A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Building London: The Making of a Modern Metropolis  by Bruce Marshall, published by Universe, 2008. Hardcover, 304 pages. ( Amazon ) Paris 2000+: New Architecture  by Sam Lubell, published by  The Monacelli Press , 2007. Hardcover, 240 pages. ( Amazon ) These two image-drenched coffee table books focus on what can be seen as Europe's two most cosmopolitan cities, using photographs to tell the story of London and Paris, each in its own way. Bruce Marshall's visual history of London, as retold with photographs from the Getty Images, will be disappointing for those looking for a history that is more than fragmentary or skin-deep. But for those content with lots and lots of beautiful black-and-white images of a London today and yesterday, this book brings home the goods. Marshall's text accompanies the myriad photos, but his role as author should be seen more in the editing capacity, in selecting and organizing the images for the book. It's difficult to...

Below are some photographs by rudenoon of OMA 's CCTV Headquarters in Beijing, China, as it gets closer and closer to completion. Be sure to check out rudenoon's HUGE flickr set on the CCTV HQ. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Tadao Ando 1: Houses and Housing by Tadao Ando, published by  Toto , 2007. ( Amazon ) Looking for Tadao Ando books at Prairie Avenue Bookshop yields 23 titles, four more than today's most celebrated and well-known architect, Frank Gehry. Not only are Ando's buildings amazingly photogenic, and not only is his production prolific enough to warrant almost continuous publication by various publishers, but his buildings are the type that make other architects drool. They make other architects jealous of his skill, gained not by professional training but by travel and exposure to places and buildings. It's as if books on Ando can provide a secret to his magic, making the purchase of them hard ...

Some Ideas on Living in London and Tokyo by Stephen Taylor and Ryue Nishizawa This week's dose features projects by Stephen Taylor Architects of London and the Office of Ryue Nishizawa in Tokyo, as part of the Some Ideas exhibition at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal. Photographs of Stephen Taylor projects are by Ioana Marinescu and David Grandorge. Photographs of SANAA projects are by Takashi Homma, Hisao Suzuki and Ken'ichi Suzuki. Stephen Taylor Architects is based in East London, an area undergoing gentrification, a part of London's "urban renaissance". Taylor's award-winning Three Small Houses project appears to be a contextual response to the gritty area characterized by small lots and a high density. Actually the project i...

"I think designers today are responding to several really significant shifts or pressures. There may be more, but the two that stand out are the redefinition or dissolution of what's public and private; that becomes very interesting for thinking through issues of program, spatial effects, and the tension between landscape and architecture. The other is ecology. We have an obligation to think through in novel ways as designers, not to be glib or presume that if you simply introduce recycled buildings into a building you will be more ecological. What's really interesting about ecological concerns is that they demand thinking in terms of process and the interrelationship of different processes. That sense of process has entered into a lot of what we and our contemporaries are trying to reconcile spatially as designers -- how to think about ecological concerns inventively and freshly." - Michael Manfredi in Surface/Subsurface by Marion Weiss & Michael Manfredi (Princ...

On today's CBS Sunday Morning , reporter Bill Geist visited a farm in Wisconsin where a husband and wife have turned 12 farm buildings into depositories for approximately one million books; a very atypical bookstore , to say the least. The main shop is housed in an old manure tank, a large cylindrical structure that was removed of its former contents (thankfully), covered in a roof framed of wood trusses, and clad to resemble a castle. This last piece is not my cup of tea, but the interior is rather well done, with a central column, perimeter balcony, and detailed ceiling, all of wood. And, of course, lots and lots of books. Click image to watch the video.

The Lighthouse EC06-09F-005 , originally uploaded by craine . The Lighthouse in Glasgow, Scotland by Honeyman & Keppie, attributed to Charles Rennie Mackintosh, who apprenticed in the firm at the time. The building was constructed as the offices of the Glasgow Herald in 1895 and converted to Scotland's Centre for Architecture, Design and the City in 1999. More images here . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose