A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

My once a day Google alert for "architecture" today yielded ten results (about average) with absolutely none of them related to the common use of the word, building design (definitely below average). Instead, the automated search yielded the following: NitroSecurity today announced its Integrated Switched-Infrastructure Security (ISIS) architecture, a new enterprise-wide security model that is the ... CipherTrust, the leader in messaging security, today announced the Enterprise Messaging Security Architecture (EMSA) Alliance, an open, industry-wide ... Jaguar plans common architecture for XJ and next S-Type models...information on the £80m savings planned by the closure of Browns Lane car assembly, an FT report of 2 December suggests a common architecture for Jaguar's ... HP and Sun Microsystems should take note. Oracle has announced its "architecture of the future," and HP and Sun have been left off the plans. ... IBM, Sony and Toshiba last week sa...

Underground: The Tokyo Gas Attack and the Japanese Psyche by Haruki Murakami , published by Vintage, 2001. Paperback, 384 pages. ( Amazon ) Murakami, the well-known Japanese author of The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle , Wild Sheep Chase , and others, decided to tackle a non-fiction account of the 1995 poison gas attack in the Tokyo subway because the Japanese media ignored the plight of the victims, both the survivors and the deceased, in favor of focusing on the Aum "cult" who perpetrated the crime. The author adopted a style similar to Studs Terkel (who he acknowledges in the preface) by transcribing interviews with survivors and friends and family of those killed. Going into the book I wa...

Fluxo Rosa in Morelia, Mexico by Plasma Studio, 2004 One of Architectural Record 's Design Vanguard 2004 , London-based Plasma Studio uses folding as a means to create progressive designs, from interiors and exhibition design to (hopefully) buildings. Their installation at the Instituto Cultural de Michoacan is a perfect example, made all the more apparent by its relationship to the "host space". As seen in the top image, the installation makes itself known by protruding into the courtyard, disrupting the repitition and consistency of the existing colonnade. A gap between the new and the old allows entry to the exhibition space. The plan illustrates a certain rotated symmetry or inversion, the exterior portion "inter...

Today The New York Times came out with its 100 Notable Books of the Year , broken into Fiction and Nonfiction categories. Looking at the nonfiction category, a plethora of books looks at the current state of affairs, primarly terrorism, Osama bin Laden, and September 11. Not surprisingly, with many biographies, histories, and science books making up the rest, only one of the 100 could be called an architecture book, Up From Zero: Politics, Architecture, and the Rebuilding of New York by Paul Goldberger, which happens to also look at the events of September 11. I inadvertantly published this post before I could mention Art Spiegelman's In the Shadow of No Towers , an architecturally-related notable book by the award-winning comic artist.

Those were Santiago Calatrava 's words today when he was notified that he is the recipient of the 2005 AIA Gold Medal . He followed by saying, "I feel very honored...I will try to be at the level of this honor for the rest of my career and honor you with my work." Having seen Calatrava lecture before, I can hear the sincerity in his voice saying those words. My friend Frank will perhaps find some solace in the Spanish architect's award after he was passed up for the Pritzker Prize earlier in the year. Calatrava is known for his structurally inventive and expressive designs, many resembling skeletal structures and other natural forms. It is easy to dismiss his architecture as repetitive, both structurally within each project and from one design to another (though I don't see this as a drawback). But having visited two of his projects - BCE Place in Toronto and Stadelhofen Station in Zurich - I'd say Calatrava is not only a great shaper of structure and...

Finalists for Siyathemba, a competition to design the perfect "pitch" in Somkhele in Kwa-Zulu Natal, South Africa, an area with one of the highest HIV/AIDS rates in the world, have been announced today, World Aids Day. Visit Architecture for Humanity for more information. Update: Click here for views of finalist's submissions.

Between Spaces by Smith-Miller + Hawkinson , published by  Princeton Architectural Press , 2000. Paperback, 176 pages. ( Amazon ) Featuring photography by Judith Turner and an introduction by John Hedjuk , this book covers six built works of the New York duo (four in their home state, one in Los Angeles, and one in North Carolina) and one unbuilt work. Turner's black-and-white photographs focus on connections: wall and ceiling, structure and facade, etc. Coupled with the architects' drawings and models, one gains an understanding of each project both in totality and in detail. Hedjuk's introduction is a nice balance of personal experience and poetic insight. The words and i...