A Weekly Dose of Architecture Books

Jane's Carousel in Brooklyn, New York by Ateliers Jean Nouvel, 2011 On September 16, 2011 Jane's Carousel officially opened in a small but prominent corner of Brooklyn Bridge Park between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges. Designed by French architect Jean Nouvel (the Pritzker Prize winner is also responsible for the earlier 40 Mercer Residences and 100 Eleventh Avenue , as well as for the MoMA Tower that is in planning), the project is named for artist Jane Walentas, who almost single-handedly brought the 1922 carousel from Ohio to Brooklyn's DUMBO neighborhood. Many people probably recall glancing inside a glass storefront on nearby Water Street, a way station of sorts for the carousel as it was restored and its future was planned. Its existence in a malleable glass box is the culmination of decades of Jane's work, care, and drive. Of course it should be noted that Jane's husband, David Walentas, is a developer responsible for much of DUMBO'...

Here are a couple views of the Samitaur Tower in Culver City, California by Eric Owen Moss Architects , 2010. For more on Moss's contributions to in "Hayden Tract," see my blog post on the roughly dozen structures and an accompanying keyed aerial . Photographs are by Richard Anderson , who has many more pics of the tower in his Flickr set on Eric Owen Moss . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Yesterday I attended the ceremonial opening of BLDG 92 at the Brooklyn Navy Yard (hence the distracting tent visible below), a museum, education and employment center that opens to the public today, Veteran's Day. Located at Flushing and Carlton Avenues, on the southern edge of the Navy Yard, BLDG 92 and its exhibitions are free, but they do offer bus and bike tours for a fee. BLDG 92 is housed in two connected structures: Building 92, designed by Thomas Ustick Walter in 1858 as the U.S. Marine Corps Commandant's Residence, and an addition located behind it; the L-shape plan creates a courtyard behind the sidewalk fence. BLDG 92 is designed by Beyer Blinder Belle and workshop/apd , and an educated guess would credit the former with the older building's restoration and the latter with the 20,000-sf addition. Seen on the approach from Carlton Avenue (above), the addition's facade displays an image of the USS Brooklyn as it left the yard in 1936, or so the literat...

Here are a few photos of the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut by Louis I. Kahn, 1974. Photographs are by Xavier de Jauréguiberry . And a couple photos of the Yale University Art Gallery in New Haven, also by Kahn, 1953. Polshek Partnership Architects (now Ennead Architects ) renovated restored the building in 2006 . Photographs are also by Xavier de Jauréguiberry . See many more great pics of Kahn's buildings in Xavier's Flickr set on the architect. To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

Yesterday I received the Winter 2011 issue of ArchitectureBoston , which takes aim at Media. The " At Issue " section features contributions by Cervin Robinson (on Photography); John King (on Newspapers); Mark Pasnik, Michael Kubo, and Chris Grimley (on Exhibitions); Phillip G. Bernstein FAIA (on BIM); Kevin Lippert (on Publishing); Lon Grohs (on Animation and 3d Visualization), and yours truly (on Blogs). I'm pleased to be representing blogs in this issue, and to be in such good company. Also, Media is founding editor Elizabeth Padjen's last one for ArchitectureBoston (she'll be "diving deeply into new creative challenges"), so I'm honored to be in such an important issue. That said, the rest of the issue is highly rewarding. Beyond the other brief pieces in the "At Issue" section are longer features by James Wines (on drawing), Witold Rybczynski (an interview with Jeff Stein), and James McCown (on HGTV), among others. I especially l...

Here are some photos of the VanDusen Botanical Garden Visitor Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by Perkins + Will , 2011. Photographs are by David Dickson . To contribute your Flickr images for consideration, just: :: Join and add photos to the archidose pool , and/or :: Tag your photos archidose

In less than a month my Guide to Contemporary New York City Architecture , two years in the making, hits bookstores. Published by W. W. Norton , the book features over 200 buildings completed since 2000, with a chapter looking ahead to projects on the horizon. In combination with the book's release I'm giving away two copies of the book. Read below for more information. In an effort to make the giveaway fun, and to give a hint at what sort of information and imagery is found in the book, I've developed a quiz (with the help of Joel B. Sanders -- many thanks to him). People who answer the most of the ten trivia questions will be in the running for one of the two free books -- one copy per person, chosen at random if high scores are tied. The quiz, as noted, is ten questions, and it takes only 15 minutes. Follow all of the instructions at the end of the quiz in order to be considered for a free book. Be aware that the quiz is Flash-based, so sorry iPad users. The deadli...