for construction, it can also be an exciting, revelatory drawing that can artfully depict a building, landscape, or object. Visual Discoveries: A Collection of Sections is an image-forward book that is devoted to showcasing notable section drawings throughout history and demonstrating that the section drawing, while having roots in architecture, has spread to many other professions and disciplines. These professions include medicine, transportation, product design, geology, an...

What Kind of Architect Are You? Udo Greinacher ORO Editions , March 2021 Paperback | 6 x 9 inches | 256 pages | 37 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9781951541569 | $25.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : Architecture is commonplace. We inhabit it and use it; it is constantly present; it serves as foreground and background and usually has a story to tell. But apart from its most illustrious makers, we know almost nothing about the people who conceived it: the architects. What Kind of Architect Are You? offers a glimpse into a vast array of professional possibilities and points out meaningful alternatives to the prevailing myth of the “starchitect.” It provides those in search of an architect with insights into how we work and helps them to formulate expectations. It challenges practitioners to think introspectively and examine how they fit into the architectural spectrum. And finally, the collection documents the cross-section of cultural and architectural practice across America. Udo G...

The Architecture of Point William: A Laboratory for Living Kenneth Frampton, Michael Webb ORO Editions , February 2021 Hardcover | 10 x 10 inches | 256 pages | English | ISBN: 9781943532544 | $50.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : Shim-Sutcliffe’s masterful work at Point William intertwines landscape and architecture with ancient rock and water reshaping and reimagining a site on the Canadian Shield over two decades. Found conditions and new buildings are interwoven and choreographed to create a rich spatial experience moving between inside and out. Kenneth Frampton provides an insightful introduction with selected images and his own sketches framing a way of seeing Point William for the reader. Michael Webb’s provocative interview with Brigitte Shim and Howard Sutcliffe describes their evolving vision for Point William and their two-decade journey towards its realization. Acclaimed photographers Ed Burtynsky, James Dow and Scott Norsworthy contribute through their powerful images ca...

Egyptian Places: An Illustrated Travelogue Henry David Ayon ORO Editions , September 2020 Paperback | 11 x 10 inches | 170 pages | 200+ illustrations | English | ISBN: 978-1951541217 | $40.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : Egyptian Places: An Illustrated Travelogue is a rich and multi-faceted account of an architect’s visits to 12 of Ancient Egypt’s most spectacular sites, a journey that transports the reader from the urban metropolis of Cairo and the Great Pyramid of Giza to the remote desert setting of the rock-cut temples at Abu Simbel, with visits to other monumental temples and towering pyramids which line the Nile River. The book recreates that journey, describing important architectural features of these sacred monuments, their mythic foundations and religious significance. Over 200 color hand drawings and graphic studies capture and interpret the character of each site from the architect’s unique perspective. Henry David Ayon  practices architecture in Richmond, Virginia and...

Études: The Poetry of Dreams + Other Fragments John Marx ORO Editions , March 2020 Hardcover | 11-1/2 x 11-1/2 inches | 160 pages | English | ISBN: 978-1943532421 | $65.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : John Marx’s watercolors, first published in the Architectural Review , are a captivating example of an architect’s way of thinking. Subtle and quiet they are nonetheless compelling works in how they tackle a sense of place, of inhabiting space and time all the while resonating with the core of one’s inner being. There is an existential quality to these watercolors that is rare to be found in this medium that is something akin to the psychologically piercing observational quality of artists like De Chirico or Hopper. As architects strive to communicate their ideas, it is interesting to explore the world of Marx’s watercolors as an example of a humane approach to conveying emotional meaning in relation to our environment. Marx’s subject matter read like “built landscapes” heightening ...