A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Conceiving the Plan: Nuance and Intimacy in Civic Space Edited by Yael Hameiri Sainsaux Skira , August 2022 Hardcover | 12-1/4 x 12-1/4 inches | 240 pages | 170 illustrations | English | ISBN: 9788857246543 | $45.00 PUBLISHER'S DESCRIPTION : In Honor of Diane Lewis (1951–2017) How are civic spaces imbued with nuance, and in what ways does such a quality persist in the city? Can one discuss intimacy in architectural terms? Across a series of speculative projects for civic space—first exhibited as part of the 17th Venice Architecture Biennale, in the Italian Pavilion— Conceiving the Plan engages these questions in dialogue with the legacy of the late architect and longtime Cooper Union Professor Diane Lewis. For Lewis the city was not only the result of a great number of historical, and ultimately inextricable, strata of form and memory; it was also greater than the sum of its individual architectures and a mental universe all its own. Lewis’s unique presence—her unmistakable vo...

Louvre Abu Dhabi: The Story of an Architectural Project Jean Nouvel, Olivier Boissière Skira Paris, May 2019 Paperback | 8-1/4 x 11-1/2 inches | 128 pages | 150 illustrations | English | ISBN: 978-2370740816 | $34.95 Publisher Description : Louvre Abu Dhabi is a comprehensive exploration of Jean Nouvel's (born 1945) latest masterpiece, from the first sketches and through each phase of its conception and construction. From its majestic, novel dome to its exhibition halls, this book walks the reader through this architectural jewel. dDAB Commentary : The first page of this monograph on Jean Nouvel's Louvre Abu Dhabi, which opened to the public in November 2017 , is a tribute to Olivier Boissière, who wrote many books on Nouvel's architecture, including one of Birkhäuser's Studio Paperbacks . "Olivier Boissière wrote all of his life," Nouvel writes. "Books of art and architectural critique, a novel and some articles distinguished by common sen...

The year 2013 is a good one for architecture exhibitions, and a few of them are highlighted below through their companion books. Two of the exhibitions are on 20th-century masters, one is on contemporary architecture in a specific region, and one is on an artist who is greatly appreciated by architects. It's close to impossible to attend every architecture exhibition of worth, but these catalogs remind us that their impact extend beyond the short months (or years, depending on if they travel) the shows exist. James Turrell: A Retrospective By Michael Govan, Chrisine Y. Kim Prestel , 2013 Hardcover, 304 pages ( Amazon ) Fans of James Turrell are being treated this year with three major exhibition on the artist: “ James Turrell: A Retrospective ” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), “ James Turrell ” at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, and “ James Turrell: The Light Inside ” at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. To accompany the show at LACMA, curator Michael ...

Zaha Hadid: Pierres Vives  by Zaha Hadid Architects, edited by Stephane Hof, photographed by Helene Binet, published by  Skira Rizzoli , 2013. Hardcover, 108 pages. ( Amazon ) At its most general a book presenting a single building consists of three parts: text, photos, and drawings. Each area is aimed at giving readers a greater understanding of a place they may never experience firsthand. A book cannot replicate the body's movement through space or the ability to feel a surface's texture and temperature, but it can use writing and images to describe these and other qualities of a building. It goes without saying that one area—text, photos, or drawings—will outweigh the other in bulk and importance. With the ever-increasing reliance upon photos to share a building and its architect with others, it's no surprise that this book on Zaha Hadid's Pierres Vives building in Montpellier, France, is loaded with photos of the building, and many of Hélène Binet 's color...

So in 2011, with Kindle, the iPad, and architecture blogs, among other game-changing pieces of computer technology spreading information, what is the state of the architectural monograph? Are they evolving in response to new ways of reading? Are they scaling down as people learn about architecture online? Are they providing content different from the traditional monograph? These four books from 2010 embody the diversity of the genre, featuring architects and landscape architects from the United States, Europe, and Asia. They also map different approaches to monographs, ones which are dependent upon the format being in print to varying degrees. A Landscape Manifesto  by Diana Balmori, published by  Yale University Press , 2010. Hardcover, 272 pages. ( Amazon ) The Manifesto . Instead of a formal presentation of built and unrealized projects, as most architectural monographs are wont to do, Diana Balmori opts for a manifesto, 25 points toward "a new definition of lan...

Diller + Scofidio (+ Renfro): The Ciliary Function by Guido Incerti, Daria Ricchi and Deane Simpson, published by Skira , 2007. ( Amazon ) All too often monographs are an opportunity for publishers, authors, and readers to survey and categorize the transformations and themes within an architecture office's work, even though architects may seldom approach their own work with such a linear or compartmentalized approach. Diller Scofidio + Renfro (DS+R) is such an office. They see their production since 1979 (as Diller + Scofidio until the 2004 "partnering" of Charles Renfro) to present as an interdisciplinary and critical approach to the creation of objects and environments that is not dependent upon scale ...