A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Movingcities.org posts photos of the TVCC building after yesterday's fire , showing a blackened but still standing survivor of the flames. Of course only investigation of the structure will determine if the building will remain standing, or if it must be torn down. [TVCC still standing | image source ] (via dysturb.net 's post that includes a timeline of the three or four hours when the building was ablaze.)

In the pages of Volume's Bootleg Edition for the Urban China: Informal Cities exhibition opening tomorrow at the New Museum (more on those two in a forthcoming post) are photos from photographer Todd Hido 's foreclosed homes series (with accompanying text by Geoff Manaugh ). Ever since seeing his photo gracing the cover of Oz Volume 25 , I've been enamored with his moody imagery. ["1955" from foreclosed homes series | image source ] The foreclosed homes is a timely series that captures the insides of houses devoid of people and furniture, though the traces of habitation are evident. The blue carpeting above signals the presence of what I'm guessing was a bed located above the light blue rectangle against the wall at left. ["1934" from foreclosed homes series | image source ] As well, the above photo lets us know where the family watched TV, indicated in this case by the cable infrastructure poking through the floor. ["1952" from o...

Today sees the release of T.C. Boyle 's latest novel, The Women , where the author "turns his fictional sights on ... Frank Lloyd Wright." The twist that sets Boyle's book apart from other books on Wright -- fiction and non-fiction -- is the telling of the story from the point of view of the four women who loved him. Check out Boyle's web page for an excerpt from the novel and Leonard Lopate's show from yesterday for an interview with the author.

IHT reports , "A fierce fire engulfed a major new building in Beijing that houses a luxury hotel and cultural center Monday, the last day of celebrations for the lunar new year when the city was alight with fireworks." That major new building is the smaller of the two buildings Rem Koolhaas designed for CCTV (China Central Television). The Television Cultural Center (TVCC) was set to open in a few months. [photo by Alfred Cheng/Reuters | image source ] IHT further states, "The fire was burning from the ground floor to the top floor, the flames reflecting in the glass facade of the main CCTV tower next to the hotel and cultural center. ... Flames were spotted around 9:30 p.m., and within 20 minutes the fire had spread throughout the building. ... The main CCTV tower appeared to be untouched by the fire." (Thanks to Gareth for the heads up!)

Pattern Recognition by David Leven and Stella Betts, published by  Princeton Architectural Press , 2008. ( Amazon ) The title of New York-based Leven Betts Studio Architects ' first monograph recalls the 2003 William Gibson novel of the same name, though the firm's partners, David Leven and Stella Betts, explain that the phrase reveals "underlying operative methodologies in our practice." Rooted in artificial and natural intelligence, the design methodologies they employ are syntactic (structural interrelationships among elements), statistical (data analysis towards grouping similarities), and neural (adaptive, network-based data modeling). Or in other words, context, program, and circulation/infrastructure. Added to this mix is their idea of the "informal formal," where the search for form is an oscillation between a building and its diagram, between its realization and its inspiration or concept. Just as these terms initially sound like co...

Text and images are courtesy Leven Betts Studio Architects ; photographs are by Michael Moran . CC01 House The design of the CC01 House begins with a reading of the landscape. Long linear grooves, formed by the dimensions of machinery, the distance between tractor wheels, and the frequency of the blades of a plow, are etched into the rolling hills from years of farming. These lines that hug the topography were developed into diagrams that inform the design of all configurations of the house, from the primary organization and form to the cladding and details of the building. Additionally, the section of the house follows the contour of the land as it steps up from east to west in the long outdoor terrace and again between the dining and living spaces of the house. In this way, the house follows the landscape and topography both in plan and in section. Several other elements follow the linear crop diagram, such as the horizontally oriented corrugated-metal siding; patio paving pat...

Buildings devoted to animals are not where one expects to find architecture with a capital A. Sure, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a doghouse for one of his clients (The Bergers in San Anselmo, CA), but that was only one of hundreds of buildings. I've featured a couple buildings for Australia's anti-cruelty society, but I'll admit it's just hard to come across architecture with our four-legged friends as "clients." [photo by Luuk Kramer | image source ] This Animal Refuge Center in Amsterdam's Osdrop district by Arons en Gelauff Architecten is a great find. Consolidating two centers into the largest pound in the Netherlands, the building includes 180 dog and 480 cat kennels, the former on the ground floor and the latter on the floor above. [photo by Luuk Kramer | image source ] The sinuous plan follows the awkward site, maximizing the use of the triangular lot and creating two large courtyards, play areas for the dogs. [images by arons en gelauff | image so...